Chasing Railways LLC

Valentine’s Day is coming up and I wanted to suggest some of our favorite coop and competitive games sure to be a hit for your date night. I’ll write about each game below and highlight their details as well as the pros and cons to help you find the game best suited for you and your special someone.

1. For those who love a mystery: Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

• Cooperative
• 1-2 Hours
• Collection of 10 Mysteries

This game is great fun for those who like history, mysteries, or Sherlock Holmes. You’ll be able to solve a case Holmes leaves you in charge of and compete against the great detective himself for a maximum score. You’ll call on various places in London to investigate your leads and solve the murder. Fair warning: Holmes can solve these mysteries with minimal leads–so don’t waste too much time.

Pros:

• Easy to learn
• Great as a “put your heads together to solve something” game
• 10 adventures–if you love the first you’ll have a lot more to play

Cons:

• Lots of reading
• Once you play an adventure it isn’t replayable

2. For those who like card games — The Fox in the Forest Duet

• Coop designed for 2 players
• Trick Taking Card Game
• ~30 Minutes

This delightful “sequel” to the Fox in the Forest pairs you up as a team instead of a competitors. You’ll be working together to perfect your strategy as you take tricks–without talking about what’s in your hand. You’ll move through, collecting gems, hopefully before time runs out.

Pros

• Easy to Learn
• Quick game play
• Surprisingly Strategic
• Easy to find (often at your local Target)

Cons

• Relatively Silent Game
• May be too challenging as game progresses

3. For Wine Lovers — Viticulture Essential Edition*

*I recommend playing this game with the Tuscany Expansion if playing with 2 players.

• Competitive
• Worker Placement
• 45-90 Minutes

In old world Tuscany will you have what it takes to have the most successful vinyard. Compete over a series of rounds to grow your vinyard into the most successful winery. Place your workers strategically, and manage your grapes and plots of land successfully, to take the prize.

Pros:

• Approachable for a more complex boardgame
• Great Art and Theming
• Smooth Mechanics and gameplay

Cons:

• One of the more expensive games on this list
• More in depth strategy than other games on this list
• Requires an expansion (additional cost) to be a complete game.

4. For Fans of Yahtzee and other Dice games (although this has none) — Welcome to your Perfect Home

• Competitive
• Flip and Write
• 15-30 Minutes

You’re trying to be the best suburban planner in the late 1950s. Can you perfectly lay out your streets, pools, fences, and everything else to have the highest score each round? Each turn you’ll have 3 card pairs to choose from a number and an effect. You’ll follow these and write them down on your sheet until the end game conditions are met.

Pros:

• Easy to learn and play
• Short gameplay time
• Fun theme
• Easy to play while having snacks/watching a movie etc

Cons:

• Some unmitigated luck
• Not a lot of interaction — multiplayer solitaire
• Soon to be out of print

5. For those dreaming of a tropical getaway — Forbidden Island.

• Cooperative
• Disappearing Island
• Treasure Hunt
• 30-45 Minutes

Take your roll as part of an adventuring party and explore the forbidden island. Work together to uncover all 4 hidden treasures and fly off the island before it sinks and you plummet to a watery grave.

Pros:

• Easy to learn
• Cooperative
• Fast Paced Gameplay
• Involves a lot of teamwork/coordination

Cons:

• Challenging on first play through and with unlucky card draws
• Can enable an alpha gamer to tell everyone what to do

6. For the Disney Lover — Disney Villainous

• Competitive
• Unique Player Powers and Win Conditions
• Highly Thematic
• 30 minutes

Take the role as an iconic Disney villain and thwart your heroes and the other Disney villains as you try to accomplish your scheme first.

Pros:

• Highly thematic
• Multiple Expansions — with lots of additional villains available
• Great Components
• Unique games on every playthrough — every character has their own strategy

Cons:

• Multiplayer Solitaire–besides Fate cards there isn’t a lot of character interaction

7. For those who like party games — Codenames Duet

• Coop designed for 2 players
• Spinoff of popular party game — Codenames
• 10 to 20 Minutes

Work together with your partner to recover all of your spies. Give clues in 2 word increments: word & number and have your partner guess as many as they can marking them with your green safe cards. Take turns, but be careful there are assassins in your midst and you’re running out of time.

Pros:

• Fast paced Cooperative game
• Lots of variability and challenge
• Easy to learn

Cons:

• Not for those who don’t like word games

8. For the cuddly and cat lovers — Calico

• Tile Placement
• Puzzle-y
• Quilt and Cat Themed
• 30 minutes

Who can sew the comfiest quilt for some picky cats?

Pros:

• Easy to Learn
• Cute theming
• A fun challenge for those who like puzzles

Cons:

• Not for those who hate quilts and cats
• Not a lot of player interaction

9. For Those who like Escape Rooms — Any version of Exit the Game

• Cooperate Escape Room in a Box
• A wide variety of themes and difficulty levels
• 2 hours

Can you escape the sinister lab, the abandoned cabin, the haunted theme park–find out in these miniature escape room in a box puzzles.

Pros:

• Cooperative
• Thematic
• Challenging

Cons:

• Long gameplay time
• 1 time only playthrough (components are destroyed during the game)

There you have it–our suggestions for Valentine’s Day boardgames!

Thanks for reading.