It’s been a while since we looked a team game, so here’s a short overview of Codenames, definitely one of the most successful team games of recent years. Codenames by Vlaada Chvátil Publisher: Czech Games Edition (2015) Cooperative Style: Teamwork Play Style: Word Guessing Game Overview Codenames is a simple word guessing team game with…
Case Study: Eldritch Horror
We’re back! And to mark our return we’re taking a look at Eldritch Horror, the notable reinvention of Arkham Horror second edition that appeared in the ’10s (and one of the ever-popular series of Lovecraftian co-ops). Eldritch Horror by Corey Konieczka & Nikki Valens Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games (2013) Cooperative Style: True Co-Op Play Style:…
Case Study: Pandemic — Rising Tide
Pandemic: Rising Tide is the close companion to Pandemic: Iberia, discussed here two weeks ago. However, it moves further away from Pandemic’s core, to show how the same simulation can also work for floods! It’s quite clever. Pandemic: Rising Tide by Jeroen Doumen & Matt Leacock Publisher: Z-Man Games (2017) Cooperative Style: True Co-Op Play Style:…
Case Study: Pandemic — Iberia
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…