The Best Cooperative Board Games

Games aren't all about competition.

By Sam Desatoff

Board games can be a competitive hobby that pits friend against friend in a ruthless contest for victory points and bragging rights. But sometimes it’s good to set aside your differences, sit on the same side of the table and work towards a common goal. Luckily, there are plenty of quality cooperative games with which to set aside competition and forge bonds of friendship in the fires of teamwork.

Here are 10 of the best cooperative board games ever made.

Pandemic Legacy

Players: 2-4

Playtime: 60 minutes

Pandemic put cooperative games on the map, and for good reason. Much of the genre’s hallmark mechanics originated here, from action point allocation to player roles with unique abilities. It also spawned a bevy of expansions and spinoffs, but Pandemic Legacy is the best and more revolutionary take on the virus-eradicating co-op game.

It takes the core rules of Pandemic and stretches them into a campaign-length adventure played out over several sessions as you race to cure disease and prevent epidemics. This version introduces permanence as a mechanic, as the rules force you to rip up cards, sticker the board and alter the physical components in other ways as things (inevitably) don’t go your way. It’s a novel ruleset that has earned Legacy the number one ranking on Board Game Geek. The only potential drawback is that you must play with the same players each session, but because the game is so good everyone will be eager to jump back in.

Sentinels of the Multiverse

Players: 1-5

Playtime: 30-60 minutes

Of the “superhero card game” subgenre, Sentinels of the Multiverse is the best, edging out Marvel and DC’s efforts. In Sentinels, players take on the role of superheroes in a clash against one of four game-controlled villains, and must team up to take them down. The game is full of personality and offers up a very streamlined gameplay experience, which is impressive given that it is publisher Greater Than Games’ first effort. If you’re after a comic book-themed cooperative game night, Sentinels of the Multiverse is hard to beat.

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

Players: 1-4

Playtime: 90-180 minutes

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is a daunting and dark game, but players willing to wade through the sea of iconography, hefty rulebook and stifling theme will be rewarded with a satisfying survival simulation that rewards communication and teamwork. Based on the 1719 novel, players take on the role of survivors of a shipwreck that are must work together to gather food, build shelters, stave off attacks and explore the island. The combination of different scenarios and player characters ensure good replayability, while the survival mechanics do a fantastic job of selling the theme.

Escape: The Curse of the Temple

Players: 1-5

Playtime: 10 minutes

If you find yourself with a few minutes of free time, Escape: TheCurse of the Temple is a great choice. Here, players take on the role of Indiana Jones-style explorers who must escape from a temple with a valuable relic. You do this by rolling dice, Yahtzee-style, in order to open up new rooms and search for the exit, and you can lend players your dice should they find themselves trapped in a room. The gimmick is that the game takes place in real time rather than being turn-based. The included CD serves as a timer that gives audio cues about how much of the game’s 10-minute playtime is left. Because all players must escape the temple in order to win, Curse of the Temple is every bit a cooperative experience. It is a lot of fun when everyone at the table is frantically rolling dice and yelling about getting cursed or trapped in a room. Escape is a great choice for families, or for those with just a little spare time.

Players: 2-7

Playtime: 50-60 minutes

Part Clue, part seance, Mysterium drops players into the robes of psychic mediums tasked with solving a murder. One player plays a ghost who must, without speaking, guide the psychics in learning who committed the murder, where, and with what weapon. The ghost does this by altering the other players’ dreams through the use of beautifully illustrated cards that serve as clues. The players must interpret what their card means in hopes of guessing what the ghost is pointing to. It’s an absolute riot (and a bit frustrating) as the ghost to watch the psychics trying to piece together the symbols on their cards without being able to interject. Mysterium is not only a fantastic co-op game, but also a great party game.

Players: 2-5

Playtime: 25 minutes

Hanabi is a cooperative card game where players attempt to build a magnificent fireworks display by playing cards in rows numbered 1 through 5 in matching colors. The hook is that you cannot see the cards in your hand, but the other players can. On your turn, you can either play a card from your hand in hopes that it’s the proper number and color, or you can give a clue to another player about the cards in their hand. Cooperative in every sense of the word, Hanabi relies almost entirely on your communication and memory skills, which can be rewarding or frustrating depending on your outlook. Just be prepared for arguments when you inevitably play the incorrect card from your hand even after you’ve been explicitly (or so your partners claim) told what you’re holding.

Gloomhaven

Players: 1-4

Playtime: 90-150 minutes

To call Gloomhaven a fantasy adventure game is technically accurate, but a bit reductive. It tells the story of mercenaries chasing different goals in a changing world, and the legacy they leave behind. Gloomhaven takes the legacy system from Pandemic Legacy and weaves it into an epic fantasy campaign that takes place over generations.

Each hero comes with a personal goal that, when completed, sends the hero into retirement and unlocks new classes and story elements. Upon retiring a hero, you will take control of another, which results in an impressive sense of time progression. The game includes several sealed boxes that are only opened upon reaching certain milestones, which makes Gloomhaven a game with a grand scale that is unmatched in the board game medium.

Arkham Horror

Players: 1-8

Playtime: 120-360 minutes

H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulu mythos is ripe for cooperative gaming, and Arkham Horror does it best. This cooperative adventure sees players working together to stop the release of the Ancient Ones upon our world by way of upgrading their characters, tracking their sanity, and acquiring new weapons and items, and the mixture of horror and noir themes is still unique in the gaming landscape over a decade later. If the hefty playtime and table space required to play Arkham Horror scare you off, there are other, more streamlined ways to dive into the Arkham-verse, including Eldritch Horror, Elder Sign, and the Arkham Horror card game.

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

Players: 1-8

Playtime: 60-120 minutes

Sherlock Holmes is one of the most enduring fictional characters of all time, and for good reason. Watching him solve a seemingly impossible mystery with all the confidence and bravado of a stage actor has been a favorite pastime of generations of book readers and television watchers.

With Consulting Detective, you finally get the chance to step into the shoes of Holmes and test your own deduction skills in a series of nonlinear mysteries. What makes the game great is how it refuses to hold your hand; each mystery presents a short setup and then sets you loose on London, leaving you to visit notable locations, interview suspects, and make educated accusations. Be warned, however, that these mysteries are tough, and may make you question your intelligence on more than one occasion.

Betrayal at House on the Hill

Players: 3-6

Playtime: 60 minutes

The board game equivalent of a haunted house simulator, Betrayal at House on the Hill drops players into a mansion and forces them to confront the horrors inside.  It starts fairly innocently, as you explore the randomly generated house and gather up items, but about halfway through the game, one of several different “haunt” events is triggered and one of the players betrays the group.

The game then becomes about stopping that player and escaping the mansion alive. The hook is that nobody knows who the traitor will be, including the traitor themself. It’s a very fun mechanic that keeps everyone on their toes the entire game. Each scenario offers up a lot of variety in game mechanics and theme, from a huge world-eating snake that can be in several places at once, to a pyromaniac who has planted bombs around the mansion that must be disarmed. Betrayal is a perfect choice for a casual game night that will keep the group engaged until the very end.

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