When the weekend arrives it is board game time, especially in the winter. My work week involves a lot of alone time and a lot problem–solving time. Sometimes on Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday I’m not up for a complex, strategic, mathematical board game journey where the main objective is to outscore a friend, family member, or partner. My desire for a little more bonding and interaction has led me to the cooperative board game genre. The majority of cooperative games have asymmetrical play so you and your teammates are working toward a common goal with different abilities and specialties. Like most genres of tabletop games, cooperative board games run the gambit from easy to difficult, from simple to complex.
I’m not sure how this is possible, but at the time that I am writing this blog post, none of my favorite cooperative–style board games rank among the Top 30 on Board Game Atlas. Rather than think this is a sign of my questionable taste, I’m choosing to believe that it’s just that these games haven’t gotten as much exposure and promotion as cooperative favorites like Gloomhaven.
My Top Rated Cooperative Games: Horrified, The Crew, and Pandemic
These games are at the top of my list for cooperative board game play. Horrified has a really strong theme and fits the bill if you want something light and fun. The Crew is a quiet and serious cooperative trick-taking game. Pandemic is the total package, at times quiet and thoughtful and at other times interactive and fast-paced as your team employs strategy to snuff out viral hot-spots all around the globe. Sometimes picking the right board game to play is about knowing what you and your group are in the mood for.
Horrified Board Game – It Just Screams October and It’s Kitschy!
My partner and I played Horrified a handful of times in the month of October. We battled Dracula and the Werewolf which gave us that sense of Halloween being just around the corner. You can up your game difficulty by adding more monsters to the game. The other monsters you can battle are the Swamp Thing, Frankenstein’s Monster and his Bride, a Mummy, and the Invisible Man. There are really great figurines for each monster and even if you, or the occasional villager, meets an untimely end, it doesn’t feel like the end of the world, just play the game again.
I’m not sure that Horrified has infinite replay–ability but that’s ok because you can give this game to a friend and get another edition, Horrified: American Monsters!
Horrified would be a good selection for the whole family. There’s a lot of group planning around each turn and a fair amount of laughter in the character cards and locations if your group is into it.
Check out how Horrified ranks on Board Game Matrix.
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine by Kosmos
This trick-taking game isn’t for everyone but if you like a little bit of logic, a little bit of intuition, and a lot of quiet time, The Crew can be intensely satisfying. You and your ‘crew’ try to complete trick-taking mission objectives in a certain order and according to assignment. The space theme is somewhat irrelevant to how the game plays. If that doesn’t bother you because you are an order-loving, card-counting nerd, then this cooperative game is for you.
I’ve been told I get a little too intense with this game. I’m just enthusiastic about getting the job done and finding out the goals of the next mission. There are 50 levels in total and they get progressively harder to “win” as you move forward. I have not discover Planet Nine but I continue to look.
The Crew ranks pretty low on my game design radar but on the plus side it is small and inexpensive which are nice because your initial investment is small.
I can’t imagine this cooperative game would be much of a family game unless your kids like to sit quietly and count cards. I would love to meet the children who clamor to play The Crew if any do exist.
Check out how The Crew ranks on Board Game Matrix
Pandemic Board Game: A Classic But is it Too Soon?
Board game maven Tom Vassel calls Pandemic, “One of the best co-op board games ever designed.”
Pandemic has a confident vibe coming right out of the box. How else can you explain that such an amazing product was willing to go with “meh” box cover art and a world map board design aesthetic that is reminiscent of older games like Risk. Once you start to read the rules, it becomes clear that you are not playing Risk? The complexity of weighing asymmetrical player abilities, city variances, turn options, and many small goals to reach to ultimate goal: saving the world from Global Pandemic, makes you feel invested from the get go.
If you were looking for a quiet evening where no one utters the word COVID for an hour or two, then maybe circle back to Pandemic somewhere down the road. But if you want an evening of near-perfect, fast-paced game play where each turn changes your calculation, Pandemic is a solid choice.
There have been a bunch of different Pandemic editions since the original game was released. If the Pandemic style suits you but you are tired of working so hard to save humanity in its current state, you might consider Pandemic — The Fall of Rome or Pandemic — The Reign of Cthulhu.
How Pandemic ranks on Board Game Matrix
Decent, Fun, Reliable Cooperative Board Game Options
Wonder Woman and Code Names: Duet aren’t exactly rocket science but if you want to do some thinking without a ton of rules, these games make for some fun.
Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons — Come on Ladies, Let’s Save Themyscira!
DC Comics is no Marvel Comics at the movie theater. That being said, the Wonder Woman board game is more than a little bit charming. You get to be one of five Amazon warriors defending Themyscira from one of three enemies — Ares, Cheetah, or Circe. Each villain has a slightly different set of powers and a slightly different degree of difficulty. This game isn’t too terribly complicated and if you want to move some fun miniatures around a decent city board and make jokes about being a bad–ass Amazon, this is your game. The player turns are mostly planed together so the conversation and interactivity level is there.
Code Names: Duet Find a Friend and Celebrate Your Amazing Connection!
Code Names: Duet isn’t to be confused with the original Code Names party game. Duet is a two player edition of Code Names that is a little bit of a mind–meld with the person you are playing with. If you have a shared language it is a lot easier to find a common connection between a few words that, at first glance, seem to have nothing in common.
This can be a good warm up game or a good end of the evening game depending your mood.
In our household, Code Names: Duet has proven to be a good choice for family members who don’t love all board games but are willing to hang out me and indulge the board–gaming habit.
How Code Name: Duet ranks on Board Game Matrix
The Cooperative Game for Every One… Except Me
I’ve never wanted to like a game more but I just can’t get there with Forbidden Island. It feels wrong to throw any board game under the bus, especially one as popular as Forbidden Island. That being said, I do feel as though Forbidden Island has thrown me under the bus. Many times.
Forbidden Island is my nemesis.
The plot of the game is pretty simple. Each player on your team has a different enhanced ability and you work together gathering pairs of treasures so your island won’t sink into the ocean but watch out because Water Rising cards move you ever closer to the land around you collapsing. What can I say about this game except that my team loses every time — even with the easiest game play setup. It’s very discouraging. The threat of the Water Rising cards causes me actual low–level anxiety but the good news is, other people just love this game!
For it’s relatively low cost, Forbidden Island has a nice box, set–up, and game pieces. Also, there is a version of this game for play on your iPad. Yes, I bought that and me and my team fell into the ocean and went glug–glug under the water in the app as well.
Forbidden Island and sister game Forbidden Desert remain modern cooperative classics.
How Forbidden Island ranks on Board Game Matrix
Cooperative Board Game Choices are Growing Like Crazy
There are a bunch of great game shops in the Portland metro area and many of them have been around for years. A decade ago, the cooperative game shelf was a sad, lonely little spot in most of these stores. Flash forward to today and are a number of great choices. Whether you like word games, guessing games, strategy games, trick–taking games, unlock games, there is something for you to play in the cooperative board game genre! Huzzah!
