Tag: Cooperative

Cooperative games are games in which all players work towards the completion of a shared objective.

Zombicide: Gear Up

Zombicide: Gear Up

Zombicide: Gear Up

Zombicide: Gear Up is a co-operative flip-and-write game set in the world of Zombicide.

To set up, each player takes a survivor card, which shows four weapons, along with damage, armor, and ammo tracks. Determine the level of play (easy to nightmare), then give each player the appropriate number of random regular and special zombie cards to place next to the “third street level” of their card. Shuffle the ten turn cards, then lay out nine in a row, placing seven spawn cards by the last seven of these cards.

On a turn, reveal the next turn card, which shows which color weapon each player activates. Each weapon has a “hit shape” (typically a polyomino), and you must fit the hit shape into the outline of a zombie to use it, with no overlaps to any damage you’ve dealt previously. Some zombies might then advance toward players, moving from their third street to their second one. If a zombie is on your “first street” and would advance, you take damage equal to the unmarked red stars on that card. If you mark off ammo or armor on a zombie, you circle those symbols on your survivor card; you can spend one ammo to mark off a single zombie space, and you can spend armor instead of taking damage.

After the third turn, you reveal the first spawn card, which will put more zombies in play, with players collectively deciding how to add those cards to their third streets. Whenever you mark off the final space on a zombie card, remove it from play, then upgrade one of your weapons, perhaps gaining the ability to use it multiple times or gain armor when you cover red stars. After nine turns, reshuffle the ten turn cards, then lay out nine of them, along with the level 1 and 2 boss cards under the final seven turn cards. Place the boss in front of one player. During a turn, if the boss is in front of you or if you have an activated long-range weapon, you can attack the boss instead of zombies close to you. If you defeat the boss before the ninth turn ends in the second round, you win; if not — or if any player is killed by damage — then you lose the game.

For the solitaire mode of Zombicide: Gear Up, take companion cards for three survivors not in play and place them next to your survivor card. When a turn card has a smiley face on it, you can activate the power of one of your companions, in addition to your own weapon. Each companion can be used only once in a round.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Paper and Pencil

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~30 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.00

Zombicide: Black Plague

Zombicide: Black Plague

Zombicide: Black Plague

Zombicide: Black Plague takes the zombie apocalypse into a fantastical medieval setting! The arcane powers of the Necromancers have unleashed a zombie invasion in the age of swords and sorcery, and it’s up to your group of straggling survivors to not only stay alive during these dark times, but to take back the realm and punish those responsible for the apocalypse!

Zombicide: Black Plague allows you take control of paladins, dwarves, knights, and magicians, wielding powerful swords, crossbows, and even magic spells to defeat the zombie hordes and its Necromancer overlords. The classic Zombicide rules have been revamped for this new incarnation of the game, while still retaining the nonstop action, tense atmosphere and easy-to-learn rules that made Zombicide a classic. Equip your survivor with equipment like chainmail armor or shields to defend against the undead, pick up spell books to perform fantastic enchantments, or light up a pool of dragon bile to create an all-consuming inferno of dragon fire!

Take on the zombie invasion from the medieval streets to secret vaults that create quick passages through the citadel (and often hold special artifacts). Chase down the elusive Necromancers to keep them from multiplying the zombie masses. And tackle a whole new set of missions through which your group of survivors will become the heroes of the land (or the last victims of the zombie massacre).

Game Mechanics:

  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.50

Zombicide: 2nd Edition

Zombicide: 2nd Edition

Zombicide: 2nd Edition

Zombicide, the board game, has taken the world by storm with over two million copies sold since its release in 2012 and spawning a cult franchise of cooperative zombie slaying all over the world. In Zombicide, zombies are controlled by the game, while players take on the role of survivors who must co-operate in order to survive and thrive in a world overrun by the bloodthirsty undead. Find guns and gear to take the fight to the zombies through 25 different scenarios linked by a branching story as you pick your way through an infested city.

Zombicide (2nd Edition) features refined and streamlined rules, including updates to target priority for ranged attacks, interactions with doors, and vehicle mechanisms. A new dark zone feature, a zone that hides zombies from survivor’s attacks, has been added as well. Zombicide (2nd Edition) will include new components and miniatures as well, including plastic dashboards and new child survivors. Returning players will be able to use their existing collection from previous Zombicide releases as well.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.46

Zombicide

Zombicide

Zombicide

Zombicide is a collaborative game in which players take the role of a survivor – each with unique abilities – and harness both their skills and the power of teamwork against the hordes of unthinking undead! Zombies are predictable, stupid but deadly, controlled by simple rules and a deck of cards. Unfortunately for you, there are a LOT more zombies than you have bullets.

Find weapons, kill zombies. The more zombies you kill, the more skilled you get; the more skilled you get, the more zombies appear. The only way out is zombicide!

Play ten scenarios on different maps made from the included modular map tiles, download new scenarios from the designer’s website, or create your own!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Managment
  • Player Elimination

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • ~60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.54

X-Men Mutant Insurrection

X-Men Mutant Insurrection

X-Men Mutant Insurrection

Though the world may despise them, the team of heroic mutants known as X-Men fight tirelessly to protect humanity from the sinister machinations of evildoers. Leap into the action with X-Men: Mutant Insurrection, a fast-paced, co-operative, dice-driven card game for one to six players! You’ll build a team of iconic heroes such as Wolverine, Rogue, Storm, and Jubilee from the sixteen heroes included, embark on dangerous missions around the world, and accelerate toward a thrilling showdown with a villain such as Dark Phoenix, Magneto, or the Hellfire Club.

