Tawfiq's Blog

2-Player Board Games 

Welcome! In this special post i’ll dive into the delightful world of two-player board games.

Chess in our living room. Photograph: Tawfiq Hamid
Table of Contents

    7-Wonders Duel

    • 7 wonders duel (rules are quite complex to begin with though – but simple after a while)
      • One of my favourite 2-player games — takes about an hour or two, the expansion packs are both great as well! i especially like the “Agora” expansion pack while my wife likes the “Pantheon” expansion.
    • A drafting game that’s great for 2 players, with a reasonable balance of luck and strategy.
    • You can easily adjust the complexity with the expansion packs too if you’re getting bored of the base-game or finding it too simple after a while.
    • Learn to play and try it out online at Board Game Arena (https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=sevenwondersduel)

    Rating:

    • Easy to learn / complexity:
    • Strategy involved:
    • Luck:

    Pandemic (and spin-offs!)

    Pandemic is a co-op game so you play on the same team to beat the virus! You each play as scientists trying to defeat the pandemic by flying around the world and curing the disease. Each player will have to play their part so you can all win together. Lots of teamwork and co-ordination is required. It takes about an hour and is great with 2-4 players. Lots of strategy and cooperation is required making it great for interactivity,

    A great spin off is “Pandemic Fall of Rome” where you each play as Roman generals or senators seeking to make peace with the barbarians before they overrun your empire.

    • Featuring great artwork and a very engaging theme – “Fall of Rome” builds on the core-mechanic of Pandemic while staying true to what makes the original fun.
    • Very similar mechanic but brings a fun theme set within the Roman empire — players control legions battling the barbarians that seek to overthrow Rome! ⚔️
    • The artwork and quality of the pieces are also great in this edition, featuring wood over the plastic used in the regular pandemic.

    Sherlock Holmes Consulting detective

    Another co-op game, this time featuring dramatic mystery. Will you be able to cut through the noise and sleuth out the details of the case? The game reads like a book, you’ll take turns each reading an extract about the case and deciding where to “go” next to investigate.

    Each location you go to will have a new extract/chapter that you can read to learn more about the case. Each chapter will shed some light on the case, or mislead you completely!

    Jaipur

    https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/jaipur-2nd-edition

    (screenshot from the app - but it’s the same as the card-game)
    (screenshot from the app – but it’s the same as the card-game)

    A fun 2-player trading game!

    • A fast-paced card game where you trade and sell goods to become the richest merchant in the city.
    • Take about an hour to play a complete game — which is comprised of 3 -round (each 15-20minutes)
    • A good mix of luck and strategy!

    Love Letter

    https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/love-letter-z-man-games

    A quick game – one round can be played in 5-10minutes

    It’s a game of chance, risk and deduction. There’s enough strategy to make it interesting, but also enough luck that anyone has a chance to win!

    A classic card-game that costs about £10, highly recommend. Small enough to fit in a pocket and can be played with up to 6 players.

    Banagrams – STEAL!

    Bananagrams Steal

    Wordsy

    Online version here: https://www.ansariblueprints.com/cnsnnts/

    A game of skill and vocabulary! Similar to countdown but much easier to play and somewhat harder to master!

    Quoridor

    Very simple rules but complex outcomes – a great game of strategy for 2 people – quick to play.

    Ticket to Ride (Europe):

    https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/ticket-to-ride-europe

    • It’s like a simple version of catan (without the trading) that makes it work for just two players
    • Europe (a classic best-selling boardgame it’s not my favourite but it’s a nice one we play while we put a comedy on in the background)

    Looking for more games?

    More than 2-players?

    Catan (and our house rules!)

    https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/catan-2015-refresh

    3-6 players: Catan is my favourite strategy game, takes 1-2 hours

    • With the 5-6 player expansion you can build a bigger island to accommodate more players.
    • Even with 4 or less players i prefer to use the bigger board as it makes for some more friendly game-play and less limited options for expansion!
    • The sea-farers expansion likewise gives you more options to travel to new islands for more interesting and complex adventures!
    • House-rules1. Robin Hood robber
      • Robber can only be moved to a space where effected players have 4 or more points showing on the board.Everyone with 8 cards or more still has to discard half their hand when a 7 is rolledRobbers can’t steal from players with fewer than four victory points
      2 Bank Robber
      • If you roll a 7 AND willingly put the robber on the empty/desert-tile without stealing a card from anyonePick one resource of your choice from the bank!
      3 Roll double, roll again
      • When you roll a double – roll again!Everyone collects the resources from both rolls (just like a normal roll)It’s another simple change that will speed games up, add a bit of excitement to rolls and give more resources to players over the course of a game.
      4 — 12’s & 2’s
      • Merges the 12 and 2 — treating them as one numberIf a 2 or 12 is rolled — tiles with either a 2 or a 12 produce resources!Meaning you’ll get a resource for both if either of them is rolled.
      5 – Bribery
      • When you are about to be robbed of a cardYou may offer the robber something insteadIt is up to the robber to accept or decline the offerif they decline the offer – they pick at random again
      6 – Credit
      • Trade with futures on resources you don’t haveThis rule lets you trade resources you don’t have yet on the promise you surrender them later. (it is up to the other person whether they accept or decline your request)You can offer up your next stone in exchange for a wheat, but you won’t be able to renege on the trade after the fact.You may not roll a stone for three or four rounds, and once you do you’re obligated to surrender it to your trade partner. Your group will need to decide how much credit a player can take out, but it’s safe to limit it to one or two resources maximum.
      7 – Government cheese (TBC)
      • If you get no resources from a roll, you get a coin.On your turn, if you have more coins than your score on the board (number of victory points), you must trade in the coins for a resource.
        • “Your score” includes longest road and biggest army, but not hidden victory points e.g: development cards
        You can trade pieces for resources cards — the cost is however many VPs you have showing on the board.Somebody starting out can buy a resource with 2 coints, if you’re about to win and have 9 victory points then you need 9 coins to buy anything from the bank.
      8. King of the Hill (TBC)

    Secret Hitler

    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Hitler/dp/B01JKD4HYC

    https://kristoff.it/blog/you-should-play-secret-hitler/
    https://kristoff.it/blog/you-should-play-secret-hitler/

    5-10 players: Secret Hitler is a great game of social deduction and misdirection (takes about 45minutes)

    Online Party Games:

    Catan online (colonist)

    Catan online (Two Sheep)

    Codenames

    Secret Hitler online

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    Tawfiq