Board 8 > I want some recommendations for fun, cooperative board games

(+) Yeah! (+)

One of the board games I received for Christmas was Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters. Now I know that this is geared toward teens or adolescents, but my family and I had a blast with it. We didn't even win on our first attempt using the basic rules.

I'm not looking for anything with too complicated of rules as well as games that take too long (let's say anything 75+ minutes is not a good fit). So far, I have Hanabi and Forbidden Island/Desert as potential choices.
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Dead of Winter
Betrayal at House on Haunted Hill
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And I should mention that the most likely amount of people playing the game will be three.
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KCF0107 posted...

Forbidden Island

Ive played this several times and while its fun it does tend to be on the simpler side. Sometimes to the point that the turns become obvious and automatic. Hard to feel like you are cooperating when 1 person can clearly outline the most or sometimes only viable play for each person's turn. Thats my opinion anyways.
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Isn't Shad the huge board game buff? I don't wanna tag him incase I'm wrong though
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Pandemic
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I second Pandemic.

Also -

FlashPoint
Fuse
XCom the Board Game

Note --- Pandemic Legacy is one of the greatest board game experiences I have ever had, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you have played basic Pandemic quite a bit and enjoy the base game. The campaign style of the Legacy version won't do much for you if you don't really care for the base game.
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Shadows over Camelot
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wg64Z posted...

Shadows over Camelot

Shadows Over Camelot is also a pretty fun game, but it gets stale quickly unless one of the players is randomly chosen as a secret traitor. At that point, the game is mostly cooperative, but you are trying to figure out which player is secretly working against the rest of you.

With the traitor, though, you really need 5-7 players for the game to work well. It becomes nearly impossible to beat the traitor with only 3 or 4 players.
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Shadows gets pretty stale even with the secret traitor, honestly
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Castle Panic was fun
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Forbidden Island is like an easier version of Pandemic, but also much cheaper so it's not a bad intro. Forbidden Desert has a bit more variety to it (we just played it a few nights ago!)

Pandemic is always a good choice, especially because you can add expansions if it starts getting old. The Cthulu version is actually a really cool variant too, it isn't just a reskin.

Castle Panic is another good entry point (we actually started with it), and just like Pandemic, it can add expansions. Alternatively, you can get Star Trek Panic which adds a few things like missions.

Elder Sign is a good starting point if you want to get into that Arkham universe (Cthulu and other Lovecraft stuff). I really like Mansions of Madness to go along these lines too, but maybe too long and deep for what you're looking for.

That should give you a good starting point.
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I recently bought my wife Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle and we really enjoyed it. There's 7 books and we only beat the first so far. It's not a board game so much as a card game - though you do use a board to lay everything out. Being a HP fan makes this way more worthwhile.

We've played the crap out of Pandemic so much so that my wife almost never wants to play it again. We bought Pandemic: Iberia half a year ago and it was pretty good too. We've been playing the regular version on and off for two years. It's definitely worth the money.
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Oh my god how could I forget Escape the Curse of the Temple?

It's a real time game (30 minutes) where you are playing simultaneously, rolling a ton of dice, and potentially all dying together. It comes with a soundtrack and everything.
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Shaduln posted...

Oh my god how could I forget Escape the Curse of the Temple?

It's a real time game (30 minutes) where you are playing simultaneously, rolling a ton of dice, and potentially all dying together. It comes with a soundtrack and everything.

It's a 10 minute game, actually.

adjusts glasses
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Oops.
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*witnesses this exchange and falls over for seemingly no reason*
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I still need to go through these recs to see if my family would like the theme and other factors
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Having played each upward of a dozen times, I probably like Forbidden Island a bit more than Pandemic, due to the variable map, the simpler rules, and the fact that you cycle through the player deck and the flood deck. Pandemic's more involved and it has some kind of fiddly bits, but it can be more satisfying of a puzzle. Forbidden Desert is really good and, while it has a ton of similarities, it's probably more distinct than the other two - I haven't played it as much but I love it too.

Definitely get Hanabi. It's super-cheap, super-portable, and plays quickly. It'll almost never be your favorite experience, but it'll almost always be a decent one.

