Sponsored.  Pandemic System has brought some of the most iconic real-world and fictional places to the gaming table, including Star Wars™, The World of Warcraft™, and The Lord of the Rings™.

Following its debut in 2008, Pandemic has experienced many reimplementations and licenses, and inspired an entire category of games - cube pushers.  At the time this article was written, classic Pandemic sits at an impressive BGG Overall rank of 160, 171 for Strategy, and 35 for Family.  What's more impressive is the Pandemic Legacy Season 1 (2015) reception, remaining at a staggering Overall rank of 2 and rank 1 for theme.  It continues to be one of the best games to get to the table, ten years later.  There are few households you could walk into who haven't played or at least seen a game of Pandemic.

As mentioned in their live presentation at Canada Plays in April this year, Z-Man aims to utilize the Pandemic System as a storytelling vessel, much like the upcoming The Lord of the Rings™: Fate of the Fellowship which takes players through The Fellowship's journey to save Middle-earth.  Future iterations may explore other worlds and stories fans love, or dive into original worlds players are soon to love.

The studio is also exploring paths forward for the Pandemic Survival organized play experience which made a return appearance at Gen Con 2024 in the form of a charity event for Doctors Without Borders.  Z-Man Games matched the player contribution of $1,100 for a total donation of $2,200 while also providing a fun experience where attendees got to spend a couple hours with the designer, Matt Leacock.

Join Z-Man at Gen Con 2025 to demo and play The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship and meet the team that helps bring Pandemic to the table in new and creative ways!

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