Whether you’re looking for nerdy gifts to get your special someone or just want an excuse to stay in and spend some quality time together, a board game is always the best idea. There is nothing like shutting off all the electronic devices around and diving into a board game with that special someone.
We tried to mix together some cooperative board games and competitive games, to spice things up. Wan’t to relax and play a game? Not a problem! Need help to decide who does the dishes next? Grab the board game!
As there are an uncountable amount of board games to choose from, this will be a multi part series broken down to 5 board games per segment. Let’s jump right into it!
1. Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Who to play it with: The Reliable Teammate
Play Time: ~1.5 hours
Cooperative/Competitive: Cooperative
Most tabletop gamers who have moved past Monopoly and Settlers of Catan have encountered the original Pandemic, but Pandemic’s formula is similar to many other games that arguably do it better.
However, Pandemic Legacy takes what Pandemic and its expansions set up and turns it into an outstanding long-form campaign. Your goal is still to manage and cure the diseases ravaging the world’s population, but it’s now tied into an ongoing narrative, with new game mechanics being introduced with each story segment.
The game’s story takes place over the course of a year, and every month brings new challenges. Starting a month is always exciting, because the game instructs you to open new secret compartments in the box, add rules to the rulebook, and sometimes introduces you to a new playable character. You then play the game under the new rules, only hoping that you can keep the contagion under control. This game only provides a single playthrough of the campaign, which works out to roughly 20 or 30 hours of game time, and has limited replay value. It is unquestionably still worth purchasing. The memories you’ll build playing a campaign of Pandemic Legacy are the kind that will last a lifetime.
This is a very intense cooperative 2 player board game. While each character controls the actions of their own pawn, it is vitally important that players work together in order to cure the world’s diseases and win the game each month. If you aren’t coordinated with your partner, the world will fall into chaos, and subsequent months will become even harder to beat.
It might be a little overwhelming to jump straight into without playing the original Pandemic, but it isn’t impossible. This just means that you’ll have to take a bit of extra time to discuss your strategy — and promoting good communication and teamwork is absolutely why this is a great couples’ game.
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