23 at the Uno Park Community Center for an evening of co-op games.

IN: Steve & Sandy, Tony & Rachel, Norm & Hope, Sean, Armando, Zach, Chris, Amy, Nicole, Julie, Cady, Reimi, Rob, Landon, Sean K, Anna Peter & Faryn, Carol, Matt

Kites 2x (led by Nicole)  2022 game where everyone works together to keep all their kites — represented by colorful sand timers — in the air. Take turns playing cards, flipping the sand timers, and coordinating with other players to ensure none of the timers run out. If it does, a kite has crashed! Play all of the kite cards in the deck, and everybody wins. 

Nicole sez – Our group (Carol, Faryn, Sean K and me) took to the skies with plenty of enthusiasm, though the winds proved difficult to master. Despite our best efforts, we couldn’t keep all the kites aloft through any round. Even so, the frantic pace and constant teamwork kept everyone engaged, making for a fun and energetic experience.

The Game 2X (led by Armando)  2015 multiplayer co-op with limited communication. Players add numbered cards (from 2-99) to 4 piles with 2 of them ascending and 2 descending. Get rid of the entire deck (or close to it) and the team wins. If anyone is unable to play a card, the team loses. 

Armando sez: The Game defeated our quartet ( Julie, Sandy, Norm and me) twice – the first time ‘practice game’ with 13 cards remaining and the second time with 2 cards. The instruction booklet says anything less than 10 is excellent — excellent work, team! I give The Game a 10/10 for fun factor but 0/10 for its name – as that makes it difficult to find using almost any search box.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173090/the-game

Tranquility (led by K-ban)  2020 card game where the goal is for the team to complete the grid before any player runs out of available actions. Cards must be placed so that the grid ascends in numerical order from bottom left to top right. All the players win if they manage to complete the grid and have placed a Start and Finish card. All players lose if a single player can no longer play or discard any cards legally following the rules. The players may not, however, communicate. 

Steve sez: The team ( Tony, Rachel, Anna & me) won with little margin for error at the conclusion, with Steve playing the sole missing numbered card and Anna playing the FINISH card for the win)

The Crew: Mission Deep Sea (led by Zach)  2021 card game, with the same innovative co-operative trick-taking mechanism as the highly lauded original space-themed game — but with some exciting new surprises! While communication between your crew members is severely limited by your submerged state, it is also critical to your success; finding the hidden land in the murky depths depends not only on winning tricks, but also on carefully negotiating the order in which they are won. If things don’t go as planned, players might just be able to salvage the operation, but it will take near flawless execution and perhaps a little luck to finally reach the lost continent of Mu. Trick taking and co-ops are rarely associated together, but The Crew works!

Zach sez: The Crew’s limited communication structure poses two clear problems: the pre-game division of tasks in relative isolation is inherently strategic while the limited communication resources in game provide a great tactical opportunity. Players ( Cady, Peter, Chris, Landon & me) were challenged by the puzzle but were ultimately able to succeed. 

Return to Dark Tower (led by Sean) 2022 engine building and resource management game, paired with a technological interface unlike any seen before in games, including the titular tower, which holds more than a few secrets. Players, in the role of heroes together gather resources, cleanse buildings, defeat monsters, and undertake quests to build up their strength and discern what foe ultimately awaits them. When the heroes face the tower, the game shifts into its dramatic second act, where the players have one chance to defeat the enemy once and for all.

Sean sez: Our heros valiantly attempted to thwart the adversary that had taken up residence in The Dark Tower, but ultimately the adversary and their monstrous minions managed to overwhelm us (Reimi, Matt, Amy & me) with corruption, plunging the four kingdoms into a new dark age.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/256680/return-to-dark-tower

The Cat and the Tower (led by Peter) 2024 cooperative dexterity game with multi-use cards. 

