Some of Our Favourite Cooperative Board Games | Best Cooperative Board Games

AUGUST 2025

Some board games are all about crushing your opponents. Others, however, are about teamwork, strategy, and collective victory. Cooperative board games have exploded in popularity because they let players work together to overcome challenges - whether that’s surviving a haunted house, fending off xenomorphs, or landing a jet safely.

At Terror Toad, we design party games that spark laughter and mischief, but we also love a good night of teamwork. Here are some of our favourite cooperative board games that always deliver unforgettable experiences.

Betrayal at House on the Hill

A classic in the world of semi-cooperative games. Players explore a creepy mansion together, uncovering new rooms and eerie encounters. But halfway through, the game twists - one player usually becomes the traitor, turning the cooperative mission into a tense survival showdown.

Why it’s great: The mix of teamwork, story-driven exploration, and shocking betrayal keeps everyone on the edge of their seat. It’s perfect for fans of horror and strategy alike.

Alien: Fate of the Nostromo

Based on Ridley Scott’s Alien, this co-op game throws players onto the Nostromo spaceship with one mission: survive. You’ll work as a team to gather supplies, complete objectives, and avoid the terrifying alien stalking the ship.

Why it’s great: The theme is immersive, the tension is real, and every turn feels like a fight for survival. This is a must-have for sci-fi and movie fans who want their game nights to feel cinematic.

Pandemic (The Cooperative Classic)

No list of cooperative games is complete without Pandemic. Players act as a global disease control team, working together to contain outbreaks and find cures before time runs out.

Why it’s great: It’s tense, strategic, and hugely replayable. Pandemic is often the gateway game that gets players hooked on the cooperative genre.

Sky Team

This newer two-player cooperative game has taken the board game world by storm. In Sky Team, you and your co-pilot must land a passenger jet safely by managing communication, dice placement, and critical systems - all under pressure.

Why it’s great: Unlike many co-ops that require big groups, Sky Team shines with just two players. The tension of trying to land a plane without crashing creates some of the most exciting and nail-biting moments you’ll find in a board game.

Why Cooperative Games Are So Popular

Cooperative games work because they build connection. Instead of arguing over who stole Park Lane in Monopoly, you’re pooling your brainpower against a shared challenge. Win or lose, everyone is in it together - which makes them perfect for groups that want camaraderie instead of conflict.

Final Thoughts

Whether it’s the creeping dread of Betrayal at House on the Hill, the sci-fi suspense of Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, the global crisis management of Pandemic, or the high-pressure teamwork of Sky Team, cooperative board games offer something special. They’re tense, immersive, and -most importantly - bring people together.

At Terror Toad, we create games like GRIM INC and Imposter Pigeon that lean more toward party chaos than pure cooperation, but we’re huge fans of this genre. After all, teamwork and betrayal are two sides of the same coin - and both make for unforgettable game nights

🧠 Want More from the Toad?

• 🐸 Read our latest Update

• 💌 Join our newsletter for important ramblings

• 🎲 We will be attending Tabletop Scotland in just a few weeks! Come meet us there

How Classic and Modern Party Games Like Chess, Monopoly & Cards Against Humanity Stand the Test of Time

August 2025

Whether you’re strategizing your next move in Chess, racing to the finish in Snakes and Ladders, or plotting your way to victory in Monopoly, board games have been a beloved pastime for generations. Even fast-paced, modern party games like Cards Against Humanity or cooperative challenges such as the Pandemic board game continue this legacy - but in surprising ways. At Terror Toad, we love exploring how our own games like GRIM INC and Imposter Pigeon echo these timeless qualities, and how we can take inspiration for our future gaming endeavours.

The Timeless Appeal of Strategy, Chance, and Social Fun

Games like Chess and Snakes and Ladders might seem worlds apart - one is a deep strategy game, the other driven by chance - but both have stood the test of time because they balance predictability with excitement.

Classic games like Monopoly, Uno, and Connect 4 also combine skill and luck, offering players a mix of mental challenge and unpredictability. There's also a dexterity and tactile nature to these games that leave you satisfied. picking up and placing, dropping counters, lovely tokens and cash.

At the same time, word games like Scrabble engage creativity and vocabulary skills, keeping players thinking and learning.

Social Dynamics from Charades to Cards Against Humanity

Some games, such as Charades, thrive on social interaction and spontaneous fun, creating memorable experiences filled with laughter and teamwork. Games like Cards Against Humanity build on this social foundation with a bold, adult twist that encourages players to connect over humour and unexpected moments.

Our Terror Toad games, GRIM INC and Imposter Pigeon, embrace this spirit of social engagement, encouraging players to compete in fun and quirky ways. Consider the unique individualism of GRIM INC; no player will pitch the same scenario twice, while Imposter Pigeon is deceptively tactical – the key is acting suspicious at just the right moment.

