Infection

Pyramid Review

Infection

Published by Earwig Enterprises

Designed by Dan Sullivan

Art by Tom Hennessy

8 pawns plus counters, 100 disease cards, 100 cure cards, 26 intensive care cards, game board, rules, 2 six-sided dice; $28.00

You can make a game out of just about anything, no matter in what poor taste the subject matter may be. But Earwig Enterprises' board game Infection takes an informative and unsentimental view of the wonderful world of diseases, making it by turns both interesting and uproariously funny.

The object of the game is to be the first player (the game allows 2-8) to rid himself of all diseases, or to be the only surviving player if all others have been overwhelmed by their sicknesses. A player starts out with five diseases and $500 in cash.

The board is laid out, and in many ways plays, like Monopoly. You start in one corner and make circuits according to the roll of the dice, trying to ditch the illnesses and pick up the money to pay for treatments. Some spaces give you a disease, others take them away. Some give you a chance at a cure, and others add a little spin to the game like letting you leave a contagious disease in the bathroom for the next poor player to stumble into. In each corner is a Medical Station, and you may choose to stop here even if your roll would carry you past it.

There are five levels of treatment, and the Medical Stations are the easiest way to procure them. They are, in order of quality (and cost): . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: May 2, 2003

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