Cooperative games are a genre of board games that have had a sharp rise in prominence over the last decade. It's unlikely to be a coincidence that the rise in co-op board games has coincided with the decrease in local co-op video games, as evenings in with friends are always going to be a thing, regardless of how flawless online communication becomes. The pandemic has also been a contributor to people buying more co-op board games, particularly in 2020, when lockdowns were common around the world.

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As for the games themselves, co-op board games are a great alternative to competitive ones, as many people prefer to work as a team than compete as individuals. Unfortunately, some people are put off by co-op games, as many of them are epic role-playing games that take hundreds of hours to beat and come with a rulebook that looks like a novel.

Thankfully though, there are some excellent beginner-friendly games on the market, which aim to offer the same casual fun as popular competitive games. The titles on this list have been ranked in order of their complexity rating on boardgamegeek.com and are all great places to start in their world of co-op board games.

5 The Mind

The Mind box and cards

Complexity Rating: 1.07

The Mind is an ideal game for those that want to hang out with their friends but can't be bothered speaking to them.

Each player is given a number of cards corresponding to an increasing level count; for example, at Level 1, each player gets one card - at Level 2, each player gets two cards - and so on up to Level 12. These cards are numbered from 1 to 100, and each level tasks the group with placing down their cards in order of lowest to highest.

This may sound simple, but as alluded to before, players are unable to communicate with each other. Consequently, the only way to win is to create some form of unspoken language and hope that every player is on the same wavelength.

4 Codenames Duet

codenames duet cards

Complexity Rating: 1.35

Codenames: Duet is a cooperative version of the game Codenames, which was first released in 2015 and has quickly become one of the most recognizable modern board games in the world.

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The premise of Codenames: Duet is very similar to the original. A set of cards will be laid out with words on them; then, one player will say a word that will act as a clue for as many cards as possible - the other player will then try to guess which card(s) they think the clue is hinting at. The clue-giver needs to be careful, however, as numerous trap cards need to be avoided, particularly the assassin card that will immediately result in a loss for the team that turned it over.

Codenames: Duet is one of many variants of the original game, with Codenames: Disney Family Edition, Codenames: Harry Potter, and Codenames: The Simpsons Family Edition being just some of the others.

3 Forbidden Island

forbidden island all pieces

Complexity Rating: 1.74

Forbidden Island was designed by Matt Leacock and was released in 2010. The game strands players on an island that is rapidly sinking and tasks them with retrieving four treasures before successfully leaving in a helicopter containing every player. Instead of a board, the game has a selection of tiles that players shuffle, then order into the shape pictured above, which is a smart and simple way of ensuring that no two games are the same.

Fordibben Island was a hit with critics and won a handful of awards, including Best Family/Children's Game at the 2010 UKGE Awards. The game has received two sequels, Forbidden Desert and Forbidden Sky, which are both similar in core design and worth checking out for those who enjoy the original.

2 The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine

the crew quest for planet nine all pieces

Complexity Rating: 2.00

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a trick-taking game that was designed by Thomas Sing and was first released just a couple of years ago in 2020. The game has 50 different missions that gradually increase in difficulty as players travel across the solar system.

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As is the case with almost any co-op game, communication and teamwork are key to success in The Quest for Planet Nine. However, this is far easier said than done, as like in The Mind, players aren't allowed to freely talk about the cards in their hands. Instead, they can only leave clues and hints for other players through the use of their cards and limited communication tokens.

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine has been showered with awards since its release, including Best Cooperative Game from the 2019 Golden Geek Awards and the prestigious 2020 Deutscher Spielepreis.

1 Pandemic

pandemic box, board, and piecs

Complexity Rating: 2.41

For those who haven't heard of it, Pandemic may seem like an odd cash-in on recent world events, though the game was actually released back in 2008. Pandemic is one of the most influential cooperative board games of all time, as not only did it manage to reach mainstream audiences, but it also offered a condensed co-op experience that was shorter and more beginner-friendly than most other cooperative titles on the market at the time.

As the name suggests, the goal of the game is to prevent a pandemic from occurring. To accomplish this, players must discover the cure for all four diseases before either: eight outbreaks occur, disease cubes deplete, or there are no more player cards to draw. The number of cards and pieces may seem overwhelming to new players at first, though once the rules have been read, it will only take a few minutes of playing before the game starts to click.

Pandemic's enormous commercial success led to several expansions and spin-off releases. Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu added a Lovecraftian twist to the game, Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 capitalized on the rise of legacy games with an ongoing story, while the On the Brink expansion implemented new cards, new challenges, and let a fifth player join in on the fun.

Up until recently, a video game adaptation of Pandemic was available on numerous platforms, including Steam, Xbox Game Pass, and Nintendo Switch, though the game has recently been removed from all stores "at the request of the publisher."

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