# Good 2-3 person table-top games **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730 "2010-06-18T23:58:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/1 "2010-06-18T23:58:44Z")
Hello everyone, Over the last few years I’ve experimented with a fair number of card and board games. Most of these games, IMO at least, play best with 4 players (settlers, ticket to ride, powergrid). With my girlfriend moving in next month, I’ve been trying to think of games that are good for two or at most three people. Some that i have and she has liked are Dominion and Carcassonne. Any suggestions of others? > **[Carcassonne](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/822/carcassonne)** > > Shape the medieval landscape of France, claiming cities, monasteries and farms. > **[Dominion](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/36218/dominion)** > > Acquire the most valuable lands by building your deck with treasure and power cards. I strongly recommend dominion btw, especially to former magic fans 😛 Thanks guys! ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/2 "2010-06-19T00:23:36Z")
Rummikub is fun. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/3 "2010-06-19T02:01:12Z")
[The Legend of Robin Hood](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1695/the-legend-of-robin-hood) is a neat, easy to learn game. Combat is straightforward, reasonable balance, fun to play, and not terribly long. If you’re up for more daunting rules and play times: _Squad Leader_ (Avalon Hill) is a WWII combat game, which I think has been expanded/updated as _Advanced Squad Leader_, but I haven’t played the Advanced version. _Star Fleet Battles_ is space combat between capital ships in the Star Trek universe. Rules are similar in complexity to Squad Leader, combat can get a bit tedious if you play it out all the way to exploding hulls. _Gettysburg_ is awesome. Sorta similar to Squad Leader, but obviously it’s the Civil War battle. _Magic: The Gathering_ is a card game that can be cheap or expensive, depending on how you go about it. You could each buy a pre-made deck of cards, might have to download some rules, and play…or you could spend lots of money buying cards and building your own decks. A bonus feature is the game is very flexible in terms of number of players. Any number from 2+ can be accommodated as long as everyone has a playable deck and table space is available. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/4 "2010-06-19T11:21:49Z")
See this thread: [Recommend some new strategy board games! - The Game Room - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=566855) Obvious not all games mentioned play two (or play two well) but a fair mumber do. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/5 "2010-06-19T13:49:50Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > If you’re up for more daunting rules and play times: > > _Squad Leader_ (Avalon Hill) is a WWII combat game, which I think has been expanded/updated as _Advanced Squad Leader_, but I haven’t played the Advanced version. Boy, hasn’t it, though - a little matter of 25 years since, give or take. A good game, but hard work. **Merchant of Venus** is a fun game, but good luck finding a copy now - apparently used copies are trading for a couple hundred bucks. ---
**Author:** ![Hawkeyeop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/958977/32.png) [@Hawkeyeop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hawkeyeop)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/6 "2010-06-19T14:38:15Z")
Ticket to Ride Swiss and Nordic are built for 2/3 players if you want a tighter game of Ticket to Ride. Of the two Nordic is better (and the prettiest game in the series), but harder to find. ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/7 "2010-06-19T16:14:17Z")
Great suggestions all around (especially that link, thanks N9IWP). > [@Hawkeyeop](#): > > Ticket to Ride Swiss and Nordic are built for 2/3 players if you want a tighter game of Ticket to Ride. Of the two Nordic is better (and the prettiest game in the series), but harder to find. Good thought! I’m surprised that I can’t find that in stock anywhere even with google. Wonder why. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/8 "2010-06-19T17:56:55Z")
Have you considered traditional card games? My wife and I go through phases where we’ll play Cribbage every night; and Casino is a wonderful two-player game. I’m also a big fan of Boggle and Scrabble. ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/9 "2010-06-19T21:05:33Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > Have you considered traditional card games? My wife and I go through phases where we’ll play Cribbage every night; and Casino is a wonderful two-player game. > > I’m also a big fan of Boggle and Scrabble. I don’t know any good two person card games (well, except blackjack, and what’s the point if it’s not for chips?). I’l look into cribbage and casino. Thanks oh, I so royally suck at scrabble that it’s not even funny 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/10 "2010-06-19T21:13:01Z")
Somewhat more strategy-based, but _Twilight Struggle_ and _1960: The Making of a President_ are both 2-player games that are a lot of fun, once you successfully climb the learning curve. My personal favorite of the two is definitely _Twilight Struggle_. It’s a simulation game where one person is the Soviets and one person is the US, and you jockey for control of different countries and try to deal with the effects of different cards that get played. _Fury of Dracula_ is a great game that plays perfectly well with two players, also. The idea in this one is that one player is Dracula and the other players (anywhere from 1 to 4) play the vampire hunters, chasing Dracula across a map of Europe. There are four “Vampire Hunter” player sheets, and all get used in every game. If there is only one vampire hunter player, then that person simply controls all four by himself (or herself). I’ve played the game as a 2-player game dozens of times and had a lot of fun with it. ---
**Author:** ![Chipacabra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Chipacabra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chipacabra)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/11 "2010-06-19T21:56:48Z")
Stone Age is pretty strong with 2 or 3 people. I think I might actually prefer Race for the Galaxy with 2 players. I’d usually rather play 2 or 4 players than 3, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/12 "2010-06-19T22:54:16Z")
[Starship Catan.](http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2338/starship-catan) It’s a resource management game where you fly your spaceship to different locations to trade materials and money, in an attempt to upgrade your ship enough to fly “home” before the other player can. ETA: it is only for two players. It also has the benefit of being probably the least expensive game of all the stuff mentioned here. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/13 "2010-06-19T23:55:39Z")
Nah, Cribbage is less expensive than Starship Catan :). (Although I do recommend getting at least a basic board for play; it’ll cost less than ten bucks, and the scorekeeping suddenly becomes a lot of fun, as you wend your way around the cribbage track). ---
**Author:** ![Jules\_Andre](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jules_andre/32/9334_2.png) [@Jules\_Andre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jules_Andre)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-2-3-person-table-top-games/543730/14 "2010-06-20T20:49:14Z")
+1 for **Starship Catan** , which is a truly excellent two player game. I was also glad to see **Merchant of Venus** get some love, it’s one of my favorites.