Infection is a game about diseases. It is meant to educate, inform, and entertain. The game requires two to eight players, ages nine to ninety. The disease cards are as accurate as possible; however, the treatments described on the CURE cards have no factual basis. Any medical questions concerning treatments or diagnosis should be directed to a physician. In Infection - Animal Helpers© Version, the ANIMAL HELPER cards are representations of some of the areas in medicine in which animals have contributed to furthering our understanding of a disease or a treatment for a disease. The ANIMAL RIGHTS ACTIVITIST cards are not meant to represent any particular person, group or event.

In the Infection - Animal Helpers© Version, "wild cards" have been added to the playing cards in the game. Most of the cards represent a different animal species along with the diseases that are helped with that animal's contribution to biomedical research. For instance, "Cats are the "purrrfect" helpers with vision disorders. Cure both FAR SIGHTED and NEAR SIGHTED diseases with this card." A few of the cards represent "Animal Rights" cards. These cards penalize the player with either a lost turn, catching a disease, etc. For example, "The apes are going wild! An animal-rights activist sneaks into a research facility and lets all the monkeys out of their cages. Collect TWO RED diseases from any player(s)."

Rules of Infection - Animal Helpers© Version:

Equipment:

Eight Playing Pieces, 100 disease cards, 100 treatment cards, 44 Animal Helper/Activist cards, 26 intensive care cards, 1 game board, 1 set of rules, and 2 six sided dice.

Preparation:

Place the board on a table and put the disease, treatment, and intensive care cards face down on their allotted spaces on the board. Place the ANIMAL HELPER cards in the center of the game face down. Each player chooses one token to represent him or her.

Starting the Game:

Each player selects five disease cards at random (four disease cards if there are five or more players and playing time is a concern). Each player starts with $500. After each player chooses a playing piece, roll the dice to select which player goes first. Play continues clockwise from the first player.
The first player rolls two die and moves his playing piece the number of squares indicated by the dice and performs the actions required by the square, see Medical Stations for exception. The players continue taking turns until the end of the game.

Winning:

The object of the game is to cure all of your diseases. The first person to cure all of his diseases, or the last player living, wins. A player dies [is out of the game] when he has five RED diseases.

Rolling Doubles:

Each time a player rolls doubles, he draws one of the Animal Helper cards from the top of the stack. If the player cannot use the card to cure a disease during this turn, he may keep the card for future use. Once a card is used, it is placed face down at the bottom of the stack.

Contagious Diseases:

Some diseases are contagious (Contagious printed in the background). The diseases labeled as contagious differ from the other diseases in several ways:

Contagious diseases are the only ones that can be left at the Public Restroom or Community Swim Center squares.

When a player lands on a square occupied by another player, he may give one contagious disease to the other player. This is the first thing the player does when they land on the square (i.e. if Player A lands on a Catch a Disease square occupied by player B; A must give a contagious disease to B BEFORE picking the disease required by the square).

The Medical Stations are "safe" zones. No contagious diseases may be transferred to players in the Medical Stations located at the four corners of the board, exception Oops you sneezed!

Medical Stations:

There are four medical stations, one at each corner of the board. Only one treatment may be obtained per turn.

If a player lands on a medical station, that player may (at his option) pay for and obtain treatment. If the player opts not to pay for treatment, nothing happens.

When a player passes a medical station, the player may choose to stop, pay for, and receive treatment or continue to the square indicated by the dice.

The result of each type of treatment is printed on each CURES card. The type of treatment must be chosen and paid for BEFORE the CURES card is drawn. The treatment costs are: 1) Voodoo Doctor $50, 2) Drugstore $100, 3) Clinic $150, and 4) Specialist $200. Any result of treatment must be accepted.

The medical station at the start corner also has an Intensive Care Center. When a player stops at this medical station he may choose to use the Intensive Care (cost $500) instead of the standard treatment. All fractions are rounded up, i.e. if a player has three diseases and the Intensive Care card cures half of the player's diseases, then two diseases are cured.

Game Board Squares:

For a complete listing of all the board squares, click here.

SHORT GAME

Time Limit Game:

Before starting, agree upon a definite end time. The healthiest player at the time limit, fewest diseases with ties decided by severity of diseases (fewest Red, then White diseases), wins.

The Infection game, all characters, drawings, and figures associated with the game are all copyrighted in 1991 and 1998. The Animal Helpers© Version additions are also copyrighted in 2002.

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