Board Games About Medical Practice and Disease
In chronological order
Wed Mar 8 20:59:49 UTC 2006
- Game of Life, The
(Milton Bradley; Milton Bradley; 1860)
Not truly on topic, but tangentially,
one of the possible outcomes for a player's life is to go to medical school and become a doctor.
- Ben Casey M.D.
(unknown; Transogram, 1961)
"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV".
- Operation
(Marvin Glass; Milton Bradley, 1965)
The canonical example of a doctor game that everyone thinks of
also has a spinoff,
Operation Brain Surgery
- Group Therapy
(Joseph Schlichter; Group Therapy Associates, 1969)
The allied field of psychology ...
- Snit's Revenge
(Tom Wham; TSR, 1977)
One player is a kind of creature which tries to fight off infection by
snits which attempt to ravage the internal organs while fighting the
immune system.
- What's Up, Doc?
(unknown, Milton Bradley, 1978)
Akin to Cluedo, a roll-and-move with logical deduction game.
The fun is in the made up disease names like Kneasles and Stinkfoot ...
- Doctor, Doctor!
(unknown; Ideal, 1978)
Keep making the correct diagnoses in this game of deduction and rise from mere medical student to Chief Doctor.
- Medical Monopoly
(James N. Vail; Professional Games, 1979)
This one and the next both premiered in 1979. Wonder which one had the idea first.
- Intern
(Dr. Cliff Andrew, Dr. Lou Andrew; Avalon Hill, 1979)
The Avalon Hill version.
- Source of the Nile
(Ross Maker, Dave Wesely; Discovery Games, Avalon Hill, 1979)
One of the professions a player can choose to be is doctor, which can
come in quite handy should one become sick in the heart of primitive Africa.
- Body War
(Aaron Klein, Maurizio Bertuzzi; B.T. Games, 1986)
In this Italian game human immunity cells struggle against invading
viruses, bacteria and tumors on a hexagonal grid.
- Adventures in Toothland
(Gregg Mason; Cavity Crasher Creations, 1987)
The allied field of dentistry takes a turn as players learn about
oral hygiene.
- Therapy
(Jay Titel; Milton Bradley, 1988)
The allied field of psychology ...
is a good subject for a game in the party category.
- Dynamite Nurse
(unknown; Hobby Japan, 1990)
This card game
induces a comical feel as slightly incompetent nurses attempt to cure
illnesses.
- Kreml (Kremlin)
(Urs Hostettler; Fata Morgana Spiele, 1988)
In this one, a leader who finds life in the Kremlin too stressful tends to get sick and must go to the Sanatorium for the cure, but it's a dangerous decision for who knows what his enemies will get up to while he's away.
- Guess Who's Gone to Surgery
(Lamar Emery, Carolan Emery; self, 1988)
The cover states "The hospital board game where you make the rounds".
- Plague!
(Christine Barsky; B&B Productions, 1991)
Inspired by Monty Python, a game of transporting loads of infected victims by wagon to their final resting places, while avoiding rats and fleas. The first to bury 99 victims wins. Hmmm, how are you ever going to get that many infected? You don't think nature can manage all that on its own, do you?
- Omega Virus, The
(Michael Gray; Milton Bradley, 1992)
Save the space station from the evil Omega Virus.
- Black Death
(Greg Porter; Blacksburg Tactical Research Center, 1993)
In this one you get to play the disease, having a Lethality and Virulence. Can you strike the right balance between the two to cause maximum damage? For example, too much Lethality (e.g. Ebola) and you can't spread very far because your victims die before they can pass it on.
- MediCumLaude
(Dr. Schneiderbanger, Dr. Urban; MLP / Urban & Schwarzenberg, 1993)
Not clear if it's a game or a training manual.
- Plague & Pestilence
(Tray Green and Dawn Payn; Hillary's Toy Box, 1994)
In this Take That! elimination card game the Bubonic Plague is always the ultimate winner.
- Pain Doctors: The Game of Recreational Surgery
(Michael A Powell, Victor Oliver; Dreamsville Publishing, 1996)
Perhaps a mirror of the common anxiety about seeing the doctor?
- Kill Doctor Lucky
(James Ernest; Cheapass Games, 1996)
I don't know whether Dr. Lucky is actually
a medical doctor, but at least the word is in the title. Others in this series are
Kill Doctor Lucky: Craigdarroch;
Save Doctor Lucky;
Save Doctor Lucky on Moon Base Copernicus.
- Manitou
(Günter Burkhardt; Goldsieber, 1997)
If you will permit a medicine man to enter the list. Note also that there is a witch doctor who sometimes plays a crucial role in Source of the Nile.
- Quacksalbe
(Volker Tietze; Feuer & Flamme, 1998)
This little-known cult favorite is an amusing trick-taking card game which features four competing treatment methods: drugs, accupuncture, blood letting and electric shock. Players try to ensure their preference is the strongest treatment without overdoing it. Player who has had the most real-life medical treatment goes first.
- Infection
(Dan Sullivan; Earwig Enterprises, 1998)
American game about fighting off multiple diseases is lightly less satirical than the above, but it's interesting that early it's actually a valid tactic to try to gain more diseases in order to get more money for treatment.
- Ebola Monkey Hunt
(Chuck Wilhelm and Eric Kriser; Placebo Press, 1998)
Bringing back monkeys alive, but sometimes the tranquilizer darts "misses," hitting a fellow researcher.
- Alien Autopsy
(unknown; DaMert Company, 1998)
Perhaps a mirror of the common anxiety about little green men?
- Beest
(Jeroen Doumen, Joris Wiersinga, Herman Haverkort; Splotter Spellen, 2001)
Uncovered in the Antarctic wastes, a new disease seeks to expand its tentactles across the earth.
- Virus & Co
(Jörg Spiegelhalter, Frank Stark; Zoch Verlag, 2002)
And then there is medicine from the diseases' points of view!
An auction game featuring players as guinea pigs taking viruses and similar microbes.
- Resistoly
(unknown; Lichtwehr Pharma, unknown)
*Ka-choo*! Can you Resist the invading viruses?