Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu FAQ
96 questions players ask · Updated Nov 12, 2026 · Full rulebook
Setup
1. Actions
- Can you trade Clue cards with a player in the same town but on a different location?
- Does giving or taking several cards in one trade count as a single action?
- Must you use all four actions in a turn?
- Where can you go when you take the bus?
- Can you travel from one bus station to another with the Take the Bus action?
- Is Arkham's Train Station a bus station even though its bus symbol is reversed?
- Can you seal a gate while Cultists are still in that town?
- Can you seal a gate while a Shoggoth is on your space without defeating it first?
- Can you travel through a sealed gate, and do Shoggoths move toward sealed gates?
- Can you look through the discard piles?
- Does bus travel stop at Shoggoths along the way?
2. Draw Cards
- Do you still draw the two Player cards if you took fewer than four actions?
- If you hold six cards, do you still draw two Player cards?
- If you already hold seven cards, can you take a card from another player before discarding?
- On an Evil Stirs card, does Fight the Madness make every player roll Sanity, or only the player who drew it?
- If Fight the Madness triggers an Awakening Ritual, does it resolve before the rest of the Evil Stirs card?
- Which Summoning cards come from the bottom of the deck?
- If two Evil Stirs cards are drawn together, which Summoning card gets reshuffled?
3. Summoning
Awakening Rituals
- If a Paranoid roll adds two Cultists to a space that already has three, does it cause one Awakening Ritual or two?
- Are the three Cultists removed from a space after an Awakening Ritual?
- Do Awakening Rituals spread Cultists to neighbouring locations, like Pandemic outbreaks?
- What happens when a Cultist must be placed on a space that already holds three?
- Can one Summoning card cause several Awakenings, and can a Relic interrupt them?
Old Ones
- Does Dagon skip gates that are sealed when placing Cultists?
- How many cards does Yig require to seal a gate?
- Does the Detective's four-card gate-sealing ability reduce Yig's extra card?
- Does Azathoth remove Cultists from the game for good, and does the effect repeat?
- Can Seal of Leng cancel Azathoth's effect?
- Can an Atlach-Nacha Cultist be added to a town sealed by the Elder Sign?
- With Ithaqua in play, how many Cultists must you defeat to walk out of a location holding two or more?
- What does the Shub-Niggurath Old One do when it is revealed?
Shoggoths
- When do Shoggoths move?
- Do cards drawn by Evil Stirs or an Old One's effect move Shoggoths when they show the icon?
- What happens when a Shoggoth standing on an open gate has to move again, including when Hastur moves it?
- Does a Shoggoth placed or moved onto an open gate awaken an Old One at once?
- Do a Shoggoth and Cultists sharing a space trigger anything?
- What can place a Shoggoth on the board?
- What happens when a Shoggoth moves onto a space with investigators?
- What happens when a Shoggoth must be placed but none are left in the supply?
Relic Cards
- What does the Elder Sign relic stop in a town whose gate is sealed?
- Can you play the Elder Sign on a town whose gate is not sealed, and does the effect carry over?
- Can clearing a sealed town's Cultists flip its gate to the Elder Sign side, and can more than one Elder Sign be in play?
- Can an Occultist still move Cultists into a town sealed by the Elder Sign, and do Shoggoths still move there?
- What happens when a Summoning card matches a town sealed by the Elder Sign?
- How does the Mi-Go Eye reduce the Clue cards needed to seal a gate?
- Who makes the Sanity roll for a Relic such as the Mi-Go Eye, and when?
- Can you play a Relic between flipping Summoning cards?
- Can a player play a Relic on another player's turn?
- Can you play two Relic cards one after the other?
- Does the Bizarre Statue stop the Summoning step after an Evil Stirs card?
- How does Alhazred's Flame remove Cultists?
- Do you draw a Relic when a card effect such as Alhazred's Flame removes a Shoggoth?
- What happens when you defeat a Shoggoth and the Relic pile is empty?
- How do you gain Relic cards during play, and is the unused Relic pile removed from the game?
- Can you play Warded Box on another player's turn, and how long does it last?
- Can Song of Kadath restore an insane investigator's sanity completely?
- Is there a way to regain sanity other than sealing a gate, and does an extra action come with it?
- Do you roll Sanity if you discard a Relic to meet the hand limit?
- Does the Book of Shadow Relic's rearrange effect apply to the Summoning deck?
Sanity Rolls
- Do you roll Sanity once or once per Shoggoth when you enter a space holding two Shoggoths?
- Does a player moving through a Shoggoth's space without stopping have to roll Sanity?
- Do you roll Sanity again each turn while sharing a space with a Shoggoth?
- Does sealing a gate make you roll Sanity, or restore sanity to an investigator who is still sane?
- If you use a gate onto a space with a Shoggoth, do you roll Sanity for both the gate and the Shoggoth?
- Does a Shoggoth appearing on your space force a Sanity roll, including at setup or from Evil Stirs?
- Do you roll Sanity when you defeat a Shoggoth?
- If a move passes through a Shoggoth's space and the Sanity roll is Paranoid, where do the Cultists go?
Insane Investigators
- Can an insane Reporter use her free Clue-card ability on another player's turn, or take the bus?
- Can an insane Hunter defeat a Shoggoth for one action?
- Does an insane Hunter roll only the first time she enters an empty location each turn?
- Does Warded Box cancel the insane Hunter's madness cultist effect?
- What happens when an insane investigator seals a gate?
- If an insane investigator seals a gate and then moves onto a Shoggoth, is sanity restored first, and is there a roll?
- If you go insane mid-turn, do you lose an action right away?
- How many actions does the Doctor have when insane?
- Must an insane Magician play a Relic he holds on his turn?
- Can an insane investigator play Relic cards?
- Can an insane investigator pay an Old One's sanity loss, such as Shudde M'Ell's?
Investigators - Fine Points
- How many actions does the Hunter need to clear three Cultists and a Shoggoth on one space?
- Can the Hunter defeat two Shoggoths in one turn?
- Does the Hunter need to be on the same location as a Shoggoth to defeat it with one action?
- Does the Hunter draw a Relic when she defeats a Shoggoth with her one-action ability?
- Can the Magician trade any number of Relic cards for free?
- If anyone can play a Relic at any time, why give one to another player?
- Does the Reporter's move from one bus station to another cost an action?
- Must the Occultist share a location with the Cultist she moves?
- Can the Occultist's two-action ability move a Shoggoth to any location?
- Does the Driver ignore Ithaqua's walking restriction?
- Can the Magician choose his starting Relic?