Hi all, not sure if there’s a better place in the fediverse to ask, but I’m looking for suggestions for a 2 player game. Something that is pretty quick in terms of set up, learning, and play. My go to for this scenario right now is the Tacocat game by the makers of Exploding Kittens, but I’d like to branch out and try some others if they fit the bill. Doesn’t necessarily have to be for 2 players specifically but preferable if that’s what it’s designed for. Heck doesn’t necessarily have to be a board game really, just something to play face to face (I mean, I don’t really know what the alternative would be other than a straight up card game but that’s why I’m asking for recommendations).
These have been excellent at two players for us:
Targi
Innovation
Morels (AKA: Fungi)
Jaipur
Port Royal
Kanagawa
Star Realms
Mindbug - an amazing card battler for two without building a deck. The twist is that you can take the opponents card twice a game. Makes for a super interesting gameplay.
Splendor duel - seen it mentioned before, a really great implementation of the splendor game for two
Thanks everyone for all the responses so far, I look forward to digging into these this weekend
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Targi - Cards are displayed in a 5x5 grid. The “outer” square of the grid are action spots while the “inner” 3x3 grid are resources/objectives. During your turn you will place one of your 3 workers in one of the available action spots. Then your opponent places their worker but they cannot place their worker in the same column or row than your wokers. After both players have placed their 3 workers, you place tribe markers (the cilinders) on the cards where your workers intersect. At the end of the round you get all the resources/objectives where you have cilinders and perform all the actions where you have workers!
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Hanamikoji - This is a “I split, you choose” 2 player game with some area majority in the mix. I honestly think this game is fantastic but I have had very low success in introducing it to other people. The game is very quirky, very different than everything I’ve tried. You force players to make hard and unintuitive decisions and I think that turns off some people. “Why would I split these cards, I want them all. How can I have them all?”. Split wisely! I guess the art work and box doesn’t help people get excited about it either.
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MicroMacro: Crime City - There is some debate about wether this is even game or just an activity but I don’t really care about that. This game is absolutely brilliant. It’s basically a “Where’s Waldo” but with all timelines printed into a single map. Each mission points you to a crime and you have to trace back the map to understand what actually took place there. Where did the victim come from, what were they doing, who looked at them funny? I would put this game as the best 2 player game but it have felt weird for the best 2 player game to be a game where you can play with an infinite number of players. Wouldn’t recommend more than 2 players tho! Get it!
Have you ever played any Grandpa Beck’s Games? My wife and I love Skull King
