Cooperative
There are a ton of great coop
If I had to recommend just one coop
While Pandemic is our overall choice for best cooperative
Table of Contents
- What is a Cooperative Board Game?
- Overall Best Cooperative Board Games
- Best for Couples
- Best for Young Children
- Best for Beginners
- Best for Families
- Conclusion
What is a Cooperative Board Game?
In Cooperative
In coop
Coop
What Makes a Good Cooperative Board Game?
There are even more factors to a good cooperative
Let’s talk about the main factors that make a cooperative
Challenge
One of the most important factors is the challenge the game presents. You won’t be competing against other players. You’ll be competing against the game itself. Obviously, if the game is too easy, it’s not going to be fun for very long.
For most people, the harder the game, the better. Difficult games are so much more satisfying when you finally manage to complete them, and they’ll offer you much more re-playability. With that being said, however, if a game is extremely difficult, it might not appeal to some players not of a masochistic nature.
Player Interaction
Player interaction is an integral part of coop games. If there’s not enough of it, it’s almost inevitable that one player ends up playing the game while all the others just watch. A great game forces players to interact with each other to be successful.
Interesting Decisions
One of the most important aspects of coop games are the decisions players have to make. If the decisions are too straightforward, the game won’t be very much fun. If it’s always clear what the best course of action is, the game is going to get boring quickly, no matter how good the other aspects are.
Individual Roles
It’s not mandatory that a game presents each player with a unique role, but the ones that do tend to be a lot more enjoyable than the ones that don’t. Giving each player a role to fill, or at least some unique attributes, skills, or abilities, ensures that all players have a significant impact on the game. Again, this stops the all-too-common occurrence of one or two players dominating the game while the other sit on the sidelines.
Best Overall
Horrified
1-5 Players
45-60 Minute Play Time
Ages 10+
Difficulty: Medium
Overview
Horrified tasks you with saving locals from classic horror creatures such as Dracula, or the Creature from the Black Lagoon. If you and your friends are at all fans of classic horror, than this is the perfect
Even aside from the nostalgic flavor, Horrified features extremely fun gameplay loaded with difficult and interesting decision making. The thing I liked most about Horrified, is that lots of times, there just isn’t a good option, leaving my friends and I to try to choose the lesser of two evils.
Overall, Horrified is a super entertaining coop
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Difficult decision-making | Somewhat complicated to learn |
| Immersive and flavorful gameplay | |
| Affordable |
Betrayal at House on the Hill
3-6 Players
1hr Play Time
Ages 12+
Difficulty Level: Medium
Betrayal at House on the Hill is a wildly fun game that tasks players with exploring a haunted house and uncovering its secrets. At some point, however, the ‘haunt’ begins. One player betrays the rest of the group and strives to kill the other players. The others are forced to work together to stop the traitor and escape the house all whilst battling killers, monsters and everything else the house throws their way.
The traitor mechanic is a ton of fun and is no doubt my favorite aspect of the game. Working together with your teammates to figure out the traitor is super satisfying, although I still prefer being the traitor myself.
The one area I feel that this game lacks is the beginning “exploration” section before the haunt starts. It gets a little old after a few playthroughs since it feels like you’re just waiting for the real game to start. This is really only an issue when the haunt goes by really quickly, which happens sometimes. In those cases, I end up feeling a little cheated.
Betrayal at House on the Hill might not be perfect, but it more than manages to make up for its flaws by offering intense fun. To put it simply, BaHoTH isn’t entertaining 100% of the time, but when it does get a chance to do its thing, it’s hard to beat.
Overall, this is a truly memorable game that’ll keep you and your friends coming back to the house over and over again.
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Different scenarios every time you play | Lots of pieces to manage |
| Awesome traitor-mechanic | Some playthroughs are much less fun than others |
| Immersive and flavorful gameplay |
Unfathomable
3-6 Players
Ages 14+
120-240 minutes play time
Difficulty: Hard/Medium
Overview
Unfathomable is an amazing game! It’s truly one of the best cooperative
The most exciting aspect to me personally is the inclusion of traitors. Most players play the role of humans tasked with navigating the ship to safety. Other players, however, are given the secret role of hybrids who aim to sabotage the mission.
This traitor aspect means you never know who you can trust and who you can’t. And being a traitor is super fun!
Since two different sides can emerge victorious, Unfathomable maintains an element of traditional competition, while also adding strong cooperation.
This is just an all around great coop
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Immersive world-building | Large learning curve |
| Ultra-fun and exciting traitor-mechanic | A bit Pricey |
| Amazing gameplay |
Mysterium
2-7 Players
45 Minute Play Time
10+ Years Old
Difficulty Level: Medium
Overview
I cannot recommend Mysterium enough! This quirky coop game tasks players with solving a murder mystery. The catch, however, is that players are aided by the murder victim! One player plays the role of the victim’s ghost and aids the other players by giving them cryptic clues.
