Pandemic Legacy hands down won Golden Geek Board Game of the Year award. It did so by also winning foremost innovative, first in Strategy and best in Thematic. Check out the rest of the winners here. Golden Geek is an annual award by users of BoardGameGeek.com.
What is Pandemic Legacy?
Legacy
It’s a collaborative design between to master designers, Matt Leacock designer of the Pandemic series and Rob Daviau designer of Risk Legacy and pretty much the main proponent of the Legacy genre. “Legacy” based game is a system where the game changes permanently as the players play; p in the sense of tearing up cards, breaking secret dossiers, putting stickers on the board and many more.
Tearing and breaking are not often heard on board games because these are sometimes deemed as collections worthy of care and concern. I did a whole article before on how I take care of my games. So with all that OCD, why would someone in their right mind destroy their game?
Legacy is an experience, a journey you walk through with your friends, like a blissful trip through an evolving eco-system of mechanics and theme. When Rob Daviau design Risk Legacy before, it took the mass-market Risk game and created something worthy of designer board game connoisseurs.
Pandemic
Now do that with an already popular game Pandemic, you get a rockstar combination. For those who are not familiar with Pandemic it is a cooperative game where players get to play the last chance of mankind before being overran by a virus outbreak. Play as stalwart medics saving lives left and right, scientists decompiling the composition of the virus, all working together to find the cure before time runs out. Don’t be intimidated by the theme, as the mechanics is very simple. On a turn you get a bunch of actions, which can be moving from one location to the next, removing virus on the board, setting up so labs or finding cures.
See the more comprehensive review of Pandemic Legacy here without spoilers from one of the favorite reviewers of VariablePlay, Dan King on his channel TheGameBoyGeek.
What do you think about Pandemic Legacy winning game of the year? Stay tuned next week for our review of the runner ups of the Golden Geek Award. Until next time, make your gaming count!