Cooperative Games Archives · Just the Three of Us

April 9, 2020April 9, 2020

Heist

Heist is a cooperative game for 2-4 players. In this game, your team has been challenged to break into a safe filled with $50 million dollars in 5 minutes or less. You have to work together as a team to pass tools and push buttons to collect the money and open the safe.

Gameplay Overview

Setup

If this is your first game, install batteries (3xAA) in the safe.
Make sure the gold bars are inserted into the top of the safe.
Put the safe in easy reach of all players.
Give the money to the “Moneyman” who should separate it into stacks by value.
Spread the tools around the safe within reach of the players

How to Play

When your team is ready, turn on the game using the on/off switch on the bottom of the safe. Next, each player should push the button for their role when prompted. Then, choose your game level (level 1 is obviously the least stressful and a great place to start.)

Throughout the game, the “boss” (voice coming from the safe), will tell players what actions to take. The actions are:

Get – The announced player should get the required tool
Pass – Pass the tool to the announced player
Trade – The players who have the given tools should swap them
Use – This is when you push a button. Push the button if you have the tool which was announced
Everybody Press Your Buttons Now – means…everybody press your buttons
Grab – take the amount of money described.

As the “boss” calls out the actions, your team should listen carefully and follow the directions. If you make too many mistakes, you will first get a warning. Then, if you make another mistake, an alarm goes off and a police siren will sound.

If your team plays the game well, the safe will pop open and the gold bars fall out onto the table. If you play a perfect game, your team will collect all $50 million dollars!

The Dad Review

Pass the drill, pass the goggles, pass the laptop, pass me the grey poupon…what? Just kidding. Everyone press the button, congratulations you win!

Kids will love this game, parents will want to play it. With that combo, this game is a perfect family game. This game is fully interactive. Everyone that plays is involved. You pass plastic tools around according to what the voice tells you and then at some point you hit a button if you have that specific tool. When you have accomplished all of the tasks, you break into the vault and gold bars explode out of the top of the game to tell you you’ve won.

This game also has different levels of difficulty which make it addictive to those who want a challenge and makes the game less monotonous. This game may not hit the table every game session, but is a game adults and especially Maci’s friends will want to play a lot. I could also see this game getting taken over by a group of adults for a fun night of yelling at each other, while pretending to be real criminals on a heist.

I rank Heist 8/10, at under $20 this is a keeper, but wouldn’t pay more.

The Mom Review

Heist is super fun! This is a game you could play with people who don’t really love games. It would be fun at a party, or even to help a bunch of kids play together.

As a teacher, I absolutely love that it really works on the player’s listening and attention skills. If you are going to successfully rob a bank and get lots of money, teamwork and listening are essential, right?

The key to making this fun is to not become too worked up over other people making mistakes. If you are super high-strung and prone to yelling at a family member that makes mistakes, maybe this isn’t the right game for you.

I give Heist a 9/10 for some great family fun!

The Kid Review

I love Heist. It’s a little stressful with the beeping noise and time running out but it’s really fun. I love all of the jobs except the money man because that puts extra stress on me because the Money Man has to play like everyone and ALSO gather the money. I love passing the items and hitting the button when I have the item. By the way, the last level level 5 is really hard. I also love the setting which is trying to steal a lot of money and I like that if we complete the game little gold bricks fall out of the box.

In conclusion I will rate this game 9/10! The only reason I give this game 9/10 is the stress (otherwise it would be a 10/10).

Overall Impressions

We like the game The Heist. We don’t play it every day, but when we pull it out, we always have a great time! Overall, we give The Heist 9/10.

Pros

Not too long, not too short. Insert Boys to Men song.
Not too difficult, not too easy.
Different levels of difficulty, making it challenging for those that want a little more.
Gold bars exploding for winning adds to the fun
Interactive box with voice adds to the theme.
The price as of this review is only $13.
Adults and kids will enjoy this.
Looks like a toy, drawing in the younger kiddos and some adults.
Easy setup
Easy to learn

Cons

Not a game you’re going to play all night, could out live it’s welcome after playing too long.
Overly competitive alpha gamers could take over and be bossy, stressing people out.
Needs batteries. Not a huge deal, but most games don’t.
Younger kids (5-6 year olds) may need an adult to help facilitate the game.
Adults may enjoy this so much that the kids don’t get a chance to play.
Wish the pieces were painted different colors (to help distinguish one from another) and had a game mat to show who’s who in the game.

April 6, 2020April 6, 2020

5-Minute Marvel – Card Game Review

5-Minute Marvel is a cooperative card game for 2-5 players ages 8+. You can play a round in as little as 5 minutes, or try to defeat more than one boss.

Gameplay Basics

In 5 Minute Marvel, each player chooses a Marvel Character. Each character comes with their own, personalized special deck. Additionally, the players also receive an equal share of resource cards.

