play board games
Board game reviews, strategy tips & session reports
Top 10 Co-operative Board Games
I thought it was time for another Top Ten list. I have played a good bit of Space Hulk: Death Angel lately and recently got Red November, so co-operative board games were on my mind. For purposes of this list I will define co-op games as those that have players compete vs one player or all vs the board game itself. There may or may not be a traitor involved as I think that adds to the tension. As usual this list only includes games I have personally played. There is a list of honorable mentions at the bottom that I haven’t played but heard good things about. So without further ado, here are my top ten co-operative board games:
10.Cranium Hoopla – A party game that is totally co-operative would rank higher but I am more likely to play party games against others than pull this from the game closet.
9. Red November – A little too complex and fiddly plus if you die you are out of the game for good.
8. Battle Star Galactica – Again a very complex game it can also be fairly long. It does add some excellent player interaction and paranoia.
7. Doom: the board game – Even though one player must be the invaders everyone else must work together to win this game.
6. World of Warcraft: the board game – Although not meant to be totally co-operative, I think this game plays best with 2-players on the same team. It plays faster and you still get to enjoy the good things about the game.
5. Space Hulk: Death Angel – This game does a great job creating a tense and suspenseful atmosphere. Unfortunately if your marines die (which is likely) you are stuck watching.
4. Lord of the Rings – Good theme and easy to learn mechanics.
3. Scotland Yard – An oldie but goodie and even if one player must play Mr. X it is still enjoyable for all.
2. Shadows over Camelot – This game is mostly co-operative, but the traitor can create some tension. Pretty easy to learn and I love the theme.
1. Pandemic – Can you save the world? This is a fun theme with simple gameplay. Most everyone will enjoy it.
Honorable Mentions:
Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft , Arkham Horror series, Forbidden Island, Descent: Journeys in the Dark
Please let me know if you agree, disagree, or just have more to add in the comments section.
7 Responses to “Top 10 Co-operative Board Games”
Leave a Reply
Sponsored Links
Support play-board-games.com
© 2024 play board games. Theme WPBoot by Just Free Themes.
If you use a made up word (co-operative) in a public posting, you might want to define what you are talking about.
From the games you picked, it looks like you mean “games with teams of players”. The heading “Top ten team games” might be better.
It seems criminal to not include Tichu on such a list!
Now for cooperative games (all players vs game), Space Alert and Ghost Stories are the best of the best, and truly awesome games!
Sorry if you don’t like the word co-operative. I got from Boardgamegeek (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamemechanic/2023/co-operative-play) so I thought it was acceptable. As suggested I have added my definition of co-operative board games. Team players seems like it is too broad for what I have in my mind.
Also as far as Tichu I have not played it but will have to reaserch and maybe change that. Thanks for the suggestions.
Have you tried Defenders of the Realm? It’s quite tense and very fun.
I have heard of it but not yet had the chance to play it. I do appreciate the suggestion and will definitely look into the game. I do remember seeing ads for it when it came out. So I am interested…
I think that team games, all against 1 games and pure co-ops should be referred to separately as well. I know at least 1 person that usually likes co-ops, but does the vast majority of the time does not like the other mechanisms, and several others that have tendencies one way or another.
Games like Betrayal at House on the Hill, which is usually all against 1, but has at least 1 haunt that is purely co-operative, tend to make such distinctions troublesome, but I think it would be better to include such games in both categories and maybe create a separate category for possible traitor for games like Shadows over Camelot, where the tension of the possibility of a traitor differentiates gameplay from pure co-ops.
I have played all the games you mentioned (and Space Alert, and Ghost Stories, and Defenders of the Realm, and bunches more, like Witch of Salem, The Isle of Dr. Necreaux, and Wok Star), and for me they all at best take a distant second to Arkham Horror.
Arkham does tend beg for expansions (to keep players changing their strategies), but each expansion increases replayability exponentially (the big box expansions a larger exponent than the small). I’ve played hundreds of games of Arkham, while not getting to a 100 plays with any of the other titles (except maybe Descent, which is not a true co-op). While the other games can stale, overly frustrating from luck, or just lead to temporary burn-out from playing too frequently in a short amount of time, I never experince that with Arkham.
@jeff I have finally played Defenders of the Realm and must say it may be at the top of this list. I need to try it a few more times.
Of the co-op games not mentioned in the main post, I would recommend Ghost Story, Flash Point, Forbidden Island and Desert, Freedom: The Underground Railroad, 7 Days of Westerplatte, Damage Report, Space Alert, Escape, and Sentinels of the Multiverse. (All true “players vs. the game” co-ops.)
In the “all vs. one” category I would include Fortress America (for wargame fans), Ystari’s Mousquetaires du Roy, and Sidi Baba.