Outbreak
You're the public-health team — flatten the curve by pushing the effective reproduction number under 1 before infections blow past the cap.
How to play
Each turn you allocate a limited budget across four levers — Testing, Distancing, Quarantine and Vaccine — while a live dial shows the effective R your plan would produce. Get R under 1.00 (the dial turns green) and commit the week to advance the disease model. Keep infections below the cap until the epidemic burns out.
- Every lever spends from a fixed weekly budget — you can't max them all
- One lever alone saturates; a balanced response works better on big outbreaks
- Watch the epidemic curve and the immune line grow on the chart
Controls
- Desktop: drag the four sliders, then click Advance the week; Clear plan resets your allocation
- Phone & tablet: drag the sliders and tap the on-screen buttons — fully touch-friendly
Game modes
- Difficulty: Easy, Medium or Hard scenarios
- Daily shared scenario or endless Practice
Tips & strategy
- Spend early — suppressing spread before the peak saves the most budget overall
- Vaccination pays off late by shrinking the susceptible pool permanently
- Aim to keep R just under 1 rather than overspending to crush it
What you'll learn
Outbreak is an epidemiology strategy game built on a turn-based SIR disease model, teaching how infections spread and can be contained.
- Skills: epidemiology, the SIR model, exponential spread, public-health strategy
- Best for: roughly grades 8–12 (ages 13+)
- For parents & teachers: a model-based look at how diseases move.
About Outbreak
Outbreak is an original epidemiology strategy game built around a turn-based SIR disease model. Play it free in your browser, no download needed.
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