2 Player Games for Every Type of Board Gamer

My love of board games truly began when we started dating, because I finally had someone to regularly play with. The majority of games in our collection work being played between 2 players, this post focuses on games which are designed for 2 players (or thrive with 2 players). These are perfect for people looking to pick up something to play with a friend, sibling or partner. We hope that no matter what type of game you prefer, you’ll find something for you in this list!

Quick to play & quicker to learn: Hive Pocket

Hop, fly, crawl and keep the Hive intact to surround the enemy Queen Bee and win!

R: This game was sold to me as being like Chess, which immediately turned me off. The only time I’ve ever played chess was when I joined the chess club in Year 5, and that was only to be allowed to eat lunch 30 minutes early. However, I put my scepticism aside and gave it a go – and I was so glad I did. It’s way simpler and way more interesting than chess.

In this game you control a selection of insect tiles and the objective is simple: surround and trap your opponent’s Queen Bee by strategically manoeuvring your little insect army around the table (..or on top of other bugs like the super annoying beetles), until the queen is completely out of moves. Your insect army has tiles such as ants who can frantically run around the edge of the board as far as they like, grasshoppers who can leap over pieces, and the beetles – which decide to take the shortcut and just sit on top of other bugs, rendering the bugs totally useless and squished.

It’s super simple, but great fun working out winning strategies – or simply feeling smug with how well you’re doing. Right up until you realise what a fool you’ve been when a group of ants swarm your Queen Bee and there’s nothing you can do about it, because your bee is frozen in place by the big, fat, stupid beetle sitting on its head.

We’d highly recommend Hive Pocket over the original Hive game – because it’s cheaper, includes additional bonus bugs and has a cute travel bag which is super handy!

S: And for the love of God don't buy the the pillbug expansion. Both the mosquito and ladybird are neat though, we picked up our hive pocket with those for free.

Complexity: 1/5 Time To Learn: 5min Time to Play: 20min

Sweet, Simple & Wonderfully Travel Friendly:

Love Letter

Can you get a letter to the princess or remove all your rivals? You win either way!

R: This is a neat little game which is fantastic to play on the go as it requires very little space. Most notably, I played many rounds with my sister in an A&E waiting room as I swiped it off my shelf as we dashed out the door. 4 hours into the wait, we were so glad we had it.

The concept of this game is simple, you want the characters in your hand at the end of the round to be the most notable in order to get close enough to the princess to deliver your love letter to her. To play, you chose one of the two characters in your hand - all with a varying degree of notability ranging from a simple guard, to a handmaid or even the king, and take the action assigned to that character. Actions help you to figure out what characters your opponent has, cause them to discard cards and more - all until only 2 characters remain in the deck.

Complexity: 1/5 Time To Learn: 5min Time to Play: 20min

A fast-paced racing game that takes only a few minutes to learn & even less time to setup:

Odin’s Ravens

Use clever hand-management and the tricks of Loki to race around the world.

R: This was the very first game added to our vast collection, and it was simply grabbed off the shelf at our local game store because it looked cool and had some awards (which must mean it’s good right?). 3 years later, it’s still a great part of our collection when we fancy something easy to pick up and play in around 20 minutes.

You are both playing raven’s, trying to cross the vast landscape of the world – through mountains, deserts, caves and more. The aim is to be the first player to make it from one side to the other. If you have the matching landscape cards in your hand as the next one on your journey, you can fly on through to the next tile. However, Loki has some tricks up his sleeve. You each get a handful of ability cards which can be used to move you further ahead.. or to spite your opponent and make their journey more difficult.

This is a quick game to learn and can be played many times, as the tiles will change each time and whilst there’s a good level of strategy you can utilise.. there’s still a level of luck needed to draw the right cards at the right time. 

S: Talk to R about the strategy, I haven’t won for a while.

Complexity: 1/5 Time To Learn: 5-10min Time to Play: 15-30min

A light-hearted trade & sell game that is fast to pick up, BUT HAS CAMELS: Jaipur

Trade and sell goods to become the most wealthy merchant in this short game for two.

I am not the business guru out of the pair of us, but it hasn’t stopped me enjoying or winning at this game. Jaipur was a pleasant surprise, a good game in a small package, when I really didn’t know much about it. Barely any research went into this one at all.

You are two merchants racing for the most amount of points by selling goods (cards) and working out the best time to sell. The best time to sell? Yes, because I may have 2 cards of Gold but I can pick up more bonuses if I sell more. If you hold out for another gold card, you grab a bonus for selling 3,4 or even 5 cards! But wait too long and you miss out on the demand, the first 2 rubies sold are 7 points each so maybe don’t hold out for those ones.

