Co-op Games

Cooperative games fix the one thing that ruins game night for a lot of families. Nobody has to crush anyone. Everyone wins or everyone loses, so the competitive uncle and the nervous nine-year-old are finally on the same side. The catch is that co-op games can be brutally hard, and a few of them let one loud player run the whole table. Our reviews call out both problems by name.

Right now this category is built around two games we keep coming back to. Spirit Island is the deep one, where you play the island itself fighting off invaders, and it rewards a group willing to lose a few times. Spirit Island solo covers whether it holds up alone, and our beginner spirits guide tells you which spirit to hand a first-timer so they do not quit after one round.

Ghost Stories is the fast, punishing alternative, and if you are deciding between it and the game everyone already owns, Ghost Stories vs Pandemic gives a straight answer. More co-op reviews land here as we play them.