A medical education card game

Pharmageddon: Bugs vs Drugs is a new antibiotic card game providing a more enjoyable and engaging way to learn antibiotics than simple flash cards or tables and charts. Learn antibiotics using a fun, endlessly replayable game that tests your knowledge beyond trivia-style questions. Decide when to play the best antibiotic at the right time to kill the most pathogens while inflicting the fewest side effects. Of course, they also make pretty good flash cards too...

Play with 1-4 players in 3 different modes: solo, vs, or co-op. 

Play on a variety of difficulty levels to learn best. 


Kickstarter funded and successfully shipped 2023! 

Pharmageddon. The antibiotic card game.

Game Concept:

In Pharmageddon, a new antibiotic card game, players vie to kill the most Bugs using various Drugs. On your turn, you'll attempt to match the right Drugs to kill the most Bugs - but beware, Drugs have side effects that can harm your Health and Flora. Run out of either one and you'll need to take a break to Recover. Not all Drugs work for every infection, and Bugs can have resistance, but if you play your cards wisely you'll kill the most bugs with the least collateral damage and emerge victorious!  


Here's the Basics (for multiplayer versus mode):

There are two decks of cards: Bug Cards and Drug Cards. Each player uses Drug Cards from their hand to slay Bug Cards which are laid out in a 3 x 3 square playing area. If you successfully match an effective Drug to a susceptible Bug you get to keep matching more. If you fail, refill your Drug Card hand and the playing area, and play moves to the next player. Each Drug has its own Health and Flora costs which must be paid before playing the card. Run out of either, and you will have to skip a turn to recover. Players may also use their Drug Cards to play for Resistance against opposing players blocking their attacks. Event Cards may temporarily tweak the rules or offer penalties and bonuses. Game ends after 7 rounds and player with the most killed Bug Cards is the winner! 

In cooperative mode players play together against the Bug Card deck. The 3 x 3 square starts with only 3 Bugs that slowly fill up depending on game difficulty level. If the square overflows with Bug Cards players lose a Life, and if they lose too many Lives they're out! Game ends when the team completes the deck or all players have lost all their lives. 

Solo mode is very similar to cooperative mode, but with a few rule changes to optimize the single player experience. Choose a game length and difficulty, then select your best Drug Cards to hold back the Bug Card deck's slowly increasing wave of pathogens. A quick way to test your skills!


Play Count: 1 – 4 players

Playing Time: 20 – 30 minutes

Complexity: light – medium


Pharmageddon: Bugs vs Drugs card examples.

Game overview with multiplayer "vs mode" walk through (super amatuer video, sorry) (5:24 mins):

Multiplayer "cooperative mode" walk through (2:56 mins):

Single player "solo mode" walk through (3:01 mins): 

The Print N' Play cards can be downloaded here (.pdf) 

The Instructions can be downloaded here (.pdf)

A game play One Page summary can be downloaded here (.pdf)

Follow @PharmageddonG on Twitter 

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Checkout Pharmageddon on BoardGameGeek

Email pharmageddonthegame@gmail.com