5 Games to Get You Into Cooperative Gaming

When one thinks of tabletop gaming, a certain kind of story has a tendency to pop up.

I’m sure you’ll be familiar with these stories, whether or not they happened to you. Imagine this – it’s Xmas and you’ve just finished tucking in to a delightful roast dinner. Tummies full and moods high, someone suggests playing a game: Scrabble, Monopoly, Ludo, something competitive like that. A few hours later, your grandad and your elder brother are refusing to talk to one another – oops! Thankfully, these situations are rare, competitive games are a brilliant thing and an excellent way to dunk on your best friend, cousin, or other preferred playing partner in a way that’s fun and challenging. That said, what do you do when you have a playgroup that’s just a little too competitive and who says each game can only have one winner?

Well the great news is there’s an entire genre of games for that – cooperative games!

A whole new world awaits, where you and your pals can work together against hordes of beasts, devilish puzzles, or perhaps even against fate itself. Sounds great, right? Well you’re in luck because we’re here to tell you, lucky reader, about 5 great games to get you into cooperative gaming. Take a read, ye curious, and discover!

If any tickle your fancy you’ll be glad to learn that we have all of them available to play in our well-stocked games library, and a great many others we can recommend. Many of these games even play great with one player!

Number one on our list is a game that probably doesn’t need any introduction and can be found in a great many games collections the world over. Pandemic (2008) is the game that most people think of when it comes to the cooperative genre and has earnt itself a place among the elite tier of board games for its engaging theme, challenging mechanics and variable player powers.

Pandemic

In this globe-spanning board game, you and 1-3 teammates will race against the clock to stop a series of dangerous viruses from spreading across the globe and causing havoc. Each player will take on the role of a different specialist tasked with leading the fight against these threats, and will need to carefully consider how to best use their limited actions to keep on top of the rising tide of infection.

Aiding players as they embark on  this monumental task is a small selection of different powers which, when used skilfully, maximise civilisations chances of survival. However no player will be able to do it alone, the key to victory is carefully coordinating your responce to the game as it throws new and unpredictable waves of peril your way.

If the theme hits a little close to home, there’s a number of excellent versions of the game  building on the foundations of the original, such as this author’s personal favourite Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu. If this sounds interesting to you, then you should check out this video of team favourites No Rolls Barred diving into a session or check out this learn to play video.

Next up is an amazing game that can be finished in under 15 minutes fits right into a jacket pocket and can be learnt in moments. From top mini-game clever clogs Helvetiq, Bandido (2016) is a game both cunning and cute!

Bandido

In this sneaky little number, you are tasked with stopping El Bandido from pulling off a devious escape from the clutches of Justice. Using the cards in your hand you’ll need to make sure that all of his tunnels looped around on themselves, or otherwise put a stop to them with a well placed guard. If you can plug all of the exits, congratulations, you all win. Be careful though, if you leave even a single tunnel open for this mole-like malefactor by the end of the deck, he’ll escape and leave you all in the dust!

What may seem quite simple at first glance quickly becomes a struggle to tie up rapidly proliferating loose ends and all without showing or describing any of your cards to your comrades. The Bandido (and by extension, victory) will prove to be quite slippery, but when you do manage to thwart his plans, gosh darn, does it feel satisfying. It’s a great game for one as well, take a look at a very impressive solo run here, then come visit our board game library to show us that you too have got what it takes to stop El Bandido in his tracks!

If you enjoy a good murder mystery, then you’ll definitely want to pay close attention to all the details of this next case – err, I mean, game. Chronicles of Crime (2018) is a head-scratching detective game that puts you in the shoes of a lead inspector, traipsing around this beautiful grey city, digging up clues, uncovering conspiracies and (hopefully) putting perps safely behind bars.

Chronicles of Crime

The game really does a splendid job putting you into the shiny leather brogues of a detective as you sift through red herrings, hidden details and surly witnesses in the effort to part the mists of ignorance and lay your hands on the shiny pearl of knowledge.

Not only is each of the scenarios included in the game well written, with a varied cast of eccentric characters, a wide array of familiar locations and satisfyingly slippery solutions to diverse cases, it’s also really quite accessible and innovative. The free app that comes with the game not only guides you through the game, it also acts as an interactive narrator and lets investigators explore the crime scenes with their own eyes, using clever augmented reality technology.

Once you’ve solved the included mysteries, a number of extra scenarios are available within the app, as well as mediaeval, cyberpunk and film noir themed implementations and expansions to dive into magnifying-glass-first. Always fancied yourself a would-be Poirot or an undiscovered Sherlock? If so, you’ve just got to inspect this game.

With our next game, we leave the crime-riddled city streets of Paris and London and leap over the pond to the haunted library halls and crematory walls of Lovecraftian terror in Mansions of Madness (2016).

Mansions of Madness

Much like our previous entry into this list, in Mansions of Madness players take the role of investigators attempting to uncover the causes of a number of bizarre events. This game also enlists the services of an app to perform the role of digital games master, but with even more atmosphere and the very fate of the world itself at stake.

Not only will players be tasked with solving the mysteries afoot in the foggy hills of Arkham, they will need to survive an onslaught of crazed cultists, otherworldly critters and hellspawn as they strive to survive and postpone the apocalypse. What’s worse, part way through the game, a player might crack under the pressure and go insane, often with dire consequences for themselves and all those around them.

The writing is top notch and super atmospheric, combining the dread of Cosmic horror with the allure of mystery to stunning effect. The game also sets a moody atmosphere with its accompanying soundtrack and features exquisitely crafted miniatures representing the players as well as many of the antagonistic denizens of the void. It’s hard to stress how engrossing and sometimes desperately cruel experience playing Mansions of Madness can be, and with a huge array of expansions available you will find yourself lost in its twisting corridors for many a night without ever getting stale.

This game definitely takes a bit of time to set up and play though, so we suggest taking a look at a video guide or two to get a feel for the game before you come in to give it a play. Don’t be put off by its hefty size though, it really is worth making the journey towards this shining gem at the tip of the cooperative game peak.

After a couple of bigger co-op experiences, I wanted to end this list with a nifty little number, a card game that puts you in charge of a ragtag crew embarking on risky missions in deep space, with only secret hands of cards to assist you in your efforts to coordinate across the vacuum. The Crew: Quest for Planet Nine (2019) is a smart twist on the trick taking genre of card games, where collecting sets of cards is a key component to any winning strategy.

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine

However, whereas players are usually competing for these tricks, in the crew, you must think carefully as a team about who wins each trick and when. Each round one player will draw an objective card which dictates what needs to happen for the group to be successful in that round; perhaps that player must have the most green cards in their collected sets, or the highest quantity of even numbers. After this objective has been revealed, players will need to do all they can to ensure it comes to fruition by playing rounds of cards without showing each other what they’ve got.

You’ll all need to pay close attention to what’s occurring around the table to make sure you don’t overshoot your goal and with every victory these goals will get harder and harder. How far into the expanses of space will you and your crew be able to venture? Will you reach for the stars or end up lost in space? Either way you’ll certainly be put to the test in this clever little card game.

Cooperative games are a hugely expansive realm in tabletop gaming and this list has only just scratched the surface. If you like the sound of any of them, why not pay us a visit in our South-East London board game café and give them a try?

We’ve got comfy tables, a huge array of games to choose from, yummy food and refreshing drinks available to nourish you as you play so you’ll have everything you need for the best games session ever. What’s more, our team of board game experts are always on hand to recommend more games, cooperative or otherwise and maybe even help with the rules! Pop in and say hi, or book a session.

We look forward to seeing you soon!

The Badger Badger Team.