Virus! Review and Rules of the Bestseller Game for this Quarantine!

Virus is a card game where you must protect your organs from being infected by a rapidly spreading disease.
It is one of the best-selling games in Europe and its design, dynamics and format will guarantee you a good time with your family or friends.

All the action takes place in a hospital, where a group of scientists discover that the containers of some samples have some experimental viruses that spread rapidly in the health centre.

Although it may not seem like it at first, once you understand the purpose and the way of playing, you will be hooked with this esplendid game and you won’t be able to stop playing!
Also, this game is suitable for children over 8 years old and adults, so it is a great idea for a family reunion, a couple’s evening or a night out with colleagues.

You’ll really have a lot to explore when you start using it, as there are several ways to interact and you’ll be able to implement different types of strategies, making every game a new adventure full of obstacles and advantages.

What is Virus About?

Virus is a game of cards that are sorted by different colors, but are also divided by organs, medicines, treatments and viruses.
You can also find jokers and special cards that will help you achieve your goal: to get a complete body, made up of 4 different cards, and be healthy.

The games last approximately 20 minutes and you can use it with 2 to 6 players.
The number of people participating will not affect the duration of the round or the ease with which it takes place.

And to play Virus, we recommend that you play this background music

Virus Game Components

The game is made up of 68 cards of different colors that are divided into organs, medicines, treatments and viruses.
Some of them have special features that will give you an advantage over your rivals if you get them.

It also has some cards that are blank, these are used to create your own rules and decide to live the game in a different way.
And also, you can use them to replace a card, in case you have lost it.

Organ Cards

The organ cards are essential in the development of the game Virus, because the final goal is to get 4 of these different and that none of them is infected by the disease.
Players cannot have 2 identical body parts at any time during the game.

Within this classification you will find a multicolor organ card, which works as a joker, which means that it will help you to complete your body so that you can win.
It fulfills all the functions of an organ card and its advantage is that it can act as any of them.
However, you must keep in mind that being multi-colored you can get infected with a virus of any color or be vaccinated in the same way.

If you have five organs, including a multi-coloured one, you can win, as long as 4 of them are not infected.

Infection Cards

These cards are designed to attack your opponents in order to reach your goal more quickly.
You can infect other players’ organs or destroy their medicine.
You can also use it on your own body, if you are looking to discard an organ you already have infected.

In this category you will also find a multi-coloured virus card, which can infect or destroy an organ or medicine of any colour. But it can also be cured by any vaccine.

When using this card you have 3 types of actions you can do: infect, remove or destroy vaccine.

• Infect: with the virus cards you can infect an organ that is free. You must keep in mind that both cards must have the same color to perform the action.
• Remove: if you want to destroy and discard an organ that is already infected, you must put a second virus of the same color on it. What you’ll do is get all 3 cards out of the game.
• Destroy vaccine: You can destroy a vaccine with one virus card. By placing this card on a medicine that is on an organ, you can discard the 3 elements and thus attack your opponent.

Medicine Cards

These cards allow you to protect your organs or destroy viruses, as long as they are the same colour, unless you have a multi-coloured medicine card in your possession.

You can do 3 things with them: cure, vaccinate and immunize.

• Cure: you can use the medicine card to cure an organ that is infected by a virus of the same color. In the end, you can discard both cards and get that part of the body back as new.
• Vaccinate: You can use the medicine to protect your organs. If you place this card on a body part of the same color, your opponents will have to use two viruses to infect it, which will give you an advantage.
• Immunize: when an organ has two medicines on it, it cannot be infected by any virus. The cards must be of the same color and to indicate that it is immunized you will have to turn them over, so that the other players will know that they cannot attack it.

Treatment Cards

These are special cards designed to change the path of the game. They are used on the discard deck and can have several effects that will upset all the players.
You can use them to perform transplants, steal organs, infect, use a latex glove or generate a medical error.

• Transplants: If you have a treatment card you can trade organs between 2 players. For this action it doesn’t matter if the organ is a different color, infected, healthy or vaccinated, however, you can’t do it for one that is immunized or in case the players have 2 of the same color.
• Stealing organs: The treatments will also allow you to steal an organ from any partner at the table. It doesn’t matter if they are healthy, infected or vaccinated, the only thing that prohibits you from doing so is that they are immunized.
• Use latex glove: the player who wants to use the treatment card as a latex glove can make all the players to discard their hand. Bearing in mind that when you start the next round the other participants will have no cards and therefore, lose a turn in the game.
• Generating a medical error: By generating a medical error with a treatment card you can swap your whole body with another player. This action includes organs, viruses and vaccines, regardless of whether there are any immunized ones.

How to play Virus?

At the beginning of the game you will have to hand out 3 cards to each player. The cards that correspond to the organs must be placed on the table in front of you and in view of your partners, because it is on them that the actions can be performed. The other cards will be part of your hand and they must always be 3.

During each turn you can do one action on your own cards or those of your partners and you can only use one card from your hand, however, you can discard any amount of them.

At the end of your turn, you may take from the deck the number of cards needed to complete the 3 in your hand, so that you may give your turn to another player.

There must always be 2 decks of cards on the table, one of which will be a Discard Deck and the other will be available for players to draw cards during the game, called the Draw Deck. If the second deck is finished, you can use the Discard Deck, which does not need to be shuffled.

Recommendations for playing Virus

• Always keep in mind the cards on the other players’ bodies. In order to achieve the goal and win you must find a way to make it difficult for the other participants to get healthy organs. For this it is very important that you know the cards they have and act on them.
• Create a strategy. It is true that the game is changing and it is not easy to have a defined strategy from the beginning, since you will not know what cards you will get during the development of the rounds. However, you can start to think of a way to get through the goal, whether it is to always seek to attack others to neutralize them or to seek the immunization of your organs as soon as possible.
• Use the advantages. As we said there are cards that will give you advantages, and these will always be welcome during the game. Use them in a smart way so that you don’t end up affecting yourself with them.
• Think about how to act before you do. Each card has several actions and each one of them will bring a consequence, so it is important that before making a decision, you think about how this can affect you or benefit you.

Virus es uno de los juegos más venidos en España

Virus was created by three professional board game fans: Carlos López, a computer engineer; Domingo Cabrero, a graduate in business administration and Santi Satisteban, a technical engineer in industrial design.

Although initially the idea was to create a theme about spacecrafts, during the development of the project they decided that it would be more valuable to do it about a virus that travels through several parts of the body.

The first ones surprised with the success of the game were precisely its designers, since initially it was a product for their personal use and they did not plan to market it.
However, it was so well received by close friends and family that they ended up releasing it for public sale.

Its boom and acceptance has been incredible, to such an extent that it has become the best-selling game in Spain. Although the game was not initially designed for children, they have enjoyed this creation the most.

Did you know that there is also a second version of Virus?

Review on Virus, the bestselling card game in Spain

The truth is, this game is super entertaining.

Their games last an average of 10-15 minutes, and the more people playing, the better.

Although it is true that the game only allows a maximum of 6 players and a minimum of 2, the most optimal number is 4 players.

The game, given its simplicity, is designed for children over 7 years, so it is very good for children to learn while having fun.

A highly recommended game, suitable for the whole family and for spending a pleasant evening surrounded by friends. In addition, its low price makes it a great game to play!

And watch out, don’t get infected!

Besides the virus, there are other board games you definitely have to play:

 

Última actualización el 2024-04-26 / Enlaces de afiliados / Imágenes de la API para Afiliados