One of the most popular board games out there, Pandemic, is getting a spin-off and more portable version called Pandemic: Hot Zone - North America that's apparently due out later this year.
While this was leaked ahead of the presumed announcement--which sucks for Z-Man Games--it's pretty cool for us. Like in the original board game, two to four players will have to work together by traveling around the board--which is reduced from the entire world to North America--in order to stop the spread of a whole bunch of nasty diseases. To win, players must collect matching sets of cards and bring them to a research station in order to discover a cure for the populace.
Sounds complicated, but with Hot Zone the overall playtime will be under a half hour, with only three diseases that the players have to cure instead of the usual four. Basically, it's a simpler and smaller board game then the regular Pandemic board games, and it's cheaper too, selling for around $20.
For more information on Pandemic: Hot Zone - North America, be sure to check out TechRaptor in the coming weeks and months.
Quick Take:
Ironically, Z-Man Games stated that they would not be announcing new Pandemic games during COVID-19 "out of respect for the current situation" but given that this is a leak it's not entirely their fault. It's somewhat their fault because it got leaked, but I can't help but respect their earlier decision to not have an announcement, because it's hard to imagine an announcement going well. Still, now the cat's out of the bag maybe it'll be officially announced? It looks interesting to me, at least. I'll probably check it out if it's any good.
What do you think of this news? Do you think another version of Pandemic is needed? Let us know in the comments!
