The trouble with Monopoly is that, sooner or later, it all goes sour for most players. The reigning champion may get a certain thrill out of erecting yet another hotel danger-zone along the strip, but it gets less and less fun for those mortgaging the last of their properties to keep afloat.
I really like a game where everybody comes together and either wins or loses as a cohesive team, striving toward the same common goal.
Enter Overcooked. It may be a video game, not a traditional board game, but there's a reason Darren Walsh calls it, "Hands down the best cooperative team game ever played." It's a blast!
You play as a team of short-order cooks trying to beat the clock to get all of the dishes plated while simultaneously battling shifting prep stations, adverse weather conditions, or giant cracks in the ground that split the whole workspace in half. One level is played on a highway between two moving vehicles that sometimes drift apart mid-sauté.
Let's just say, things get dicey.
As stressful as the game looked to me, my children finally convinced me to play Overcooked with them last year. Sure, we failed a couple of times. We had to rethink our strategy, split up the tasks (I'll chop the lettuce, you wash the plates!), but in the end, we had a great time.
Overcooked is an excellent family or party game because it really gives players a chance to work together, overcome obstacles, and strategize in order to win out over the dinner rush. The levels are short, which makes it possible to dip in and out of the game and, if you can get over the fact that unexpected hurricanes might pop up in the middle of boiling an egg, it's as good as a cooperative board game for a casual bonding activity.
Overcooked is an excellent family or party game because it really gives players a chance to work together, overcome obstacles, and strategize in order to win out over the dinner rush.
The Essa Public Library carries a few versions of Overcooked across three gaming systems:
In the next edition of our video game series, read about a game that has reached an insane level of success, in spite of being considered a fluke. As the game's own creator quipped, "I definitely think [this game] is a freak thing. There's no way you could replicate it intentionally." It's a game "about having unique experiences that no one else has had." Which game is it? Find out next time!
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