It’s a cozy evening at home, nothing new is on Netflix, and everything else looks boring or dull: sounds like a great opportunity to do something enjoyable and fun! For now, suggesting to play a board game may cause a little giggling, as now it’s associated strongly with Scrabble, or good old Monopoly or iconic Clue, all back from childhood. But give a chance to the board games to surprise you with creative quests, puzzling mysteries, unexpectedly interesting settings. In our article, we reach and touch several best 2 players board games so far. Believe us, this guide to board games will pass in a flash, just like the time you spend playing the game you choose.
exclusively created for 2 players
the detailed historical setting for history lovers
colorful high-quality graphics
great re-playability
a mix of luck and strategy
great quality of all materials
highly replayable
historical background (settling)
modular game board
expansions can be bought extra
a living legend among the board games
very high quality of all game materials
engaging in the process
very replayable
teaches the basic of economics and trading
Below are our favorite games to play with two people (no specific order applied):
7 Wonders – Duel: Best 2 Player Board Game for Adults
- Similar style of play as the award winning original, 7 wonders
- Designed specifically for 2 player, head to head battles
- Build a civilization that will crush your competition and flourish for centuries
7 Wonders by Asmodee will take you away from the history classes straight to the world where you and your partner are the emperors of your own empires and the founding fathers of a brand new civilization.
Facing each other as rivals and competing with your skills as rulers and visioners, you have to build one of the seven wonders for your prospering country and do not let your partner flourish in his. This game, although having a historic basis, have catching approach. It suggests to win superiority in Military, Civilian or Science at once or have your own strategy with one.
3 hundred years of your civilization, one of great seven wonders, chance to start wars or pledge allegiance, it’s all possible with detailed gameplay and colorful graphics and tons of cards to moderate the game. It can be played multiple times, each will be a new way for your people and civilization to prosper or stuck in the Dark Ages.
Despite the original game, Duel is created as one of the best 2 player board game for adults (the age limit is 10 years and older, but 7 Wonders is primarily aimed at those who have kin on strategy and learn some good history lessons)
Aside from that, 7 Wonders – Duel has a high level, deep-colored decor and graphics and a box of good quality, so you can consider it as a clever gift. You give not only one of the most loved strategy game, but one of the best two-player game for couples or roommates.
Pros
- exclusively created for 2 players
- the detailed historical setting for history lovers
- colorful high-quality graphics
- great re-playability
- a mix of luck and strategy
Cons
- short gameplay for the setting (up to 30 minutes)
- complicated, yet intricated rules
- loopholes
Codenames: Duet – The Two Player Word Deduction Game
- 400 all new words compatible with original codenames
- New cooperative gameplay
- Campaign mode to record your progress
- Variable difficulty to challenge even the greatest spies
- Great with two players, or more
7 Wonders – Duel makes you compete. Codenames: Duet makes you cooperate. It’s often named as one of the best co-op board game for 2 players. Codenames are upgraded form of word associated game with brand new, fully converted cards and presents players latest configuration.
Codenames: Duet is styled as a paper flow of a fictional secret agency. The full set contains not only cards but real maps. Keep on imagining you are on the encrypted mission in one of the world megalopolises and you are on the run with enemies trying to steal the secret information about agents undercover. With Codenames: Duet, it’s really important to make your imagination work, put on some Mission: Impossible title theme and enjoy. As with all associated games, the rules are quite simple: giving each other clues to decode the information. That’s why Codenames: Duet can be played by secret agents of 11 years old and more. For those, who see any James Bond movies, it will be easy to learn.
The game comes fully equipped with agents cards, key cards for clues, tokens, maps of the mission, the rulebook for notes and surely 200 cards with about half a thousand new words.
Pros
- stunning visuals to emerging into the game
- very-well written instructions
- thrilling plot for all spy lovers
- designed especially for 2 players
- cooperative gameplay, no rivalry
Cons
- the game has no winning or losing scenario
- high price
- some tokens and cards can be missed
Hive – A Game Crawling With Possibilities
- High quality
- Soldier ants and grasshoppers
- Made by Gen42 games honored for excellence by Mensa select
- Dr.Toy product of excellence award winner
- International gamer awards winner
- Made by Gen42 Games – Honoured for excellence by Mensa Select
- Dr. Toy Product of Excellence award winner
- International Gamer awards winner
The next game on our list is award-winning and honoured for excellence by Mensa Select (as if the best board games for 2 players received an Oscar, it will be it). Crawling is a word used for describing a movement of insects and hexagonal tiles coming with a game has a symbol of insects on it and now we can’t give more clues: this is a game. Building your own Hive-engineering strategy, you and your army of grasshoppers and bees and soldier ants protect the new home.
