Pandemic: In the Lab Review – The Greatest Sidegrade in Medicine

As a second expansion in the franchise Pandemic: In the Lab is a commitment. Getting the most out of it requires both the original Pandemic and Pandemic: On the Brink.

Pandemic: In the Lab adds onto these two titles with new roles, events, and virulent strain cards. These are all welcome additions and can be shuffled into the rest of the cards without issue.

But they’re not the main draw to this new expansion. The more exciting changes are packed into the new modules.

The Mutation Challenge, for example, now has double the amount of cubes. To account for this, the rules are also modified. So now when you draw a mutation card you’re placing two purple cubes instead of one.

As a result, the purple disease outbreaks far more often in Pandemic: In the Lab. Taking it from being the silent killer in On the Brink to flooding the board in violet cubes.

This is the exact modification this module needed, as it adds excitement and that happy kind of low-stakes stress you love to see in cooperative games. Bringing this module up to the same quality as the excellent Virulent Strain module.

However, the main draw of this expansion is the titular In the Lab Challenge. That adds a laboratory sideboard and changes the way you research and cure diseases.

Remember Your Mask

For a laboratory handling global viruses, the scientists in charge aren’t up to date with their safety protocols. There’s a distinct lack of masks within the artwork. Given we’ve just gone through a global pandemic, it seems we’re more well-acquainted with the bare minimum than these experts.

That’s a joke, please always listen to the experts!

I’m torn on Pandemic: In the Lab, I’ve always seen and enjoyed Pandemic as a cold and calculating risk management puzzle. But this module and the additional board feel like a distraction to that. So at best, it feels like a sidegrade rather than a straight improvement.

For example, now whenever you treat a disease, instead of removing it from the board it’s added to the lab. There you can perform several lab actions on these cubes, from increasing their number to sorting them out and applying them to cure sequences.

This is a big change as curing a disease is no longer a matter of collecting five same-coloured cards simultaneously. Now you must sequence the cure. This requires you to place disease cubes of specific colours onto the sequence card. During this sequencing, you can put two cards towards the cure, with the remaining three still cards required once the sequence is complete.

Other reviews mention this new way of curing diseases is thematic and engaging. But I didn’t feel that way, there wasn’t enough feedback from this labwork to make it feel like anything outside of busy work. A far cry from flying across the globe, stopping outbreaks and saving the world.

What Else Do You Get?

Beyond the In the Lab module, this expansion adds a solo mode which some will enjoy, but I’m not much of a solo gamer. However, when I do solo Pandemic I generally two-hand it. Also added is a team mode, but like the Bio-Terrorist expansion in On the Brink playing competitively is not why I play Pandemic. So it feels wrong, and as such, I’ve barely touched it.

Overall, Pandemic: In the Lab has some good additions like the new role, virulent strain cards, and changes to the mutation challenge. Some OK additions, with the In the Lab module. Then some additions, where it’s Matt and Tom just doing their thing like the Bioterrorist and Solo modes.

However, nothing added within Pandemic: In the Lab provides that must-have feeling you get from On the Brink. So for me, I’d rather play with only that expansion. At least then it all still fits in the box.