A few times a week, I am asked by couples to recommend some two player Tabletop games for them to play. This is a very short, totally non-exhaustive list of (mostly lighter) games that I love to play with Anne, as well as some other games that aren’t her jam, but are still pretty great.
The idea is to take pieces that are basically Tetris shaped, and lay them down on a board, following some simple placement rules. The objective is to use up all of your pieces, or have fewer pieces left than anyone else when you run out of places to put them. It’s super simple to teach and learn, and way more difficult to master than you would expect. There’s a regular Blokus that’s for up to four players, and a version that uses triangles. This travel version is perfect for, well, traveling, and also is specifically designed for two players.
Jaipur is a very simple set collecting card game for two players. It’s portable, and has great replay value because it allows a lot of different strategies to be explored and utilized.
You may have seen us play Small World on Tabletop in the first season. It’s sort of like Risk, but more fun. It’s an area control game, and each player has a fantasy race + special ability combo that changes every game, or multiple times during the game, if they choose. One of the great things about Small World is that it comes with multiple maps in the box, and each map is designed for a different number of players, including a two-player map.
Pretty much any cooperative game will work for two players, or even as a solo game, but I think Pandemic is the best one for couples because it’s so freaking intense. You feel like you’re losing from the first turn, and that’s half the fun of the game. I’m not saying that it lends itself to strip variants, but I’m not not saying that. I should also mention that Pandemic Legacy is fantastic for two players, especially if you want to have the experience of watching a season of a TV show together, only you’re playing it and everyone on Earth is going to die if you fail.
Yes, Sorry! from Milton Bradley. This is the go-to game for Anne and me, because I hate Scrabble. This game is almost entirely random, but there is some strategy if you really want to go that route. It’s great for two players, especially if you want to have a drink or eleven while you play.
Ticket To Ride is a great infection vector for making new gamers, and this expansion is specifically designed for 2 or 3 players. You can technically play any of the TTR games with 2 players, but you run into the problems a large map presents, which (in my opinion) just make the game longer and less fun. So this particular map works well for 2 players, and works with either the original Ticket To Ride or Europe base sets.
Both are little card games that feature pattern matching and team work. Iota is more competitive, and plays like Set in reverse.
One of my favorite Tabletop games of all time, Takenoko is high variance when you play it with 4 players, but intensely strategic when you play it heads up.
Finally, there is also Magic: The Gathering (duh) and my friend Chris Kluwe’s upcoming Twilight of the Gods LCG. If you want something that’s intense and takes hours and hours to play, Twilight Struggle gets high marks from my friends who play it.
I’m sure there are a lot of other games (tell me in a comment, if you want) that work well for two players, but this is what I can come up with quickly off the top of my head, and I have 23 pages of dialog to prepare for a voice session tomorrow so I kinda have to get back to work.
Play more (two-player) games!!
Edit to add: HIVE! This was mentioned in comments (with a lot of other games that look really fun, but haven’t been played by me) and I need to add it. Hive is amazing. It’s everything you love about Chess and Othello and Go, with none of the things that make those games so difficult for new players. Rich Sommer introduced me to this game one night at a little coffee and pie place in North Hollywood, and what we thought would be a quick cup of coffee turned into like four hours of us playing Hive over and over and over. It’s really awesome. Get the pocket edition, because it’s portable and you lose nothing in the translation.
I really like playing Archaeology with my son. He almost always wins. I never seem to get good cards no matter what! Kind of like with Wil and dice 😔.
Pagoda is a great 2-player game. It has a fun theme – you physically build pagodas – and there’s just enough strategy, mostly around deciding when to use your special powers.
I also like Ingenious. The game is much different with 2 players, compared to 3 or 4. Blocking your opponent becomes a lot more important.
Wow, this is quickly turning into a great resource. Thanks Wil and all commenters!
Some more interesting 2 player games which I don’t think have been mentioned yet:
The Duke
Tash-Kalar
Summoner Wars
Yomi
Finally, if you are always playing with the same person then Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 is mind-blowingly good. Bring on Season 2!
If you’re wondering about two-player tabletop RPGs, there’s a great list here https://makebigthings.com/2-player-rpgs/
A new one is Tak by James Ernest, which is based on a game that appears in Patrick Rothfuss’s book “The Wise Man’s Fear”. It’s a classic-style abstract strategy game that is designed to let you play either short fast games, or longer more strategic ones. http://cheapass.com/free-games/tak/
YES! Tak is amazing.
Agricola All Creatures Great and Small is a great 2 player game that I found out about from you, Wil! I think you talked about it in one of your… what was it called… Not the Vlog? Something like that. It seems to be marketed towards younger players, and I do play it with my niece, but she’s 14, so she’s not that young. It’s good for a side game at a party too.
