Scorpion Masqué Sky Team | Voted Game of the Year 2024 | Best 2 Player Game | Work Together to Land the Plane | Ages 14+ | 20 Minutes

Gerald AlcornUnited States

An Expert Landing in Co-op Design: A Review of Sky Team

Sky Team is a two-player cooperative game that puts you and a partner in the cockpit of a commercial airliner, working together to pull off a successful landing. From the moment you unfold the cleverly designed board (which doubles as the game box insert), the game signals its mission: to provide a quick, elegant, and intensely thematic experience. The brilliance of Sky Team lies in its central mechanism: limited communication. You and your co-pilot have a hand of dice, but you are forbidden from speaking to each other during the round. You must silently place your dice on the shared cockpit dashboard, trusting your partner to understand your intentions and make the right moves. This creates a brilliant, often-tense puzzle. Is your partner placing a die on the engine throttle because they want to speed up, or are they just making room for you to place a die on the flaps? The silent communication is not just a gimmick; it is the beating heart of the game, forcing you to develop a sense of rhythm and shared understanding with your teammate. The gameplay is deceptively simple. Each round, you take turns placing dice on various actions—adjusting the plane's axis, managing the engines, deploying the landing gear, or contacting the control tower. Your goal is to satisfy a series of conditions before your plane reaches the end of the runway. Each scenario, which represents a different airport around the world, adds a new layer of complexity, from wind turbulence to icy runways. This provides a wealth of replayability, as you and your partner work your way through a campaign of escalating challenges. While the game is based on dice, there are plenty of ways to mitigate bad rolls. "Coffee" tokens allow you to re-roll, and the strategic placement of dice can often compensate for a less-than-ideal outcome. This ensures that while there is an element of luck, success ultimately hinges on your teamwork and clever resource management. Sky Team is a rare gem in the world of cooperative games. It avoids the common "alpha player" problem where one person dictates all the moves. Because of the limited communication, everyone must be fully engaged. The short playtime (around 15-20 minutes per game) makes it perfect for a weeknight session or for a quick, "one more try" experience. When you finally pull off a perfect landing on a difficult scenario, the shared feeling of triumph is incredibly rewarding. This game is a must-buy for anyone looking for a tight, thematic, and genuinely cooperative two-player experience. It’s a testament to superb game design and deserves all the praise it has received, including winning the prestigious Spiel des Jahres award. If you're ready to get a little sweaty-palmed from the tension, and cheer wildly with your partner after a successful landing, grab your copy of Sky Team. You won't regret the flight.

EitanUnited States

Best co-op game EVER!

My wife and I love board games, and both of us usually prefer the competitive, cutthroat kind where only one player emerges victorious. Co-op games (where players cooperate to reach a shared goal and win) are not our cup of tea. Nevertheless, we consider this one a real gem!!! In "Sky Team" you and your partner assume the roles of a pilot and a co-pilot preparing to land a plane. You roll dice each round and place them on the board which represents the flight deck. Specific conditions must be satisfied in order to land safely (e.g the plane needs to be stabilised horizontally, the landing gear must be deployed on time, you need to descend at a steady speed, etc.). A lot could go wrong unless you coordinate with your partner efficiently! PROS: * Simple rules: takes about 5 minutes to learn * Great time filler: each game takes only 15-20 minutes * High replayability: lots of airports to choose from, some with extra rules and victory conditions * Travel friendly: a relatively small box The game itself is made from quality materials and feels very durable. Even though the artwork is not anything out of the ordinary, it is nic enough to keep us immersed in the game, even if it's only 15 minutes! We are very glad to have found this game! Highly, highly recommended! 5/5

DisgruntledUnited States

Like Top Gun but with dice and less need for sunglasses

Sky Team is an absolute blast for two players, delivering that intense “we’re about to crash if we don’t get this right” vibe without actually risking your life or a multi-million dollar aircraft. The design is clean and thematic, with a cockpit layout that makes you feel like you’re actually radioing in landing clearances like Maverick and Goose (minus the volleyball montages). The difficulty level is balanced – easy to learn but with enough challenge to keep each landing tense, especially as campaigns ramp up in complexity. Playability is fantastic since setup takes just a couple of minutes, making it perfect for weeknight sessions. Strategy is deep but avoids the classic cooperative quarterbacking problem because you literally can’t talk during dice placement – it’s silent teamwork at its finest, or most frustrating, depending on your communication style. Speed-wise, games are quick, about 20-30 minutes per landing, with plenty of different scenarios to keep it fresh. Size-wise, the box is compact and fits nicely on the shelf without demanding premium real estate. Overall, if you want a co-op game that’s fast, fun, and makes you feel like Top Gun pilots with far less insurance liability, this is it.

Jessica EmersonUnited States

Best game for couples

My husband and I love this game. I highly recommend downloading the Dized app to walk through setup and game play. It can seem very complicated at first, but it's worth it to keep the game interesting. There is a lot of planning and coordination involved so it really feels like you've earned it when you are able to successfully land the plane. The dice add an element of luck, but with other tools like re-rolls, interns, etc. even bad rolls require strategy to work around them. The game time is perfect as well for a quick one on a weeknight. That's exactly what I was looking for.