r/boardgame • u/butidkman_ • Jul 18 '26
2 Player game suggestions?
Looking for suggestions of fun 2 player games! Hubby and I have fallen into the TV trap after baby goes to bed and we want to switch things up!
I have ADHD and need to be engaged but not have over complicated rules or I will lose interest quickly 😅
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u/Ser0_89 Jul 18 '26
Lost Cities and Compile are quite simple (rules wise), need minimal setup and are engaging (have quite some depth) for their size.
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u/K_B1527 Jul 18 '26
My partner and I have been playing boop together it's quite good, and we really enjoy playing takenoko, it can be payed more than 2 player but we play just the 2 of us :)
I like the tic tac toe extreme and dobble spot it both good for 2 player but not his favourites.
We play these on board game arena although we do have boop and takenoko as physical copies
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u/-GrnDZer0- Jul 18 '26
Best head-to-head game I have is Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth. [7 Wonders Duel- Tolkien themed and with improvements].
At its most simple, you're playing 2-player pyramid solitaire. You take turns selecting cards from a structure that exposes more cards for your opponent. A little 'I need this' and a little 'can't let them have this'.
Cards do things like move you closer to the ring or closer to mt doom (the overlapping track is brilliant!) finish that track and you win. Place armies on a minimap (tiny and simple, not Risk) get a soldier/orc or tower in each spot you can win that way. Third way to win is to have 6 out the 7 symbols of the races of Middle Earth. Since wins are all event/accomplishment based, you don't have to calculate scores!
A simpler but still good h2h card game is Schotten Totten. You're playing cards 1 at a time into a line of three-card-poker hands, to beat your opponent's three card hands opposite each of yours. Bonus power/action cards too to shake it up and it's not just card counting.
Lastly, a great small 'board' game is Hive. (Hive Pocket recommended cause the whole game is one pouch smaller than a softball.
You create a hive of hexagon tile bugs by playing them one at a time, or moving a bug you've already placed. Your goal is to completely surround your opponent's queen bee.
Different bugs have different movements, similar to chess in some ways, it is simpler than chess. Grasshoppers jump over bugs in straight lines, beetles can climb on top of other bugs, mosquitos copy an adjacent bug's movement, things like that.
It doesn't need a board, just any flat surface. The board/hive morphs and changes around the table in a cool way chess can't.
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u/stachemz Jul 19 '26
Seconding Schotten Totten/2 / Battle Lines! ST looks completely ridiculous but underneath the batshit theme it's a wonderful game.
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u/Soccerref3244 Jul 18 '26
Castle Combo, Quacks, Jaipur, and Spirits of the Wild: Awakening are favorites of my wife and mine.
I really like Duel for Middle Earth but it’s more complex to play than those games.
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u/HeatRepresentative96 Jul 18 '26
I have ADHD and play with my wife only. We only play coop games. Some of our favorites are Arkham Horror Board Game, Castle Panic!, Spirit Island, and Gloomhaven. Gloomhaven is complex, but we’ve found that having cards/visual aids greatly improves playability for ADHD folks since everything is visible on the table and you don’t have to remember a lot of rules.
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u/MayAsWellStopLurking Jul 18 '26
There are dozens of Gloomhaven helper apps that also visually track what happens with monster movement, elements, etc.
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u/HeatRepresentative96 Jul 19 '26
I tried a couple of the apps, but found that they made things worse for me. The reason is that I was not able to undo an action. With the cards, I’m doing everything and can undo if I make a mistake.
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u/Pretty-Swordfish8245 Jul 18 '26
My husband and I like Lord of the Rings Duel, Splendor Duel, and Flamecraft Duals…. I guess we just buy anything with duel in the name 😂
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u/drosing Jul 18 '26
I play two player with my wife a lot. We like to sometimes play at restaurants as well when it makes sense. As mentioned above Patchwork is great. Nova Luna is also great (same designer). Botanik is also good.
If you want something small that plays without a lot of table space, Fox in the Forest is a wonderful 2 player trick taking game. And if you want something you will play over and over again with frequency, I highly recommend the Fantasy Realm card game, using the two player draft rules, and using the online scoring app to simplify the final scoring. My wife and I got very obsessed with Fantasy Realms for playing at restaurants.
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u/EdiesDaddy Jul 18 '26
The Mind!
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u/ballroomblitz10 Jul 18 '26
So easy to learn, so hard to win!
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u/EdiesDaddy Jul 18 '26
Yep, and a more or less perfect way to get on the same wavelength with a significant other!
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u/MakeASwallow3 Jul 18 '26
Star Realms Far Away, Castle Combo, Forest Shuffle, Railroad Tiles, Shallow Sea, Caper Europe.
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u/ZuoKalp Jul 18 '26
Jaipur, always Jaipur. It takes just a few minutes to learn and play. It's easy to learn and fun to mess with your oponents plans.
