If you’re a fan of cooperative boardgames in general, or Pandemic in particular, then chances are you were as excited as we were when it was initially announced that there would be sequels, spin-offs, and then a version that plays like a tabletop RPG campaign. That last one was especially exciting, and then the release of Pandemic Legacy came out and there was a Red and a Blue design.
What was the difference? Which was better? What one should our group play?
Simply put, the only difference between Pandemic Legacy Red and Pandemic Legacy blue is artwork on the box and the rules book. That’s it. There is no difference in the contents of the game or how it is played.
Yup Pandemic Legacy Red comes in a red box with a rulebook printed on red pages with one bit of cover art. Pandemic Legacy Blue comes in a blue box with a rulebook printed on blue pages with another bit of cover art.
That’s it. You just choose the one that you personally thinks looks the best. The game is going to be the same either way, though if you have one of each there is technically a chance of slightly different gameplay.
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Pandemic Legacy Blue Vs. Pandemic Legacy Red
So since we’ve already hit that these two games are actually one game, the same game, that brings up a logical question: why are there two different colored boxes? And why would you call one blue versus calling another one red?
Why have different names at all?
The main reason there is a Pandemic Legacy Red and a Pandemic Legacy Blue is if someone wants to run two games simultaneously. This would generally be running the game Pandemic Legacy for two different groups of gamers. The different colored boxes would make it easy to tell them apart.
So it was thinking of convenience for the game master who might be balancing more than one group.
That and a chance to show off additional art, which is always a good thing. As you can see, below.
That’s it. The only difference between Red and Blue are the box art, box color, and the art & color of the instruction booklet. The game play, story, and pieces are exactly the same.
Pandemic Legacy was the highest ranked game on Board Game Geek for two straight years and still remains in the top 10 to this day.
If you’ve played the original Pandemic Co-op game and want to see what Pandemic Legacy is all about, you can still pick up season one on Amazon:
Pandemic Legacy Season 2 Yellow Vs. Pandemic Legacy Season 2 Black
The same thing applies to later seasons. So this brings up Pandemic Legacy Yellow vs. Pandemic Legacy Black. What’s the difference between these two games? The cover art and color of the boxes. That’s it.
So if you worry about missing out, don’t. While the artwork or look of the box/rule book is different just like with season one’s blue/red the game is actually identifcal.
This is done to make it easier for a game master to run multiple games with multiple groups at once more easily. That’s it.
So pick the one you think looks coolest and go for it!
If They’re the Same, Why Are There Different Prices on Amazon?
No clue on this one. For some people there might be a collectability factor where they have one but not the other. Us gamers can be a weird group, especially if we decide to go the collector’s route 🙂
That said, since the Red Pandemic Legacy or Blue Pandemic Legacy both display very nice, very collectible, artwork it makes sense that some people might want to purchase a copy of both.
Usually the price is only within a couple of bucks of the other. There’s enough copies out there that the days of wild price swings should be over.
In Conclusion
If your only concern is the playing experience, you can buy either Blue Pandemic Legacy or Red Pandemic Legacy. They give the same gaming experience because they are the same game. So buy confidently, enjoy the fine box art, and the incredible gaming experience that is about to follow!
Proud to embrace the locally created moniker of “Corrupt Overlord” from one of the all time great Lords of Waterdeep runs, Shane is one member of the Assorted Meeples crew and will be hard at work creating awesome content for the website. He is a long-time player of board games, one time semi-professional poker player, and tends to run to the quirky or RPG side of things when it comes to playing video games. He loves tabletop roleplaying systems like Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, Werewolf, Fate, and others, and not only has been a player but has run games as DM for years. You can find his other work in publications like Level Skip or Hobby Lark.