Best Cooperative Board Games for 2 Players

If you’ve never played any of these cooperative board games, you might have the mistaken idea that cooperative means “not competitive”.

That isn’t the case!

With these games, cooperative is not some sort of feel-good genre where everyone gets a participation ribbon and goes home a winner. Some are intensely competitive, but the difference lies in the fact that you work to defeat the game, not your partner.

There’s nothing like a little camaraderie whilst you work to see if you can survive the game. Liberté, égalité, fraternité! Or something like that.

Oh, and these games are mostly for adults, so hop over here if looking for a game to keep the kids happy and cooperating. That way they can sweetly work together to find ingredients for grandma’s pie.

The adult games take the intensity up a notch:

• In Pandemic, your success or failure determines the survival of humanity.
• In Space Alert, the idea is to complete the mission before the ship blows up.
• In The Polar Station, you must break out of a locked room before meeting an untimely end.
• All you have to worry about in Nautilion is having the Phantom ship destroy your happy isles before you are able to attack the dark tower.
• You could also die on The Oregon Trail, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

However, I guess if you lose the grandma’s pie game, there is no pie. Which is admittedly a sobering outcome in and of itself. Anyway, here’s a list of 2-player games that work well for adults.

Pandemic

No summary of cooperative games is complete without this one.

Pandemic is the matriarch of cooperative board games. The objective is to cure the four deadly diseases before they vanquish all of humanity.

Each player is randomly assigned one of the seven role cards with roles like “quarantine specialist” or “contingency planner”. Since each role is given unique abilities in fighting and curing disease, the strategy of the game varies depending on what roles are currently working together.

The infection deck contributes to a steady stream of new infections across the globe, punctuated by devastating epidemics. It’s possible to vary the difficulty level of the game by adding more epidemic cards to the deck.

Don’t be turned off by the nuanced instructions!

The game is unique and takes a little while to explain, but once learned, it plays smoothly and is intuitive.

Also, if you haven’t gathered, it’s ever-so-slightly dramatic. Nothing quite like watching cities from Madrid to Kolkata be enveloped by a deadly plague while in the process of flying to meet your partner at a research center with the hope of a cure.

Pandemic Legacy

This one is for Pandemic fans who want to step it up a notch.

I recommend playing the original first, but those of you who have already earned your stripes in fighting worldwide outbreaks will love this version.
Pandemic Legacy is a one-time game.

And I realize that some of you stopped reading right there.

For those of you still with me, here’s why the game promises to be worth every penny!

It’s not an extension of Pandemic. Even though the game starts out with similar rules and themes, it has its own unfolding storyline filled with surprises, plot twists, and game changers. The game unfolds in “months” and can take anywhere from 12 to 24 month episodes to finish the game.

Each month presents unique challenges and surprises that keep the game dramatic and engaging. Sometimes the instructions call for permanently altering game pieces—one reason why this is a one—time game, but that adds to the charm.

This game is a little bit like a really good mystery story. Once you read it and know the ending, it will never quite be the same. But that doesn’t take away from the sheer pleasure of living through it the first time. Also, the months can be played in consecutive games, so you could potentially sit down to play this game multiple times before you make it through the entire set of months.

Space Alert

This game will prepare you for a day in the future when you may find yourself trapped in a spaceship with your best friend, trying to complete a mission before the ship blows up.

Which is obviously something you should prepare for!

The game is centered around a 10 minute soundtrack which gives instructions from the central computer about various incoming threats. There are multiple soundtracks included on the game CD that allow for different situations; a modification allows the game to be played even without the audio soundtrack.

The board game is a spaceship and each player is equipped with cards that allow for various actions, including managing energy resources, resisting invaders, moving around, and launching missiles. Players can communicate about the cards in their hand and are encouraged to work together to complete the mission before time runs out.

If you like stress and unknown hazards, the description of this game seems perfect for you. It is also finished (including set-up and evaluation) in about 30 minutes.

Thames and Kosmos Exit: The Polar Station

The Exit series of games attempt to package the thrill of an escape room and unleash it on your dining room table. Like Pandemic Legacy, this is a game that will be used up as it is played, but at its inexpensive price, I think I’ll add it to the list of affordable and memorable date night ideas.

Each game in this series comes with a back-story of how you and your teammate(s) ended up trapped in the room. In the case of The Polar Station, an evacuation alarm is the first hint that something has gone terribly wrong. After climbing through a ventilation shaft, you eventually realize that the only way out is to solve the codes to unlock the door before it’s too late.

This should be a great game for a group of friends, but I think it would also make a fabulous 2-player endeavor. The play time is 60 to 140 minutes, so tuck the kids in bed, brew some decaf, and start trying to puzzle your way out of a locked building in the frozen wilderness.

Nautilion

This game’s objective is to defeat the Darkhouse before the Phantom Submarine reaches your happy isles.

It can be played with 1 to 2 players and is a lighter game with regard to strategy. That’s not to say there isn’t any strategy—it certainly takes planning and the extensions add even more variety. And yet you won’t find yourself stress-eating popcorn.

Some nights you just don’t feel like tackling a game that makes your brain hurt. According to reviews, this offers a more relaxed option without being lame.

The tiles are laid out in a circle and the defender of the happy isles (the Nautilion) advances toward the center of the spiral where the Darkhouse lies, while the enemy Phantom Submarine advances in the opposite direction toward the home isles.

Each play consists of rolling a set of three dice. The player than assigns one die for the Nautilion, one for the Phantom Submarine, and one for the Darkhouse. Although the Darkhouse doesn’t move, it affects the game based on the numbers assigned to it by the die.

It’s not just a game of moving tokens. The Nautilion must advance in a pattern that allows it to collect all of its sailors before attacking the Darkhouse. It’s a simple game, but it isn’t overly simple and adults should find it sufficiently challenging.

The Oregon Trail: Card Game

I threw this one in here as an extra. It’s a cooperative game that can technically be played with two players.

Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure this is approximately how the game would go with two players:

Player 1 dies of a snakebite.
Player 2 dies of cholera.

The end.

However, if you happen to have more than two players, this is a fun take on the old computer game. It’s basically a quest to see if one of your wagon members can make it to Oregon alive. Everyone works together, and it is suitable for multiple ages.

The strategy is not overly taxing, which might make it boring for some gamers, but overall I think that makes it a good ice-breaker when you just want to play something light and fun; light and fun except in the sense that team members are dying of dysentery, but still.

Check Amazon ReviewsNote: affiliate link; no additional cost to you