Everyone loves a hero, right? But not all heroes wear capes. A lot do, of course. But white coats and firefighters’ helmets are much more effective at doing good on this planet. So instead of the usual Marvel and DC denizens, we are shouting out all the nurses, police officers, and other awesome folks who help keep us safe in our every day lives by recommending some great games themed around them!
Dice Hospital
I love this game – it’s all about healing and discharging patients in your hospital. Time to be medical miracle workers, folks! Using handfuls of dice which represent poorly people, you choose an ambulance full of them every round. Then it’s your job to allocate specialists to the wards that represent a dice of that colour or number. Some wards and personnel allow you to heal multiple patients simultaneously if you can satisfy the colour and/or number requirements. But beware. Any patient not actively attended will lose health and could end up in the morgue if they drop below 1. Balancing adding specialists against expanding your hospital with extra wards is always tricky. Throw in turn order based on the ambulance you choose ( as well as a simple solo mode and extra expansion content), and this becomes an addictive, worker placement pick!
Pandemic
Although there are now umpteen versions of this co-op game, the OG is a great place to start. Virulent diseases have broken out all over the planet and we are disease busting pros who are trying to beat the bugs and save the world by finding workable cures. You’ve got expertise and each turn you either travel, treat, cure, or build a research station. But, during the game, Epidemic cards are revealed which increase infection rates to pulse racing levels! With everybody playing a unique character, containing the ever spreading diseases takes teamwork. You each need to use your special strengths to best effect, and so you need to synergise with the group and do what works best for the world!
Combining set collection, hand and area management, as well as teamwork, there’s a lot going on. And as a grounding for co-op play in the series it is excellent, and one that will definitely inspire you to explore more in the planet saving series!
Flash point fire rescue
“It’s getting hot in hereeeee……” worry not, I shall not regale you with the sounds of bad Nelly karaoke. Instead, I shall give you a great pick for Superhero Day all about, you guessed it, putting out fires! Cooperative Pandemic style play, you are a team of firefighters working on rescuing 7 folks by extinguishing fires that are breaking out all overthe building. With limited options, you need to manage your actions – will you go to find those trapped, move them to safety, or battle the raging blazes? With structural damage threatening collapse, special actions might save you from failure. But if you left 4 victims succumb to the fires, or the Building tumbles, your dream of victory will also go down in flames!
Agricola
No farmers, no food! Whilst they may not be top of the list when you think of superheroes, we would starve without them. And living on a farm surrounded by farms, I know how hard they work for us all. So Agricola seems like the perfect celebration of their toil in the soil! Uwe Rosenberg’s likely most famous game, this is a euro-style action selection, drafting, resource management experience that has elevated sheep meeples to celebrity status. Designed in 2007, it now has various editions and spin-offs, as well as being the inspiration for a whole host of other fab farming games. There are also myriad ways to dial up and down the difficulty level. With limited actions and limited spots, you’ve got to balance staying the course in terms of your strategy with reacting to your opponents’ choices. Every turn will have you furrowing your brow as you try to work out how in the world you are going to feed everything and everyone!
Bandido
Stop! Thief! From Helvetiq, Bandido is a wee card laying, maze game where the pesky dude is trying to dig an underground tunnel to freedom. Working co-operatively, you are laying the tunnels he travels down in the hope that you can close them off and catch him before you run out of cards. And whilst you can decide the difficulty level at the start, communication is key as well as a keen eye for spotting open exits. Whether you play solo or as a team, you’ll have your own hand of cards, and each turn you’ll have to decide which one to lay down. A fast playing, super portable game, Bandido has the police hot on his trail!
So there we have it! Superheroes coming in all shapes and sizes and no capes required! We hope you have a super games day celebrating the folks who work tirelessly to keep us safe and well fed!
