Home >> Games & Cards >> Board Games

Board Games for Teamwork

Board games are generally competitive, with one player or team emerging victorious over the rest. However, other board games encourage teamwork among all players, based on cooperative mechanics, rules that encourage team play. In such cooperative games, players work to defeat the board game itself. According to cooperative game designer Jim Deacove, “If we can play a game that develops not defeats that social impulse, then everyone feels better for it."

Pandemic
- Pandemic is a cooperative strategy game for up for four players ages 10 and over. The average playing time is about an hour. In this game, players must combine their characters&' special abilities to stave off a worldwide outbreak of infectious diseases. As the game progresses, more and more outbreaks occur, placing more strain on the players&' teamwork. Players must eradicate all the pandemics to win. Pandemic won Game Magazine’s 2009 "Best Family Game" award.
Forbidden Island
- Forbidden Island is game designer Matt Leacock&'s 2010 follow-up to his own Pandemic. The game is for two to four players ages 10 and up and is a good introduction to the strategies and rules of cooperative game play. In the game, which takes about 30 minutes to play, the group teams up to collect artifacts and escape together on a helicopter before going down with the rapidly sinking island. Like Pandemic, players take on the roles of different characters, each with unique abilities. Only by combining their abilities will the players emerge victorious.
Arkham Horror
- Arkham Horror is an adventure game based on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. In this cooperative game, one to eight players ages 12 and up struggle to save the world from monsters that invade the city through portals that pop up all over the map. This is a very involved game, and average play times fall between two to four hours. As the game progresses, each player&'s character gains new abilities that will determine who will team up to handle the various threats that are randomly generated through card draws. The game ends when the players either defeat the final monster or die trying.
Castle Panic
- Castle Panic is a strategy game for one to six players suitable for children ages 5 and up. Players team up to defend their tower against waves of cartoon monsters that approach from every direction. The simple rules only give players a couple of options each turn, which makes the game easy for younger players to join in the fun. A typical game will last about 60 minutes. The players win if any part of the castle is left standing after the last wave of monsters passes.
Go Away Monster!
- Go Away Monster! provides short, 10-minute games for two to four players ages 3 and up. Players take turns feeling around inside a small bag to find objects like teddy bears and beds to complete their bedroom boards. However, cartoon monster tokens that are sneakily shaped like the good objects lurk in the bag also. When a player pulls out a monster, all the players shout "Go away, monster!" as the player tosses the monster away. This aspect of the game empowers children to overcome their nighttime fears. Players share duplicate pieces that they draw from the bag with other players. The game ends when all the monsters have been banished and all the players have completed their individual rooms.

Board Games