I’ve been in the business of reviewing board games for a long time now, but I used to be wary of recommending “limited communication” co-op games for two players. The fun of playing in a pair is quality time and bonding, right? If you’re not talking to each other, doesn’t it defeat the point? Dear reader, I was an idiot – and my game of the week demonstrates why.
In Sky Team, your job is simple: land a plane. Or more specifically, the mission is simple. Actually bringing the plane to a safe stop will require top-tier teamwork. Seeing as you can only talk before each turn, this is all about good communication without saying a single word. What follows is one of the best board games of the last few years, and it’s had me right on the edge of my seat every time I’ve tried it.
I hope you don’t mind heights, because this game puts you in the shoes of a pilot and co-pilot charged with bringing a passenger plane back to the runway from several thousand feet. To avoid inconveniencing your customers by becoming a fireball of mangled metal on the tarmac, you’ve got to deploy landing gear, flaps (steady), manage your axis, to stay level, and adjust speed. Success relies on you being in sync with your partner.
This is a dice-based game, and you’ll assign the four numbers you roll to specific tasks like the ones listed above. However, you’ll do this without having seen the other player’s roll – and without being able to talk or otherwise communicate once the round has begun.
This is way more important than it sounds.
Even though certain tasks allow you to work independently (you each have specific jobs, like clearing the airspace ahead of other planes), two of your dice must always be used to adjust your axis and engines. You and your partner’s dice are added together to dictate speed, and getting too high or too low a number means you’ll either not progress, move at a reasonable pace, or charge ahead.
Similarly, axis is decided by the difference between the numbers you’ve put down… and your plane will veer to one side or other because of it. That then forces you to adjust later or try to match numbers to stay level.
In other words, not being able to talk (or give specific orders before a turn, like “use a 3 for that”) is a pretty big deal. This forces you to communicate in other, more novel ways – like seeing what the other player is putting down first to decide what you should do in response, or veering away from the plan in the hope they catch your drift and respond accordingly. It’s way more exciting than you’d think, because you’re hoping against hope they understand and don’t damn you all to oblivion with a badly-placed die. Yes, you can adjust those scores by using up dice on coffee (which gives a +1 or -1 when needed), but paying very close attention to what your partner is up to is crucial.
Honestly, I can’t remember the last time I was this locked in on a game – and I’d highly recommend giving it a go this weekend as a result.
For more tabletop recommendations, don’t miss the best tabletop RPGs or the best card games.
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