Straightforward communication by the ghost is not allowed. Instead, the ghost communicates through vision cards which can sometimes be misleading. Mysterium also has a time limit, which I think adds a ton of excitement to every playthrough. If players can’t solve the mystery soon enough, the ghost will fade away, taking it with it any chance of success.
All of this makes for an intriguing and tense puzzle for players to solve together.
If I had to say something bad about Mysterium, I would say that the excitement level goes down the fewer players you have. My friends and I usually choose something else when there’s only a few of us.
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Unique and interesting concept | Less fun the fewer players you have |
| Tense and exciting gameplay | |
| Humorous |
Pandemic
2-4 Players
45 Minute Play Time
8+ Years Old
Difficulty Level: Medium/Hard
Overview
Simply put, Pandemic is one of the best cooperative
I love how challenging this game is. Pandemic is difficult, and failure is a real possibility each and every playthrough. To succeed, players have to work together well, and make good decisions.
The decision making is really where pandemic shines the brightest. This isn’t a game where the answer to your difficulties is crystal-clear from the start.
In Pandemic, the setting is tense, the decision making is interesting, and the challenge is real. All of this makes for enthralling and satisfying gameplay each and every time you sit down to play.
The only thing I don’t like about Pandemic is that it can be hard to introduce it to new players, especially if the new player isn’t super confident or enthusiastic. The game can also be dominated by one or two over-eager players. Overall, I would just recommend taking the time and effort to make sure every player gets involved in the fun.
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Perfect difficulty-level | Has the potential to be dominated by one player |
| Intense Gameplay | |
| Interesting Decision-making |
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Best for Couples
Codenames Duet
2 Players
Ages 11+
15 Minutes Play Time
Difficulty: Easy/Medium
Overview
Codenames Duet is one of the best games for two players on the market. Players work together to decode messages by giving each other one-word clues to help identify field-agents, while avoiding deadly assassins.
The wordplay mechanic in Codenames Duet is way more fun than it has any right to be. It forces couples to work together fiercely to solve the puzzle before time runs out.
The game also comes with 400 different cards and a campaign option which makes the game really re-playable. So far, my partner and I have played the game over a dozen times and it’s no where near becoming stale.
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Super fun coop gameplay | |
| Perfect for couples | |
| Very affordable |
Best for Young Children
Bandito
1-4 Players
Ages 5+
15 Minutes Play Time
Difficulty: Very Easy
Overview
Bandito is one of the very best cooperative
Bandito is easy, fun, and fast. Kids will absolutely love it, and adults will have fun with it too.
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Fun, easy, cooperative gameplay | Not much variance in the gameplay |
| Perfect for kids | |
| Very affordable |
Best for Beginners
The Mind
2-4 Players
Ages 8+
20 Minutes Play Time
Difficulty: Easy
The Mind is a simple, yet intriguing coop game in which players are not allowed to speak to each other. So how can it be cooperative if you’re not allowed to speak to other players, you ask? Well, players are tasked with devising some unspoken form of communication and hoping that everybody is able to catch on.
Players are given cards according to the current level. So each player gets one card on level one, then two cards one level two, and so on and so forth all the way until level 12. Then players have to try to lay down their cards in the correct order without speaking to one another.
The concept is a little hard to explain. But once you actually sit down to play, you’ll pick it up super quickly.
The Mind is a unique and immensely fun cooperative challenge that is perfect for beginners.
| What We Like | What We Don’t Like |
| Unique and very interactive gameplay | Strategy isn’t as varied as other games |
| Exciting and easy to learn | |
| Affordable |
Best for Families
Pandemic
2-4 Players
45 Minute Play Time
8+ Years Old
Difficulty Level: Medium/Hard
Overview
Pandemic is hands-down my choice for the best coop
Pandemic is a difficult game, but not too difficult for children to learn, especially with the help and encouragement of older family members.
There’s little else as tense, exciting and satisfying as working together with your family to overcome the challenges of Pandemic. You and your family probably won’t succeed the first time you play. But you’ll definitely come back again and again until you do. And even once you succeed, the fun doesn’t stop there.
In Pandemic, the setting is tense, the decision making is interesting, and the challenge is real. All of this makes for enthralling and satisfying gameplay each and every time you sit down to play.
This is a truly addictive coop game, perfect for family game nights.
Conclusion
Whether you’re new to
Until next time, I wish you and your friends/family the best luck with all of your gaming adventures!