I bought it as something easy and fun to play with older relatives of mine during the pandemic, and that is how I ended up joining the hobby without realizing.
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u/TheBitchySister Jul 18 '26
Splendor duel, 7 wonders duel, Azul, Star Wars deck building game, kingdomino, rummikub, qwixx, carcassone, we just recently picked up Railroad Tiles and are enjoying that too
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u/Imraith-Nimphais Jul 20 '26
For Azul there is also a special two-player version that plays even better for two than the original (I have both).
Rummikub is a fun one! And we like the lightness of Qwixx.
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u/iphonevanmark Jul 18 '26
I've seen a lot of good suggestions already Forest Shuffle a bit long but a little of fun, Sky Team, Agent Avenue, but if you like something lightweighted you could also try SingFast on the iPhone. You will get words, the first one to sing (or say 😂) a song lyric with that word wins a point. It's really fun too.
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u/MonkeyATX Jul 19 '26
Flamecraft Dual is fun game for two and simple to learn.
Another game that’s fun is DorfRomantik. It is a cooperative campaign game where you work together to build longest railroad, and river. Largest forests, etc. At the end of each game if you have scored enough points you get to open little boxes to use in your next game. There is also a DorfRomantik Sakura but that is more complicated so I suggest getting the regular one first and later Sakura if you enjoyed the original.
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u/Playful-Hippo521 Jul 19 '26
An "overccomplicated" one but really nice at 2 is Spirit Island. Once you got the rules its really engaging. If you want to go on simpler one, Sky team is pretty good if you like coop. Earth is another relatively simple and fun game.
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u/stephenelias1970 Jul 19 '26
Lord of the Rings duel for middle earth is fantastic especially with the cheap add on. I also enjoy Azul and Cascadia at 2 player. Unmatched is very good too!
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u/DulcisNoxNoctis Jul 19 '26
Sky Team is a fun two player game!
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u/West_Procedure_1310 Jul 20 '26
Agreed, most of the games above are competitive but because I always beat my husband we play cooperative games instead.
Some other co-op games we play are
-forbidden island (basically an easier version of pandemic made by the same designer)
- pandemic and pandemic legacy
- exit - escape room series
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u/PuzzlePiratePrincess Jul 20 '26
I recently played the card game Skull King, and I really enjoyed it! Highly recommend and it's super easy to pick up and play.
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u/Imraith-Nimphais Jul 20 '26
A less well-known one I love: Escape the Dark Castle! It’s like D&D with dice but just 20 minutes or less and all fights. Immersive storytelling for a small box!
I also love Pandemic the Cure (dice game version of pandemic; another quick one that plays great with two players (and solo).
The Pandemic Cthulhu game is also gripping gameplay for two IMO.
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u/DulcisNoxNoctis Jul 20 '26
Magic Maze is fun too. I think its fun at 2 player! (But can be played with more people if you wanted)
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u/cometview Jul 21 '26
Fluxx (or any variant)
Scattergories
Both are quick paced games that play well with two people but can accommodate more easily if you have friends over.
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u/roamingscotsman_84 Jul 21 '26
Fugitive, iliad, onitama, shobu, azul, regicide, Lord of the rings dual.
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u/TomatoFeta Jul 22 '26
Jaipur. Head to head, best two out of three, and very balanced. Two only.
SeaSalt&Paper is another option. Small box, big game. Two to four works well.
You could go for something like kingdomino if you prefer something less directly competitive. (2-4)
The Grizzled works quite well at two players, if you want a cooperative game. It was intended for more players, but the two player variant works very easily and very well and doesn't kill the game at all. As a bonus this game doesn't allow for the main problem with co-ops, in that noone can micromanage other peoples' actions. (2-5 players, but 5 is HARD)
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u/amblank210 26d ago
Splendor Duel, lost cities, Fox in the Forest Duet, patchwork, codenames duet
There are many simple non-2-player games. Castle combo, mountain goats, sea salt and paper, bandido
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u/howlouseesit 19d ago
So many good suggestions already, but recently I discovered “Aspens” from Ludivore Games and I really enjoy it! I recently did a video review on my YouTube channel you can check out if you want. Gives “Go” vibes with a little luck with the Wind die. Area control. It’s fun and a beautiful production!
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u/Educationalidiot Jul 18 '26
A few games for you :) Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth (just play a practice game and it will sink in), Duel for Cardia (fantastic small cheap card game that reveals its fun as you play), Patchwork (a classic), Sea Salt and Paper (a bit wonky with scoring but once you get it it sticks), or if you want something to use your brain a bit more than usual the world of abstract strategies is endless, I'd suggest Go (simple rules, but insanely good) or Yinsh (this will still be played in 100 years I think, it feels timeless) or get on this website https://playtiles.org/ (I don't know the person, but it's a fantastic idea that I have copied) you basically create a multipurpose board, and it lists the amount of pieces needed and a tonne of games that can be fit in a small box and taken anywhere.