Zach sez: The Cat in the Tower is a tense and creative cooperative dexterity puzzle where players are challenged to press forward and fight the temptation to leave the biggest challenge to the person after them. Zach, Cady, Landon, Chris and our great teacher, Peter, were elated to build a 10 story tower that stood for more than 5 seconds 

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/424751/cat-and-the-tower

Daybreak (led by Anna)  2023 Kennerspiel winner is a co-op game about climate action. Each player controls a world power, deploying policies and technologies to both dismantle the engine of global heating and to build resilient societies that protect people from life-threatening crises.If the global temperature gets too high, or if too many people from any world power are in crisis, everyone loses. But if players work together to draw down global emissions to net-zero, they all win! Our intrepid trio ( Anna, Sean K & Rob) succeeded in beating the game and the planet was grateful for their effort.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/334986/daybreak

Dorf Romantik: the Board Game (led by Tony) (led by Tony) 2023 SdJ winner. Co-op where players place landscape tiles to earn points for the team. Faryn & Steve got a score of 98 with sage advice from Tony…a respectable first play together.

So Clover 2X (led by Nicole) 2021 cooperative word association game. Play as a team to get the highest score. Get Keywords and secretly write their common features on your Clover board; these are your Clues. One ‘red herring’ card is mixed in to make things more challenging. The other players then work together to try to figure out each player’s Keywords. At the end of the game, add up your score according to how many Keywords were correctly found. The quintet did very well.

Nicole sez: Our team of Sandy, Hope, Rachel K, Chris and me were thinking on exactly the same wavelength. Our clue-giving and guessing clicked beautifully –  scoring 28 of 30 points on our first play and culminating in a standout second round, where we correctly matched every board on the very first attempt for a perfect score of 30/30.

Corps of Discovery (led by Armando) 2025 deduction, exploration and adventure co-op game.  In addition to finding and killing monsters, players must also complete numerous daily challenges that require specific resources that they can find on the board. Players have to use logic and deduction to reason out where the resources they need are located. Ally with Sacajawea and the indigenous people of the area to help you on your quest.   

Armando sez: The game Corps of Discovery puts the players into the roles of famous characters from the expedition, as well as of the era … in a revisionist, fictional world of demons, monsters, and other dangers. Players work together in a sort of “cooperative Minesweeper” way, uncovering spots on a 7×7 grid that represents the uncharted map they are exploring. The removed location pieces are placed over 3 different “challenge cards” per day, each with a different “count”, and together they act like a game clock for a single day of action. For any map, some facts are known to be true, and as the team uncovers more information turn by turn, they work together to piece together what they know to gather resources to survive the night and avoid starvation and dying of thirst. Each character has a unique skill that they can use once per day, as well as a gear item. Carol, Julie, Norm and me voyaged into the unknown, slaying 2 of 3 minotaurs, but dying of starvation on the 4th night. Rest in peace, brave explorers.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/396895/corps-of-discovery-a-game-set-in-the-world-of-mani

Spirit Island (led by Zach) 2017 game where players defend their island home from colonizing Invaders. Players are different spirits of the land, each with its own unique elemental powers. This was Niko’s (owner of the former Purple Dragon Game Store where we played for our first 2 years ) favorite multiplayer game. 

Zach sez: Spirit Island poses a deeply strategic individual and communal puzzle, pairing hand management and area control elements. Players work individually and collaboratively to clear their Island from would-be-colonizers in a reverse Catan experience with tremendous table presence. After a hard fought battle Cady, Peter and Zach (or River Surges in Sunlight, Fathomless Mud in the Swamp and Spread of Rampant Green) dispatched their foes in impressive fashion! 

Just One 2X (group led) 2018 co-op that’s become our group’s favorite party game. The group scored 11 of a possible 13 points both times!

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/254640/just-one

Minecraft Explorers (led by Rob) 2024 co-op drafting and card game with contracts and action points where players are explorers fighting off hordes of monsters. On one’s turn action points are utilized to explore different landscapes to discover the back of a tile, find tools to make things easier and uncover treasures needed to win.  Our intrepid trio defeated the hordes valiantly for the win.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/413403/minecraft-explorers