Red Raven Games Sleeping Gods vs Z-Man Games Pandemic
Two of our picks from Best Cooperative Board Games for Families and Adults, compared side by side on the specs and trade-offs that actually matter.
Short answer
Between the Red Raven Games Sleeping Gods and the Z-Man Games Pandemic, we recommend the Red Raven Games Sleeping Gods ($109.99 when we checked it on 2026-10-01) as the better cooperative board game for most people. A couple, a solo player or a steady group of up to four who want a story campaign over many evenings. The Z-Man Games Pandemic ($44.99 when we checked it on 2026-10-01) still makes sense if two to four adults or teens who want the cooperative game everything else is compared to.
Sleeping Gods by Red Raven Games | Cooperative Campaign Board Game of Exploration, Storytelling, Atlas Navigation and Narrative Adventure | Solo or 1–4 Players | Ages 13+
$109.99observed
Lowest we have recorded: $100.36 on (9 weekly checks)
Pandemic Board Game - Cooperative Strategy for Adults & Families, Stop Global Disease Outbreaks, Adult Board Games, Teamwork & Strategy, Fun for Adults, 2-4 Players Ages 8+, 45-60 Minute Playtime
$44.99observed
Lowest we have recorded: $44.99 on (10 weekly checks)
Specs head to head
| Spec | Red Raven Games Sleeping Gods | Z-Man Games Pandemic |
|---|---|---|
| Players | 1 to 4 | 2 to 4 |
| Play time | 1 hour or more per session, roughly 12 to 20 hour campaign | About 45 minutes |
| Age | 13+ | 8+ |
| Complexity | Medium | Medium-light |
| Setup time | About 10 minutes | About 5 minutes |
| Publisher | Red Raven Games | Z-Man Games |
| Box contents | Atlas, storybook, 400+ cards, ship board, crew and journey log | Board, 7 role cards and pawns, 48 city cards, 48 infection cards, 6 epidemic cards, 5 event cards, 96 disease cubes, 6 research stations |
Our take on each
Red Raven Games Sleeping Gods
Best for: A couple, a solo player or a steady group of up to four who want a story campaign over many evenings.
Sleeping Gods is a cooperative storytelling campaign, and the closest a board game gets to a choose-your-path novel. Ryan Laukat designed and illustrated it, and Red Raven Games released it in 2021. Your crew sails the steamship Manticore through a strange sea in 1929, trying to find enough totems to get home. The map is an atlas book: sailing off the edge of one page opens the next, and every numbered location sends you into the storybook for an encounter with choices.
The campaign is long and flexible. Reviewers report full playthroughs of roughly 12 to 20 hours, and a journey log lets you save at any point, so sessions can be one hour or four. Combat uses cards rather than dice, and crew members gain abilities and injuries that carry forward. The box holds more than 400 cards.
The trade-offs are commitment and price. At $109.99 tracked, Sleeping Gods is the most expensive pick by far. It needs the same group, or a solo player, coming back several times. The rulebook is heavier than the other two, and replaying the same campaign is far less interesting than the first voyage.
Z-Man Games Pandemic
Best for: Two to four adults or teens who want the cooperative game everything else is compared to.
Pandemic is the cooperative board game most others are measured against. Matt Leacock designed it in 2008, and the current Z-Man edition adds two roles for seven in total. Players are a team of specialists, such as the Medic, Scientist and Dispatcher, moving around a world map of 48 cities. Four diseases spread from city to city, and the team wins by discovering all four cures before outbreaks, cubes or the player deck run out.
The tension comes from the epidemic cards. You shuffle 4, 5 or 6 into the player deck to set the difficulty, and each one intensifies infection and reshuffles cities that already have cubes back on top of the infection deck. The cities you just treated get hit again, so the game keeps pressure exactly where you are weakest. Wins usually come down to the last few cards.
The common complaint is quarterbacking. All hands are open, so one experienced player can direct every move, and quiet players can end up watching. Rules variations help, but the box itself does not solve it. Pandemic also caps at four, and once a group wins comfortably at six epidemics, the base game has little left to teach.
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