The Top Ten Cooperative (of Semi-cooperative) Board Games 2011 Update, Infinite City and Ranking Reviews posted this week.

Jason Rupp

(rrrrupp)

United States
Cedar Rapids
Iowa

You are forgetting Ghost Stories. Definitely check that one out if you haven't already. It should easily make it in your top 10 (it's #2 for me behind only Space Alert).

Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011 6:18 pm
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Frank M.

(skifreak737)

United States

upstate New York

Oops -- did you forget Forbidden Island? And Yggdrasil?

Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011 6:36 pm
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ackmondual

(ackmondual)

United States

Virginia

skifreak737 wrote:

Oops -- did you forget Forbidden Island? And Yggdrasil?

It's mentioned there as part of the runner-up/honorable mention category.

Yggdrasil would definitely get my vote, although our blogger may not have had the chance to play it, as it is quite new.

Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011 8:48 pm
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(jcrog)

United States
Unspecified
Unspecified

@all thanks for the feedback!

@rrrupp - I have not played it but now I want to!

@skifreak and ackmondual - I have heard decent things about Forbidden Island but not played it. The same is true for Yggdrasil. I definitely want to them though.

Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011 9:17 pm
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Jason Rupp

(rrrrupp)

United States
Cedar Rapids
Iowa

Forbidden Island is great for non-gamers, but if you've already played Pandemic, it's pretty boring. It has the same basic mechanics as Pandemic but everything is simplified. I wasn't a huge fan.

I haven't tried Yggdrasil yet... it looks interesting though!

Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011 9:23 pm
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Jae

(Bagherra)

United States
Bryan
TX

You misspelled Battlestar Galactica as "Shadows over Camelot".
Also Ghost Stories is missing from your list.

Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011 11:38 pm
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Simon Harris

(harris_family)

United Kingdom
Sutton
Surrey

How about one of *my* current faves - Mansions of Madness? Or is the 'keeper-as-player' as opposed to 'keeper-as referee' thing preventing it from being co-operative enough? I'm still loving this from either side of the fence.

Simon

Posted Mon Nov 7, 2011 11:39 pm
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(jcrog)

United States
Unspecified
Unspecified

@Bagherra I know a lot of people like BSG but my group just really disliked it. It is a bit too complicated to get people (esp non-gamers) to play. That said I know it is good but not as approachable so I have stuck it int he honorable mentions.

And since I have not played Ghost Stories I cannot add it, but now I want to try it.

@harris_family Mansions of Madness is another game I have never played but I will look into ...

Thanks for the input!

Edited Tue Nov 8, 2011 2:43 am
Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011 2:41 am
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Bart de Vos

(robertopellizini)

Netherlands
Groningen

How could you forget The Resistance? wow

Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011 6:46 am
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(jcrog)

United States
Unspecified
Unspecified

Yet another game I have not played, but want to. It probably deserves to be in the Honorable Mentions as i have heard lots of good things about it.

Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011 12:50 pm
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Erik Rodriguez

(foxtrot2620)

United States
College Station
Texas

Really glad to see Sentinels of the Multiverse make your list

I also believe that Battlestar Galactica > Shadows over Camelot, but I agree with you that it is much harder to teach to non-gamers and can completely understand your ranking choice with that justification (which also justifies Pandemic's placement)

Edited Tue Nov 8, 2011 1:50 pm
Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011 1:50 pm
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(jcrog)

United States
Unspecified
Unspecified

Yeah I guess part of my thought process is how likely a game is to get to the table. I just feel BSG is a little fiddly and will take any group a few plays to get without looking up rules. My group doesn't get together often enough or keep the exact same people in it,so that doesn't help either. But don't get me wrong BSG is not a bad game, just a bit complicated.

Edited Tue Nov 8, 2011 2:39 pm
Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011 2:39 pm
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Elliott Prasuhn

(eprasuhn)

United States
Lafayette
Indiana

Great choices. I was particually excited to see that you chose Defenders of the Realm as #1. I whole heartedly agree!

The other games were good choices as well. I agree with some of the others in regards to Forbidden Island. I would highly recommend it. Personally I enjoy it more than Pandemic.Best $15 I've ever spent.
Thanks for sharing.

Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011 3:41 pm
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ackmondual

(ackmondual)

United States

Virginia

rrrrupp wrote:

Forbidden Island is great for non-gamers, but if you've already played Pandemic, it's pretty boring. It has the same basic mechanics as Pandemic but everything is simplified. I wasn't a huge fan.

I haven't tried Yggdrasil yet... it looks interesting though!

Simplier than Pandemic? wow

That boggles the mind! Not necessarily in a bad way, but now I really do need to try it just to see.

Posted Tue Nov 8, 2011 10:45 pm
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Fabrizio d'Ottavio

(kroqgar)

Italy
Villaricca(Napoli)

well I dont' agree in calling Scotland Yard a cooperative,If it's a cooperative Doom and Descent also are cooperatives?
Fury of Dracula is a Cooperative?
For me they're not ,they're "one vs many" games..
BattleStar Galactica and Shadows over Camelot could be considered cooperative because the traitor in both of them is Hiding....but otherwise you should call cooperative all the Team-playing games,all the games in which you "cooperate" with someone other....
For me Cooperatives are only games in which players play against the Game itself and not against another player so Scotland Yard isn't a cooperative....

Edited Tue Nov 15, 2011 2:19 am
Posted Tue Nov 15, 2011 2:16 am
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(jcrog)

United States
Unspecified
Unspecified

That is why I added semi-cooperative in parentheses I think that takes care of both games that are all vs one or have traitors.

So yes I agree they are not pure cooperatives, but I made a Top Ten list of both.

Posted Tue Nov 15, 2011 5:13 am
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ackmondual

(ackmondual)

United States

Virginia

kroqgar wrote:

well I dont' agree in calling Scotland Yard a cooperative,If it's a cooperative Doom and Descent also are cooperatives?
Fury of Dracula is a Cooperative?
For me they're not ,they're "one vs many" games..
BattleStar Galactica and Shadows over Camelot could be considered cooperative because the traitor in both of them is Hiding....but otherwise you should call cooperative all the Team-playing games,all the games in which you "cooperate" with someone other....
For me Cooperatives are only games in which players play against the Game itself and not against another player so Scotland Yard isn't a cooperative....

Yeah, I never bothered to research what the actual definitions were, but in my books, I rarely use the phrase just "co-op" anymore. It's either going to be "fully co-op" (everyone vs. the game, like in Pandemic, Yggdrasilm, D&D board game), or "semi-co-op" (hidden traitor like SOC or BSG). I admit I don't have any designation for games like Fury Of Dracula, Scotland Yard, Last Night On Earth, Pandemic with the Bio-Terrorist option, or Lord Of The Rings with the Sauron exp where the the identity of the bad guy(s) are known from the start, but I've been known to lump them into the "semi-co-op" category and specify that traitors/bad guys are known from the start.

I still think there's a practical reason for saying "cooperative" vs. "competitive". Some ppl have gone so far to say games of Settlers Of Catan, Scrabble, and Diplomacy are "cooperative". Their reasoning is SoC has trading while the latter 2, you can work together to team up against another opponent. I prefer to call that negotiation.

The difference Between SoC and BSG is that for the former, you and I may team up against a 3rd player to keep him from getting LR for the win (it's to our mutual benefit), but as soon as you or I get a leg up... we'll try to jump in the lead, for the win, and leave the other in the dust. In BSG, you win as a team. Often, we NEED to work as a team. I don't have the luxury of just assuming you're out to get me b/c if you actually ARE on my side, by not accepting your help, our team won't have the resources to win.

Posted Tue Nov 15, 2011 7:16 am
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(jcrog)

United States
Unspecified
Unspecified

Well said!

Posted Tue Nov 15, 2011 4:21 pm
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Dan Garthwaite

(FSP_Dan)

United States
Manchester
New Hampshire

Red November is a huge hit with my group.

Posted Sun Dec 25, 2011 12:28 am
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Jay Donaldson

(donjamcdix)

United States
Freeport
Illinois

Where is Arkham Horror? Best coop game in my opinion.

Posted Tue May 22, 2012 2:44 am
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(jcrog)

United States
Unspecified
Unspecified

I have never played it so I cannot list it. It is in the honorable mentions though (since I have heard such good things about it).

Posted Tue May 22, 2012 5:43 am
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