Hive is a game built on the chess or checkers principles and the best rules of surviving in green wildlife. This game challenges you to make the queen bee of your opponent to surrender and he will do the same to you without hesitation. Each step requires careful thinking about what comes next not to lose in a second.
The game time is about twenty minutes, according to the supplier’s information. Just enough to warm all emotions up with a partner or roommate. Hive comes with a full set of black and white tiles, detailed instruction and a decorative bag with the game logo not to lose any pieces afterwards.
Pros
- high-quality plastic used for game pieces
- the simple mechanism of the game means a quick start
- decorative bag for storage
- replayable game
- great to start a board games collection as it’s one of classics
Cons
- small tokens (choking hazard)
- some pieces can be missed
Ticket To Ride – Play With Alexa
- A fast-paced, award-winning board game
- Connect iconic North American cities and build your train routes to earn points
- Players must compete to grab the best train cards and routes before their opponents
- Ticket cards challenge you to plan ahead and connect two faraway cities for additional points
- 2 to 5 players, 60 minutes, 8+
We have a unique game here – believe us, we truly have a PhD in border games. Ticket to Ride is the most classic, the most detailed board game you can think of (with a great twist). If you have Alexa, a modern clever device, you can ask her questions about the game and even compete against her. Ticket To Ride is really a game-changer especially for those who still believe that boards games are very old-fashioned.
Ticket To Ride makes a traveller out of you (or at least, a travel coordinator). You have to make routes and think about your destinations, choose roads and do quick turns if you start to lose. As players, you will move through America via railway and see the iconic places and collect points for that. Look for matching cards, connect routes and cities together and enjoy its beautiful vintage design the supplier took care of with respect. It really contributes to the game and gives you a feeling you are in an old-west movie and time when the first railway went through the west. Well, Alexa, will you play an Epic Wild Western Music during the 30-60 minutes of gameplay?
Pros
- compatible with Alexa
- vintage design for history lovers
- with Alexa, the possibility to play alone against her
- clear detailed instructions
- great visual material
Cons
- the setting is quite specific and not for everyone
- some unfixed bugs while playing with Alexa
Catan: Best Board Game for Couples
- The incredibly popular, multi award winning civilization building board game of harvesting and trading resources
- Players control their own civilization and look to spread across a modular hex board in a competition for victory points
- Beware the robber’s nefarious plans as he steals resources and plunders the wealthy
- 3 to 4 players, 60 minutes, ages over 10
Catan, the board game, presents itself as one of the best board games for couples who are not interested in imaginary assassin-seeking in Paris or delving far back into the realms of history. Being a strategy game with a focus on trading and careful planning rather than attacking, Catan is for those who prefer to think not even twice but do some seven-time measures first.
As a part of the game, you have to settle and develop the life on the rich and totally new isle of Catan, which has been waiting for people to come and begin to dig minerals and trade woods and goods. The aim of the game is to lead your settlers through newborn economic of the isle and do not let your competitor ruin it with a long war or better decisions. Starting with two houses on the edge of the Catan map, you and your partner shall build prosperous alcove.
You can play Catan together (no game will be the same, as the resources you receive initially in the beginning as a basis are very different each time and the roads will differ and the choices will never be the same), this game is working perfectly with 2 players, but easily can be transformed to multi players one with a large variety of carefully thought and very detailed cards. If you are a parent, with Catan you can teach your little co-players of 10 age and more the very first principles of economics, trading, manufacturing and natural resources use. Educative, but still thrilling at the same time.
Pros
- great quality of all materials
- highly replayable
- historical background (settling)
- modular game board
- expansions can be bought extra
Cons
- setting up and digging into rules take some time
- final result much depends on starting resources
Pandemic
- As skilled members of a disease fighting team, you and the other players work together to keep the world safe from outbreaks and epidemics
- Pandemic is a cooperative board game in which players work as a team to treat infections around the world while gathering resources for cures
- 2 – 4 players
- 45 mins
A game creator Matt Leacock looked into the future with this Pandemic game. The tagline and the rules of the game ask if you are capable of saving humanity and for that, you have to team up.
Two players start by being a member of some disease-fighting team. The mission is complete when the virus stops spreading through all the world (you can find maps and cards and understand that the game will lead you everywhere from Mexico City to Taipei). As in the real-life, it’s not enough just to cure an infection, it’s necessary to gather and spread resources as well – for the sake of all humanity.
