Alarms go off at Tranjis Memorial Hospital as the lab interns realize - a bit too late - that the virus storage containers were not empty as they had thought.
In fact, they were full of experimental virus strains that are now rampant throughout the building, and only you can stop them.
Your mission is to face the pandemic head-on and fight to be the first one to eradicate the viruses by isolating a healthy body and prevent the spreading of terrible diseases.
Ethical or not, any means necessary are valid to achieve your goal. The winner will be honored with prestigious awards and the losers will have to face the angry health authorities.
Use your cunning wit to achieve victory while sabotaging your rivals' efforts. Bertrand Russell once said: "The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation". He obviously never played this game.
VIRUS! is a card game for 2 to 6 players in which you will assemble a human body while trying to stop your opponents from infecting, destroying or stealing your organs.
Components
- 21 Organ Cards.
- 13 Virus Cards
- 20 Medicine Cards
- 10 Treatment Cards
- Instructions
Object of the Game
Be the first player to complete your body. If you place 4 different healthy organs on the table in front of you, you win!
Setup
Shuffle the deck and deal 3 cards to each player.
Place the deck on the table facedown within the reach of all players. The discard pile will be placed next to it, faceup.
When the deck runs out, simply flip over the discard pile. It's not necessary to shuffle again.
Healthy Organs
Organs are considered healthy if they are free of viruses, vaccinated or immunized. Further on, we will explain how each card is used.
Game Play
Each player must have 3 cards in their hand at the beginning of each turn and is allowed to take only one action per turn. After their turn, the player draws cards from the deck on the table to complete their hand of 3 cards.
Play the different types of cards by placing them on the table in front of you to build your body, or on your opponents' cards to stop them from completing their body before you.
Some cards can make you discard or change your organs, vaccinations or even your hand. Develop your strategy to be the first one to form a complete body.
Pay attention to other players' moves because you must also prevent their attempts at completing their bodies before you.
Game Phases
VIRUS! is a dynamic game: choose between playing a card or discarding, then draw as many as you need to complete your hand (3 cards) and your turn is over. You cannot spend your turn without making a move.
Phase 1: Play or Discard
Choose one of these two actions: play or discard.
Play only one card from your hand each turn.
OR
Discard as many cards as you want.
Phase 2: Draw
Draw as many cards as needed to complete your hand of 3.
Phase 3: Pass
Pass the turn to the player on your right.
Types of Cards
Organs
Gather 4 different healthy organs to win the game. You cannot have 2 organs of the same type on your body at any time.
Note: Your body can have 5 different organs if one of them is the multicolored organ. You will win if 4 of them are healthy.
Viruses
Use the virus cards to destroy your opponents' organs and medicines. The viruses only have an effect on organs and medicines of the same color.
Infect
Place a virus card on a free organ of the same color to infect it. The infected organs are not considered healthy and, therefore, cannot be used to complete a body.
Remove
Destroy an infected organ. Place a second virus on an infected organ: that organ is now destroyed and all three cards must be placed on the discard pile.
Neutralize
Destroy a vaccine. Use a virus to eliminate a medicine of the same color that is placed on an organ. Place both the virus and the vaccine cards on the discard pile.
Medicines
Medicine cards are used to protect your organs from viruses.
They can then be used to destroy viruses or to protect organs from being infected. Use medicine cards only on organs or viruses of the same color.
Cure
Destroy a virus. Use a medicine card to destroy a virus of the same color that is placed on an organ. Both cards are then placed on the discard pile.
Vaccinate
Protect an organ. Place a medicine on a free organ of the same color. To infect it, the medicine card will need to be eliminated first.
Immunize
Place a second medicine card on an organ. It will be protected forever against the attacks of any virus and it can no longer be destroyed or affected by treatment cards.
Turn over the 2 medicine cards on top of the organ to show that it is now immune.
Treatments
Treatment cards can be game-changers that help you win. Use them to your advantage or to stop your opponents from completing their bodies before you complete yours. These cards are played into the discard pile and have an immediate effect.
Transplant
Swap an organ card between 2 players. It does not matter if these organs are different colors, or whether they are healthy, infected or vaccinated.
Simply swap the chosen organ for another, unless either of the players ends up with two organs of the same color or the organ is immunized.
Organ Thief
Steal an organ from another player's body and place it on your own.
You can steal healthy, vaccinated or infected organs, but not immunized ones. Remember that you cannot have 2 organs of the same color.
Contagion
Transfer as many viruses as you can from your infected organs to other players' organs. You cannot play the virus card on vaccinated nor infected organs. You can only infect free organs.
Latex Glove
All players, except the one playing the latex glove card, discard their hand.
As they have no cards at the beginning of their next turn, these players must spend their turn as if they had chosen the DISCARD action on their turn, drawing a new hand, thus skipping a turn.
Medical Error
Swap your entire body with another player, including organs, viruses, and vaccines.
The number of cards each player has on the table does not matter. When using this card, the immunized organs are exchanged, too.
Multicolored Cards
There are 3 types of multicolored cards: organs, viruses, and medicines.
A multicolored card does not affect the color of a card it's played on, and can be applied to all of them. This makes them very powerful, as they can affect cards of any color, yet also very fragile because they can be affected by any card.
The multicolored organ can be immunized with two different types of medicines, but it can also be destroyed by 2 viruses of a different color.
The multicolored virus can affect any organ or medicine, but it can also be cured by a medicine card of any color.
The multicolored medicine can affect any virus or organ. However, it can also be destroyed by a virus of any color.
Tips and Tricks
VIRUS is a fast-paced game. You can take your time coming up with a strategy, but the faster you spread your diseases, the more entertaining your games will be.
Try to immunize your organs as soon as possible so others can't destroy them: the more organs you secure will increase your odds of winning the game.
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