My girlfriend and I just moved in together a few months ago and I’m trying to find a good board game that we can enjoy together.
She’s relatively new board games and doesn’t really like the ones that I own. We play Agricola, Carcassonne and scaled down Axis and Allies. Although these are all good games, they’re not the best for us.
Ideally looking for a faster paced game where we can have fun going at each others throats…hopefully having some unnecessary arguments as well. Nothing with excessively deep rules, easy to start a game and hopefully wrap it up withing 45 minutes. Most importantly has to play really well with two people. Still want decent strategy mechanics and nothing overly “chancy”. Maybe shying away from worker placement because we’ve already tried those.
I know there’s got to be some good games out there for us to play. Just want to hear what people are playing, and if you have anything in particular in mind for us that would be great too.
My first impulse is Ticket to Ride. Easy to play, 2 people works pretty well, especially if you remember to limit track usage for less than 4, and lots of fun. Plus there are a variety of versions out so you can avoid boredom very easily.
Catan is a good beginner game, but doesn’t scale down to 2 at all IMO. You might want to consider a cooperative game like Forbidden Island or Pandemic. They work best with 4, but 2 can play them by controlling a couple of characters each.
Pandemic is perfectly playable for 2 players (you can play one character each or two each if you prefer.)
As you must work together to win (otherwise you both lose) it avoids arguments.
There’s plenty of depth, but it’s still easy to learn.
I spent many happy hours playing this with my friend on a cruise recently and also with an intelligent 6 year old and his parents.
Does anyone else remember “Stratego”? Or “Battleship”?
I realize they’re not quite the same genera, but they do involve strategy, they don’t take that long to play, and might be a light weight addition to your collection.
Even better, it requires that you work together, plan things out, and live or die as a team. Depending on the temperament of your partner this might make moving in together a little smoother.
The Mrs. and I really like Splendor. The first one or two games might take an hour, but once you get the hang of it games are half-hour or so. The rules are simple, but developing a strategy takes time.
Tsuro: simple tile-laying game. Guide a dragon along a path, and just stay on the board. A game will typically only last maybe 10 minutes. The strategy is very subtle; while it’s possible to play effectively just playing tiles randomly, a good player will not only have a plan for their own path, but will have a plan to screw their opponent.
You could go old school and bust out some backgammon. Opportunities abound for going at throats. (Though the rules are probably too fixed and clear for arguments about them, if that was one criterion)
Head to Target and get the game Quixx. It’s a dice game that’s kinda-sorta a trumped up Yahtzee. It’s best with a lot of people (what game isn’t?) but Ms. Cups and I play it with just us on the reg
Dominion plays pretty well with just two players. At least how I play, since my (not very expert) strategies tends to hit their stride too late in the game when there are more people…
ArsTechnica had an article specifically about good two player games. I haven’t played any of those myself (besides Dominion), but I’m putting a bunch of those on the list of potential gifts for my wife. (She’s less of a fan of games like Cataan where a bit of bad luck and competition in the early game can cripple a player.)
