While most board games set players against one another, there are also plenty of cooperative board games where the team works toward a common goal. However, if winning was guaranteed every game, these experiences would quickly become stale.
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The following co-op board games often feel at their best and most balanced when the team is losing, trying to claw back victory from the jaws of defeat, or simply survive a few more turns. When victory is achieved, it feels even sweeter, and the team will hopefully be able to look back on clutch plays or big-brain tactics they deployed.
Pandemic
Save The World From Deadly Diseases
- Playtime: 45
- Players: 2-4
- Age: 8+
In Pandemic, players must work together to save the world from deadly outbreaks by dealing with epidemics before they can spread, and by eventually researching vaccines. Players will spread out across the map to deal with different diseases, trying to min-max their journeys and actions to waste no time.
Research must also be shared between players if there's any hope of finding vaccines, which is the main win condition. Each player also has their own class, granting them unique abilities, so sometimes it's beneficial to have a specific player in an important area. If players get lucky by not drawing any epidemic cards early on, the game could potentially feel easy and not as rewarding. However, most times these epidemic cards will spiral things out of control, giving the whole team a headache over what to do next. Thankfully, pushing back against such odds with the world at stake makes for a fantastic game.
Spirit Island
Defend An Island As Spirits
- Playtime: 90-120 mins
- Players: 1-4
- Age: 13+
When it comes to cooperative board games, Spirit Island is one of the big ones, and while it's also one of the most difficult tabletop games to learn, it's more than worth the time and effort. To defend the island against colonial invaders, players take on the roles of vastly different spirits who have their own abilities and resource mechanics.
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As the invaders spawn, build, and attack, players must try to push them back, protecting the local Dohan and using them to their advantage. For most of the game, players will always feel like they are losing, as the initial win condition is to remove all invaders, towns, and cities. However, by generating fear, the spirits can gradually lower this win condition so that they possibly only have to wipe out all the cities. There are, therefore, many ways to win, especially when Spirits work together, combining abilities.
Gloomhaven
A Fantasy RPG With Turn-Based Combat
- Playtime: 60-120 mins
- Players: 1-4
- Age: 14+
Gloomhaven is one of the best board games for lovers of fantasy RPGs, and while it isn't as complicated as something like Dungeons & Dragons, it still has impressive depth and a box load of content. Playing as pre-made characters with their own attributes and skills, solo adventurers or cooperative teams must battle through a myriad of monsters as they make their way through dungeons and ruins.
Most of the game is spent in combat, with adventurers managing actions and resources while using cards that can only be recovered after resting. After each rest, however, one card will be lost permanently, weakening the team as a whole, although these losses can be balanced out by looting. As an ever-unfolding story is at the center of this gameplay, losing doesn't feel too bad, as every struggle can be seen as part of the journey. It also feels incredibly rewarding to beat bosses as a team, given how tough the game can be.
Ghost Stories
Defeat Ghosts As Taoist Monks
- Playtime: 60 mins
- Players: 1-4
- Age: 12+
In Ghost Stories, players take on the roles of Taoist monks defending a village from the lord of hell and his ghosts. Each monk has their own abilities, but they also have health tokens, meaning they are far from immortal. Village tiles also have special actions, but if these are haunted by a ghost, the team loses access to this additional help.
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If three tiles are lost in this way, it's also game over. It's therefore easy to see why the game is so difficult, as it only gets harder the longer it drags out. Naturally, this is a great option to play during the spooky season, along with some Halloween-themed video games.
The Crew: The Quest For Planet Nine
A Cooperative Trick-Taking Card Game Where Communication Is Limited
- Playtime: 20 mins
- Players: 2-5
- Age: 10+
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking game comprised of 50 missions where a team of astronauts searches for the elusive planet nine, which real scientists are currently trying to locate. During a mission, each player is assigned a task, and all of these must be completed for the mission to be deemed a success. A single failure will derail the attempt, and the team must try again.
To succeed in forming the correct tricks at the right time, teamwork is therefore essential. Unfortunately, communication is not easy in space, meaning failure is likely, but often funny in the way it plays out. Furthermore, each mission gets progressively harder. If players enjoy this game but want to try out something similar with an ocean exploration theme, they might enjoy The Crew: Mission Deep Sea.
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We have selected six excellent board games that are either designed for solo play or feature a single-player experience.