Best 2 Player Board Games: 16 Must-Try Options

Even if you're short on players, board games for two players are some of the best and most satisfying tabletop experiences available. Additionally, a lot of two-player board games can fit in a backpack. They are, therefore, highly practical if you're looking for something to take on vacation. We have rounded up a list of the best 2 player board games you should try. 

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Best 2 Player Board Games

These ideas are ideal for any occasion, from a competitive game of head-to-head with friends to a romantic date night. Additionally, they are adaptable; most board games for two players may be expanded to accommodate a larger group, which overall provides better value for the money.

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Jaipur

Even though there are many two-player online board games available, Jaipur stands out as one of the best. Jaipur, a trading game, enables its players to indulge their more competitive sides, taking the win from under the noses of their rivals. The players are trying to impress by executing the best possible bargains as rival merchants working for the maharaja.

Players buy different items from the market throughout each round, then resell them in large quantities. They will accrue more points the more they sell all at once. However, if the players wish to maintain an advantage over their rivals, they must move rapidly.

When players are attempting to gather as many matching cards as they can, the requirement that the cards they take be of the same type is undoubtedly helpful. Players can sell cards to get the same number of matching point tokens after they have three or more of the same kind. 

The more valuable bonus tokens go to the greater sales, while the opposite is true if players wait for more cards to sell all at once. In this case, they will receive a bonus token worth a random number of points. 

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Patchwork

A wonderfully pleasant and enjoyable little quilting game. There is nothing better than an intimate board game session when it is raining outside, and all you want to do is wrap up inside, all warm and cozy. Patchwork, a two-player board game that is about as charming as a corgi wearing a very small hat, is the perfect game for days like these. 

Each player receives their own board, which has the different quilt parts put out in a circle. The pieces must be arranged next to one another in a straight line to form an ordered queue. 

A player can get a quilt piece during their turn. Players can choose to move their player token along the turn track to gain buttons equal to the number of spaces they go if they do not have any buttons to purchase a quilt piece or do not want to purchase anything.

Placing quilt pieces with button displays on your player board is another way to earn buttons in patchwork. Both players receive as many buttons as they presently have on their player boards if a player token passes through or lands in one of these button spaces.

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Lost Cities

One of the greatest creations by legendary designer Reiner Knizia, Lost Cities, is regarded as a timeless masterpiece. In Lost Cities, both participants prepare and set out on excursions at the same time as rival archaeologists, greatly raising the stakes. 

Each archaeologist has their reputation and possibly their career on the line, with a successful exploration as their ultimate objective. Players must arrange the columns of numbered cards that represent these expeditions in numerical order.

Players only need to play higher-numbered cards on top of lower-numbered cards; they are not required to play cards consecutively. The more cards that are played on an expedition, though, the better because they will earn players more points at the end of the game.

The decision to start an expedition should not be taken lightly because you will receive points for each of your columns, regardless of how many cards you have placed there. The score for each trip you begin starts at minus 20 points because taking a crew around the world costs a lot of money. 

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Agricola

One of those massive board games that take a while to play and requires a lot of players is Agricola. This is why it's great to see a two-player board game adaptation of Agricola that eliminates a lot of the extraneous material and opts to concentrate on the animals, who are Agricola's most crucial component. 

Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small is a tabletop game about amassing a menagerie of different farm animals, like cows and sheep, and trying to find enough space for them all. The title is easy to confuse with the 1970s British television series, All Creatures Great and Small.

In order to expand, players must first earn victory points, which they do by having their freshly acquired livestock breed with one another to, you guessed it, produce more livestock. Players will be rewarded for gathering a greater range of farm animals as well, so it's not just about numbers. In the end, players want to be able to use their existing fence to cage their livestock in enclosures, creating a far more organized farm than one where the animals are all free to roam and do as they want.

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Klask

Klask is a fantastic two-player board game thanks to its straightforward rules and fast-paced, intense gameplay, but it's the kind of game that naturally attracts a crowd and makes for entertaining mini-tournaments, so confining it to just two players may be a challenge! 

