F*@% Cooperative Games

I like cooperative games, I think they can break the cycle of the confrontational style games that we play and add a lot more interaction than your typical game. Other games can accomplish some of the same goals, for example Dixit offers a lot of social interaction, and Race for the Galaxy and Galaxy Trucker have so little confrontation it's almost like playing solitaire. But cooperative games can do both.

There are a few different flavors of cooperative games.

1) Purely cooperative games where the players are all working together against a mechanic in the game (with a variance based on luck). In my limited experience, I have found the replayability is lower with these than highly ranked games. This is because once you understand the mechanic you are working against, it's a matter of how lucky or unlucky you are. With some tables, these games become fun for the loudest person, and pretty boring for the rest of the people who find themselves just following directions. Our table is pretty good about that, Ryan will occasionally remind me to let people play their own damn turn. Fair enough Ryan, fair enough :)

2) "One against many" style games where a group of players work together against one other player. In these rules the foil is playing with one set of rules and abilities and the group is using another set, typically playing a character like an RPG without the RP. These games tend to be pretty heavily tactics based, that tends to slow it down for use because we have to optimize as a group.

3) Traitor style cooperative games where the group is working together to accomplish some goals against a mechanic in the game (again, with a variance based on luck), BUT one or more players are traitors secretly working against the groups interests. Poor table talk rules can ruin this game. For example if players are allowed say too much about their hands, it can not only make the obstacles too easy to overcome but also make it easy to pick out the traitor who's not so forthcoming with information about their hand. And it's not like the traitor is able to speak up about table talk rules mid game. Games like this are won or lost by how you play when you are not the traitor. When you are not the traitor, you need to act a little erratically and you need to enforce the table talk rules. That way when you ARE the traitor, you can act erratically and enforce the table talk rules without arousing any more suspicion that usual :)

I actually write this because I'm looking for recommendations. Most of these games I've never played, or played only once. So here are some examples of cooperative games from the above list that rank in the top 250 on Board Game Geek.

Battlestar Galactica - ranked 18th - I've played this once. It was long, but I enjoyed the mechanics. Long is a big deal for me because if a game is not going well, I would often like to try it again. When a game is too long people even besides Darren are ready to move to something else. But the mechanics were good and the theme was strong and well executed.

Pandemic - ranked 37th - I've played this a couple of times. It can definitely be ruined by one person dominating the play.

Space Alert - Ranked 52nd - I have never played this, however it's ordered and due to arrive on Saturday. Apparently the rules are difficult to read, but I'm determined. This is one of Vlaada Chvatil's games, and he's quickly becoming the most interesting game designers to me because his games have such unique mechanics. I can't wait to try Space Alert.

Arkham Horror - Ranked 65th - Never played it. I understand the set up and break down are pretty intense, and it's like an all evening game. We typically play a half dozen games, not one. But really it has the look and feel of House on Haunted Hill which burnt me because of it's horrible editing, so I've not given it a chance.

Descent - Ranked 73rd - Tactical D&D. And an all night affair.

Ghost Stories - Ranked 120th - Never played this.

Defenders of the Realm - Ranked 136th - Never played this.

Fury of Dracula - Ranked 157th - Never played this, but it seems like it should be called the Hunt for Dracula, because Dracula is more than happy to leave the players be.

Last Night on Earth (reviewed by Tim) - Ranked 162nd - See Tim's Review!

Shadows Over Camelot - Ranked 200th - I played this quite extensively. The mechanics were initially fresh, but they've since become stale with replay. I believe it would benefit from adding the expansion, but I think I'm done with it. This mechanics are pretty far removed from the theme, there's little connection there. It could be applied to anything. I tried not to let that bother me though.

Forbidden Island - Ranked 248th - Never played this, but it was recommended to me recently. And at $15 and 30 minutes, it sounds right up my alley.

Comments or recommendations on the games listed above? Did I leave out something good?