D-Day Dice might be worth looking into if you're willing to play a WW2-themed one. It does start to push up against one-hour mark in terms of time limit and requires a bit of setup, but it's fun and rolling dice is fun.

Codenames Duet - if you have 4 players or fewer, I prefer this to the original Codenames (1-2 players on each side). If you've never played Codenames or are playing with a bigger group, just forget co-op and get Codenames. It's the best.

Here are a few I've tried just once/a few times but found cool:

- Big Book of Madness (a deck-building game where you collect spells as a group and fight monsters by playing cards)

- Zombicide (killing zombies is kinda cool - not too deep, but enjoyable for the tactile/minis feel) - length depends on scenario - it's the setup/teardown that will take the longest time though

- Ghost Stories (a 9x9 grid where you fight off monsters on each side) - probably around the 60-75 minute mark

- Kreus (a game where you have to play cards to form pyramids in nature and stuff - it feels like Hanabi in reverse. I'd love to replay it)

- Space Alert (rules-heavy, but it's a Vlaada Chvatil design - real-time madness followed by 'what have I done' as you resolve the actions you programmed)

- Burgle Bros (very much in the Forbidden/Pandemic mold, but a bit more involved and with more of a spatial element)
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tag
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I am slowly but surely researching these recommendations
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Dice Throne, Kingdomino, Tem-purr-a, and Tokaido are my choices
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Pikazard1 posted...

Dice Throne, Kingdomino, Tem-purr-a, and Tokaido are my choices

But...those aren't cooperative (unless you're counting Dice Throne has teams).
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I like the idea of Dead of Winter's group and individual win conditions, but the dreary tone and zombie theme are likely dealbreakers.

Betrayal at House on the Hill looks and sounds amazing, but I am skeptical if my family would like the traitor aspect since it seems like there might not be a custom ruleset to eliminate there being a traitor.

Pandemic seems to have some similar rules to Ghost Fightin' Treasure Hunters, so that goes in the plus column. I'm not sure if the disease outbreak theme will be a hit.

Flash Point is in the same boat as Pandemic, but I'd say that this is far more likely to be a hit with my family.

Strong Consideration
Hanabi
Forbidden Desert
Forbidden Island (Desert more likely though)
Flash Point
Betrayal at House on the Hill

Will do deeper research on the rest later (as well as comments you have all made)
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Mysterium might be worth looking into.
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I really hate board games that must force nerdom unto themselves. I hate those dweebs that chortle and scream when they see anything Cthulhu related!

I did buy Hanabi thus far
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Fuse and Flatline are both good as well
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Good choice
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I finally went through everything. And this is what I came up with

Strong Consideration
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Burgle Bros.
Escape: The Curse of the Temple
Flash Point
Flatline (priority to Fuse though)
Forbidden Desert
Forbidden Island (Desert more likely though)
Fuse
Ghost Stories
Kreus
Mysterium

If I had to choose three of those to buy right now, it would probably be Burgle Bros., Forbidden Desert, and Mysterium.
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I've never understood the appeal of co-op boardgames. It usually just devolves into 1 or 2 people barking out what they think is best, often not even asking for input. And it's justified, because it's always the right choice; it just makes the game not very fun. All the ones I've ever played usually are basically single player games, in that one person could essentially do all the turns.
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TomNook posted...

I've never understood the appeal of co-op boardgames. It usually just devolves into 1 or 2 people barking out what they think is best, often not even asking for input. And it's justified, because it's always the right choice; it just makes the game not very fun. All the ones I've ever played usually are basically single player games, in that one person could essentially do all the turns.

Thats just a problem with the people you're playing with
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Colegreen_c12 posted...

TomNook posted...

I've never understood the appeal of co-op boardgames. It usually just devolves into 1 or 2 people barking out what they think is best, often not even asking for input. And it's justified, because it's always the right choice; it just makes the game not very fun. All the ones I've ever played usually are basically single player games, in that one person could essentially do all the turns.

