Popular with my partner and I are [[Galaxy Trucker]], [[Pandemic]], [[Sub Terra]], [[Wyrmspan]], and [[Spirit Island]].

Most of those are co-op, with only Wyrmspan and Galaxy Trucker being competitive Player vs Rules. Neither of us are into true pvp. Well, excluding [[Bananagrams]] but I don't really know of that counts😂

Of these I only think of Spirit Island as properly complex? And even then it's easily learnable with a Youtube tutorial. Possibly a little too involved however.

Wyrmspan is also a fair bit to wrap your head around, but once you have the core gameplay loop is fast and simple. Only your first game will be a headache, after that it's a chill and satisfying game of resource management and action efficiency.

Pandemic and Sub Terra are both properly straight forwards, and I love em.

Galaxy Trucker is... Chaos.

All these games also work well when played with others.

Flamecraft if you like cute, worker placement games

Onitama if you like strategy

Sagrada if you like puzzle, dice drafting

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Recommendation Requests should be posted to our Daily Game Recommendations threads. Reddit is a great place to pick peoples' brains and get game suggestions, but we get a lot of recommendation requests, so much so that we have the "Daily Game Recs"-threads dedicated for them. Historically, almost all well formatted questions in the Daily thread get answers. If you're looking for further suggestions, we recommend taking a look at our growing list of Recommendation Roundups. There's also the What Should I Get (WSIG) section on our wiki for a more general list of common recommendations.

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https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/206691/you-and-me-and-coffee-make-three

If either of you are into fantasy, Escape The Dark Castle is fast, simple, and I think very enjoyable since you take turns as which player opens the door into the next room whilst the other player reads aloud the choose-your-own-adventure-esque card text. It's made immensely more enjoyable if you can buy or find the Death Book for download (when you fail, and you will fail often, the Death Book has a custom paragraph for each card/item that killed you and caused a game over). Cheap point of entry and if you get the expansions it adds new mechanics and items to your game, and increases the card count to making new random dungeons. :3

Star wars rebellion os a good two player

You might want to look into Smells Like Teen Spirit Island. You and your wife can play as either Courtney Love or Kurt Cobain and you have to navigate 90s fame while defending yourselves against evil record execs, paparazzi, and drugs/alcohol. If you can destroy hair metal before it destroys itself, you win.

What is this “working together”? You do not loudly proclaim the optimal strategy while your partner basks in the light of your magnificence?

Only 1 option. The Campaign for North Africa: The Dessert war

Your partner and boy-/girlfriend will have hours of fun

Will her boyfriend be in the corner watching?

So, my husband and I usually play just us so i would recommend Lost ruins of Arnak as strategic one that won’t last more than 90min. Also, for a quicker game, that will last around 30 min i recommend Quacks of Quilldenburg. It’s really fun and fast game. We also play Ark Nova, but the game is around 150min when you get the hang of it but it is also fun game.

Your submission was removed by a moderator for the following reason(s):

Recommendation Requests should be posted to our Daily Game Recommendations threads. Reddit is a great place to pick peoples' brains and get game suggestions, but we get a lot of recommendation requests, so much so that we have the "Daily Game Recs"-threads dedicated for them. Historically, almost all well formatted questions in the Daily thread get answers. If you're looking for further suggestions, we recommend taking a look at our growing list of Recommendation Roundups. There's also the What Should I Get (WSIG) section on our wiki for a more general list of common recommendations.

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I hate how they shut these threads down.

Patchwork.

Hive: two-player, head to head abstract strategy. Very thinky.

Nova Luna: a less intense puzzle, but always fun.

Splendor: engine building card game that moves from two to three to four people effortlessly. (Note: not Splendor Duel)

Ingenious: another abstract that goes from two to three to four players effortlessly. Hex dominoes with colors/shapes where your lowest score •is• your score.

Targi: An x-y coordinate game for two with set collection.

If he likes abstracts, all of the Project GIPF games are great. (Personal favorites: YINSH & LYNGK)

Friends of mine over at Meeple Mountain like Air, Land, and Sea.

Your submission was removed by a moderator for the following reason(s):

Recommendation Requests should be posted to our Daily Game Recommendations threads. Reddit is a great place to pick peoples' brains and get game suggestions, but we get a lot of recommendation requests, so much so that we have the "Daily Game Recs"-threads dedicated for them. Historically, almost all well formatted questions in the Daily thread get answers. If you're looking for further suggestions, we recommend taking a look at our growing list of Recommendation Roundups. There's also the What Should I Get (WSIG) section on our wiki for a more general list of common recommendations.

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Inb4 Spirit Island

Not sure but I think subterra is playable for 2. If not, it shouldn't be a problem to adapt and compensate the lack of players

Cthulhu death may die, aeons end, paint the roses, zombicide any edition that catches your eye, massive darkness 2.

Pandemic is another fun co-op game. I've only played the base game, but i know there are several expansions, spin-offs, and even several Legacy versions too.