Being partners, you fight not against each other, but against the game itself, that means you will meet winning or losing ends together. There is two large scenarios you can choose between. Go all world isolation or ask the government to start the whole quarantine shutdown, the choice depends on your strategy, because you are the one the world is rooting on.
Pandemic has very well executed design imitation of the official documents, online maps, the real protocols, is full of colors and has one of the richest set of accessorize coming in handy with a game: map boards, “virus” cubes to stop you from curing the world, players and role cards to follow, reference cards and notebooks. If you play with your child (recommended age is 8 years and older) add some additional information about viruses and think of real-life strategy and rules of safety. The gameplay of 45 minutes will be very educational just like the biology class.
Pros
- movie-like visuals
- can be used as an educational game with extra materials and preparing
- teaming up with your partner to archive a goal
- replayable as combinations differ at each start
Cons
- has only 2 main scenarios
- difficult gameplay
- players have to negotiate and discuss every move a lot
Monopoly The Mega Edition: Best 2 Player Board Game of All Time
- THE MEGA EDITION: The fast dealing property Trading Game.
- BIGGER GAME BOARD: 50% larger than most boards. New Depots and Skyscrapers. New $1000 bills.
- FASTER: Special speed Die and bus tickets quickly zip you to where the action is! Buildings appear sooner…and so do big rents!
- CONTENTS: Quad-fold gameboard,32 houses,12 hotels, 8 skyscrapers,4 depots,10 tokens, 37 title deeds,16 chance and community chest cards,16 bus tickets,2 dice,1 speed die, money, tray and instructions.
- CREATE: A “Mega Exciting” Experience!
Beat with us, but Monopoly is one the best, the most iconic 2-4 player board games of all time. Monopoly became a trademark itself and the first association come in mind when someone asks you if you care to join in the board game. Even if you play Monopoly many years ago and still remember how emotions went all on, you need to check this new edition made mostly for 2 players. Monopoly after years and years of its history does not stop with it and prepare new versions.
What’s so special about it? This mega edition has a new huge map and tons of special cards, sets, signs, locations, objects, tips and clues. The tagline of Monopoly is that it makes life richer, but it’s not only that: it contributes to developing logical skills for those who would like to, gives important lessons of family finance and teaches not to rush into quick business decisions. Even if you not a businessman or do not care about politics or economics, it’s great to have a knack for a change.
Monopoly typically is that kind of game you prefer to play all alone, without all family and friends, but we advise to give it a chance as the best modern board game for 2 players. It will speed up the game time and gives you all-new experience in Monopoly you’ve never had before.
Pros
- a living legend among the board games
- very high quality of all game materials
- engaging in the process
- very replayable
- teaches the basic of economics and trading
Cons
- based mostly on strategy and economics, can seem repetitive
- long-game sessions
Classic Mancala
- CLASSIC GAMES: The ancient strategy game comes to life in a beautifully designed birch wood board with colorful glass stones! This game is perfect for whenever you want to play a fun game.
- FUN FOR ALL: Any child or adult will have fun taking part in this quick and easy game! It’s great for everyone, including the kids, adults, men, and women! This game is best for parties and game nights.
- GREAT GAME: This great game is best with 2 players who are ages 7 years old and up. Boys and girls alike will enjoy this game which comes with 1 game board, 48 game pieces, and instructions.
- PLAY AT PARTIES: Bring this game to your next party. The rules are easy to learn and the game is difficult to stop playing, it’s that much fun! Whether you are a youth or are older, you’ll enjoy this game. Use some strategy and luck to win!
- ENDLESS GAMES: Endless Games presents card, dice, party, word, trivia, survey, and pop culture games for everyone! You’ll find high quality games that are quick and easy to learn and provide endless play value.
Mancala is one of the most unique games coming straight from old times when the ancestors play it with the same wood board and colorful stones. It does not need maps, details instructions or long rules to attract your attention and keep you busy at least for an hour, carefully thinking over the next step. In this edition of Mancala of the high quality, the pieces of the game are made from glass.
The rules of Mancala is very easy – collect as many colorful pieces in Mancala holes as possible, store them there to collect points.
Mancala is great both for the evening for two or for big parties – it attracts attention (almost everyone will be interested in trying it). When there are only two players, Mancala, coming from Africa, becomes a battle game of two minds against each other and it’s all about your winning strategy and planning. Think twice before putting a glass piece into the wrong hole, it will lead to failure.
Mancala seems really tricky to play, but supplier provides it with clear instruction (if that’s enough, it can be easily found on Youtube).
