Looking for 2 player game suggestions

guyrocket, 7 months ago

A few from my closet: Castle Panic (with expansion set), Labyrinth (Ravensburger), Classic card games: Crazy 8s, Go Fish, Hearts and Old Maid. Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, Mille Bornes, Pirate's Cove, Stratego, Battleship, Chess, Checkers, Chinese Checkers, and Laser Khet 2.0.

And story dice are fun with any number of people.

ace_garp, 7 months ago

These have been excellent at two players for us:

Targi

Innovation

Morels (AKA: Fungi)

Jaipur

Port Royal

Kanagawa

Star Realms

kvadd, 7 months ago

Mindbug - an amazing card battler for two without building a deck. The twist is that you can take the opponents card twice a game. Makes for a super interesting gameplay.

Splendor duel - seen it mentioned before, a really great implementation of the splendor game for two

edgemaster72, 7 months ago

Thanks everyone for all the responses so far, I look forward to digging into these this weekend

pathief, 7 months ago

• Targi - Cards are displayed in a 5x5 grid. The “outer” square of the grid are action spots while the “inner” 3x3 grid are resources/objectives. During your turn you will place one of your 3 workers in one of the available action spots. Then your opponent places their worker but they cannot place their worker in the same column or row than your wokers. After both players have placed their 3 workers, you place tribe markers (the cilinders) on the cards where your workers intersect. At the end of the round you get all the resources/objectives where you have cilinders and perform all the actions where you have workers!
• Hanamikoji - This is a “I split, you choose” 2 player game with some area majority in the mix. I honestly think this game is fantastic but I have had very low success in introducing it to other people. The game is very quirky, very different than everything I’ve tried. You force players to make hard and unintuitive decisions and I think that turns off some people. “Why would I split these cards, I want them all. How can I have them all?”. Split wisely! I guess the art work and box doesn’t help people get excited about it either.
• MicroMacro: Crime City - There is some debate about wether this is even game or just an activity but I don’t really care about that. This game is absolutely brilliant. It’s basically a “Where’s Waldo” but with all timelines printed into a single map. Each mission points you to a crime and you have to trace back the map to understand what actually took place there. Where did the victim come from, what were they doing, who looked at them funny? I would put this game as the best 2 player game but it have felt weird for the best 2 player game to be a game where you can play with an infinite number of players. Wouldn’t recommend more than 2 players tho! Get it!

ME5SENGER_24, 7 months ago

Have you ever played any Grandpa Beck’s Games? My wife and I love Skull King

https://www.grandpabecksgames.com/

Boermund, 7 months ago

Catan Duell/ the cardgame. Great Strategy game.

Thassodar, 7 months ago

Check out Quarto. There’s smaller and larger boards, mine is I think 5x5. It’s like a more complex Connect Four where you pick your opponent’s next piece at the end of your turn.

The “Connect Four” part is getting four in a row, the complexity is that the four can be in any combination (piece height, color, dimpled or not, etc.). Quick to learn, hard to master.

Mighty, 7 months ago

One is missing:

Wing span!

Lumun, 7 months ago

My favorites for two are Carcasonne, Seven Wonders Duel, and classic Cribbage. Those first two aren’t exactly simple to learn though.

Another suggestion is to play a cooperative game with two. This can be really fun to talk about thr strategy together since you are on a team. For simpler, I like Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert.

voodoocode, 7 months ago

Claim, a trick taking card game. Easy to learn, but difficult to master the tactics. Has many extensions.

Jekyll vs Hide, another trick taking card game. Twist is the players have different goals. Jekyll wants balance meaning both sides win equally, while Hide wants to win either none or all of them.

Otherwise I second Azul, Hanamikoji and 7 Wonders Duel that were mentioned already

ewU2000, 7 months ago

One my favouit 2 player boardgames is Hallali (Not sure if it has a diferent wnglish titel). It is a fantastic game with a big strategy part, but also some luck.

Amaltheamannen, 7 months ago

I’ve had a lot of fun playing Radlands and 7 Wonders Duel with my girlfriend

Narann, 7 months ago

Something that is pretty quick in terms of set up, learning, and play.

You had many recommendations, but I think very few beats Sea Salt & Paper in term of setup, learning and play.

RamenDame, 7 months ago

Radlands - my personal favourite 2 player game. Tower defence with cards. Design a mix of borderlands meets Mad Max

Aeons end - not two players but works really well at 2. coop card game against a nemesis. Multiple expansions available. Many characters and card combinations. This game is a close second in my two player list.

Shadows of Kyoto - a game from emporers4, and I have to admit I like their games. Two player slightly asymmetrical trying to get your spy to your opponent site or try to catch their spy.

Hanamikoji - trying to get the favours on the right site with only four possible turns. Kosmos has it too, and it is language independent, no need to get it from Taiwan if you have better access through them. Geisha‘s road is pretty similar.

Shottentotten - name could be more sensible but a quick to learn Poker with multiple games one plays at the same time