Review
Cooper Island
Cooper Island is a punishing optimisation solitaire dressed for company, and it has not yielded its best lines to us yet. That resistance is very much part of its appeal.
- Published
- 2019
- Designer
- Andreas Odendahl
- Publisher
- Frosted Games, Arclight Games, Arrakis Games
- Players
- 1–4
- Playing time
- 120 min
Cooper Island has properly overheated our brains on both plays. The scores made it plain that none of us has found the optimal lines yet, which I count as a virtue: the game is still keeping its real grammar to itself.
At its centre is a severe solitaire-and-optimisation puzzle. It is not enough to make a sound move; the task is to identify the right sequence of actions. The interesting decision is in that ordering, and the game asks you to look several moves ahead.
The scores made it plain that none of us has found the optimal lines yet, which I count as a virtue: the game is still keeping its real grammar to itself.
TheTrainSpotter
With more players, preferably three or four, those individual puzzles sit alongside one another. Interaction comes chiefly through the comparison of efficiency and final scores rather than direct disruption of another player's plan; it nevertheless holds up with two players or solo.
That difficulty gives it durability and replay value while the best route remains undiscovered. There is a real caveat: once one player has learned it, games with newcomers may become very one-sided. For anyone who enjoys merciless optimisation solitaires, Cooper Island is quietly excellent, provided they can find opponents willing to wrestle with it too.
For anyone who enjoys merciless optimisation solitaires, Cooper Island is quietly excellent, provided they can find opponents willing to wrestle with it too.
TheTrainSpotter
Source: BoardGameGeek
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