Watergate has replaced Twilight Struggle for me. It's a little lighter, but I think I prefer that in a 2 player game. It gives the same feel while also just feeling smoother.

Can't believe no one's said Hive yet! Such a fun little game. Perfect to take anywhere too, there's a pocket version and they're little tiles so they can get wet, perfect for a bar! A good abstract strategy game.

My husband and I play board games roughly every weekend after our kids go to bed. At the moment we are rotating between tiny epic galaxys, lords of waterdeep, dice city or gloomhaven. Gloomhaven depends on when our soon to be 2yr old goes to sleep. Setup takes a little while.

I feel like I’m the only person on the planet who did not enjoy Twilight Struggle. I played it twice with my husband, and honestly we just didn’t have fun playing it. We both tend to like more complex games too, but TS just was more work than fun.

We have not picked up jaws of the lion. We contemplated it, but my husband really wanted Gloom haven. So I purchased it for him for our anniversary. We like our Gloomhaven Campaign . We are deep enough in, that rather than start essentially another campaign. I would preferred just playing a different board game. 😂 Maybe once We complete Gloomhaven in a year. lol

Can’t believe no one has mentioned Lost Cities yet. My wife and I also love Roll for the Galaxy and Welcome to at 2 players.

Dice City is a lot like Machi Koro but imo much better. There are pros and cons to each. Dice City is more fun/interesting but has downtime between turns especially with first timers.

we plan on playing patchwork for the first time tonight. Although we havent played even close to half of our only/plays-well-with 2 player inventory, my wife loves codenames: duet. my pick so far is santorini.

Jaipur, Kahuna, Hanamikoji, Santorini, Spirit of the wild, Duelosaur Island, Lost Cities are few two player only games me and my wife like

Azul, Kingdomino, Castles of Burgundy, Century New World, Five Tribes, Time Stories, Quadropolis, Harbor, Paladins of West Kingdom, Grand Austria Hotel, Rajas of Ganges, Seasons, Underwater Cities are few multiplayer games that plays best at 2 imho.

For me, probably the best player count. You get the complexity of two spirits but half the cognitive load of solo (obviously). It's about maximising opportunities and combining powers. Definitely give this one a go. I can't recommend it enough.

Ah, totally forgot about Patchwork! That was one of the first two player games I’ve ever played.

How does All Creatures Big and Small play?

Kingdomino was a real surprise great 2p game.

3/4p I found it very boring. So much so I was going to give it away until a friend wanted to try it 2p. Super fun. Play with 7x7 grid.

I just stumbled across Kingdomino. It's fantastic. My wife and I are really enjoying it. I would recommend the 7x7 variant.

The big difference is you don’t draft cards, they are placed on the table at the start of each round. They have a different layout for each round, with some cards covering others. You can only pick cards that are uncovered. Some of the cards are face up while others are face down and revealed when cards are removed from on top of them.

There are two ways to instant win, getting military high enough or enough science (I don’t think we’ve ever had a game end this way, but it gives you something to think about). The game feel is very similar, but these changes make it work for two players.

7 Wonders Duel is a great 2 player, it hits our two-person table a lot.

Chess

Chess

Battleship, checkers, jenga, chess, spoons

Caper Europe

Backgammon is a personal favorite.

If you’re up for something more head to head, ironwood is quite interesting. Two different players playing different types of games (capture the flag and control point) in different types of spaces with different decks and different powers. And it is still pretty balanced and tactical.

Along the same vein, netrunner is 2 player only, and a pretty closed environment so you don’t need to chase the latest and greatest cards.

Your submission was removed by a moderator for the following reason(s):

Recommendation Requests should be posted to our Daily Game Recommendations threads. Reddit is a great place to pick peoples' brains and get game suggestions, but we get a lot of recommendation requests, so much so that we have the "Daily Game Recs"-threads dedicated for them. Historically, almost all well formatted questions in the Daily thread get answers. If you're looking for further suggestions, we recommend taking a look at our growing list of Recommendation Roundups. There's also the What Should I Get (WSIG) section on our wiki for a more general list of common recommendations.

(If you believe this post was removed in error you can request a re-review by messaging the mods.)

Isle of Cats, Agricola or Feast for Odin, It’s a Wonderful World

Everdell

Race for the Galaxy

Watergate

Blitzkrieg

Radlands

Res Arcana

Many of the other recs here are people naming games they also like at two without regard for whether they are best at two. I know people are going to recommend what they know, but you’d be much better served by going to a high-profile reviewer’s YouTube channel and finding a top ten list of 2p games. Fun to watch, will give you a brief pitch on why they love the game (so that you might account for taste), and they’ll have curated their top ten list from thousands of games played. From there I’d suggest you watch reviews of each game on your shortlist and then make an informed decision.

Use boardgamegeek (not reddit). If possible, check YouTube for gameplay videos. When well done, they can give a sense of what it is like to play the game, which can be an invaluable tool. My favorites are the BGG-affiliated Game Night! videos.