Thats just a problem with the people you're playing with

But when it's co-op, the point is to work together. So people try to help. But the flaw in co-op board games is that discussion is the game, so it takes the personal aspect out of playing your turn. Someone starts a turn and another player is like "it would make sense to do ____", and they are right. So that person does that; it's what they would have done anyway, but it just doesn't feel like you are even playing. It's just the down-side of a co-op board game that doesn't have any physical/dexterity skill based actions, or any kind of hidden information among players to make discussion more interesting (though those tend to have alternate win conditions that defeat the point of co-op when you can beat the other players).

It all comes down to the fact that a mutliplayer game that can essentially be played by a single person doesn't make for an interesting game for the whole group. All the extra players are just filler. Games need to have a reason to be co-op, and boardgames haven't found a good way to implement it.
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KCF0107 posted...

I finally went through everything. And this is what I came up with

Strong Consideration
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Burgle Bros.
Escape: The Curse of the Temple
Flash Point
Flatline (priority to Fuse though)
Forbidden Desert
Forbidden Island (Desert more likely though)
Fuse
Ghost Stories
Kreus
Mysterium

If I had to choose three of those to buy right now, it would probably be Burgle Bros., Forbidden Desert, and Mysterium.

Excellent choices. Burgle Bros is very thematic and easy to teach because all the rules make thematic sense.
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If Burgle Bros is even being sold at a reasonable price. It must be out of print or something.
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Don't know if it's what you are looking for, but the Witcher Adventure Game is coop, and I think it's pretty fun
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It all comes down to the fact that a mutliplayer game that can essentially be played by a single person doesn't make for an interesting game for the whole group.

Gaming is typically a social experience. Would you say that it's pointless to watch movies in a group, when you could have watched the same movie individually?

You might also try games with a heavier "role playing" aspect; Mice and Mystics, for instance. I mean, I find it hard to imagine someone complaining that his Dungeons & Dragons campaign is pointless just because all the players are working together. Or a game like Legendary, where players lose together but win individually. (With that said, my own group tends to lose sight of the "win individually" part; we're co-op fans.)
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MalcolmMasher posted...

Gaming is typically a social experience. Would you say that it's pointless to watch movies in a group, when you could have watched the same movie individually?

Movies are absolutely pointless to watch with people unless it's a comedy where laughter is contagious. I will say that co-op games are fine if it's meant to be a comedy/drinking game. But none have been posted here thus far.
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MalcolmMasher posted...

Gaming is typically a social experience. Would you say that it's pointless to watch movies in a group, when you could have watched the same movie individually?

bad argument, gaming and movies both do not have to be social experiences. saying that they typically are social experiences is not only unproven but also easily argued against. for example, outside of playing smash bros or occasionally the last of us multiplayer, i do gaming entirely on my own. for me, gaming is not typically a social experience. my brother also watches a ton of movies on his own, so he shows the counter argument for the movies bit.

i would agree with nook's point
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TomNook posted...

But when it's co-op, the point is to work together. So people try to help. But the flaw in co-op board games is that discussion is the game, so it takes the personal aspect out of playing your turn. Someone starts a turn and another player is like "it would make sense to do ____", and they are right. So that person does that; it's what they would have done anyway, but it just doesn't feel like you are even playing. It's just the down-side of a co-op board game that doesn't have any physical/dexterity skill based actions, or any kind of hidden information among players to make discussion more interesting (though those tend to have alternate win conditions that defeat the point of co-op when you can beat the other players).

It all comes down to the fact that a mutliplayer game that can essentially be played by a single person doesn't make for an interesting game for the whole group. All the extra players are just filler. Games need to have a reason to be co-op, and boardgames haven't found a good way to implement it.

as someone who generally doesn't like cooperative games, this is mostly untrue unless you're playing a bad game or with a bad group

if a game has one clear strategy that's the right strategy, it's either not a good game or you're missing something better because you blindly followed somebody else's advice

and there are plenty of good cooperative games with no "best" strategy like Mysterium
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A game like Ghost Stories is kinda bad because it's a co-op game with optimal play. Forbidden Island is similar. Pandemic errs pretty close to this, but I think has enough freedom (at least in the beginning) to not fall into the pit.

