It’s a sad state of affairs, but it’s not every day that we can get together in groups and play board games together. People are busy, things get in the way (such as children or a PANDEMIC), or it may be the case that you’re just looking for a quiet night at home. For this reason, two player board games provide a fantastic opportunity to keep gaming alive for couples on date night, for roommates, or with close friends.
Unfortunately, not every board game can be played with only two people. Due to player interaction requirements (i.e. area control or most trick taking games) or the nature of certain mechanics common in strategy games (i.e., auctions), it’s not possible. Some games can be played with only two people, but are not optimal for lower player counts. These games might take too long for what feels like a less rewarding experience, feel like they’re lacking something when compared to a game with a higher player count, or are simply not as fun as they can be. Realizing this, some board game designers have even sought to design games specifically for two player, going as far in some cases as to convert existing designs into optimized experience for two (i.e. Agricola vs Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small).
But what are the best two player games? Let’s explore…
Methodology
I wanted something more objective than simply providing my own personal opinion as to which board games I thought were best for two players, so I looked to BoardGameGeek’s top board games list.
Using the BGG API and a Python script, I extracted what the community voted to be the games best played with only two players and then sorted those by their rank on BGG.
I then removed a couple of titles such as Keyforge (more of Trading Card Game) and KLASK, that I felt didn’t fit the description of a board game, despite them having an entry on BoardGameGeek.
The following list represent 100 of the most highly ranked two-player board games.
Note: Check out our list of the overall top 100 board games.
Top 100 Two Player Board Games
What are the best board games for two-players? Take a look at what the board game community thinks are the games most enjoyed when you only have two people to play with.
100. Runebound (Third Edition)
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Description
“Runebound is a classic adventure game from Fantasy Flight Games in which mighty heroes must take on the perils of Terrinoth. The game can be largely played without conflict between the players but victory can only be claimed by the first player to defeat the Dragonlord Margath, so the players are actually in a race to level up and acquire powerful weapons, armour and allies in order to take on the final adversary.
Runebound features a series of 4 Adventure Decks that helps to pace the speed of the game and ensures that the players level up by acquiring experience before they are ready to take on a harder set of challenges (events and monsters).
Several of the key features of Runebound are that combat is played out in 3 phases, Ranged, Melee and Magic and a player has the ability to specialise in a particular discipline, although this may make them vulnerable against certain creatures. The game also features a novel movement system using a series of terrain dice.
Runebound is playable solo and is expandable by many adventure packs that alter the final challenge (replacing the Dragonlord for example). Runebound 2nd Edition also has a series of big box expansions that provide a new map or central map overlay to alter the game in some way.
Runebound 2nd Edition is different from 1st Edition in that the original game featured a d20 and this was replaced by 2 10-sided dice, which helped to better balance the luck factor.”
99. Hammer of the Scots
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Description
“Hammer of the Scots brings the rebellion of the Braveheart, William Wallace, to life. As the English player, you seek to pacify Scotland by controlling all the important noble lords. The Scottish player also seeks the allegiance of nobles to support a difficult struggle for freedom. Hammer of the Scots will give you many hours of entertainment and insight into this fascinating period in history.”
98. Queendomino
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Description
“Build up the most prestigious kingdom by claiming wheat fields, forests, lakes, grazing grounds, marshes, and mountains. Your knights will bring you riches in the form of coins — and if you make sure to expand the towns on your lands, you will make new buildings appear, giving you opportunities for new strategies. You may win the Queen’s favors … but always be aware of the dragon!
Queendomino is a game completely independent from Kingdomino, while offering a choice of more complex challenges. Two to four players can play Queendomino independently, but also in connection with Kingdomino, allowing for games with 7×7 grids for four players, or for up to six players if you stick to 5×5 grids.”
97. Ingenious
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Description
“In Ingenious, a.k.a. Einfach Genial, players take turns placing colored domino-style tiles on a game board, scoring for each line of colored symbols that they enlarge. The trick, however, is that a player’s score is equal to their worst-scoring color, not their best, so they need to score for all colors instead of specializing in only one or two.
In more detail, the game includes 120 domino-style tiles, each consisting of two conjoined hexes; each hex has one of six colors in it, with most tiles having different-colored hexes. Each player has a rack with six tiles on it, and on a turn a player places one tile from their rack onto two hexes of the game board. For each hex on this tile, they score one point in that color for each hex of the same color that lies adjacent to it and each hex in a straight line from it. If a player brings the score of a color to 18, they immediately take another turn. At the end of their turn, they refill their rack to six tiles. (Before refilling their rack, if they have no tiles on it that contain hexes in their lowest-scoring color, they can discard all of their tiles, then draw six new tiles from the bag.)
