It was quite close. The spread of the yellow diseases threatened to end the game. We'd suffered 7 outbreaks and only had 2 yellow cubes left in the supply when the game was won.
I'd have written a session report but I didn't remember enough details. I do recall that I drew enough cards for a red cure in the first few turns, and only drew ONE infection in the red area. So I literally wiped out the red disease in no time at all.
I also realized after the game was over that I had left 5 red player cards in the box. Considering that, it's quite fortunate that I drew 5 of them so early and then none later (only 7 total).
The eradication of red didn't exactly help out much, since as I said there was only one red infection. The first 10-20 infection cards you draw will basically keep getting infected the entire game (due to epidemic), while over half the infection deck usually isn't touched.
Red was easily eradicated due to the lack of red infections, but the eradication of red also did little to help me because there were so many black and yellow cards in the infection pile that I couldn't control them both. I focussed on black, and yellow nearly got out of hand.
I suggest you turn the research centers on their side, so it is an upward extruding house. Not only does it make it easier for them to fit on the board, but it also makes them close to the size of the player pieces, which fits well considering they are one of the few "good guys" on the board.