Designed by a drunk Mikkel Bertelsen, a Danish carpenter, Klask is the ideal two-player game to play with friends while sipping a few cold ones. To move a ball across the pitch, each player uses a pusher that resembles an air hockey puck, but instead of pushing the plastic pieces directly with their hands, they use a powerful magnet to move them from underneath the board.

Players must prevent the ball from entering their goal, which is a circular pit in the board, while also avoiding getting their own magnetic piece stuck in the hole, which frequently results in the game's trademark "SMACK!"

The two-player version of the original game has subsequently been expanded to accommodate four players, but we contend that the two-player version is still the best way to appreciate this completely original jewel.

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Summoner Wars

Summoner Wars is an expandable card game that combines the tactical strategy of video games like Fire Emblem, Final Fantasy Tactics, and XCOM with the gameplay of traditional two-player card games like Magic: The Gathering.

In an effort to reduce their opponent's competitor summoner's health to zero, players used mana points to send monsters from their own special deck onto the battlefield in an effort to reduce their opponent's.

Each faction in Summoner Wars has a distinct play style, and more factions are added to the starter set's six through defined expansions rather than random booster packs. Players can alter their loadout for a different strategy and play style from game to game, even though the decks can be used as-is.

The second edition of Summoner Wars builds on the first's already fantastic gameplay with a number of quality-of-life additions that streamline and tighten the rules rather than making significant changes. Summoner Wars is an excellent two-player board game for fans of traditional competitive card games and tactical video games.

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Wonders Duel

Many people rank the original 7 Wonders as one of the all-time greatest board games. 7 Wonders found the ideal balance between the complex strategy of developing your technology, culture, science, and more and the simplicity of only having to pick a single card and follow its instructions each turn. 

The game takes the epic theme of leading a civilization through the ages but plays out in well under an hour. In 7 Wonders Duel, a board game for just two players, the 7 Wonders are further simplified.

Although 7 Wonders officially has rules for two players, playing with just the two of you isn't the greatest option. The fundamental objective of the two-player board game is still to advance their civilization quicker than the other player, whether by scientific advancements, military prowess, or general progress.

The ideal two-player game to play with a buddy or partner is 7 Wonders Duel because it plays as quickly as its larger sibling, if not faster. One of the best board games for two players, 7 Wonders Duel easily lives up to the legacy of the original, which was a fantastic game. 

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Codenames: Duet 

One of the best games is modified to create a fantastic collaborative game in Codenames Duet, according to May. The term game was highly hailed as simple and enjoyable by three other specialists. 

The game's principles are simple: "Players associate words as they come together to work targets with a finite number of attempts," says Cooper. Additionally, May and Laura Bilanko, who is also a founder of Twenty Sided Store, point out that there have been variations of the game designed expressly for followers of other brands, such as Harry Potter, Marvel, and Disney.

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Santorini

Santorini, which three people mentioned to us, is the second-highest 2 board game for novices recommended by our experts. Since the game "combines great works of art with very simple play," according to Eric Yurko, a member of the American Tabletop Awards committee and a game reviewer with his own website, What's Eric Playing? It is his all-time favorite. 

Another enthusiast is board game creator Rob Sparks, who claims that you can "learn to play in just 30 seconds" and also that the game "will still have you creating different domed structures as you travel the lovely board." This aspect of construction is a favorite of Yurko as well, who observes that "when players construct up the board, it resembles the famed vision of Santorini itself." 

He claims that each game's opening move by each player gets a Greek deity allocated to them, each of whom has a particular regulation ability, making for "a very rapid and exciting game" as the gods interact. Tabletop player & Cartamundi tabletop games advocate Sean Amdisen-Cooke makes a claim that "it plays very, very well with two players" and adds that "it's very accessible, so youngsters can also participate."

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Raccoon Tycoon

The "strategy-game aficionado" brother of Senior Strategist Writer Liz Corsillo introduced her to this game, which rapidly became a favorite for game nights. Corsillo claims that Raccoon Tycoon mixes the social connection of Catan with the fast game of Ticket to Ride "but is more interesting & fun to look at." 

