Meeples Together: How and Why Cooperative Board Games Work

How and Why Cooperative Games Work

This is the authoritative source on cooperative board games and card games for gamers, aficionados, critics, and designers, featuring a deep dive into co-op gaming’s titles, mechanics, theory, and frontiers.

You are on an epic mission to combat global plague. Or you are seeking out werewolves in an isolated village. Houses are on fire, islands are sinking, and enemy androids have infiltrated the fleet.

You can’t succeed alone — and victory requires more than understanding your teammates. You need to know the game.

Join experts Christopher Allen and Shannon Appelcline as they examine not only how cooperative board games work, but why. With more than 150 enlightening images showing principles and mechanisms of play in action, this book helps you see your favorite cooperative board games in new ways. Together, we look deep into the machines of great games to reveal how they work — and how we play.

Whether you want to play cooperative games better, discover your next favorite game, or design the world’s next favorite, Meeples Together is for you.

Table of Contents

• Foreword by Matt Leacock (designer of Pandemic)
• Chapter 1: The Basics of Cooperation
• Part One: The Spectrum of Cooperative Gaming
• Chapter 2: Styles of Competition
  • Case Study: Terra
• Chapter 3: Styles of Teamwork
  • Case Study: Contract Bridge
  • Case Study: One Night Ultimate Werewolf
• Chapter 4: Styles of Cooperation
  • Case Study: Pandemic
  • Case Study: Forbidden Island
  • Case Study: Forbidden Desert
• Part Two: The Mechanics of Cooperative Games
• Chapter 5: Cooperative Systems
  • Case Study: Flash Point: Fire Rescue
• Chapter 6: Challenge Systems
  • Case Study: Robinson Crusoe — Adventures on the Cursed Island
• Chapter 7: Players Facing Challenges
  • Case Study: Shadows over Camelot
  • Case Study: Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
• Chapter 8: Players Undertaking Tasks
  • Case Study: Arkham Horror 2e
• Chapter 9: Adventure Systems
  • Case Study: Mansions of Madness 2e
• Part Three: The Theory of Cooperative Games
• Chapter 10: A Theory of Cooperative Gaming
  • Case Study: Space Alert
• Chapter 11: A Theory of Challenge Design
  • Case Study: Ghost Stories
• Chapter 12: When Games Go Wrong
  • Case Study: D-Day Dice
• Part Four: Cooperative Frontiers
• Chapter 13: The Psychology of Cooperative Gaming
  • Case Study: Hanabi
• Chapter 14: Assembling the Puzzle
  • Case Study: SOS Titanic
• Appendices
• Appendix I: The Basics of Game Design
• Appendix II: Game Design Dilemmas
• Appendix III: Game Design Types
• Appendix IV: Game Design & Social Theories
• Appendix V: Cooperative & Teamwork Game Synopses & Reviews