The momentum of Jaipur shifts and turns around one single crucial point, and it is this selling point I cannot stress enough: the camels. Dogs may be a man's best friend but you could become a business tycoon with well played camels. Typically you can pick up only a single card, however you can grab multiple cards by trading them for camels. And if you pick up a camel from the market you pick up every camel. The camels you used to grab those 3 bags of silk are now on the table for your arch rival to grab and make their own huge trade later. Camels will cause your market to collapse or thrive - just like the old saying goes, “give me the camels”.

Complexity: 1/5 Time To Learn: 5min Time to Play: 30min

ROSE YOU HAVE TO MENTION THE CAMELS

Another simple game to learn & play, but with a rather intense & very competitive sci-fi theme: Control

The only way out of the rift in space you are stuck in is by fixing your quantum engine, but it will only let one of you escape.

S: Control is a solid game, we added this game to our collection after playing it only once. We were immediately hooked by the incredible artwork, and surprisingly even cleverer game play. A sci-fi space game where you are stranded is quite a difficult pill to swallow for some people, but it's far less complex than you'd expect. Simply you both have to get 21 points. Every card in your hand is either worth points (1-10) but could also be discarded for powerful effects. Which leaves you in the predicament of playing cards to get to 21 faster or using your powerful 6-10’s to stop your friend-turned-stranded-rival getting too far ahead. 

Also it comes with metal coins. Everyone knows metal coins are the start of a great game.

Complexity: 1/5 Time To Learn: 15-0min Time to Play: 15min

An effortless deck building game which you can play over & over, where even losing can feel satisfying: Star Realms

Compete head-to-head to create the most powerful deck of spaceships and bases.

R: I cannot recommend this game highly enough! This game earnt its place as my favourite game when I played for 6 months and did not win a single game, but still wanted to play again and again (I’m a bit of a sore loser, so being prepared to lose so much is a huge deal). The aim of the game is super simple – reduce your opponent’s health from 50 to 0 before they do the same to you. Although the space theme might be a turn off for some as many space games can feel heavy and intense, this game is far more simple than it can feel.

The way you do this is through one of my favourite mechanics: deckbuilding. You start with cards which give you money and cause damage, and throughout the game, you can buy cards which do more damage, as well as a whole host of other effects designed to give you the upper hand.

I love this so much because each game is so different. Although after 3 years I definitely have certain cards which are my favourite, and I have some go-to strategies to win.. it’s all dependant on whether you draw the right cards at the right time, and there is no one strategy which is a guarantee to win every time. Even when you lose, there is still so much satisfaction in building a great deck and coming so close to victory - you'll just want to play another round all over again. It’s got great replay-ability, and there are 3 different editions available so you don’t get too used to seeing the same cards over and over.

Check out our full explanation & review of the game here

Complexity: 2/5 Time To Learn: 5min Time to Play: 20min

The fastest paced glorified ‘rock paper scissors’ you didn’t know you needed: Combo Fighter

A card-driven rendition of the classic arcade fighting game.

S: Someone turned the great button-mashing arcade fighting games into a card game and hot damn it is actually amazing. This game goes by blisteringly quickly (probably only beaten out by throw throw burrito) - each turn is a simple ‘rock paper scissors’ deathmatch of ‘attack, defend, move’ and whoever comes out on top can rattle off brutal combos to deal even more damage. Rattling off these combos is easy and rewarding, precisely what this game is. The learning curve is the opposite of steep, it feels downhill for how quickly people pick this up. Now the interesting bit is rather than a health tracker for the ‘damage’, it is dealt to your deck, 8 damage equals 8 cards lost to your discard pile. 

Once your deck is empty you are left ‘staggered’ which means your 1 hit away from losing. But also means you can pull off the greatest comeback in the history of games if you win every single round from here on out by shuffling your discard pile into a new deck to draw from. And from personal experience - that comeback is absolutely exhilarating. Like finding £20 in your wallet you forgot you had levels of exhilarating. Not skydiving levels, I’m not exaggerating that much. 

This game feels quick and dirty, like a really good burger joint. It might not be a sophisticated palette of lovely thought out mechanics like 7 wonders duel - but the chefs behind this place make one incredible burger. You could be all sophisticated and work out the odds of what cards are in their hand, or you can just ‘attack’ because no one would expect it for the 7th time in a row. 

Complexity: 2/5 Time To Learn: 5-10min Time to Play: 5-10min

A very simple chess-like game, but where you are a Greek God. Santorini

Out-think your opponent and use your godlike powers in this abstract chess-like game.

S: ‘Abstract’ games are odd creatures, this one though is a real gem. You are both playing as greek God’s with 2 little ‘workers’ placed on the board. Every turn you pick one of your workers to move, then build a building on the board. The workers on their next turn can move on top of a building in order to climb up levels to the winning goal: placing any worker on a building 3 blocks high! That simple. 

