My best friend recently separated from his wife and moved in with me. Instead of browsing the web and watching TV, we thought a board game would be more fun.
So, I’m looking for suggestions for a contemporary game that works well with two players (We already have backgammon and our skill levels are mismatched for chess). Neither of us has ever played Risk and that’s one we’re considering, but I have no idea how it plays with only two. Any and all suggestions are appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Oh, card games work too. 
Do you care if it plays more than 2?
Twillight Struggle (Twilight Struggle | Board Game | BoardGameGeek) Is number one on boardgamegeek and plays 2. I haven’t played it, nor have I played 1960 http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27708/1960-the-making-of-the-president
In the top 100 athttp://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame, I’ve only played Le Havre (2-5, but awful at 5), Castles of Burgandy (2-4), and Agricola (2-5, better with more.) There is now a simplified 2 player version of Agricola.
Lost Cities Lost Cities | Board Game | BoardGameGeek is pretty good.
Brian
You can buy a box of traditional two player games which will include games like checkers, chess, backgammon, reversi, and mancala. These are generally fairly cheap, for the number of games you get. The number and types of games will depend on which set you get.
I like Munchkin very much, and even though it’s made for three or more players, you can play with just two people.
Settlers of Catan is great, though probably more fun with >2 players. Still, it’s possible to play with two, I think.
I got Carcassonne for my birthday and that has been a lot of fun - it’s pretty straightforward and you can play it fairly quickly - I think games are usually around 40 minutes or so.
More recently, we’ve been playing Dominion, which has been interesting. It’s a deck-building game, no board game. It allows for a lot of variation as you start out by selecting 10 sets of cards out of a total of 20-25 sets. This totally determines the dynamics of the game which means that every game is different and it does not get old very fast.
My husband and I play 2-person games. I can recommend:
Ingenious: Easy to learn, but pretty addictive. Can play with 2-4 people, and it’s just as much fun with 2 as with more.
Lost Cities: 2-person card game. This one really grew on me. It seems simple at first, but there’s definitely some strategies.
Skybridge: Have not played this one as much as the other two, but have played enough to know it’s pretty fun. Also fun just because it’s cool to build castles and bridges with blocks. A little tricky to score.
Abalone: Another one we haven’t played that much, but not because it’s not fun, we just have limited time. A fun one because you can actively screw the other player.
Now I want to get more into games. So many games, so little time!
I will second Carcassonne. It plays great with two people.
The gf and I also enjoy…
Pandemic (this is actually a co-op game. it scales well for two people)
Ticket to Ride (more of a traditional board game, scales well for two)
Castle Panic (another co-op, scales well for two)
Munchkin (card game - doesn’t quite scale as well as the others, but it’s fun to screw the other player and talk trash)
You can watch some gameplay videos of these over at TableTop on the YouTube Geek & Sundry channel.
Mastermind is an oldie-but-goody. It has the added advantage of not taking too long to play, since you have a limited number of moves. You can play as many or few rounds as you like.
Not contemporary, but the best 2 person board game is Cribbage.
Švejk’s recommendations are eerily close to mine so I have a new one that I learned this summer.
It’s complicated but fun and according to the directions, it’s best suited for 2 players but can go up to 4.
The fact that you guys have never played Risk makes me hesitant about certain recommendations. How complex are you looking to go?
There is a two player version that is the best way to go.
I recommendRa: The Dice Game - My wife and I play it and love it. Better than regular Ra, actually(though that works, too).
It doesn’t have to be designed for two players, but only having two shouldn’t be a hinderance. So far all the suggestions look great. Dominion and Pandemic are in the lead, so far.
That’s a good question that I hadn’t really considered. Axis and Allies is the most complex game I remember playing and I think that should be the upper bound. We’re getting lazy in our middle age, so simpler would be better (but not at the expense of enjoyment). I think game play time might be a better factor to consider. He has an 80 mile commute now, so something that keeps us engaged into the wee hours might be a bad thing.
I was going to suggest Axis and Allies (and its variants). If there’s just the two of you in the house you can leave the board set up rather than try and get through whole games in one sitting. Two player Risk is a bit boring in my opinion.
If your ‘contemporary game’ comment isn’t a must than Lynn Bodoni’s suggestion of a multi-game set with lots of classics is a good one.
Cribbage is a card game,and a great one.
Scrabble.
I know you asked for contemporary games, but have you considered the ancient board game Go?
The basic rules are very easy to pick up, but there’s also a huge amount of strategy to learn. If neither of you have played before you’ll be starting with a level playing field.
I bought Twilight Struggle recently and played it over Christmas with my girlfriend. It’s like a massively enhanced game of Risk. It’s not hugely straightforward and you need to play it once to be properly comfortable playing but it is really good. You end up having to initiate events from the Cold War even if it disadvantages you. I was playing as the USA. Sorry American dopers, I let you down. I took most of Europe and South East Asia but the Russians got too much of a toe hold in Central America and the Middle East. She kept playing the China card. (There is literally a China card.)
It really depends upon your shared interests. Are either of you particularly into history, or are particular historical era? If so, they make a game about it. Maybe not a good game…
A friend and I started playing 2-player boards games on a consistent basis about a year ago. We’re both long-term gamers (20+ years of board-, card-, role-playing-, computer RTS, etc) and history buffs, so keep that in mind for the following. We’ve played Twilight Struggle, 1989, Commands & Colors in both the ancient and Napoleanic flavors, Wilderness War, Hammer of the Scots, Unhappy King Charles, and the Lock 'n Load system in its Vietnam and Normandy invasion iterations.
I’d recommend any of these games to some people, and none of them to others. I think enjoyment of them really requires interest in the subject matter. Without knowing your interests, I can’t say much more than that.
Spend some time poking around at BoardGameGeek. Its interface is clunky, but there’s a ton of good information and opinion there. The game pages have forums for discussion, pictures, and usually videos demonstrating game-play. I think the videos might be of particular help to you. And there are pages for just about every game mentioned in this thread (maybe every one).
Warning: if any in my list of games grabs your attention, your beards will grow mighty.
Don’t worry about it. The Soviet side is significantly stronger for players inexperienced with the game. Once the players are up to speed on strategy, the Soviet side has the slightest of edges but the game is really close to perfectly balanced.
It took 15 plays for my friend and me for someone to win with the U.S. Prior to that, we each won seven times as the Soviets. Since then, it’s been pretty even.
Liz and I play Nefarious a good amount of the time. It’s better the more people you have playing, but it plays nicely with two people.
It’s also a fairly fast game.