Unfortunately, pandemics remain topical. This is a look at the first of three “Survival” Pandemic games, which dramatically revamped the setting and gameplay of the classic. Pandemic: Iberia by Jesús Torres Castro & Matt Leacock Publisher: Z-Man Games (2016) Cooperative Style: True Co-Op Play Style: Action Point, Card Management, Set Collection Overview The players are still…
Case Study: Dark Moon
We’ve been MIA for a bit, but we still have quite a few case studies to present from Meeples Together. So here’s the next one, our first extracurricular look at a traitor game, and one that was directly derived from the classic, Battlestar Galactica. Dark Moon by Evan Derrick Publisher: Stronghold (2015) Cooperative Style: Traitor…
Case Study: The Game
Speaking of simple and popular card co-ops from 2015, how about The Game? Based on simplicity of play, it’s somewhat similar to The Grizzled, but whereas The Grizzled was super evocative, The Game is entirely abstract — but still a fun, tense game. The Game by Steffen Benndorf Publisher: IDW Games (2015) Cooperative Style: True…
Case Study: The Grizzled
The Grizzled was a very popular game when it was released in 2015, and when we played it we noodled out some of the reasons why, though they were for the most part about its simplicity of design and its evocative play rather than its cooperative innovation. The Grizzled by Fabien Riffaud & Juan Rodriguez…
Lost Study: Microscope RPG
When we first began work on the book that eventually became Meeples Together, our scope was much larger. We were thinking about all sorts of cooperative play. This resulted in us writing four case studies that didn’t appear in the final book: Dungeons & Dragons, American Football, World of Warcraft, and now the final one:…
Case Study: The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
Recently Shannon has been writing about Eric Vogel’s Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game. He wrote about how it encourages players to even out resources over on his own Mechanics & Meeples blog, then he wrote here about how its solo play differs from true cooperative play. When we realized that we hadn’t yet published our…
Co-op Thoughts: Playing Solo
On January 1, I took a long airplane flight to Hawaii. In preparation for that flight, I got a copy of a Steam adaptation of one of my favorite co-op games, for play on my laptop during the trip. It was The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game (DFCO). Now, this raises a question: when is…
Case Study: Pandemic Legacy — Season Two
Pandemic Legacy was innovative enough that it’s worth talking about twice, so here’s a look at the second entry in the trilogy. And, whereas we played just a few games of Season 1, we played through the entire Season 2 campaign, with a win-loss pattern that resulted in 21 total games(!). Definitely a top co-op…
Case Study: Pandemic Legacy — Season One
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 was an amazing innovation when it was released in 2015, and it continues to be one of the newest foundational games in the co-op hobby. What made it so great? It’s not just that it broke new ground with its Legacy-campaign play, but also that it integrated that fully into its…
Team Study: The Resistance
The Resistance by Don Eskridge Publisher: Indie Boards & Games (2010) Cooperative Style: Hidden Teams Play Style: Voting Overview In The Resistance players are secretly divided into one team of rebels and one team of spies. Though the spies know which team everyone is on, the rebels do not. Gameplay centers on missions that are…