Patchwork and Morels are my fave 2-players. Patchwork is both relaxing and strategic, and Morels is kinda magical for some reason…
I agree that Patchwork is a great couples game. My wife is also in love with Carcassonne and that game comes out very frequent when we are in the mood to play something.
Hi Will! Love you and TableTop. You got me into tabletop games. You left Carcassone off your list and I have a fabulous time kicking my husband’s ass in it! Thank you for getting us to play games!
Thank you for this list, pandemic is my favorite game currently (it changes as do all my favorites, mostly because I tend to like most everything except monopoly but my brother would make me play even if i was gonna lose until had all the other player’s money and all of the properties) my friend and i started a rpg tabletop game board group so i’m gonna send him this list. it’s small right now our first meetup is sunday but it should grow. and i was thinking if it got really big (which it may not) offering multiple games in a night. and do you remember parchesi? i grew up playing that very similar to sorry i kind of wonder if sorry is based off of parchesi i could look that up and i will.
May have missed some of these in the comments, but ones my wife and I play a lot that were not listed:
For those wanting heavier games with more strategy:
Caverna plays very well as 2 player.
Fields of Arle is 2 player only and it very fun. Our games have been so close in score that we rarely know who has won until we finish tallying the score, which tells me the balance is really good.
Similarly well balanced and good for 2 player is Gates of Loyang (notice a theme here? Uwe Rosenburg really knows how to make a game that works as well with 2 players as with 5)
The two player rules for Puerto Rico play well.
A little lighter, Glass Road plays well as 2 player.
San Juan (card game based on Puerto Rico is our go to “vacation” game).
Very light – Battle Lines. Although…. When first learning, it seems like a lot of luck. Once you learn the strategy, it becomes VERY strategic. But once both players are good at the strategy, it drifts back towards luck based so after about 30 games, it loses its fun.
I have a few other light 2 player games, but I am blanking on the name, so if I think about it this evening when I get home from work I’ll check the game closet and list them.
I’ve hesitated on Battle Line because one of my duo needs and enjoys some luck always being a factor along with mild strategy. It seems I was right to think it might not be a good buy for us. Thanks!
Settlers of Catan Card Game is only two-player. My son and I like it quite a bit better than the board game; we still play it off and on.
You mentioned pandemic as a co-op game, are there other co-op games available, ideally for 3 or more players? My kids turn 9 and I bought them many of the classic board games, monopoly, risk, stratego, sorry, clue, & scrabble in hopes of inspiring them to ‘play more games’. Suggestions are welcome. 9 yo twin boys, plus one middle aged geeky dad.
Off the top of my head:
Star Trek Panic – review here: http://arstechnica.co.uk/gaming/2016/09/fire-phasers-a-lot-with-new-star-trek-panic-board-game/
Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert – by the same designer as Pandemic. I’d probably only get one; they’re quite similar to each other.
Sentinels of the Multiverse/DC Comics Deck-Building Game/Legendary (Marvel Deck-Building Game)/Harry Potter: Hogwart’s Battle – card games in which you team up to take down a super-villain.
Space Alert – real-time game in which you plan actions to try, and almost inevitably hilariously fail, to deal with threats to your spaceship.
I’ve also heard pretty good things about Samurai Spirit but I’ve never played it. There’s also Ghost Stories… I’m sure the rules wouldn’t be a problem for a 9 year old but it is soul-destroyingly hard no matter what age you are!
Castle Panic, which was on TableTop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpuTGWFkBYs
See also https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43443/castle-panic
Hey Doug. I have a ten year old boy and we have many games that we enjoy way more than the “classics” thanks to Tabletop. As far as coop the game we started playing is Hogwarts Battle. It’s a fairly light deck building game. If your boys like Harry Potter then they will probably enjoy it. Another great coop is Forbidden Desert. There is also Forbidden Island but we don’t have that one. If you are looking for other non coop games that they might enjoy there is King of Tokyo, Potion Explosion, Sushi Go and Tokaido. All very fun. Don’t let the instructions of any of these games overwhelm you. My wife and son usually get overwhelmed when we start a new game. They always look and sound complicated until you play it through once then it becomes pretty easy.
Great list, thank you!
My wife and I very much enjoy playing the DC Comics Deck-Building Game. Although she is not into Comics and does not know many of the villains from the DC universe, it is very simple to play and makes much fun. Everybody we played the game with loves it. It’s by far my favorite game of 2016 and the best Deckbuilder I played so far (including Legendary).
Btw. can’t wait to see the rest of TableTop Season 4!
There’s an elderly couple that sometimes comes to the monthly tabletop game nights we do at my library. When they come, they sit at their own table and play the game of Sorry they bring with them. I always worry that they’re feeling left out, but they seem to enjoy showing up and just playing with each other*.
But for my girlfriend and me, I saw this and suggested it to her: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/111739/Leverage-Companion-09-OneonOne-Leverage “Let’s go steal a date night.”