There are 6 bosses that the players work together to defeat. Each boss becomes progressively more difficult to take down in the five minute limit that is given. To keep track of the time, you can just use a timer, or you can download their free, themed app from the app or play store.

5-Minute Marvel timer app — 5-Minute Marvel free app for keeping time.

The boss mat shows how many “door” cards need to be defeated before getting to the boss. Once a door card is revealed, players may play their special power cards or specific resource cards to defeat each character they encounter on the other side of the door.

After all the door cards have been revealed, the boss can be defeated. As long as your team completes the mission before the time runs out, you are victorious!

The Dad Review

Lets pop on some spandex and yell at each other, like the real Avengers! Like most cooperative games you may run into a highly heated emotional exchange once in a while, especially when the clock is ticking, and this game is no exception. If you’re playing this game as a family, make sure you have some rules for how to go about beating all of these villains. If you have a stage 5 card tosser, this game will not be as much fun as it could be.

5-Minute Marvel Superheroes — These are the superheroes available in 5-Minute Marvel.

What I mean by that is if someone is always just throwing down their cards and not letting the rest of the team play, this game can become frustrating and wear out it’s welcome quickly. But, if you all synergize and play as a well-oiled team, much like Thor’s biceps in Ragnarok, then this game is a lot of fun.

Pros

I like that each player can play as a unique powered superhero. This will definitely get kids and adults who enjoy the superhero genre involved. The art work is great and I like that the game can be played on different difficulties. Not only by the boss level, but you can also add extra doors or crises that will make the game more difficult. Another advantage is this game will not break the bank. This game is definitely affordable. Finally, when you defeat a villain together, it feels very rewarding, and you’ll want to play again right after.

Cons

One issue is with the bossy pants alpha hero who wants all the glory, like I talked about earlier. Someone can really railroad this game and take over, which is not always great. Two other cons are balancing two decks along with your power. It may be a lot to take on at first. During the game you may ask yourself: What’s my power again? Do I go with the basic deck or the special deck? Do we really only have ten seconds left? Things like this can cause people to stress out. The last negative for me is while this game is fun, you have to be in the right mood to play, and it can become repetitive after a few plays, potentially causing burn out.

For my family ranking it’s a 7/10.

The Mom Review

5 Minute Marvel has a fun theme if you are fan of the Marvel characters. It is also great for a short, quick gameplay experience. If you are new to playing games like this, I would highly recommend trying it once without a timer to get a feel for how the game works. The timer adds another element of stress that you just don’t need if you are trying to figure out how the game works.

It can also be helpful if you are playing this with kids or new players if you talk out strategies for completing the cards as well as choose your special characters wisely. It is possible to get stuck if you don’t have any characters in play that allow you to draw more cards.

The rules are straightforward and simple. Here are pictures of the rulebook:

5-Minute Marvel Rulebook Front — Rulebook Front

5-Minute Marvel Rulebook Interior — Rulebook Inside

5-Minute Marvel rulebook back — Rulebook Back

I enjoy playing this game and recommend it to people who love the theme and are looking for a game that can be both short and fast-paced. Overall, I give 5 Minute Marvel a 7/10.

The Kid Review

I like 5-Minute Marvel. I love defeating the boss and fighting the bad guys with my cards and not running out of time. Also, I like the characters that let you do things and the powers that they give you and the power cards. Hulk, Squirrel Girl and Black Widow are my favorite because they are cool and their powers are awesome. There is one more thing that I like about the game and it is that I don’t get angry when I play it.

5-Minute Marvel Boss mats, door cards, and crisis cards — Boss mats, door cards, and crisis cards

In conclusion, I will give this game 10/10.

Overall Impressions

We enjoy playing 5-Minute Marvel, but it’s not a game we would want to play every day.

Overall Ranking: 8/10
Setup: Easy
Rules: Easy

If you enjoy 5-Minute Marvel, another cooperative card game you might like is The Crew. You can check out our review of The Crew here.

April 4, 2020April 4, 2020

The Crew – Card Game Review

The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine is a cooperative trick-taking game for 3-5 players (with a 2-player adaptation included in the rule book). The age on the box indicates 10+. Maci is 9, and we had to play through a few rounds for her to get the idea, especially since trick-taking card games are new to our family. The box gives a 20 minute play time. Our family has finished a mission in as little as five minutes, or taken as long as 15 for a single mission. The missions do become progressively more difficult as they progress. Your group can choose to play as few or as many missions as they wish in a single setting.

Basic Gameplay

The crew, or players, work their way through 50 different “missions” which they either win together or lose together.

All the playing cards are distributed amongst the players. Then, the crew reads the setting and rules for the given mission. Each mission has one or more goals/tasks set for it in order for the team to be successful. The tasks increase in complexity as the game progresses, slowly introducing players to the various rules and components the game has to offer.

