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Outbreak
How to Play
Game Interface
Strategy

How to Play

Outbreak is a game for 1-4 players. The very first play will bring a few surprises, while following games will reveal the different stratagies needed to win. The basic idea is that each player has to fit as many of her 20 pieces on the board as possible.

Each player is assigned a different colored piece, known as a cell, when the game starts. Your cells may be layed out during your turn, one per turn. The first cell placed must touch the blinking corner for your color.

Player Moves

Players get 1 move per turn. A move is the placement of a piece onto the board. The goal is to fit as many of your 20 pieces on the board as possible according to the following rules:

  • Each time you place a new cell it must touch one of your already placed cells at a corner. It may not touch another cell of your color edge-to-edge, only corner-to-corner, contact with other players cells is not restricted.
  • Moves are timed by the clock in the upper right hander corner of the game window. If time expires before you move then your turn is lost. The default timeout is 60 seconds, but can be changed.
  • There 20 different boards, also known as petri dishes. Each dish contains a different arrangement of neutral cells that are grey in color. A players cells may not be placed on these neutral cells.

Learning to Play

Outbreak is supplied with robot players (Hal, Robby and Gort) that will fill any empty seats in a game.  This will allow you to play with less than three friends.  It will allow you to play alone so you can learn how to play or brush up your skills before challenging a friend. Over time you will learn to develop your own clever strategies and discover the nuances of the different petri dishes!

Figure 1. 
To play this game pick the Download button in the Games Panel shown left.  After it completes downloading hit the Play button to bring up the Play Box and select one of the options.

Winning

The goal of the game is to place as many of your cells as possible onto the board. The game is over when no player can lay a cell on the board. Scoring counts the total amount of space your cells take up, so large cells count more. Bonus points are given if you use all of your cells. Have more points than the other players to win the game!