Co-operative card games are a bit of a niche–especially compared to how many big competitive or party card games there are–but but that just makes finding a good one all the more rewarding. These are games where everyone wins or loses together, where teamwork and shared problem-solving take centre stage and you’ll all have to pull your weight if you want an assured victory. Even though we’re not exactly spoiled for co-op card games, there’s a surprising variety to choose from: from narrative-heavy mystery titles to clever trick-taking adventures, and party games that turn scoring into a shared outcome.
Some of the co-op card games in this list focus on deduction, others on clever mechanics or themed storytelling, but they all share a common thread: you’re working with your fellow players rather than competing against them. These games are often great for families or groups where competing might present too much of a challenge, but there are also a few genuinely complex adult titles here too. If your friend group is a bit more long-distance, check out our best online co-op games list for ideas to share a virtual space.
Kinfire Chronicles Series
- Players: 1-4
- Running time: 45-60 mins
- Age: 14+
The Kinfire Chronicles series blends the feel of a deck-building dungeon crawler with narrative card game mechanics, and while it has plenty of campaign depth, the rules are surprisingly quick to pick up for a game with such thematic punch. Players take on decisions as a group, guiding their party through various encounters where choosing when and how to use card abilities can have strategic consequences for the whole group.
In particular we’d recommend Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall, an immersive fantasy setting with 21 branching quests. Everyone advises on moves and shares the stakes of each challenge, making it a rich play experience for groups who enjoy a story-driven card adventure without needing heavyweight systems. While being primarily a card game, the starter set often contains an array of physical props like maps, chits, standees, trackers, and tokens. It’s a great choice if you want something that feels like a bigger adventure but stays rooted in card-based actions, and if you enjoy games where partner discussion and shared decisions shape each session.
Agatha Christie: Death On The Cards
- Players: 2-6
- Running time: 20-40 mins
- Age: 10+
Mixing classic murder mystery intrigue with co-op card game logic, Agatha Christie: Death On The Cards is an easy to learn and quick-to-start game featuring a range of the legendary writer’s iconic characters. It’s more of a semi-co-operative deduction game, where everyone at the table works together to uncover a murder–except one player, who secretly is the murderer and is trying to derail the investigation without being caught. High stakes.
The game uses an illustrated deck of about 80 cards featuring familiar Christie characters such as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, plus “secret” cards that you keep hidden. The group’s goal is to reveal who among them is the killer before the draw deck runs out and the murderer can escape, but without getting themselves in a social disgrace-related pickle. Agatha Christie: Death On The Cards is great for murder mystery fans and wannabe detectives, and it’s an easy one to get out and play when you’ve not got much time.
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring Trick-Taking Game
- Players: 1-4
- Running time: 20 mins
- Age: 10+
This co-operative trick-taking card game is everything a fan of The Lord of the Rings could want, inviting players to work as a team through 18 chapters inspired by the story by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Fellowship Of The Ring game is part one, with the other books being available to buy separately. Instead of competing against each other, players collaborate on strategic card play to successfully complete scenarios and progress the narrative, making decisions that affect the group’s success rather than a single winner. You can play as fan-favorite Tom Bombadil.
The Crew: The Quest For Planet Nine
- Players: 3-5
- Running time: 5-10 mins per mission
- Age: 10+
Another trick-taking game but this time in outer space rather than a fantasy setting, The Crew: The Quest For Planet Nine is our pick from a long-running series of co-op card games. Players communicate only through limited signals while working through 50 missions together, you’re not allowed to directly talk to each other. You’re also not competing for points; instead, you share objectives based on task cards, and must coordinate card play so that each player’s task is fulfilled across missions–but a misplayed trick can set the whole team back.
The Chameleon
- Players: 3-8
- Running time: 15 mins
- Age: 14+
Although The Chameleon is a social deduction party game, its design encourages a cooperative vibe, so we’re still wholeheartedly recommending it. Players must work together to spot the one player who doesn’t know “the secret” that the rest of you do, rather than defeating one another directly. Everyone collaborates to discuss clues and voting reveals who might be the odd one out; if the group correctly identifies the chameleon, everyone wins together. The shared team victory condition makes it feel cooperative even though the mechanics centre on deduction and bluffing, and it’s a quick game to dive into when you’re pressed for time. It’s a great choice for casual gatherings and light-hearted game nights, where you might not want to spend seven hours explaining complex rules.
The Fox In The Forest Duet
- Players: 2
- Running time: 30 mins
- Age: 10+
If you’re a fan of two-player co-op games, The Fox in the Forest Duet takes the trick-taking foundation of the original and turns it into a fully cooperative experience for two players. Instead of trying to outscore an opponent, you and your partner are working together to collect all gems along a forest path by carefully planning tricks–sometimes winning, sometimes losing them in a way that moves your shared tokens in the right direction. Duet has been praised by card game fans for its clever, compact design, and the beautiful story-book style card art. It’s adorable, and as close to a cozy game as card games get.
What’s My Jam
- Players: 2-8
- Running time: 15-25 mins
- Age: 7+
What’s My Jam is a family-friendly party card game where players guess each other’s favourites and least favourites–from pizza toppings to holiday spots–based on categories drawn each round. While not a traditional “strategy” co-op, you’ll really test how much you listen in everyday life, and how well you’ve gotten to know your friends and family. You score points as a group when guesses match the spotlight player’s real choices, but if you don’t get it right you’ll at least learn something new about them and have an easier time buying them gifts next Christmas. It’s quick, easy to teach, and perfect for mixed-age groups or breaking the ice.
Art Robbery
- Players: 2-5
- Running time: 20 mins
- Age: 8+
In Art Robbery, not only do you have to cooperate but you also have to share your hard won treasure. You and fellow players take on the roles of thieves divvying up loot during and after a museum heist. It’s not a co-op in the strictest sense of everyone versus the system, but it is a social card game where player choices affect everyone at the table and need to be made with each player in mind. The quick rounds and simple rules make it a great game for easing into a board game night.
Worst Case Scenario
- Players: 3-6
- Running time: 40 mins
- Age: 10+ (Family Version), 17+ (Adult Version)
If you love thinking about what you’d do if the world ended, or going down Wikipedia rabbit holes about unusual accidents, Worst Case Scenario is going to scratch an itch you didn’t know you had. This co-op card game is all about working together to rank how terrible different outcomes would be on a scale of 1-5. The more matches you get between you, the more points you score, so try and choose friends who think alike and you’d trust if the worst case scenario came to transpire. There’s a family friendly version in a yellow box, an adult version in a black box, and an apocalypse-specific version which adds new horrible scenarios into the mix.
That Escalated Quickly
- Players: 2-8
- Running time: 15 mins
- Age: 10+
A great icebreaker game from the creators of Exploding Kittens, That Escalated Quickly is another ranking-based co-op card game where you have to figure out what order an array of absurd suggestions should go in. Players will each be given a secret number, which they have to use to direct how emphatically they respond to the same prompt–such as “What are the ingredients to bake a cookie from tastiest to most gross”. One chosen player then has to guess which order to rank the responses, from most to least intense. If they get it right, everyone wins.