There are four regular suits of cards: pink, blue, green, and yellow as well as rocket cards. We appreciate that the designers included a different symbol for each suit for those who may struggle with visual color discrimination.

The four suits of cards in The Crew: pink, blue, green, yellow. Plus the rocket card. — The four suits and rocket cards.

At the beginning of the mission, after all tasks have been distributed, the commander begins the first trick. Going clockwise, each player then must play a card of the same suit, if they can, and the largest number played within the suit wins the trick. If a player CANNOT play a card within the suit, they may play a card of a different suit. When the alternate card played is a color, they will not win the trick. If the card was a rocket card, the largest rocket played automatically wins the trick.

The goal in each mission is to follow the rules or complete the tasks given. This is well explained in the rule book, and although the rules do become more complicated, they are introduced slowly throughout the missions, which we appreciate.

The Dad Review

Day 1 Bad Decision

Frustrating madness, that’s how this game started out. I don’t think we’ve ever played a trick style game or a game like this, before. After a long day of quarantine and work, this is not the game we should have played. But, we continued on, and just like teaching Maci how to ride a bike, and throw and catch a ball, it was a struggle. However, after playing a few rounds, the frustration started to dwindle and we began to understand the game.

Although our understanding improved, it was still frustrating and that’s mostly because I had a plan on how to win my trick and Ang had a plan, but it was not the same plan. So, we won the trick but it didn’t feel like a win. I don’t know if this is just how trick-taking games work. I’m assuming no, because of all the positive hype this game is getting. I don’t think people would hype up a game if they had that same feeling.

Day 2 Much Better

Now that we all got some rest, we tried this game again and it’s addictive. I’m enjoying it. Some of the tricks are more fun than others, but I like that you have levels you can try to complete. Personally, I want to beat all 50 of them and feel I could do that multiple times. This brings a lot of replay ability to the table. We have at least 3 groups of friends that will enjoy playing this game as well, which will be great as soon as we’re off quarantine and are allowed to play with our friends in person again.

I think this game will hit the table quite a bit as a team-building filler. Or, we may play it all night to try to see how many levels we can complete. However, just don’t play if people are tired and cranky. Really, that should always be a rule when playing a game, especially a cooperative game.

In closing, this game is affordable and well worth adding to the collection. If you’re in Vegas I do recommend the Gaming Goat, if not hopefully your gaming store is adapting to the times and able to provide you with service, otherwise it’s a decent price on Amazon.

For a family game, I rank The Crew a 9/10.

The Mom Review

I really enjoy playing The Crew. The missions go quickly, so it is great for people with short attention spans. I also really like that the rules change from one mission to the next. Don’t get me wrong, they don’t change in a way that makes it over-complicated to learn or teach. The rules change just enough to keep things interesting. Also, they do not introduce too many new elements into any single mission, which I thoroughly appreciate!

I definitely think that when playing this game with young or inexperienced players for the first time, it would be helpful to play a couple of rounds without trying to take any kind of score. Toss out a task card or two to achieve, but just get a feel for the game and how it works without stressing about trying to beat the mission quickly. Then, once you get the hang of it, start keeping track and go from there.

During each mission, players can use communication to share a card with the other players. The token can be placed in a way that shows if the card is that player’s highest, lowest, or only card of the given suit. Rocket cards can never be “communicated”. I appreciate this ability to share a little piece of important information with the other members of the crew.

Communication tokens used in The Crew — Communication tokens help players share information.

The rulebook is easy to understand. I would also recommend that whoever the rule-master is in your house reads the main body text through once, then goes back and reads the sidebar reminders. Once you read those two things, it’s pretty easy to lead others through the game.

Setup is very easy. The dealer shuffles and distributes player cards. Then, you lay out the task cards and pass out tokens. Your Crew is then ready to play.

Overall, I give the Crew a 9/10.

The Kid Review

I love The Crew. One reason is I love cooperating with my family. Also, I love the tasks and sometimes trying to have the biggest number or the smallest number. I also love doing the tasks and trying to win the round with my family. It’s cool having a task in front of me to win. I have a tip for you: when you get to mission number 5, if you’re the captain you cannot choose to be sick because you will have the number 4 rocket ship. So you will never complete every trick if you’re sick and you’re the captain. That mission took a minute for us to figure out, but the game was not very hard to learn, and I like that too!

The four rocket and commander reminder token — The four rocket card and commander reminder token

In conclusion, I will rate this game 10/10.

Overall Impressions of The Crew

As a family, we really like playing The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine, and I am sure it will continue to be a part of our regular rotation. We like to play a short game every night before bed, and I am sure that The Crew will be a regular contender for a bedtime game!

Overall Family Rating: 9.5/10
Setup: Easy
Learning the Rules: Easy