Mike and I are both very competitive but in a good spirited kind of way. With the exception of one UNO game gone bad on Nantucket (which I will never play with him again 😂), we both love to roll up our sleeves and duke it out with a good game.
This is NOT an exhaustive list. It’s really just the games we have and play. But I wanted to make it into a post because I started to get DMs last week with what you guys play… and thought the comment section could serve as a good resource too. So LET US ALL KNOW YOUR FAVE TWO-PLAYER GAMES ❤️ Mike and I are on the hunt more than ever now that we can’t do our usual double date game nights.
WAR
This is a CLASSIC game that my sister and I used to play for hours. I also like that the rules are simple and you can kind of get into a good mental groove without having to think or strategize too much. (Sometimes you just need to have fun and PLAY right?)
TICKET TO RIDE
We had a few friends recommend this game to us. Seems like Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan have a pretty similar audience, so we had a good feeling we’d love it as much as we love Catan! We taught ourselves how to play with Youtube and got our first game going that same day.
SCRABBLE
I think this might be our most played game. We played it quite a bit early on when we were dating and now it’s become a fun tradition to play around holidays. Christmas, New Year’s Eve, etc. It’s still quite a bit of fun to play with two people.
YAHTZEE
This is a family favorite of the Heitlingers. I grew up playing this game ALL the time, round after round after round. We could (and do) play for hours at a time.
RUMMIKUB
My sister and I love this game and it’s still one of my favorites to play as an adult. It’s super simple to get going and is a good mix of luck and strategy.
CHECKERS/CHESS/BACKGAMMON
I couldn’t forget to include the classics.
MANCALA
Our favorite babysitter taught us how to play Mancala and it became a quick favorite of mine and Stacy’s.
There are definitely more games… What are your favorites to play with two people?
Play Along
Monopoly Deal is so fun! It’s basically monopoly but as a card game. It moves fast and you can play with 2-8 people. We used to bring it out to breweries and play with friends but we’re enjoying it just as much with two of us now.
Cribbage is one of our favorites! For a longer game we also love Five Crowns or Phase 10 (though the latter is less fun with just two people). Slightly off category: we ordered a dart board at the beginning of our stay home order here and have been having so much fun throwing darts (relatively poorly in my case, lol) in the garage with drinks after a day of work!
We have a lot, since my husband and I also like to have board game nights just on our own!
The one I would recommend above any other is Jaipur. If you are going to get one two-player game, get Jaipur. Others I would recommend are: Hive, Patchwork, Lost Cities (also really like this one!), Sequence, Stratego, Racko, Guillotine (hilarious!), Codenames: Duet, Archaeology: The New Expedition, and Pacheesi.
Love ticket to ride! It is so fun! We are always looking for good two player games. Our current favourites are… Takenoko (this is such a lovely game that feels so chill as you grow bamboo), Machi Koro, Bunny Kingdom, Carcassonne (started with the original and now we have 4 different versions!) and Above and Below!
We just bought Stratego, 7 Wonders Duel, and Forbidden Island
I second the 7 Wonders Duel rec!
We LOVE 7 Wonders, and I just got 7 Wonders Duel so my fiancé and I can play while social distancing! Glad to hear you guys like it, we can’t wait to try it this weekend.
Love 7 Wonders Duel!!
Another vote for Seven Wonders Duel! My husband and I just played last night, we love it!
Try Dutch Blitz! It’s like a combination of Uno and Solitaire.
Oo, I love Dutch Blitz!
Patchwork is fantastic for 2 player only!
Also Dutch Blitz is fun, but it’s “my Uno” 😂
Monopoly deal!!! Easy and fun!
An oldie but a goodie: Connect 4.
We play a lot of gin (gin rummy? Not positive the difference) and boggle
So funny, because my husband and I are the same way! I refuse to play monopoly with him ever again. (He literally studied the game to learn the best ways to crush his opponents. LOL) We love Yahtzee and Scrabble! I forgot about Uno…I think I have some cards tucked away somewhere.
Even though we are stuck at home, I think this quality time is actually beneficial!
My boyfriend and I love playing Mr. Jack – its a play on Sherlock Holmes with some elements of Clue. It’s strictly a two player game. I love it because the strategy is different every game and it can go fairly quickly if you’re just looking for some quick dose of fun.
I second the cribbage recommendation! I have my eye on this new board from LLBean: https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/123955?page=whale-cribbage
The Fox in the Forest is a great two-player with gorgeous art! They also have a collaborative version for two called Fox in the Forest Duet!
My boyfriend and I love playing games. We love playing Skipbo (an easy card game), Splendor (my personal fav) and our newest game is Carcassonne. If you like Catan you will like this one too.
Dominion and Sequence! And you can play Dominion online now for free, so you don’t need to buy the game.
Great suggestions! Also, Farkle is a fun and easy game that can be played with two players and is really fun with a group. It’s a classic when our family goes camping or on vacation!
7 wonders duel, Forbidden Island (cooperative so less competitiveness), Tripoley, and Carcassone have been our favorites.
Bananagrams! Similar to scrabble but you don’t have to take turns and can go at your own pace. Plus it’s easy to take anywhere!
Love bananagrams!! I used to throw it in my bag for every trip.
Codenames is a lot of fun and can be played with 2 people or a group. I’ve read they have a way to play online with friends, might be a good way to still have your double date!
kingdomino is super fun for more players but is easily played for 2 and is still hard enough and fun!
also carcassone can be played with 2 players!