A player will achieve victory by accumulating the most points, similar to Ticket to Ride, but there are more methods to do it by accumulating riches and controlling railroads, towns, or structures, making the game less monotonous. Corsillo adds that "the detailed, creepy graphic 7s," created by painter Annie Stegg, is part of what distinguishes Raccoon Tycoon from other video games.

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Cascadia

Cascadia, one of his favorite casual games of 2021, is recommended by Yurko if you're looking for a "quick, snappy" game that really is simple to learn but "yet has a little of weight to it." By gathering animals and tiles, the player attempts to recreate the ecosystem of the Pacific. 

However, "each animal scores in a different manner depending on which of its scoring card numbers is in-game at the start of a game," according to the game's rules. According to Yurko, this keeps the gameplay interesting by allowing "a large variety of diverse tactics to emerge across or numerous games." 

Additionally, Randy Flynn's work can best be summed up by Yurko in one word: excellent. He adds that he has shown many people this game. Others who "finish up just as enthusiastic about it as I am" will play the game.

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Hive: A Game Crawling With Possibilities

Gregory described Hive as "a bit similar to chess in tactics and mobility, with wonderful pieces and no board," and both he and Bilanko suggest it. The basic goal is to surround your opponent's queen bee using hexagon tiles that are each decorated with a distinct bug and have various rules. 

Although it's quick to pick up and simple to play, according to Bilanko, "the process requires continuous challenging, whether you win for the first time or even the hundredth time." 

The resin tiles in the game also make it portable, so it's excellent to bring to the beach, a train, or a bar since you won't have to worry about the cards mowing down or being spilled on, according to Bilanko.

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KLASK Board Game

In the Scandinavian sport Klask, which combines elements of both air hockey and football, players compete against one another by utilizing a magnetic grip and striker to try to score goals against one another. 

According to Sparks, "It's a straightforward addition to a tried-and-true game that adds a whole dimension of complexity." Although the idea is straightforward, Klask raises the stakes by scattering magnetic traps across the board. If you get too close, one will stick to your striker; if you get arrested twice, your opposing scores, and the game is over.

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Odin's Ravens

Odin's Ravens, which was influenced by Greek myth, is straightforward to play, with lovely artwork and intriguing choices that would please anyone wishing to "go away" for 30 minutes, claims Sparks. Odin is said to release a team of ravens each morning so they can fly all around Earth and give feedback to him. 

The gameplay is inspired by this lore: "Naturally, the ravens have grown extremely competitive, so it is up to you and another speedy soarer to circumnavigate the earth and go back to Odin first," explains Sparks. The game duration is 25 min.

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Imhotep: The Duel

Thus according to Andy Matthews, the creator of the board game review website Meeple Mountain, players in Imhotep: The Duel attempt to win this game by emptying ships from a common dock and accruing points by gathering six various kinds of merchandise. 

He claims, "This game was everything I expect a two-player sport to be: sleek, tactical, and entertaining." An average game lasts 30 minutes, and "we get only 15 or 20 turns" in it. Every decision is significant since there are only so many options available throughout each turn, he continues.

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Mandala

Amdisen-Cooke considers Mandala, a newly released favorite, to be "a jewel." When you play it, you learn that there is a lot of depth and intriguing strategic options, despite the fact that at first it "may look like such a simple and straightforward card game," he claims. 

The objective of the game is for two players to collect cards of all six colors, but "the point value by each color is only established throughout the game — and these numbers will likely vary for the two players," the article explained. 

There are a lot of subtleties, and each round will require you to make interesting choices in order to secure your favorite colors while preventing your opponent from obtaining the colors that will give him the most points. This game lasts for around 20 mins.

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Conclusion

We hope you have enjoyed the content. These were some of the Best 2 Player Board Games to play and have fun with. So next time when your friend visits, you don't have to think about what to do, you can play these games and have a great time.