When no more tiles can be placed on the game board or when one player scores 18 in each color, the game ends. Players then compare their lowest scores, and whoever has the highest low score wins.
Ingenious includes rules for solitaire and team play; in the latter case, two teams of two play, with each player not being able to see their partner’s tiles and teams keeping a combined score that maxes out at 36 instead of 18.”
96. The Colonists
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Description
“In The Colonists, a.k.a. Die Kolonisten, each player is a mayor of a village and must develop their environment to gain room for new farmers, craftsmen, and citizens. The main goal of the game is full employment, so players must create new jobs, educate the people, and build new houses to increase their population. But resources are limited, and their storage leads to problems that players must deal with, while also not forgetting to upgrade their buildings. Players select actions by moving their mayor on a central board.
The Colonists is designed in different levels and scenarios, and even includes something akin to a tutorial, with the playing time varying between 30 minutes (for beginners) and 180 minutes (experts).”
95. TZAAR
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Description
“TZAAR is a game about making choices. Both players have 30 pieces, divided in three types: 6 Tzaars, 9 Tzarras and 15 Totts. The three types of pieces form a trinity: They cannot exist without each other. The aim is either to make the opponent run out of one of the three types of pieces or to put him in a position in which he cannot capture any more. The tricky question the players will have to ask themselves on each of their turns is: “Shall I make myself stronger or my opponent weaker?” Meaning: Will you capture an opponent’s piece and make him weaker, or will you jump on top of one of your own pieces and make yourself stronger? If you choose to jump on top of your own pieces too often, you will probably leave your opponent with too many pieces on the board. On the other hand, if you capture too often, you may end up with pieces that are not strong enough at the end of the game. What to do? Up to you to decide!
TZAAR replaced TAMSK as part of project GIPF, which was felt to not quite fit in with the others due to its use of sand timers.”
94. The Fox in the Forest
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Description
“The Fox in the Forest is a trick-taking game for two players. Aside from the normal ranked- and suited-cards used to win tricks, fairy characters such as the Fox and the Witch have special abilities that let you change the trump suit, lead even after you lose a trick, and more.
You score points by winning more tricks than your opponent, but don’t get greedy! Win too many tricks, and you will fall like the villain in so many fairy tales…”
93. Schotten Totten
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Description
“In Schotten Totten, nine boundary stones lie between you and your opponent. In front of each, you build poker-like formations of three cards on a side. Whoever plays the higher-ranking formation wins the stone. And in a unique twist, you may use your powers of logic to claim a stone even before your opponent has played all three of his cards, by demonstrating that the stone is impossible for him to win. Successfully claim five stones, or any three adjacent stones, and you win the game.”
92. Twice as Clever!
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Description
“Doppelt so clever follows the model of 2018’s Ganz schön clever. Each turn the active player rolls six dice, chooses one of them to mark off a space on their scoring grid, places any dice with lower numbers aside, then re-rolls any remaining dice. The white die is a joker and can be used as any one of the other five colors. After the active player chooses at most three dice, then the other players each choose one of the set-aside dice for use on their scoring sheet.
Doppelt so clever has five new dice-marking challenges and a new action beyond the re-roll and “use one more die” actions of the earlier game.”
91. Star Realms: Frontiers
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Description
“Star Realms: Frontiers is a new standalone Star Realms series game with an 80-card trade deck and new scorecards that’s suitable for play with up to four players. It can be combined with Star Realms and/or Star Realms: Colony Wars.
About Star Realms
Star Realms is a fast-paced game of space battles that combines the fun of a deckbuilding game with the interactivity of Trading Card Game-style combat. As you play, you make use of Trade to acquire new Ships and Bases from the cards being turned face up in the Trade Row.
You use the Ships and Bases you acquire to either generate more Trade, or to generate Combat to attack your opponent and their Bases. When you reduce your opponent’s score (called Authority) to zero, you win! Battle your friends or team up to play cooperatively against the game!”
90. Roads & Boats
Description
“In Roads & Boats, players start with a modest collection of donkeys, geese, boards, and stone. With these few materials, players work to develop their civilization. The emphasis in the game is logistical transport as you bring goods to producers to make new goods. But beware, the only thing you own is what is on your transporters, and anyone can use any production facility, or pick up any goods left behind.
