Who goes first in Pandemic?
English base game · copyright 2013, eight-page rulebook
Look at the City cards in your opening hands. Whoever holds the card showing the largest city population takes the first turn.
Rule details
Compare individual City cards, not each hand’s combined population or the players’ home cities.
Use the population printed on the cards. This entry does not cover Pandemic Legacy or Hot Zone.
If there’s a tie
The cited starting-player instruction does not specify a tie-break. We don’t infer one.
Source & edition
- Pandemic — English base-game rulebookZ-Man Games · Page 3, Begin play (step 6); page 8, credits · Checked 2026-09-23
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