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2-Player Board Games
Welcome! In this special post i’ll dive into the delightful world of two-player board games.
7-Wonders Duel
- 7 wonders duel (rules are quite complex to begin with though – but simple after a while)
- My favourite 2-player game — 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
Pandemic (and spin-offs!)
- Pandemic is a co-op game so you play on the same team to beat the virus!
- Takes about an hour — is great with 2-4 players
A great spin off is “Pandemic Fall of Rome”
- Featuring great artwork and a very engaging theme – 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! ⚔️
Jaipur
https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/jaipur-2nd-edition
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!
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?
- This list is great: https://www.board-game.co.uk/buy/great-for-two/
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-rules
- We normally play with a few house rules to make things more fun and inclusive for everyone!
- 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 rolled
- Robbers can’t steal from players with fewer than four victory points
- If you roll a 7 AND willingly put the robber on the empty/desert-tile without stealing a card from anyone
- Pick one resource of your choice from the bank!
- 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.
- Merges the 12 and 2 — treating them as one number
- If 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.
- When you are about to be robbed of a card
- You may offer the robber something instead
- It is up to the robber to accept or decline the offer
- if they decline the offer – they pick at random again
- Trade with futures on resources you don’t have
- This 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.
- 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.
- You have to get to 10 victory points AND stay with 10 until your next turn.
- i.e first person to START their go with 10VP’s wins.
Secret Hitler
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Hitler/dp/B01JKD4HYC
5-10 players: Secret Hitler is a great game of social deduction and misdirection (takes about 45minutes)
- Much like Mafia but with more strategy. Also more fun for everyone as people stay in the game longer and don’t get killed!
- You can check out the game for free on their website and can even print it out for free!
- https://www.secrethitler.com
- **Free printout of all the pieces: https://www.secrethitler.com/assets/Secret_Hitler_Print_and_Play.pdf**
Online Party Games:
Catan online (colonist)
Catan online (Two Sheep)
- Two Sheep: https://twosheep.io
Codenames
- Codenames online is decent: https://www.horsepaste.com/
- (or: https://codenames.game)
Secret Hitler online
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