One night, I went wild playing with Pandemic Hot Zone against myself.
I started with the solo-play variant published on Z-Man’s website and tweaked the difficulty upward by adding additional Epidemics, as suggested in a recent Boardgamegeek thread.
The first game with the solo-play rules as written was as easy as playing the base game.
I added a fourth epidemic for the next two games, both times with six crisis cards in the deck with the seventh crisis card turned face up to signify an Epidemic. I beat both plays easily.
Over the past year, we’ve had plenty of warnings before our various flareups of COVID, so having advance notice of an incoming epidemic isn’t a thematic game-breaker. So I amped it up to five epidemics, with two face-up crisis cards standing in for epidemics with the other five crisis cards in the deck. I barely beat this version.
I then had an epiphany – if I’m playing with face-up cards as Epidemics, then any card will do. I started to use the action reference cards as my extra Epidemic cards.
I played twice more, the first with seven crisis cards and the second with five crisis cards. I lost both games, but to test the concept, I did a couple of critical takebacks that allowed me to play through the end to confirm that there were foreseeable paths to victory if I had played more carefully.
Ultimately, this is a promising way to play the game solo. Z-man’s solo-play version is clearly superior to a setup where one is playing multiple characters. I’ve played 230+ games of Mottainai against myself, so I have some authority on this subject.
The key question to be answered in future sessions is whether I will use seven or five crisis cards. I suspect that the two fewer crisis cards make a harder game since the epidemics hit a little faster. (Keeping five crises cards would also allow me to eliminate the hand limitation and grounded flight crisis cards which constipate the gameplay.)
Unfortunately, the answer is neither. I haven’t played any solo-play sessions of Pandemic Hot-Zone since I wrote this post. I played with the kids a couple of times, but they didn’t find it too compelling (they may be too young). Fifteen bucks isn’t a bad price for a night’s entertainment, but it didn’t turn out to be a great deal either.