Pros
- portable
- high quality of the game pieces (glass and wood)
- easy setup
Cons
- better for several players
- chocking hazard
Carcassonne: Best Strategy Board Fame for 2 Players
- Completely redesigned rulebook to make learning the game easier
- Introduces the Abbot mini expansion and a new version of the river
- Game and expansions have sold over 10 million copies worldwide
- 2 – 5 players
Finally, someone (in case of Carcassonne, Z-Man Games) prepared a game about Medieval Ages for those who are interested in Richard Lion Heart’s glorious days and Robin Hood legends.
Team up to build the medieval fortress from scratch on the Carcassonne special game board. The game allows you not only to be an unseen ruler above it but participate in it, taking different roles (knights, monks, farmers or even thieves). The game has very curious rules, which makes it even more fun. Choosing a role, do not miss, because some roles have fewer points than others and in that case, your points can be changed for materials and your Carcassonne will be only a dream among french rivers and forests.
Carcassonne is the game you can play with every of your family members, even with your little brother or sister, if the Medieval Ages are for them as Carcassonne looks as careful as a knight tournament. All pieces of the game and pieces of the board which can be added come together with the game. Choose a noble thieve or wise monk and put the first stone in Carcassonne walls.
Pros
- the historical setting
- beautiful, many-colored design and game graphics
- great price
- high level of expandability
- easy rules to learn
Cons
- better for several players
- choking hazard
- game playtime can be too fast for such setting (30 minutes)
Double Bananagrams: Best Word Game for Two Players
- FUN FOR 2x PLAYERS – Gather your family and friends and race against each other to build crossword grids. This BANANAGRAMS game has 2x tiles.
- ENTERTAINING AND EDUCATIONAL – While this game is easy to play, Bananagrams is also educational. Teach your kids how to spell words and have fun at the same time.
- GREAT FOR TRAVEL – Bananagrams comes in a fun banana-shaped case. This game doesn’t take much space like other board games and brings tons of fun while traveling.
- MAKES A GREAT GIFT – Bananagrams will make a thoughtful gift for your friend or family member. It is perfect for both, boys and girls.
- PLEASE NOTE – Contains small parts, not for children under 3 years. Perfect for anyone 7 years and up. 1-16 players.
Bananagrams Word Game looks very easy, like unexpectedly easy. But a board game does not require to be complex and very detailed to entertain (moreover, Bananagrams can be a great learning tool for the small kids) you and add laugh into your evening and a sense of thrilling competition.
This anagram game comes with everything you need, which is basically only letters – no pens, no pencils, no additional paper. If you feel it’s too easy for you, the board games high-level players, choose to play Bananagrams with a timer and see, will it be that easy to build crosswords when it’s ticking.
Good for Bababagram, that it’s small and portable and you can take it outdoors to challenge your partner or a friend during the lunch break or a picnic. Definitely it’s one best quick board game for 2 players and moreover the budget one.
Pros
- small size, highly portable
- can be played anywhere
- simple crossword speed-up game
- coming in designed package for storage
Cons
- pieces are too small, can be easily lost
- high level of choking hazard
- no extra visuals
Patchwork
- For 2 Players
- 15 minute playing time
- Abstract, strategy game
Uwe Rosenberg and Mayfair present of the cosiest looking board game ever with a very wide age range (8 years and higher), perfect for 2 players and the very short, yet enough gameplay time – 15 minutes.
Maybe back into your childhood, you have patchwork blanket made from different pieces of fabric sewn together into a large piece of design. During Patchwork board game, your ultimate aim is to turn your material into a real masterpiece faster and more beautiful than your partner or friend. Do not forget, that each piece has scored and also the pattern should come as aesthetic and eye-pleasing. Patchwork has a really interesting concept among all other games in our article and worth having if you have tried everything else and tend to do something peaceful.
Pros
- good and understandable gameplay mechanism
- eye-pleasing visuals to contribute the game theme
- detailed in both execution and design
Cons
- better for several players
- lack of players interaction
Tiny Towns
- For 1-6 Players
- 45-60 minute playing time
- Simultaneous-play town building where no two games are the same!
And now again both your playground and battlefield is a place under construction. If in Monopoly you have an opportunity to build large apartments, hotels and downtowns, here you start how to make the best tiny town, using very limited and shared resources.
This game has no strict rules and long instructions and was created for being very easy and fast playing. Mr Major – that’s you as a player, – should think over the plan and design of tiny houses and then find building materials. The town which will be more beautiful prosperous and where the houses will be the tiniest (and no resources wasted!) will a winner.
