A Race Against Time

The control center is abuzz. Urgent messages fire over the receiver as the plane speeds toward California. 

“Los Angeles needs water,” says Raquel, the Supply Specialist. “Plus first aid and two crates of vaccines.”

“Let’s adjust course to L.A. for a drop,” commands Director Martina Rivera. “How long do we have, Antun?”

“ETA to L.A. is 27 minutes,” confirms the Flight Planner.

“Are they ready in the cargo bay?” Martina asks. There’s a pause on the line, and before anyone can respond, Ian’s voice cuts in.

“We’re gonna need some help in the recycling center. Waste is really starting to pile up.”

“I’ll send someone back,” Martina adds quickly. “Adjoua, count those crates. Let’s go, people. Time is of the essence!”

In Pandemic: Rapid Response, players must work together to bring life-saving aid to cities around the world, and fast—the timer is always counting down to another disaster! Take your turn as quickly as possible, rolling and assigning dice to maneuver the plane and deliver the right supplies to affected cities. Can you save humanity before time runs out?

Pandemic: Rapid Response is a new real-time board game set in the Pandemic universe and is available now. In the U.S., find the game exclusively on shelves at a Target near you or online at Target.com. Outside the U.S., Pandemic: Rapid Response is available through standard board game retailers.

Generating Supplies

In Pandemic: Rapid Response, cities around the world have been struck by disasters and they're relying on you to deliver emergency aid! You and your team must work together, rolling and assigning dice to generate and deliver the supplies they need.

Each player has a set of six dice to roll at the start of a turn. You have the option to reroll any dice up to two times per turn, and the different results can be used for different actions. Remember the timer is always counting down as you play, so assign your dice as quickly and efficiently as possible.

You can spend any die to move your player pawn from room to room, but other actions require specific results. To fly the plane towards its destination, you’ll need to spend airplane results. To generate supplies, you’ll need to assign dice with supply results to their corresponding rooms.

There are five types of supplies cities may need: food, water, power, vaccines, and first aid. Your state-of-the-art cargo plane has been outfitted with machinery to generate each one, but you’ll need to assign dice to each supply room to make the supplies and get them ready for delivery.

While your pawn is in a room, you can operate that room’s machinery. Each room has a track for assigning dice. Place dice with the matching symbol (e.g., a power result for the power supply room) on the empty dice spaces in the direction of the track. Some tracks will need just one die to get the machine started, but others will need two or three grouped together to start. If multiple spaces are grouped together, those dice must be placed at the same time—such as in the power room in the example above.

Three dice showing power results must be placed simultaneously to fill the first three dice spaces, while the next two spaces can be filled one at a time. In this example, the red player places the first three simultaneously and the blue player adds the next one on their turn. Assign your dice carefully—they are locked in until the room is activated!

Activating a Room

Once a room has enough dice to create the supplies you need, any player in that room can activate it on their turn. When activated, the supply rooms generate crates of supplies based on the number of dice on the track. 

In the example, the power supply room has four dice, which means the machine will generate two power supply cubes, as indicated on the track. Put those cubes in the cargo bay—they’re ready for delivery!

Anytime you create supplies, running the machinery also creates waste. After moving the supply crates into the cargo bay, take all the dice from the room (in the example, that’s four) and roll them to see how much waste is generated. Any results with a circle around the icon move the waste track by one space. In the example, there are two circular icons—the food and the water—so the waste track moves two spaces.

Once you have the supply crates a city needs, the next step is to drop the shipment from the cargo bay. In order to activate the cargo bay and make a delivery, you’ll need a die showing an airplane result assigned to the room, your pawn must be in the room, the plane must be at the city’s location on the board, and all the supply crates that city needs must be in the cargo bay. 

Once you successfully deliver the supplies to a city, remove that card from the edge of the board, return the supply crates to their respective rooms, and add a new time token to HQ. Each delivery will give you more time to address the next disaster.

Managing Waste

As you generate supplies, remember to keep an eye on waste! At first, two spaces might not seem too serious, but ignore the track too long and you could be scrambling to the recycling center. If the waste track ever gets higher than ten, you’ll lose the game!

To mitigate waste, activate the recycling center. Like other rooms, your pawn needs to be in the recycling center and dice must be placed along the track to run the machinery. However, the recycling center requires all different dice results as you assign them.

When you activate the recycling center, the waste track moves back depending on the number of dice in the room. In the example above, the red player placed four dice and immediately activated the room, so the track moves back two spaces. Now you’re ready to generate more supplies and help the next city!

Generate supplies, make deliveries, keep the waste track in check, and watch the timer. Humanity is counting on you—will you be able to respond in time?

In the U.S., Pandemic: Rapid Response is available exclusively at Target. Get your copy in-store or online at Target.com. Outside the U.S., Pandemic: Rapid Response is available through standard board game retailers, so pick up your copy wherever you shop!