The Ready Gamer

In a cooperative board game, players work together in order to achieve a goal, either winning or losing as a group. As the name suggests, cooperative games stress cooperation over competition.

Participants typically play against the game. In Pandemic, for example, players work together to stop and cure different strains of diseases. In some cooperative games, one or two players take on the role of traitor. Traitors typically win if the other players lose. In Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, players who receive a “You Are a Cylon” card when loyalty cards are handed out work in secret to undermine humanity. Some cooperative games might have an added layer of intrigue by giving players personal win conditions. In Dead of Winter: A Cross Roads Game, a zombie apocalypse game, in order to win players must achieve the communal victory condition and a personal objective.