Did you ever fight with your siblings? Ya, me neither (rolls eyes). Did your parents ever say anything to you like, “Can’t you kids just get along?” Well, let me introduce you to cooperative games AKA co-op games.
I’m sure someone somewhere can do some research on the internet and find the earliest cooperative game. But the first major published co-op that still remains the top co-op game today for most gamers is called Pandemic.
Since then, the co-op genre has taken off. Games such as Forbidden Island (probably the most simple co-op game), Shadows over Camelot (which included a potential traitor), Letters from Whitechapel (one verses the group), Arkham Horror (a role playing style co-op game), and The Lord of the Rings Card game (the first co-op card game) have continued to move this genre in a great direction.
What is so appealing about cooperative games? The first thing is being able to work together on a game. When you have players like me who do everything 100%, things can occasionally get tense around the game board. Cooperative games allow people to work together instead of against each other.
A second positive aspect of cooperative games is that they can be gateway games (see post #2). Gateway games are important because they get more people interested in the hobby who may not otherwise be interested. There are many games I could pull off the shelf to play with a first time gamer and crush him simply because I know the game well and have a strategy worked out already. But that is not much fun for the other person. Co-op games allow the reluctant first-time gamer to have a good experience working with the group to win the game.
Basic Review: Back in 2008, Z-Man Games released this copy of Pandemic. It is so popular that it is on its second print. Pandemic is a game for 2-4 players, ages 10+ and takes about 45 minutes to play. Setup is minimal. The rulebook is only 8 pages long. I’ve played many a game with thirty to forty page rule books. Pandemic is easy to learn, but difficult to master!
The theme of the game is that diseases have broken out in three countries around the world. If you don’t find a cure quickly, these diseases will break out into a pandemic around the world and kill man kind. You start as a character (dispatcher, operation expert, scientist, medic or researcher). Each character moves around the world attempting to help heal people and find cures for the diseases. Each character has special skills to help accomplish this goal.
I do believe that Pandemic and co-op games in general have a few minor downfalls. These downfalls don’t make me stop playing these games. But you should be aware of them as you make your first foray into cooperative gaming.
The first downfall is the discouragement of losing to the board rather than a fellow human being. I admit that this can be quite disheartening. But, at the same time, I like a challenge. Pandemic played at the most difficult level is very hard to beat!
The second downfall is that there can be what we call an “alpha gamer”. This is someone with a type A personality who tells everyone else how to play their turn. They often enjoy winning more than making sure everyone else is having fun. I am a type A personality and can be tempted to go down this road. But if everyone is going to have fun, everyone needs to play the game. Suggestions should be given, but everyone should be allowed to play their own hand.
Now, here is what I love about Pandemic. This game is intense. The theme of attempting to save the world from deadly disease really gets you into the game. The game can get ahead of you very quickly if you do not make the right moves as the disease spreads throughout the world. So this keeps you on your toes and interested in every move of the game.
I also love that the game has a blind draw. There are “epidemic” cards distributed throughout the draw deck. There are 4, 5, or 6 of them depending on how challenging you would like the game to be. If you chose to put four “epidemic” cards in the draw deck, you would break the deck into fourths. Each fourth would have the epidemic card shuffled into it. You do not know when they are going to come up, so sometimes you risk attempting to save one country while you should be preparing for another epidemic.
If you enjoy board games at all I would highly recommend this game. If you are looking for something a little lighter I would recommend picking up Forbidden Island. Hopefully you can get along with all your fellow gamers. Enjoy.
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