Top 10 Two Player Games
/Looking for some great games to play when there are only two people? Look no further! A lot of board games can be played by two players but so many are inferior experiences. Instead of playing a game obviously meant for four players at two when you can play games that shine at two? Whether you are looking for a game to play with your significant other, at game night while waiting for the rest of your group to arrive, or when you are just hanging out with one other person here are our favorite games to play at two players. Some of the games below can be played with more than two, however, we do believe all the games here play best at two players.
Note: We participate in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We do earn a commission off of sales if you purchase from the links below, however, we encourage people to acquire games in whatever manner they desire.
10. Paperback
An interesting and unusual combination between deckbuilding and a word game, Paperback is a unique game where you are playing cards to form words out of specific letters or wildcards that can be any letter to buy more letters or victory points. Some letters or combinations of letters, as a card can have more than one letter, maybe harder to make works out of but they are worth more reward. If you love word games then this is a nice and fresh take on your typical word game, if you are not such a fan of word games there is still a lot to enjoy. The deckbuilding keeps the mechanics interesting and the wild cards allow you to be flexible and form words rather easily. Paperback is a great game that will really make you think.
9. Jaipur
Jaipur is a thought-provoking and quick trading game with some interesting decisions. There are different goods you are trying to get to sell but they are worth more points the less that have sold so far but the more cards you have the more of the goods you can buy. Jaipur keeps things interesting by restricting how you can obtain more cards. You can take a single card from the supply in the middle but if you want multiple you have to exchange them for cards that you have in your hand. You really have to keep track of what goods your opponent is going for and decide when it is a good time to buy, when to sell, and what goods to put out for your opponent. Jaipur feels like a nice classic card game and the beautiful artwork and fun gameplay will keep bringing it back to the table.
8. Hanamikoji
Hanamikoji is a tug-of-war style game where you are vying to earn the favor of seven different Geisha. Each round you have four actions to choose from: play a card in secret, discard two cards to not be played, play three cards but your opponent steals one, or play two sets of two cards but your opponent gets to choose one set and you get the other. Each player does each action and then it scores. If you play more cards on a geisha you earn their favor. If you have the favor of 4 or more geishas you win or if you have enough charm points (each geisha is worth a different number of points) you also win. If no one is winning it starts over but you start with the favor of all geishas you won so if no one plays cards there or if its a tie you keep that favor. Hanamikoji is filled with interesting decisions especially since there are multiple different ways to win. If the theme puts you off, they put out the same game with a different theme named Jixia Academy that you can also check out where you are students trying to earn the favor of professors.
7. Patchwork
If you are really into quilting then here is a game for you, but don’t worry if you are like me and have no interest in needlework then there is still a lot to love about Patchwork. In Patchwork, you are spending buttons to buy different Tetris-shaped tiles and placing them on your board. Some of these tiles have buttons on them and at different points in the game you will earn additional buttons equal to the number on your quilt. The player with the most buttons wins the game, however, you will also lose points for every space on your board you did not cover with a tile. Patchwork is a combination of a spatial puzzle and light economic game that feels so satisfying to play. We have gifted this game to other people more than any other game for good reason, as we think there is something everyone can love in Patchwork.
6. Star Realms
Star Realms is a head-to-head deckbuilding game where your goal is to simply defeat your opponent. Every ship is a part of one of four factions which are all themed both artistically and mechanically. Since ships of the same faction will combo together, this feels not only like a really solid deckbuilding game but also gives off a very similar feel many trading card games (like Magic). Star Realms does a really nice job of making you feel powerful as well as cunning as you really build up your engine. Each game ramps up in a really satisfying way which makes it a great game to just bust out to play a match when you have some time to kill.
5. Santorini
Named after the famously beautiful greek city, Santorini is an abstract strategy game along the lines of chess or checkers just an amazing production quality. The rules are simple, each player controls two builders on the board. On your turn you get two actions, you can either move a builder to an adjacent space or you can build to place a building on the board. Buildings can be placed on top of each other up to four stories high. When you move you can move up only one story at a time and if you can get on top of a three-story building you win! However, if the fourth story ever gets built on a building no one can move to that space. Santorini at its base is a tactical game where you are trying to build a stairway up to win while trying to block your enemies from doing the same. To add even more fun, there are a bunch of greek god cards that you can play with that gives each player a different variable player power each game. With 40 cards in the base box, Santorini will stay fresh and exciting for a long time.
4. Fugitive
Deduction is a really difficult thing to pull off in a two-player game, but Fugitive pulls it off wonderfully. In this tense cat and mouse game, one player is a fugitive trying to move from hideout to hideout by playing numbered cards trying to get to the end while the other player is the marshal trying to correctly guess everywhere the fugitive has been to catch them before they escape. This gives a delightful thrill on both sides that keeps everyone engaged and excited. Not only does Fugitive combine hidden movement and deduction brilliantly in a two-player format, but it manages to give all the great feelings from these types of games in a quick fifteen-minute game.
3. Fox in the Forest
Fox in the Forest takes the classic format for trick-taking games and really makes it shine with two players. One player leads with a card and the other player has to play another card of that suit if they have one. The higher card of the two takes the trick unless it is a different suit in which the lead player wins unless it is the trump suit, then the player who played the trump wins the trick. What keeps Fox in the Forest so intriguing is the way points scale for the number of tricks you win. You get points by winning for tricks but if you win too many you will score nothing. On top of that if you manage to score less than three tricks you score a lot. This scoring along with some special abilities on the odd-numbered cards keeps each game interesting and gives you multiple strategies to try. Fox in the Forest creates a nice dynamic experience that anyone could enjoy.
2. Raptor
Would you rather be a family of raptors hunting terrified people through the jungle or an elite team of scientists trying to neutralize and capture some dinosaurs? Well in Raptor you are in luck because both sides are really fun to play. In Raptor as the titular raptor family you are trying to either take down the invading humans or buy time to allow your babies to escape. As the scientists you are trying to either get enough shots to tranquilize the fierce mother raptor or capture enough of her children. Each game you have your own decks of cards with numbers from 1-9 on them and powerful abilities. Each turn you simultaneously play a card, the lower-numbered card gets to use the special ability on the card but the higher card gets a number of actions equal to the difference in the two numbers. This creates an interesting dynamic where while only once a person gets to move and work towards their objective the other play still gets to do something really cool and powerful. Raptor has theme, strategy, replayability, and every single game of this has been a blast.
1. 7 Wonders Duel
7 Wonders Duel is a two-player version of a very popular game, 7 Wonders. Don’t worry if you have not played it however, 7 Wonders Duel is a completely different game that manages to feel a lot like its parent while keeping things fresh and interesting. In 7 Wonders Duel, you take control of a civilization and you are trying to be the best. You will do this by drafting different cards from a central area across three different ages, and depending on what cards you take new cards will be available. There are three different ways to win; either by getting enough military to take over your opponent, surpassing them intellectually by researching a variety of different schools of science, or culturally by scoring the most points at the end. While most games end with the cultural victory, the other two methods of winning make you stay on your toes. You can never completely disregard the science or military cards that come up or your opponent will take them and just win. You are forced to make decisions on where to grow as a society while not over committing in any one place. 7 Wonders Duel is an amazing game with a surprising amount of depth to every decision and we just cannot get enough.
Do you have any two-player games that you like more? Have any games you think we need to try out? Let us know! We always love to hear more suggestions on games to play and talk about games that we love!