|
We have a local game night at work, and my usual group of coworkers are pretty picky in what they like. I need a game, that is not Pandemic with as much of the following as possible: Collaborative - All players work together, and win together No Betrayals - No elements of secretly working against the other players All players in until the end - All players participate in some way and nobody is "Off sitting by themselves" Takes less than ~2 hours to play - Some people don't like to stay late My group is pretty smart, so complicated rules are not an issue. We've been playing Pandemic, but I'm pretty sick of it, to be honest. I'd also ike to avoid any games that are Pandemic in all but name (i.e. reskins). Can any of you guys help me out? I'm not nearly as deep into this stuff as you guys are.
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2019 19:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 01:24 |
|
|
I'm not an expert either, but I recently played "Between Two Cities" and it was pretty great. There can be a winner though, so there goes your first criterion, BUT this game is about as collaborative as competition gets: All players sit in a circle and each player sits "between two cities" with one on the left and one on the right. In this way, every player co-owns 2 cities with 2 other players. Everyone's turn happens simultaneously so the play is quick. All players draft city tiles and cooperate with their left- and right-hand neighbors to build their left and right cities. Your goal is to maximize bonuses to earn points and your final score is the LOWEST scoring of your two cities. In this way there is no benefit to "screwing" your neighbors by tanking one of your two cities to benefit the other. Again there can be a winner (ties are not uncommon!) but the competition is very mild. It's also a pretty quick game, maybe 20 minutes. Again I know this immediately ignores your very first point lol, but it might be worth a shot. See if you can play-test it some time, I recommend it. Hope you find the game for your group :-)
|
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2019 21:00
|
|
|
Thunderbirds (based on the hacky 1950s puppet drama of the same name) meets MOST of those. The only one that it may not, is that it plays a lot like Pandemic. I think it's actually by the same guys? Dunno, I got it for  at the last GenCon I went to
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2019 02:50
|
|
|
Some faster pure co-op games: - The Mind - Hanabi - Burgle Bros - SPACE ALERT (!!!) This one isn't a full co-op but it's team-based and light so it might still fit, but I've had a lot of love for Trapwords recently.
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2019 03:13
|
|
|
I've really enjoyed playing a game called "Ethnos" - it's a fantasy themed game where the players are leaders amassing groups of fantasy races to control parts of a fantasy kingdom. It's very easy to learn, has satisfying complications, and even though it seems competitive, it's competitive in a non-aggravating way. It's like a fantasy themed game of poker with a campaign map. I know it's not exactly what you're asking for, but I think it's a doubleplusgood introduction to nerd games for civilians and it leaves people with a good taste for more. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/206718/ethnos
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2019 05:02
|
|
|
Countblanc posted:Some faster pure co-op games: Space Alert!!! Yes!
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2019 16:04
|
|
|
Sounds a lot like the things our group look for in a game. We tend to be too hyper competitive for “All v. All” and “One v. Many” to end well, so co-ops are generally the way to go. These generally let us have a good time: Mysterium - One player is a ghost trying to communicate through abstract pictures to the others who are psychic detectives Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective - All players cooperate to solve a mystery by reading clues. The only competitive element is against the ludicrously omniscient Holmes trying to beat his solution time Forbidden Island/Desert - Players work together find items in order to escape before disaster strikes. The latest in the series (“Forbidden Sky”) wasn’t as popular with my group but YMMV Not quite so sure about this one given your requirements, but still a big hit for us: Gloomhaven - Quite a bit more fiddly but each adventure can be done in a couple of hours. Total storyline will take a dozen or more sessions to complete. Does have a bit of downtime for players if they get “exhausted” (i.e. killed) early in the session but nobody is permanently eliminated
|
|
#
?
Apr 6, 2019 16:22
|
|
|
These are all great suggestions! Thank you dudes! I bought Forbidden Desert based on a recommendation form another forum (I've never played Forbidden Island). I'll be looking into all of these and seeing what foes oever well with my coworkers. Also looking at Shadows Over Camelot, but that seems to be a bit of a hit or miss since it appears to be out of print.
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2019 01:13
|
|
|
UltraRed posted:These are all great suggestions! Thank you dudes! Shadows over Camelot is sort of bleh as far as traitor games go - the only real strategy for the traitor is "play badly" which is both not terribly satisfying nor especially easy to conceal once everyone figures that out. You should post this request in the board game thread btw, you'll probably get a lot more responses
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2019 06:12
|
|
|
Digital Apprentice posted:Forbidden Island/Desert - Players work together find items in order to escape before disaster strikes. The latest in the series (“Forbidden Sky”) wasn’t as popular with my group but YMMV yea this series is what immediately came to mind for me after reading the op
|
|
#
?
Apr 7, 2019 15:42
|
|
|
I definitely recommend Space Alert: it's a co-op game but with timed turns and a soundtrack that you play over the course of the game that introduces additional threats that you need to overcome. I love it because in most co-op games, the optimal strategy is for whoever is best at the game to tell everybody how to take their turn. In Space Alert you literally can't do that -- you don't have enough time to plan the whole team's turn, so you just handle your stuff as best you can and pray none of your teammates screw their bit up, and it's tense and brilliant.
|
|
#
?
Apr 8, 2019 17:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 3, 2024 01:24 |
|
|
Countblanc posted:Shadows over Camelot is sort of bleh as far as traitor games go - the only real strategy for the traitor is "play badly" which is both not terribly satisfying nor especially easy to conceal once everyone figures that out. There are actually optional rules where you don't have to have a traitor. There are also other handicaps you could do. I was actually thinking about taking it out. Thanks for the link.
|
|
#
?
Apr 9, 2019 15:02
|
|