Tiny Towns is one of the best cheap board games for 2 players and its price is on a very low budget though the graphic and all cards and maps come in handy.
Pros
- budget board game
- high game flexibility
- variable setups
- engaging setting
Cons
- “childish” design
- can revoke questions due to lack of instructions
- final result depends mostly on initial resources
Agricola
- For 1-4 players
- 45 minute playing time
- Standalone game
- Features no cards and simplified rules
Finishing our list with no special order with classic Agricola game, which has its popularity among simplified card games and fictional farming lovers.
Agricola gives you everything you need – simple instruction and lovely wooden figures of animals coming and very well made resources like wood, clay, grain and reed in the game set. Your only aim in this very soothing, beautifully made game is to be a farmer, think like a farmer and just enjoy the simple life as it is, building your farm into something new and better at the same time.
Rules are easy, the whole game mechanics is simple two, but as a result, you will spend your whole evening with Agricola (and tiny wood horses and sheep).
Pros
- very high quality of all details and pieces
- perfect time of gameplay
- every choice and step effect final result
- quick and thus thrilling
Cons
- “farming” setting not for every player
- time-consuming installation
Buying Guide for New in 2 Player Board Games
Each year companies suggest tons of the new board games and updated versions of the old ones. Among all that, it’s very easy to get lost. Here is the short buying guide on how to choose your game and don’t get disappointed.
First of all, choose your genre. All board games are vastly divided into several groups: family games to play in a large group of people, dexterity games to move during it, party games for easy and quick fun which will occupy everyone in the room and thematic games, usually coming with a plot, a quest or in a fictional world (included horror, murder and solving mysteries, economic simulation games, they may vary). This is a clue.
Secondly, decide what board game you would like to. Do you want it to occupy you and your partner for the whole evening several days or wish to have just a short intellectual match before going to sleep? The game time is important. Knowing how many time you would like to spend with a game will be a great tip.
Make a choice depending on your taste. If you are a great fan of H. P. Lovecraft, an Arkham Horror is already prepared for you.
Compare the age, length of instructions and rules before purchasing not to lose interest very quickly when you are not ready and a board game seems too compound for you.
And, lastly, go through photos to see how a board game is made. It should be visually pleasing, teasing, making you grab the cards and maps and dig into this new world.
FAQ: Our Last Piece of Advice
We do hope we successfully provide useful and basic intro the word of best board games for 2 players. But if some points still remain uncovered, have a look at Q&A below:
How to decide what board game to choose?
There is no answer which can be universal for everyone. Choosing a board game strictly depends on your and your partner’s interest. Now suppliers release each day lots of games of every kind and genres, take a second to think what do you prefer (mystic stories, or classic detective plots, or variations on easy Scrabble) and also how many time you wish to spend on a game, and look through the supplier’s recommendation. Choose a game which every time you start playing it lead you to a different castle with a different road. It will be much easier for you to dig into the world of board games.
If I lose some pieces of a card from the game, can I buy it online?
Usually suppliers do not provide game pieces for selling, be careful not to lose anything important. If it already happened, you can replace it with some token and printed card made by you.
Can I change the rules of the game and do not follow instructions?
Most games ask you to follow the rules to reach the best results and have more fun. Usually, in very detailed, complicated games bearing in mind all instruction is very important because in the end you won’t get a good result and can ruin the game for your partner too. Some of the games are not that complex and demand free player’s will and his own strategy and ideas to win or finish a quest.
Is it worth spending money on board games?
A good board game will last for centuries and even can be a family relic. Surely, not every board game become an iconic for fans and lovers, many of them are tested by time and failed it. A good board game will require several months of you trying to master it again and again and every time will suggest something new. Without wasting any power or electricity, not require any batteries, a board game you love can be a part of your survival kit and the first in the collection.
Conclusion
Some of you who started this article was probably quite sceptical at the beginning about board games, however, we hope that we have changed your mind by exposing you to some of the best games that are currently on the market. Living in today’s world of 5D cinema theatres, comics books, TV shows airing every day, computer and mobile games in your phone (which you carry everywhere you go), we do think about board games as something very 20th century and not being able to attract and keep our attention, spoiled by all entertainment. Board games and companies creating them have something for us. They remind us that spending time together, sharing energy and speak is very important. Besides, you will enjoy greatly all that new board games, from complex to the simplest, good, funny and colorful.
Thank you for reading this article! Now go and find your perfect board game and share it with your friends and loved once.