Collaboration and Competition Across the Board

While many board games emphasize competition, others like the Pandemic board game invite players to collaborate against the game itself. This cooperative gameplay has become increasingly popular, offering a different kind of challenge.

Terror Toad celebrates this spectrum, and recently, we have been contemplating and researching play that encourages both rivalry and teamwork, adding depth and excitement to your gaming sessions.

Why Classic and Modern Games Endure

From Monopoly’s strategic property trading to the delicate balance required in Operation, these games endure because they tap into universal human desires: strategy, risk, social connection, and fun. Whether rolling dice in Snakes and Ladders or drawing cards in Uno, the joy comes from shared experience.

At Terror Toad, our goal is to continue this legacy by offering unique, offbeat games that bring players together - just like the classics you’ve loved for years.

Final Thoughts

If you’re a fan of classic games like Chess, Scrabble, or Mouse Trap, and enjoy modern hits like Cards Against Humanity or Pandemic, our games GRIM INC and Imposter Pigeon will fit perfectly in your collection. Dive in and discover your new favourite party game today!

Classic board games including Chess

🐸 Want more from Terror Toad?

• Read Our Latest Update

• Join our newsletter for updates and creative ramblings

• Check out our best deal - it's a Toad Bundle!

Warts and All: A Hopping Off and Moving On – Reflections and Fresh Starts After the UK Games Expo 2025

July 2025

Time for an, as always, overdue update. It’s been a bit of a mad time for Terror Toad.

As a small business, we wear a lot of hats. You get into a creative business to make the things you want to make, and then later comes all the other stuff - the complicated bits of running a small business. In May this year, we hit the one-year anniversary of a complication we would really rather have done without: a dispute with the courier DPD.

Our back-and-forth rigmarole with DPD had reached the point of court-recommended mediation - just days away - while we were also gearing up for the biggest event in our calendar: the UK Games Expo.

No New Product, All New Chaos

Now, I know I’ve called this article “warts and all,” but I will not shame or blame here; we didn’t have a new product to launch at UKGE as hoped. That worried us. We love UKGE - it’s a huge event - and you really have to bring your A-game to make it worth the effort.

At the same time, we were winding down one version of the business at HMRC/Companies House and starting afresh. That is a process more complicated than it needs to be. And, in the way that life tends to go, personal circumstances were also tricky.

Then, Mark quit the business. We, of course, wish Mark the best in his new commitments. He needs to do what’s right for him and the Toad, and this choice was just that.

And Breathe…

Fast forward to now, and Chris and I feel like we’ve just come up for air.

Mediation, by the way, is a great process - one I kind of wish applied to all disputes in life. Our dispute with DPD is, finally, coming to an end, so, thank goodness for that. The old business in its LLP form is wrapping up, and a better way of working is in the pipeline.

UKGE 2025: Tired and Totally Worth It

With transport only confirmed days before, we packed a car and headed to Birmingham with our usual gear. And we’re so glad we did.

Here’s where I’d like to give some well-earned shout-outs to the fellow exhibitors who made this year so much fun:

• Playing Brexit: The Game with the guys from Curious Cats

• Befriending Scott from The Who Zone (brilliant 3rd Doctor cosplayer!) who told us all about Fantasy Forest and Dalek maintenance

• Hanging out with OneBold Studio—who we first met back in Manchester 2022 launching Fate of Witches—and who were such fun neighbours

• Team Custard Kraken, who seem to run parallel to us in some magical chaotic way, and are fabulous for advice-sharing

• Lucky Fox Studio, Tettix Games, Strong Point Games, Gamze Derinoz, and Wayward Stitchcraft, all for being lovely - and everyone else who popped by to say hello!

  
  

A special non-exhibitor shoutout to our pals Joe, Seb, and Kieran for coming to see us another year in a row. It's incredibly special to feel recognised in that space.

And boy - this really felt like the year of GRIM INC for us. Who would’ve guessed?

Thank you for making UKGE my personal favourite yet.

Toad 2.0 Is Coming

Chris and I have a lot to talk about in this new phase of Terror Toad. It’s time to put our heads together and figure out what we want to do next.

Let’s call it… a brand refresh, creative agency changes, a micro business evolution - something that sounds proper and fancy. But really, it’s just that some wee tweaks are coming round here. Much like this post, it’s long overdue. We can’t wait to see where this goes.

Thanks all for sticking with us. See you on the next hop.

Katie

Team Toad x

Katie and Chris at UKGE 2025

🐸 Want More from Terror Toad?

• Follow us on Instagram

• Read our Picks for Party Games

• Sign up for our newsletter — no flooding the inbox, we swear x