Dungeons and Dragons isn't even close to being bad for the same reasons, because your individual decisions matter, and despite there sometimes being optimal ways to play your character, dice rolls affect things.

Other co-op games that have good freedom of individual play are Arkham Horror, kinda Betrayal at House on the Hill, etc.
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Movies are absolutely pointless to watch with people unless it's a comedy where laughter is contagious.

I don't agree with you, but if you feel that way, I can understand why you wouldn't like most co-op board games.

bad argument, gaming and movies both do not have to be social experiences.

I didn't say they had to be, I said they usually were. People invite others to go see the movies, people invite friends over for board games. I have several co-op games with single player modes (and most of them are perfectly doable if you're willing to play multiple characters) and I enjoy them more with friends.

for example, outside of playing smash bros or occasionally the last of us multiplayer, i do gaming entirely on my own

My statement was poorly phrased: I meant board gaming, not all gaming. Given that we're on a video game site, it is my fault that you misunderstood, and I apologize for my failure to specify "board games".

my brother also watches a ton of movies on his own, so he shows the counter argument for the movies bit.

Yes, I also watch movies alone sometimes, but I enjoy it more with friends. Even if it's in a theater, so we've just got some speculation beforehand, some discussion afterward, and a few quiet whispers during the film itself, it's more fun for me to watch a movie with friends than alone.
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I used to be really bad about quarterbacking in co-op games, but have since reformed and just let people take their turns. It ends up being more fun for everyone, even if we don't win.

I'll give input if requested or maybe make a general suggestion, but otherwise let people do what they want to do.

This is the important part of co-op games.
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Some coop games also have rules against players sharing hidden information (ie cards in hand). And even if that's not an explicit rule, it can be a nice houserule to up the challenge and/or minimize quarterbacking.
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Yeah, I don't think that quarterbacking will be an issue in my family
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So I'm trying to find a decent game, not necessarily co-op but can be, that doesn't require a large table (Or possibly no table) as I have a group of 5 to 6 coming over on Friday but don't have a table as I basically live in a bachelor pad and either eat on the sofa or at the kitchen bar area

Could even be on a console but not hidden agenda as we played that last gaming night

At recent game nights we have played Pandemic, T.I.M.E. Stories, Scythe, Hidden Agenda and Munchkin for reference

ShatteredElysium posted...

So I'm trying to find a decent game, not necessarily co-op but can be, that doesn't require a large table (Or possibly no table) as I have a group of 5 to 6 coming over on Friday but don't have a table as I basically live in a bachelor pad and either eat on the sofa or at the kitchen bar area

Could even be on a console but not hidden agenda as we played that last gaming night

At recent game nights we have played Pandemic, T.I.M.E. Stories, Scythe, Hidden Agenda and Munchkin for reference

keep talking and nobody explodes could work since people can just hold the pages.
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hanabi has a small footprint for 5

6p borders into party game territory - no scythe-like games at that count pretty much, save for like game of thrones
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Yeah, I'd recommend something like spyfall, codenames or once upon a time. They don't take up a lot of space and they excell when playing with 5+ people. Most board games (especially euros) don't even support that amount, and for good reason too, otherwise the downtime between turns would be far too long.
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ShatteredElysium posted...

So I'm trying to find a decent game, not necessarily co-op but can be, that doesn't require a large table (Or possibly no table) as I have a group of 5 to 6 coming over on Friday but don't have a table as I basically live in a bachelor pad and either eat on the sofa or at the kitchen bar area

Could even be on a console but not hidden agenda as we played that last gaming night

At recent game nights we have played Pandemic, T.I.M.E. Stories, Scythe, Hidden Agenda and Munchkin for reference

Power Grid is an excellent choice for 6 players. It scales well, the rules aren't terribly complicated and it appeals to both expert gamers and more casual gamers. It's really a great game. Plus, it's not nearly as big of a table hog as something like Scythe.

I would also recommend Keyflower, 7 Wonders or Alhambra for 5 or 6 people. If you want something a little lighter, Sushi Go Party is very solid for a group of 5 or 6.
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