Be warned though, the other player can block these buildings by placing a dome on it - so you have to build it in such a way that you block them from blocking you. While doing exactly the same to them? Something like that. These mind games which go behind this makes it a new favourite of mine. Each God you pick has a different unique ability which radically changes how you play. One God for example can build these domes on any level of building, ruining your plans faster. Another God can simply swap places with you, which doesn't sound that bad until they swap places with you for the winning move. Then there’s the other 50 Gods.

This is a really good game, and the replayability value is off the charts! Unlike almost everything else on this list though, you can try it before you buy it: insert tabletopia link. (but be sure to find out how to play first). No game I have played has ever been the same, except for the fact I always beat R. That has stayed the same.

Complexity: 2/5 Time To Learn: 5-10min Time to Play: 20min

If you are after something heavier, more strategy, more complexity, & surprisingly light hearted fighting: Skulk Hollow

A colossal Guardian and the numerous armies of the Foxen clans of Bore fight it out over Skulk Hollow.

S: This is the first (and only) asymmetrical game in our collection so far – where one person (usually me) plays a collection of adorable little foxes defending their little woodland village, and the other plays a huge beast who is wreaking havoc and destroying the village.

What I love about this game is how drastically different one game can feel from the other, as one moment you’re playing a bunch of foxes trying to defend their king and climbing aboard an epic monster, praying you don’t get picked off before you can cause some damage – but the next game, you’re an epic monster smashing your way through the village knocking tonnes of foxes out of your path, or even flying off the ground to avoid being covered in little creatures.

This game isn’t particularly difficult to learn, but it may take a few games to get your head around all the different monsters you could play and to decide which fox leader you want to defend. Definitely would recommend for anyone who wants something unique and wants something a bit more intense than the previous options.

S: I LOVE THIS GAME! If you having an inkling of a gamer in you this feels just like a big boss fight, where you can either be the underdog or the boss. And can we just take a second to appreciate that this game truly feels ‘epic’ - the minifigures you get to place on the board are amazing.The moment you can leap onto the monster and scale it on its own board trying to break their abilities is incredible. Hands down one of my favourite games ever. If you’re after a board game for a gamer you’ve found it (also well loved amongst non-gamers friends - it is a winner).

Complexity: 2/5 Time To Learn: 10mins Time to Play: 40min

A game that is easy to learn, & exceptionally fun to master & effortless to fall into its rabbit-hole: Keyforge

A trading card game without any hassle. Race to three keys to be the first to unlock the great Vaults!

S: If you like the idea of a card trading game but the learning curve has always looked too steep, I’m right with you. Deck Building is intimidating, but what if that was all done for you? What if you got an absolutely unique deck just for you that has lots of cool cards already in it? Now if that perked your ears we are on the same wavelength, and would probably get along rather well. 

Keyforge is a unique deck card game, you don’t mix and match cards, you just buy whole decks of 34 cards. I remember my first 2 decks, one was filled with some sci-fi elves that love to steal, some futuristic demons that wrecked chaos and giants with blue avatar tattoos. The other had different giants, different demons, and martians with funny names instead. Affectionately nick-named “I’ll steal everything you own” and “the punchy deck”. 

Over 10 decks later and none of them are similar, and I am still learning new combos in each of them.

Complexity: 2/5 Time To Learn: 10mins Time to Play: 20-40min

A game for the ‘thinkers’, but so un-intensive anyone can have fun with it: 7 Wonders Duel

Science? Military? What will you draft to win this head-to-head version of 7 Wonders?

S: I’m assuming you haven't played the original 7 Wonders, I haven’t. All we need to know is that the two of you are racing to build incredible wonders for huge advantages for the ultimate goal - more points! Now how you build these wonders is rather simple. They each require a certain amount of materials that you can get from cards. Each turn you can either pick up a card, ‘burn’ a card for money, or build a wonder. Each card will give you materials, build your military, or improve your ‘science’ or a couple of other things. It looks intimidating and writing it out makes it sound complex, but don’t let that fool you. This game has a shed load of awards for a reason.

After understanding the rules and setting it up the little puzzle this game became super clear to us. Each card I chose had the possibility of revealing a new better card for R, do I risk it? Or do I force R to end up revealing more choices for me? Many of our games have gotten surprisingly close. Except the one time R focused almost entirely on the military and stomped me out the game early. 

This game has few actions and a huge amount of choices, to you fellow ‘thinkers’ out there that is the golden ratio you want in a game. This game balances that ratio beautifully and I could not recommend it enough for that.

Complexity: 3/5 Time To Learn: 10mins Time to Play: 30min