X-Men: Mutant Insurrection invites you to travel the globe on death-defying missions to recruit new mutants, capture criminals, protect innocent lives, and battle some of the most memorable X-Men supervillains. Eight distinct scenarios await you and your X-Men, each with their own challenges and each leading to a no-holds-barred showdown against the villain. The Blackbird is ready to launch — join your team and fight for the future!

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 6 Players
  • 60 – 120 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.18

Wrathborne Champions

Wrathborne Champions

Wrathborne Champions

You and your friends have been chosen by the gods to become Wrathborne; the strongest fighters the world has ever known! Using special class skills, unique weapons, and a few items, you must work together to defeat monsters intent on destroying the civilized world. This fully cooperative game will require your party to tactically dismantle each enemy in a different way before all of you are out of options. Whether casual or hardcore, Wrathborne Champions is the perfect game for all those brave enough to face the monsters’ wrath.

Each player is assigned a deck of cards comprised of their specific class abilities, a series of attacks specific to the weapon they are using this game, and a few personally selected items. These decks control not only the moves available to players, but also their life total, with damage being applied directly to the deck itself.

Player fight against one or more giant monsters printed on 10×10 miniboards placed in the center of the play area. Unlike most “big bad” games, the Monster Cards in Wrathborne Champions have set attacks and actions performed each round. This “AI code” lets players predict a great deal of how the monsters will act, allowing them to make tactical choices during their turns to increase the likelihood of success.

Monster Card life is tracked via Life Cards in a similar fashion to player decks. Most of these life cards are benign, but some alter the state of play dynamically, sometimes twisting the control out of the player’s hands. Players defeat a Monster Card when all Life Cards are removed from the sectors of the Monster Card that can attack. The game ends when the last Monster Card is defeated, or the final player is killed.

Game Mechanics:

  • Cooperative
  • Deck Building
  • Pattern Recognition

Game Specifications:

  • 2 – 6 Players
  • 30 – 180 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.14

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

In World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, players journey to the frozen continent of Northrend to face the armies of the Lich King. This “Pandemic System” game showcases familiar mechanisms and gameplay, now tweaked to embrace the setting of the Wrath of the Lich King. Forts, temples, battlegrounds, and more populate the game board as you and your fellow heroes journey across the cold landscape. Along the way, you’ll set up strongholds, complete quests, and do battle with legions of undead.

In more detail, players team up as legendary heroes from across Azeroth, each with their own unique abilities to help in and out of combat. Heroes such as Thrall, Warchief of the Horde; Varian Wrynn, King of Stormwind; Sylvanas Windrunner, Banshee Queen of the Forsaken; and many more are at your fingertips. As the Scourge grows, more undead will populate the board. Throw dice as you enter into battle against the hordes of ghouls and ferocious abominations, using hero cards to add power to your attacks, block incoming assaults, heal wounds, take mounts to far off spaces, and so much more.

As you fight your way to the Lich King, all manner of dark magic and terrible creatures under his control need to be neutralized. This comes in the form of quests, a brand-new mechanism that can be completed as a team through a combination of dice rolls and the hero cards at your disposal. However, each quest comes with its own dangers and hindrances. Complete these quests to move closer to the final assault on Icecrown Citadel, where the Lich King himself resides.

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Cooperative
  • Hand Management
  • Set Collection
  • Trading

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 45 – 60 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.18

Wonder Book

Wonder Book

Wonder Book

Oniria — the world of an ancient dragon civilization. Tales describe the land as an idyllic paradise filled with marvelous dragon-made wonders and surrounded by a flourishing wilderness. The only portal to that world is the Wonder Book, an ancient tome locked away in an abandoned tower. It sleeps, covered in dust, awaiting the one thing it desires most: you.

Wonder Book is a pop-up game for 1-4 players in which each player takes the role of a teenage kid in a group of adventurous friends. This is a co-operative game in which you all win or lose as a team.

The game is split into six consecutive scenarios (“chapters”), each composed of a specific deck of pre-sorted cards that contain the rules, the story, and the challenges you have to face. Each chapter has you explore a new part of the interactive 3D cardboard pop-up book and reveals more about the world in which your adventure is set.

Starting with the first card of the chapter deck, the story unfolds until you reach a goal card. These cards show a goal that must be achieved to proceed and explain how the players’ and enemies’ turns take place. Each hero can perform three actions per turn, including moving and fighting, using their individual skills, collecting sparks of magic (used to perform special actions), and interacting with cards and pop-ups. Once all heroes have taken their turn, a Wyrm card determines how the enemies will respond by moving, attacking, spawning, or doing something unexpected.

The basic mechanisms are easy to grasp, but the game keeps changing as each scenario offers different things to do. You will find yourself exploring, fighting bosses, solving riddles, playing little minigames, looking for clues…anything is possible during the story!

Game Mechanics:

  • Action Points
  • Campaign
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Move Through Deck
  • Narrative Choice

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 4 Players
  • 60 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.11

Windward

Windward

Windward

You are a captain flying your Ship on the skies of the gaseous planet Celus. Gain the most notoriety by sailing the skies, hunting crestors, fighting opponents. Whichever player has the most notoriety points at the end of the game is the winner. To gain notoriety, you can trade in Crestor teeth and gas at the trading post.

Players take turns to move their ships, take actions, use supply cards, and battle other players.

Game Mechanics:

  • Area Movement
  • Cooperative
  • Dice Rolling
  • Grid Movement
  • Hand Management
  • Pick-Up and Deliver
  • Trading
  • Worker Placement

Game Specifications:

  • 1 – 5 Players
  • 30 – 90 Minutes
  • Difficulty Weight 2.29