*hurr hurr
Fjords is an awsome 2 players game. OOP, but it can be printed 🙂
I’ve played Mille Bornes, which I suppose is more of a card game, with my granddaughter for over 10 years, and we still love it. I keep a box of it in my car so we can play if we get stuck somewhere.
7 Wonders Duel! This won all of the awards this year and with good reason.
You might consider checking out Sekigahara: The Unification of Japan by GMT games as well. A really amazing and beautiful game.
Will,
It looks like the Ticket to Ride: Switzerland (as a single map edition) is obsolete and not easily available. You should switch your link to Ticket To Ride India: Map Collection – Volume 2, which includes a double-sided map with India and the Switzerland map. Link below.
https://www.amazon.com/Ticket-Ride-India-Map-Collection/dp/B005OQ2ZY4
My husband and I still play Dominion on a regular basis; that’s a fairly quick game for two people. We’ve been playing 7 Wonders Dual a lot, especially since we added the Pantheon expansion. 13 Days is a simpler version of Twilight Struggle for 2 players. There’s a 2-player, card version of Lost Cities that we also like, although 7 Wonders Dual has kind of edged everything out, right at the moment.
I recently got my friend and his girlfriend into playing “Cold War”. It’s a really great two player game of pressing your luck which if pressed too much can lose the game for everyone.
Another one to consider is “Innovation.” It does a good job as a civilization card game. Plays fast.
Monarch is excellent for two, as are Dead of Winter, The Hare and the Tortoise, Splendor, Tiny Epic Galaxies, and Codenames (2-player variant), among the myriad others that were mentioned here. Thanks to Tabletop for most of those suggestions.
I’ll also toss in another enthusiastic vote for 7 Wonders: Duels. So so good.
Normally wouldn’t suggest it in a thread like this due to the investment required to make it interesting, but since you mentioned Magic: the Gathering…
X-Wing Miniatures Game
WW, this is where I thank you for getting me back into games. As I play mostly 2p with my wife, here are our favorite games. If any of these are new to you, then – you’re welcome 😉
These are in rough order and just gut-check honest. I also have a lot of highly ranked games that I should like… that I want to like… that I aspire to like? Haha… but in reality I I have them because they’re highly rated and they’re nice to have if friends who like games come over. BUT… This list is the: “If I had 2 minutes to grab as many games off the shelves as I could and would never ever get to play any other games for the rest of my life…” then these are the games I’d grab without hesitation or regret – my “Desert Island” games – or whatever you’d call them. In a pinch, I could probably be perfectly happy having the top three of each category.
Quick “Play Over Lunch” Games
Battle Line
Splendor
Jaipur
Patchwork
Morels
Trambahn
Guillotine
Hive
The Builders: Antiquity
Light to Midweight Week-night games
San Juan
All Creatures Big & Small
Targi
Aton
Dominion (Base set)
Valley of the Kings
Puzzle Strike
Caylus Magna Carta
Thurn & Taxis
Mid-Heavy Weekend / Vacation games
Puerto Rico
Concordia
Istanbul
St. Petersburg
Five Tribes
Glen More
Trajan
Akrotiri
CTFO (chillout) “It was a hard day I need a nurturing experience” Games
Carcassonne
Forbidden Desert
Pandemic
Forbidden Island
Lanterns
I imagine that Netrunner and 7 Wonders Duel have already been mentioned but if not, those two. Also Star Wars Rebellion and Arkham Horror the card game.
My SO and I gravitate toward:
Lanterns
The Hare and the Tortoise
Lotus
Takenoko, especially with the Takenoko Chibis expansion
Ingenious
Alpaca Pacapaca
Sushi Go Party
Qwirkle
Just received my copy of Santorini. Amazing game and production. Haven’t even played with the God Cards yet. 🙂
Agricola All Creatures Great and Small is a great 2 player game that I found out about from you, Wil! I think you talked about it in one of your… what was it called… Not the Vlog? Something like that. It seems to be marketed towards younger players, and I do play it with my niece, but she’s 14, so she’s not that young. It’s good for a side game at a party too.
For a 2-player RPG, I’d like to strongly recommend “Breaking the Ice” by Emily Care Boss (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Ice_(role-playing_game)). You play two people who are going on three first dates. One of the cool things about it is you do a “flip” between your players and characters. So, let’s say you’re a man playing with a woman, maybe she plays the man and you play the woman. Or maybe you’re playing with a religious person and you’re an atheist; you play someone of faith and your play partner plays an atheist.
You go on three first dates, and you see how you’re changed and whether you’re suited for each other.
I’m planning on making a Cthulhu game out of it.
My now-ex-wife and I played that once! It was a lot of fun. The flip was that she played a woman who was energetic and optimistic and fun, while I played a man who was gloomy and pessimistic–the opposite of our general dispositions and outlooks on life. 🙂
Hahah! Yikes. That’s an efficient story you told right there, Josh.