Can You Play Pandemic Legacy More Than Once? Find Out!

Pandemic Legacy is one of the most successful Legacy style board games. It is not like the traditional board games that you can play repeatedly forever.

Yes, you can play Pandemic Legacy more than once but it is limited to 12-24 games. Before you are put off read on as there are compelling reasons why you should not miss out on this fantastic board game.

Pandemic Legacy follows a storyline throughout the game that covers a whole year. There are three Pandemic Legacy games split out into Seasons. All have a continuing timeline and story which makes it very engaging.

This is an amazing and very popular series of games. As of publishing this article Pandemic Legacy is sitting at number 2 of the Board Game Geek charts. This has got to be one of the games you should check out.

In this article we will disperse some of the fog around the Pandemic Legacy games. I’ll answer some of the most common questions people ask before they buy. This information will help you make the best decision when buying the game and maximise your fun.

Don’t miss the section at the end giving ideas on what you can do with the game once you have completed it.

Table of Contents

• What is a legacy style board game?
• How does Pandemic Legacy work?
• What is the difference between Pandemic and Pandemic Legacy?
• What order should I play Pandemic Legacy?
• What is the difference between Pandemic Legacy Season 1 red and blue?
• What to do with Pandemic Legacy after playing?
  • Reset it and play again
  • Play as regular Pandemic
  • Keep the box and toss the contents
  • Frame it!
• Conclusion

What is a legacy style board game?

Most games you play reset at the end. Once you set up the game again next time you can play through pretty much exactly the same.

Rob Daviau came up with an idea of making a board game that changes as you play. Each decision you make has consequences and will change the outcome.

So, it is critical to make good decisions in order to win this game. Bad decisions will make winning harder.

You can read more about legacy styles games and their history in this article here.

How does Pandemic Legacy work?

Pandemic Legacy has the basic mechanics of the original Pandemic board game. In fact, you can play the original by removing the rules that relate to the Legacy part of the game.

If you haven’t played Pandemic before then it is worth having a few vanilla games. Once you are all familiar with the Pandemic vanilla game then you can proceed to the Legacy version.

Note: You can play vanilla Pandemic using the Legacy version by not using some of the game contents. So you don’t have to buy Pandemic first. Just buy the Legacy Season 1 and play through normal a few times before beginning your epic Legacy game.

The Legacy version runs over a 12 month period, starting in January. Each game session you play will be during one of these months. If you win the session for that month you go onto the next month the next time you play.

If you lose the game then you get an opportunity to play that month again. If you lose the second time then you proceed to the next month regardless.

This then gives you a possible 12 to 24 games to play. Each game you play feeds into the following month. This creates a continuos story throughout the series of games.

Everytime you play another session you will have all the story and fun from the previous games to pull on. You’ll find yourself becoming engaged with the characters and your goal of curing the viruses.

As the games play out you will add rules, make changes to characters, cards or even the board. This all depends on decisions you make.

For example you may even be asked to take a card and tear it up and throw it in the bin. Completely changing the game forever. There are also actions like writing on a card or character, or even the board itself. They all change the way the game will play.

This is the essence of Pandemic Legacy in that you will be playing an amazing and unique game. Only you and your friends are likely to have experienced this version of events.

When discussing with other people you will find their experience staggeringly different from yours. They will tell you about bits of the game you didn’t even know existed and vice versa.

Once you have finished the final month and have won or lost, that is it. No going back as your game was completely unique.

What is the difference between Pandemic and Pandemic Legacy?

They both use the same game mechanics at their core. The games both have viruses that you must find the cure to win. Where they differ is that the Legacy version of the game has an added layer of mechanics.

These will physically change the game forever. Adding rules, game items, changing characters, cards or even the game board.

With Pandemic you can play over and over again. With Pandemic Legacy there is a finite number of games you can play.

With the Pandemic Legacy games you will make changes through the games you play. These will depend on your choices and decisions and can change any aspect of the game.

There may be stickers added to the rules or stuck on the board or character cards. You may have to draw or write on the board or cards. In some instances you may even have to tear up and throw cards away! Removing them from the game forever.

What order should I play Pandemic Legacy?

I am often asked, “Should I play Pandemic Legacy Season 0 First?” My answer to this is no. Each Pandemic Legacy Season has been designed as a standalone board game that does not need the other.

So you can play them in any order. My recommendation is that you play Season 1 first, then season 2 and finally Season 0. Season 0 was the last version is harder than Season 1 and is designed as a prequel.

My recommended order of play:

• Season 1
• Season 2
• Season 0

What is the difference between Pandemic Legacy Season 1 red and blue?

There is no difference between them other than the box and rule book color. If you play Pandemic Legacy with two groups the box color will enable you to differentiate. Enabling you to keep the right game playthrough with the right group of people.

What to do with Pandemic Legacy after playing?

There are quite a few things you can do with this game rather than sticking it on your shelf and forgetting about it. Here are some great ideas that you can do to make this game last beyond the end.

Reset it and play again

Yes, I know I have just written about how this can only play through once. The board gaming community is amazing and it will go to any lengths to enjoy a good board game.

There are a couple of posts below that discuss how you can change the way the game plays that will allow you to ‘reset’ it. Thus enabling you to play again.

• How we reset Pandemic Legacy
• Pandemic Legacy Reset Kit

If you want to go to these lengths to be able to play again and again. For me I would prefer to use the game, stickers and pens as designed. Play through once and enjoy it.

Play as regular Pandemic

If you remove all the stickers then you can play Pandemic as the base game. Do this to turn it into the vanilla Pandemic game:

• Remove stickers
• Remove routes:
  • Buenos Aires to Johannesburg
  • Buenos Aires to Santiago
  • L.A. to Lima
• Add routes:
  • Bangkok to Chennai
  • Baghdad to Karachi

Removing and adding routes make the board like vanilla Pandemic but you can play the board as is if you wish.

Keep the box and toss the contents

The original Pandemic and expansions will all fit in this box. So you can discard the Legacy parts (or keep some for spares) and use the box for storage.

This is a bit extreme but it is an option. Not one that I would do though. The next idea is far better option.

Frame it!

You can take the board and create a masterpiece commemorating the game you played. Stick cards, pieces and anything else you like on the board to create a collage. Then put it in a frame for all eternity.

Some clever gamers have even split the board up, creating a framed collage for each of the players. Then distributed it.

I like this idea as it is then shared with everyone who played. You can also put significant pieces that the player contributed to in their frame.

This has to be my favourite idea. Hanging it on your wall will remind you of the great memories every time you see it.

Here are some links to some examples of what you can achieve:

• Framed Pandemic Legacy board
• Individual Pandemic Legacy boards for each player

The good thing about this option is that you can then also use the box to store something else in. This is a much better idea than the previous one but you still get to use the box.