Cribbage is a favorite of ours and there are a ton of tiny boards you can buy (mine is from L.L. Bean) that you can toss in your purse and take to a brewery or pack for vacation. We also have been loving Exit games which you can buy on Amazon or Target.com- basically an escape room in a box!
Cribbage is a great one for 2 people and I can’t wait to get together with my 3 girlfriends to start playing Mahj again! (my husband and 2 boys won’t let me teach them so we can play now at home 🙁 ). If you haven’t played Mahjong yet, find 3 friends interested in learning and play – it is so much fun!
Othello! It was a fave as a kid and I recently bought a new one to teach my kids how to place.
I also loved Mastermind as a kid but no one in my family will play that with me. LOL
I tried playing Catan with two people, and we just ended up trading sheep the whole game,lol. But, for two people, Mexican train works well, and is pretty fun, and can take a while if you need a good time suck! All you need is a set of dominoes to play!
Set! And five crowns! They’re both so fun for 2+ people and are great to improve pattern recognition! Set can feel really hard at first but it gets easier as you play!
hahah I love this pic! In elementary school my brother and I would play chess together but we ALWAYS fought over the rules… and I’ve never played chess since…
Bananagrams is the best! So quick, so fun, and no set-up!
I am always on the hunt for new games. These all look so fun!
Great suggestions.
http://www.elspethsdaybyday.com
Bananagrams! Like Scrabble but more fun. Really good with just 2 people, but more can play. My daughter taught me and she wins most if the time. Helps take her mind off her college graduation that isn’t happening until who knows when.
Not exactly a game, but my family picked up a ping pong ‘set’ with a net that stretches across any table and a few paddles. We’ve had so much fun picking up games when we’re bored!
This is great! We picked up Morels a few weeks ago to keep us occupied – it’s a new, very fun, easy to learn, but competitive 2-player game.
https://www.amazon.com/Board-Games-Two-Lanterns-MR01/dp/B00CS41TQ0
Do you have any recommendations for online games you can play in a Zoom call if you don’t have a partner or other family members at home?
Look into JackBox! It has a lot of fun virtual games that you could stream and then people join in via a room code from their phones. One of my favorite games is Fibbage where you fill in the blank with a lie and then have to try to guess the truth.
Scrabble is my all-time favorite. I am very competitive with my partner and scrabble always makes me win. 🙂
If you guys are into catan and ticket to ride, I’d recommend Terraforming Mars. We had to watch a 30 minute youtube video to get a good grasp on the rules/set up/how to play, but after one round we loved it.
You can also try codenames duet, which is a great two player version. (You can also play online with family/friends too!)
Hive is really fun! It’s like an easier, faster, more fun chess and it’s usually ~20 minutes for a full game. The pieces are beautiful and travel really well. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2655/hive
We also love Kingdomino for two players, and it’s also perfect for 4 when we’re able to hang out with friends again: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/204583/kingdomino
My family is crazy about games and we recently started playing Azul…have you heard of it? Seems simple at first but it quickly becomes super competitive and addictive! (Plus it’s just such a pretty game.)
Some of the two player games we’ve played lately include Abalone, Choose Your Own Adventure, Forbidden Island (and Forbidden Desert), Patchwork, Quarto, Quirkle, Scrabble, Sushi Go!, Tokaido, Ticket to Ride, Timeline, and Villainous.
Love Ticket to Ride! It’s the game that got me back into board games in college. In addition to the U.S. map, I also love the European edition.
A game we’ve recently started playing is Villainous from Disney. It’s great as a 2 player game but you can play with up to 9 people!
Stratego!
Bananagrams is my absolutely Fave!
I love playing Splendor! So addicting. We also pulled out all the vintage board games from when I was a kid including American Dream, which is kind of like monopoly but way more fun!! I bet eBay would be a great place to find some old games.
Connect Four!
Nertz is a really fun card game for 2! It is played with one deck per player!
Love this list and the comments! My boyfriend and I have been looking for games to play since we’ve been in self-isolation. We already had Scrabble and we recently purchased Codenames Duet, Jenga and a couple of puzzles to help keep us busy!
We’ve also gotten together virtually with family and friends and organized trivia games over Zoom and been playing Scrabble GO on our phones with family and friends.
Bananagrams!!!! Especially if you like Scrabble.
Monopoly Deal!! We just started playing over quarantine and it’s a new fave.
You may have to be nuts for Catan to do this, but I dated someone for a while who I’d introduced to the game, and he was so enthusiastic about playing on weeknights that we developed an adapted game where each of us played two different hands. You have to make a little “order of play” chart of the colors to help remind you which person goes next, but if you know Catan you’ll get what I mean when I say you end up playing very different “strategies” for your two diff hands. Trading becomes a little wonky but we just said you can’t trade with the other color you’re playing, you can only trade with either of the other person’s colors.
Sequence, bananagrams, sushi go party, balderdash, LIFE!
We started playing Otrio – its a more challenging version of Tic Tac Toe. To spice things up, if there are only two of you, play two colours each ! Its all about the strategic placements!
We started playing Otrio – its a more challenging version of Tic Tac Toe. To spice things up, if there are only two of you, play two colours each ! Its all about the strategic placements! 2-4 players!
My partner and I love Catan so we bought the two player version – Rivals for Catan – and love it. There are four different ways to play it so it doesn’t get too repetitive. We’ve also been enjoying Llamas unleashed.
You must play Tiny Towns!! So fun!
I search for android 2 player games but i comes to indoor 2 player games