Few genres in board games have captivated me like cooperative games. I thought I knew the history reasonably well, so I set out to write a newsletter about the topic.

After spending several hours gathering data then diving into it, I realized I knew less than I'd thought. I'd long thought Lord of the Rings in 2000 boosted cooperative games to such a point that they started flowing out, but it wasn't until Pandemic hit the market that the climb really started.

Played a couple games of Sail last night, and it's a little bit of a treat. Two-player cooperative trick-taking is something I can absolutely get behind.

I particularly appreciate that there are usually a few cards that don't end up in players' hands. It would be a particularly simpler game if you could easily know what your partner had available, but you won't — not entirely, at least.

Sail is a fun puzzle. Can you and your partner get the ship to the end of the path without getting too damaged by the kraken? Can you survive through the rounds?

I'll have to break out Fox in the Forest Duet again — but this feels pretty different. Rather than a push-pull, there's a map to navigate. To get around, you'll have to worry about who wins the trick and what symbols are on both cards played.

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