Viral

YOU ARE A DEADLY VIRUS THAT HAS JUST INFECTED A PATIENT!
Your objective is to mutate and take over the host’s organs. Choose your strategy carefully, though, because other player’s viruses are sure to get in your way! If too many viruses are present in an organ, a CRISIS occurs and the IMMUNE SYSTEM will surely wipe out your infection!

Viral is a two to five player game where you are a deadly virus that has just infected a patient. Your objective is to mutate and take over the host’s organs. Infect organs, traverse the body through the veins and arteries, and shield or attack with your viruses! Too many viruses present in an organ will cause a Crisis, and the Immune System will wipe all viruses in an organ! Choose your strategy carefully, the doctors are researching a cure for you, and other players’ viruses in the body are sure to get in your way!

In Viral, your goal is to gain Viral Points (VPs) by controlling Zones in a patient’s body. Zones consist of groups of organs within the body (for example the left and right sides of the heart). If during the second step of a round, you are in control of a zone, you will score VPs and the research track will go up for your virus.

The research track represents the doctors outside of the body researching the infections and applying treatments. If a player’s Research token is on the top space of the Research Chart, it means that a cure for that Virus has been found. During the fifth step of the round, all of the virus tokens of that player will be removed from the board!

The game is played over 6 rounds, and each round players will play 4 cards. First, everyone will choose a Zone card and a Mutation card. After everyone has chosen, all of the cards will be revealed, and then in turn order each player performs their actions. Actions on the Mutation cards can be performed in any order, so a person might decide to change their plans a bit based on what the other players reveal!

Each round also has an Event occur. In the third step of the round, the text on the face-up Event card is performed, then discarded. It is public information what will occur during the event, so it is a good strategy to plan so the event is beneficial (or minimize any damage) to you. When you discard the last Event card, it will remind you that you’re playing the last round of the game!