Lessons from a board game

We have been playing Pandemic a lot. The board game that is. It was a Christmas gift. A thoughtful gift, as we enjoy playing board games as a family, but a few weeks into 2020 it felt a little too much like Jumanji.

The game is unlike any we played before.

Not because Robin Williams jumped out of the box (though that would make me a smile) but because it’s not a typical competitive game. You don’t compete against each other. 

Instead, we play as a team. My husband, daughter and I cooperate. It’s a welcome change (and I am not only referring to the board games we play). Rather than staring suspiciously at each other across the table, we all work together to find cures for the four viruses spreading around the world on the game board. 

A quick google search and I discovered the designer, Matt Leacock, started working on the game Pandemic around the time of SARS (the novel coronavirus from 2002-03). The game takes inspiration from diseases and pandemics in the real world, but is not intended to be a simulation. Nonetheless, I can’t help but think about the real life parallels. The pandemic theme feels all too real, but it’s not the theme itself I keep pondering as the months persist in our real life pandemic. It’s how we play. 

First, each person contributes to the mission in a unique way. Each role (randomly assigned at the beginning of the game) has specific skills, all of which are valuable and should be used wisely. Sure, the Medic can clean up an outbreak in a single move, but if you need to fly to Santiago fast, the Medic is useless. Call your Dispatcher or Contingency Planner for a quick airlift. A Researcher is wealth of knowledge, and a well placed Quarantine Specialist will stop an outbreak in its tracks.

Just as each role is important, so is everyone’s input. This is the second lesson. You want debate and discussion on each move.

“I could go to San Francisco to treat the outbreak,” I suggest as the Medic in this game. “Or I can meet you in Mumbai so we can cure the blue virus,” I say looking at my daughter, the Scientist. We debate both courses of action and turn to my husband to get his input. His eyes are vacant, mug in hand. 

“Darn it, our Dispatcher is on a coffee break. We’ll have to make the decision between the two of us.” 

We do. But it really helps to have everyone’s focus.

In fact, you need everyone’s focus. That’s the third takeaway. The game is complex. While strategizing how to cure diseases, you also need to contain outbreaks which means the virus spreads faster and faster. You need to be alert to work through the options, consider the trade-offs, and most important of all, support your teammates (yes, I’m talking to you, my caffein loving Dispatcher.)

Alas, beating a pandemic is too big a challenge for a single person. It would be completely daunting to embark on this task alone. It feels so much better to know I have my other players to lean on.

Playing as one means we experience the emotions of the game together. We cringe when a new outbreak occurs, are hopeful when we have a plan to find a cure and cheer when it happens. Game play is generally a rollercoaster of emotions as we teeter on the verge of curing a disease or sparking another outbreak.

Winning or losing can come down to a single move.

“Not another Epidemic card! Argh! How many outbreaks is that?” I ask worriedly. 

My daughter is speedily placing red virus cubes on multiple Asian cites on the board. “We reached eight,” she replies. “We’re done.”

“We were so close. What could have done differently?”

Why do these lessons feel so real? So meaningful?

I did not get any career advice from The Game of Life, I am no more wiser about mortgages from Monopoly, and I certainly was not apologetic when I blocked my little brother from getting his piece back home when we played Sorry! as kids.

Yet. 

I keep thinking about how we play the game Pandemic. 

We all have a role. Others are relying on us to be diligent, to be alert every time we make a move or step outside our home. We are all working through this new way of living so it’s good to talk it through and ask questions. 

Maybe I am searching for a formula that works. For a path forward. Or hope. 

It would be nice to complete the mission, to portal back to our ‘normal’ world or some version of it that feels safe and secure.

Working together is how we win.