2 Player boardgames

spudbynight · 4 Feb 2016 at 15:25

I've been talking to my wife about boardgames and she is quite keen to try something the two of us can play together.

I'm considering Carcassonne but I am keen on any other ideas people can chuck my way.

Games need to be reasonably straight forward. I don't want to scare her off at the beginning.

Kiyoshi · 4 Feb 2016 at 15:40

Takenko plays okay with two and is fairly simple. In my experience it tends to appeal to female gamers so may be a good entry game.

suenstar · 4 Feb 2016 at 15:49

Lots of co-operative games work well with two players such as Forbidden Island/Forbidden Desert, Castle Panic, Pandemic and Elder Sign.

MookJong · 4 Feb 2016 at 16:25

Carcassonne South Seas - This is the version we have and it's brilliant.

We also got a lot of play out of Lost Cities and Camel Up

GTanny · 4 Feb 2016 at 18:39

Ticket to ride is a staple and very good with 2 players.

ill also +1 Carcassonne, Pandemic and Forbidden island (I don't have desert).

do you want a board or would you be happy with card games too? as I have heard great things about Jaipur and I own Star realms - a simple but fun 1v1 deck building card game that's cheap so a good one to try.

swillsy · 4 Feb 2016 at 18:44

space hulk?

Psymonkee · 4 Feb 2016 at 18:56

Carcassonne is always a good one along with the other suggestions of Pandemic/Forbidden Island.

I'm just gonna have some dinner but I'll think about it some more while I eat

suenstar · 5 Feb 2016 at 08:21

Thought of some more to add to the list:

Splendor, Agricola, Race for the Galaxy, Sushi Go and
Wok Star.
If you have an interest in Settlers of Catan but not enough players for the standard game, there's Rivals for Catan which is a two player variant.

lordhughes · 5 Feb 2016 at 08:40

suenstar said:
Lots of co-operative games work well with two players such as Forbidden Island/Forbidden Desert, Castle Panic, Pandemic and Elder Sign.

me and my fiance play all of those (except castle panic) on a regular basis just the two of us, great 2 player games. Also the DnD adventure board games are quite fun with two if you like that sort of thing.

JeditOjanen · 5 Feb 2016 at 12:46

Caylus is superb at two players and for a long time was the go-to beginner's worker placement game. It's somewhat frontloaded, but if you explain the progression of building blues over greens and not to let one player get all three triple-production buildings the rest is learned through play.

Psymonkee · 5 Feb 2016 at 21:47

Was just looking at an old blog post of mine (shameless self plug, woo!) when I found this list! I asked the same question as the OP on Twitter tagging @Tabletop and then retweeted it. NOTIFICATIONS FOR DAYS!

Spoiler-ed because it's a big list!

Kahuna
Lost Cities
Hive
Carcasonne
Dominion
Citadels
Race to Adventure
elder sign
Sherlock
Agricola All Creatures Big & Small
Jambo
Parade
Blokus Duo
Battle Line
Jaipur
Innovation
Dominion
San Juan
st Petersburg
antike duellum
Summoner Wars
Netrunner
Trains
Love Letter
Seasons
Mr Jack Pocket
Roma
Aton
Castles of Burgundy
penny arcade gamers vs evil
Gears of war
DC heros card game
Sentinels of the Multiverse
Star Wars the LCG
Lost Cities the Board Game
Quarto!
Blue Moon
Dungeon Twister
magic
X-Wing
Mage Wars
Arkham City Escape
Turncoat
Quarto
Set
Ricochet Robots
Go
Lost Cities
Abalone
Kemet
Takenoko
The Little Prince: Make Me A Planet
abalone
pentago
quixo
Stone Age
Dragonheart
Stronghold
Arkham Horror
Firefly
Agricola
Dungeon Roll
Forbidden Desert
Rivals of Catan
Boss Monster: bossmonstergame.wordpress.com
chess
Ra
Odin's Ravens
Twilight Struggle
San Juan
Agricola: All Creatures Big & Small
San Juan
Great Wall of China
Lords of Scotland
Race For the Galaxy
Tannhauser
Yomi
Lords Of War
X-wing (buy 2 sets, expensive).
Warhammer Invasion
Zombicide
Flashpoint
Memoir 44
Battlelore
Agricola
Chess
Claustrophobia
Race for the galaxy
ascencion

My own additions:

Epic Spell Wars Of The Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre
Galaxy Trucker
Kingsburg

Woden · 5 Feb 2016 at 21:53

Chess or draughts. Can't beat them IMO.

tonym · 8 Feb 2016 at 22:01

Patchwork
Jaipur

RDM · 9 Feb 2016 at 10:29

7 Wonders Duels. Two player take on 7 Wonders. It is a really well balanced card selection game with a surprising amount of strategy.

Any of the Living Card Games would also be a good choice, Game of Thrones plays quite nicely with 2-4 players.

Warhammer Quest card game is also nice as a two player game.

Muz333 · 9 Feb 2016 at 12:35

Another vote for Jaipur here. I also have a crippling addiction to Star Realms.

JeditOjanen · 9 Feb 2016 at 12:41

Muz333 said:
Another vote for Jaipur here. I also have a crippling addiction to Star Realms.

It's called brain damage, mate.

Haven't seen you in a while. Are you busy?

Squark · 10 Feb 2016 at 12:06

I was looking at getting Jaipur for the wife and me but I can't seem to find it in stock anywhere other than Amazon, which is £35!!

We have a few games which we play, Carcassonne with 5 expansions,
Ticket to Ride Europe with Swiss/India map,
Tigrus and Euphrates,
Alhambra.

I pitched Pandemic to her but she didn't like it. I'm gonna try caverna or agricola as worker placement systems seem more appealing to her.

JeditOjanen · 10 Feb 2016 at 17:43

Squark said:
I was looking at getting Jaipur for the wife and me but I can't seem to find it in stock anywhere other than Amazon, which is £35!!

There's a copy in my FLGS for £20. Drop me a trust if you want to sort something out.

Squark · 10 Feb 2016 at 18:57

JeditOjanen said:
There's a copy in my FLGS for £20. Drop me a trust if you want to sort something out.

That's great, I'm off in to town tomorrow to see if my local has a copy, if not then I'll definitely take you up on that offer.

tonym · 12 Feb 2016 at 22:10

Stoneage is quite a light worker placement, and of course Waterdeep
Roll for the galaxy
Isle of Skye
Imperial Settlers