Meeples Together: How and Why Cooperative Games Work

Review\nMeeples Together is a must-buy book for anybody who is even remotely interested in cooperative gaming. I learned of or better framed concepts that were brewing in a primordial soup in my mind, and I have almost 900 published reviews and thousands of playtesting hours under my belt. It is an easy, insightful, entertaining, thought-provoking read, in many ways doing more than what its blurb suggests. It is one of these rare books that takes our hobby to the next level, probably because it is written by gamers, for gamers. --Antonio S, RPG.net Reviews\nHow and Why Cooperative Games Work
This is the authoritative source on cooperative board games and card games for gamers, aficionados, critics, and designers, featuring a deep dive into co-op gaming's titles, mechanics, theory, and frontiers.
You are on an epic mission to combat global plague. Or you are seeking out werewolves in an isolated village. Houses are on fire, islands are sinking, and enemy androids have infiltrated the fleet.
You can't succeed alone and victory requires more than understanding your teammates. You need to know the game.
Join experts Christopher Allen and Shannon Appelcline as they examine not only how cooperative board games work, but why. With more than 150 enlightening images showing principles and mechanisms of play in action, this book helps you see your favorite cooperative board games in new ways. Together, we look deep into the machines of great games to reveal how they work and how we play.
Whether you want to play cooperative games better, discover your next favorite game, or design the world s next favorite, Meeples Together is for you.
Foreword by Matt Leacock (designer of Pandemic)
"This is the single most valuable resource to date for the design of cooperative games."
--Raph Koster, author of A Theory of Fun
"Meeples Together is a must read for any emerging game designer, and an interesting read for all hobby gamers."
--Richard Launius, designer of Arkham Horror
Required reading for game designers of any kind, bursting at the seams with knowledge and notions. I ll be stealing ideas from this for years.
--Matt Forbeck, award-winning game designer and New York Times bestselling author
"Meeples Together will deepen your understanding of cooperative game mechanics and dynamics, as well as keep you entertained."
--Eric B. Vogel, designer of The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
If you like cooperative game and game design, this is the book you absolutely need to read. It includes an incredible exhaustive and detailed work analyzing the history of cooperative games, and tries to answer these two essential questions: how it works, and why it works.
--Bruno Cathala, co-designer of Shadows over Camelot
Everything you always wanted to know about cooperative games but were afraid to ask...and more! Absolutely [a book] to read!
--Serge Laget, co-designer of Shadows over Camelot