Am I Starting To Like Cooperative Games?

I once again reflect back on some of the cool people I’ve met on this trip.  This time, it’s James Firnhaber, designer of Tesseract, and Doug Levandowski, designer of Kids on Bikes.  

I remember seeing the sell sheet for James’s game, Tesseract in the Philly Game Makers Guild discord server and being instantly excited about it.  I was immediately hooked by the cube of blocks in the center of the table described as the game’s “timer, challenge system, and primary resource.”  So when I got to Philly I knew for sure I wanted to try it, and it didn’t disappoint.

Even for hand-drawn cubes, this game has some serious table presence.

While I’m generally apprehensive about coop games because of quarterbacking, that wasn’t an issue at all during this playtest.  The game was simple enough to learn quickly, but with some randomization elements, unique player powers, and difficulty of strategy, it felt very much like we were working together to solve an interesting problem.  The central cube is brilliant, as each turn you have to take some number of cubes off of it, which allows you to take actions. The catch, however, is that each cube you remove brings you closer to destruction!  With each component in the game serving so many different purposes, I think James’s Tesseract might be the most elegant game I’ve ever played.

Kids in Gardens

It was a couple days later when I met up with Doug Levandowski at a diner in New Jersey that I started to realize the ice around my heart was starting to melt when it came to cooperative games.

Doug’s prototype was a limited-communication co-op where players were working together to make the best garden, complete with a variety of flowers, fountains, trellises, etc.  

What I liked the most about Doug’s game was that it forced you to think about communication in a different way.  While players weren’t allowed to talk about what action they were going to take, they could do other things, such as mime or air-draw their intentions.  The act of puzzling out how to communicate with someone I had only recently met without using any words at all was such a great hook.  I’m looking forward to playing this game again.

Doug Hugs

A sentimental piece that I’ve kept on this journey is the pin Doug gave me after a hug at the end of our gaming.

Probably a little faded from being in the sun on the bike all the time.

I can’t speak for what this concept means to Doug, why he printed up pins and decided he was going on a “hug tour.”  But for me, it means a lot.  It means repairing the connections that have been broken by the pandemic.  It means coming out of isolation and shedding all of the mental health dangers associated with it.  It means waking up after a long winter.  It means stepping outside again.  

I know not everyone is into hugs, and that’s ok.  I am personally a fan.  And I think Doug’s campaign to welcome everyone back out of isolation with a hug is pretty cool.

Thanks again to the awesome people who have welcomed me into their communities on this crazy trip.