THE LAB is a competitive card game for 3 to 6 players in which you will be faced with some of the most dangerous microorganisms in existence. Be the first to earn 10 Cure points and try not to succumb to any of the insidious infections you will encounter throughout the game.
Before starting the game, each player receives 3 Marker tokens, 1 Blood Transfusion token, and chooses a Player board. The first player takes the Patient Zero token and goes first, determined by the person who was most recently sick in real life.
Infections cards are shuffled and placed as a deck on the table. Each player is dealt 5 Treatment cards, keeping them hidden from others, and the remaining cards are placed on the table. Lastly, the Bad Luck cards are shuffled and placed on the table.
Each Round begins with Patient Zero creating the Round deck by drawing cards from the Infections deck. Then, starting with Patient Zero and proceeding clockwise, each player takes their turn. They choose a card from the Round deck and fight the infection by playing Treatment cards. If they can't defeat it alone, they can seek help from other players. Successfully curing the infection earns them Cure points, while failure results in 1 Infection point. Players then draw new Treatment cards to replenish their hand, up to a maximum of 5 cards. Finally, the Patient Zero token is passed to the next player in clockwise order.