Cooperative board games are made of much win. Everyone against the board game. You all win or you all lose. Brilliant. More kiwis with that. And there are very few board games that are fully cooperative. Why? Because its easier to face off against human players than to make up rules that will keep the players entertained for as long. Lord of the Rings (one of the many) and Shadows over Camelot are two cooperative games. I played one and havn’t played the other. The one I played, I wasn’t impressed with much and the other seems very linear. But that’s for some other time.
Today is about: Arkham Horror the Call of Cthulhu board game. Players each control an investigator that face off against a random ancient one that will surely devour them if it wakes up. Investigators scramble around the board, dodging, fighting and/or fleeing monsters as they close gates to the other worlds in a weak attempt at curbing the ancient ones power over Arkham. Sometimes players win, but mostly they lose. Which makes ‘em come back for more. (No really. I have seen this. It baffles me too.)
Arkham Horror is best with four players but can play from one (singleplayer board game? sweet) to eight players. Six to eight players makes the game last a long long long long long long time. But for any number of players, it’s a great game with lots of bits and pieces and some complex (and sometimes cryptic) rules. How do flying creatures work again? ‘Course the different rule versions don’t help. The FAQ is a must for explaining those annoying cryptic rules.
But once you get past the rules part and get four players and actually get down to playing (with some knowledgable rules-lawyer to run the monsters) the game is loads of fun. The game has two parts: The investigation and fighting the ancient one. The investigation part is everyone pretty much running around Arkham trying to close a gate as three more appear. If the players don’t win in this part (by closing all the gates or sealing six) the second part happens: fighting the ancient one. Which is all investigators smack the ancient one and then it smacks all of them. Some players enjoy the investigation part, others enjoy smacking around the ancient one. I prefer the first, since the ancient one usually ends up smacking you around unless you are fighting against a weenie like Yig. (Yig is a tough fight…its just easier to beat than the others.)
Course, I love the whole Cthulhu methos so I might be a teenie tiny bit biased.

And to prove that even ancient ones have a lighter side of life (and their own call line) try: Calls for Cthulhu.
Until next time: Have a very scary solstice. (I know its not anywhere near any kind of solstice but it fits with todays game.)
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