What has turned into one of my favorite types of games is the cooperative game. A good cooperative game adds a lot of challenge in coming up with the best strategy out there, trying to think several turns ahead, and using the unique abilities of each player to win the game.

Both Pandemic and The Lord of the Rings Board Game are great examples of good cooperative games. They have different roles for the different people that you can play throughout a game. In Lord of the Rings, Frodo, Sam, and the rest of the characters each have unique abilities, which means that you have to play to their strengths. Frodo is very good at playing cards where you need them, and Sam is very good about being slow and steady and not getting too close to the Eye of Sauron. Pandemic builds on the same strategies, where you play different members of the CDC all with different abilities, which can help you remove disease cubes, travel around the world, or build new CDC outposts. Because of these differences, even though the game is the same each time, it plays differently.

Does One Person Take Over in a Cooperative Game?

The simple answer would be sometimes.

But many of the cooperative games out there have a simpler set of rules and actions. That means that everyone in the group is going to be apt to pick up on the strategy faster. In Lord of the Rings, you are generally drawing a tile and then either playing or drawing cards. And in Pandemic, you can do four actions on your turn. So this action economy helps everyone understand all that is available to do. There are some games, such as Arkham Horror, that while being cooperative, have enough strategy and probability to them that it takes a while to learn and the people who pick up on that strategy faster are going to lead the turns for other people.

What If I Don’t Want to Play a Game that is Completely Cooperative?

Fortunately — and these are some of my favorites — we are starting to see games that are cooperative for some of the time and then have a surprise traitor. The two that I really enjoy are Dead of Winter, where there is a possibility that someone is a traitor, and Betrayal at the House on the Hill, in which someone will definitely be the traitor, but who it will be is determined randomly partway through the game. This can lead to some people having hurt feelings, because it turns out that someone has been a traitor the whole time, but in all of the semi-cooperative games out there, the traitor is determined randomly, because otherwise you’d know who the traitor is from the start of the game. And as the traitor in Dead of Winter, you are trying not to tip your hand and show that something is up, while also trying to complete your mission.

What Sort of Group Can Enjoy These Games?

I think that all but the most cutthroat group are going to enjoy a cooperative game. There is a lot of strategy that can go along with these games, and that will keep the more serious players involved in the game. If there is a more serious player in the group, it is important to find a game where they can have their fill of strategy, but a game that is simple enough so that players who pick up on the strategy slower won’t get overshadowed by other players. If you are leading the game and notice that someone isn’t getting as much input as other people, ask them if they have any suggestions or ideas and help get them involved.

What Do You Recommend?

Dead of Winter is probably my top recommendation. I like the semi-cooperative nature of the game. And as compared to some other hidden traitor games, you don’t know for sure that there is a traitor. If there isn’t, have you been suspicious of the people at the table the whole time, because you don’t think the move is the most ideal? And can you survive to see another day, or will the zombies eat you?

Pandemic comes in at a close second. There are a lot of different random parts to the game, and that can make it challenging and different every time. The concept of the game is well done, and even though you have six different ways to die (or something around that), you rarely ever feel like you are completely run over. Pandemic Legacy is another fun version of the Pandemic game series, and there are expansions for the original game that can change it up if it ever starts to feel stale.

A simpler cooperative game is Castle Panic. You and the group are trying to defend your castle from goblins, orcs, and other monsters. As they continue to attack, they are going to start knocking down your city walls, and what happens if they get all the way to the castle? This game plays quite quickly, and is easy to show someone how to play and can be picked up in a couple of turns.

There are many more cooperative and semi-cooperative games. I’d highly recommend The Lord of the Rings board game that I’ve mentioned in this post as a very challenging game, where you will die more often than not. Betrayal at the House on the Hill is another great game that changes up every time that you play it. There are other simpler cooperative games as well. Even though I wouldn’t highly recommend it, Forbidden Island would be a good game to play with kids, and Forbidden Desert appears to offer more challenges, but would again be pretty appropriate for play with kids.

What are some cooperative games that you like?
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