In more detail, this massive set of pieces looks more like a modular game kit than anything else. You get a ton of Settlers-sized hexes in a number of colors for terrain type; hundreds of little counters for the commodities that are produced and the locations where they’re produced; wooden disks for all of the donkeys, rafts, trucks, and other forms of transportation you can use; and a roll of acrylic with an erasable marker. The tiles are laid out in whatever scenario you wish to play, and then the clear plastic is taped over the top to secure the entire board. Roads and bridges are drawn on the plastic and chits are placed in the hexes to form the playing surface. The idea is that your transportation units (at first, a fleet of donkeys) travel about and pick items that part produced. However, the only thing that you own is that which is carried by your transports. So you might have a nice, shiny, new truck factory or a gold-filled mine, but anyone can use it or take it, if they collect the necessary components and can transport them to the factory. The ultimate goal is to collect wealth, which is progressively more valuable and harder to manufacture: gold, coins, or stock certificates; and also contribute to the game timer in the form of monument blocks for victory points.
For its 20th Anniversary, Roads & Boats has an edition that contains the &cetera expansion: Roads & Boats: 20th Anniversary Edition”
89. Mystic Vale
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Description
“A curse has been placed on the Valley of Life. Hearing the spirits of nature cry out for aid, clans of druids have arrived, determined to use their blessings to heal the land and rescue the spirits. It will require courage and also caution, as the curse can overwhelm the careless who wield too much power.
In Mystic Vale, 2 to 4 players take on the role of druidic clans trying to cleanse the curse upon the land. Each turn, you play cards into your field to gain powerful advancements and useful vale cards. Use your power wisely, or decay will end your turn prematurely. Score the most victory points to win the game!
Mystic Vale uses the innovative “Card Crafting System”, which lets you not only build your deck, but build the individual cards in your deck, customizing each card’s abilities to exactly the strategy you want to follow.”
88. Labyrinth: The War on Terror, 2001 – ?
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Description
“2001: The “American Century” had closed with a single Cold War superpower standing and a pause in conflict that some at the time dubbed “The End of History”. It wasn’t.
In the Middle East and South Asia, an Islamic revival was underway. Resentments bred in part of US support for the regions’ anti-Soviet tyrannies soon erupted into a new struggle against the West. Wealthy Saudi fanatic Usama bin Ladin issued a declaration of holy war against America in 1996 and then fired the first shots with spectacular terrorist attacks on US targets in East Africa in 1998 and the Arab Peninsula in 2000.
Bin Ladin’s al-Qaeda organization plotted securely under the protection of the Taliban, a fundamentalist movement in Afghanistan born of the anti-Soviet “Bear Trap” of the 1980s. By 2001, al-Qaeda had set in motion even more devastating strikes — this time within the US Homeland — that Bin Ladin hoped would light off a global Muslim uprising. Uprising or not, the Western response to those September 11th attacks would reshape international affairs from London to Jakarta and from Moscow to Dar es Salaam.
Labyrinth takes 1 or 2 players inside the Islamist jihad and the global war on terror. With broad scope, ease of play, and a never-ending variety of event combinations similar to GMT’s highly popular Twilight Struggle, Labyrinth portrays not only the US efforts to counter extremists’ use of terrorist tactics but the wider ideological struggle — guerrilla warfare, regime change, democratization, and much more.
From the award-winning designer of Wilderness War and later Andean Abyss, Cuba Libre, A Distant Plain, and Fire in the Lake, Labyrinth combines an emphasis on game play with multifaceted simulation spanning recent history and near future. In the 2-player game, one player takes the role of jihadists seeking to exploit world events and Islamic donations to spread fundamentalist rule over the Muslim world. The other player as the United States must neutralize terrorist cells while encouraging Muslim democratic reform to cut off extremism at its roots. With the game’s solitaire system, a single player as the US takes on ascending levels of challenge in defeating al-Qaeda and its allies.
The jihadists must operate in a hostile environment — staying below the authorities’ radar while plotting terrorist attacks and building for the Muslim revolution. Will Iran’s Shia mullahs help or hinder the Sunni jihadists? Will the gradual spread of Islamist rule bring final victory — or will it be a sudden strike at the United States with an Islamic weapon of mass destruction?
The United States has the full weight of its military force and