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REVIEW
Viral
A Fight for Stomach and Liver
Especially since 2008, players have been fighting viruses at the game table. They have learned to deal with the spread of epidemics, with their mutations, and also with bioterrorists. As doctors, scientists, and operational experts, they don’t act against one another but cooperatively in their fight against the pan- demics, which has often helped to save the world.
The viral points you have won help you gain attractive mutation cards. In most cases, these cards give you additional vic- tory points; but mainly, they allow for considerably stronger possibilities of action. Depending on the position of the scoring token, the research status for the victorious viral strain advances; in rare cases, the research suffers a setback,
With Viral, the two Portuguese authors Gil d’Orey and Anto- nio Sousa Lara (Estoril 1942) have changed perspectives. Players take on the role of viruses that attack the human organ system. This could be con- sidered macabre, but it has an ironic touch. Each viral strain, as dangerous as it may be, comes with a twinkle in its eye. There is a lifeline built in for the infected human being: his self-healing powers overcome many attacks and medical research is completely on his side.
Viral recalls memories of long-past human biology lessons. It visualizes the positions of the internal organs in an almost realistic fashion; only the gastroin- testinal tract has fallen victim to the square format of the game board and seems strangely attached to the left side of the body.
I Viruses in the heart
and kidneys
Organs – from the brain to the intes-
tines – are targets for viral strains. Twelve organs (or organ halves) can be infected in six zones of the body. To do so, each player has six to eight tiles, depending on the number of participants. Initially, each organ gets one virus. The gameplay focuses on the fight for the dominance of the viruses in the organ zones. In each of the no more than six rounds, you play
combinations of zone cards and muta- tion cards twice. To this end, each player initially gets his cards for all zones and an identical
set of action cards. The decision about in which organ zones your own viruses become active is determined by tokens that record viral points and research points. Ulti- mately, the viral
points are crucial for the win; but at the beginning, they are also important for getting new individual mutation cards.
Successful pathogens trigger an increased research activity – something the virus is not happy about. If the research token reaches the top space of the research chart, an antidote is used that causes a considerable reduction of the successfully researched viral strain
in all organs. Zones that generate four or three viral points are more contested than zones that yield only one point.
If, for example, you want to get into the cardiac chambers since they promise four points, it’s best to use – in addition to the heart card – the “Repro- duction” mutation card, allowing you to activate
two viruses in this zone. A card that supports you can be “Move,” played in combination with the brain card or lung card. This enables
you to move a virus through the veins or arteries into the heart.
When all
players have
played their two
zone cards and mutation cards, a scoring phase takes place. Only those viral strains that are present in all organs of a zone are relevant for determining the majorities. In the case of the brain, this is easy since it consists of no more than onezone;inmostcases,there
are two organ halves. The gas- trointestinal
tract even has three zones, so that its scoring often doesn’t apply.
though. This phase is followed by a brief resolution of event cards; these cards also serve to count the rounds.
The upcoming events
are known from the start, so that you can