Best 2 Player Board Games of 2024 – Top 10 Review

Traditionally, board games were social activities enjoyed in a group. But what if you have a gaming partner, but not a gaming group? In fact, some would argue that the ultimate board gaming experience is achieved when playing with two players. I agree with that. If you too, then perhaps you need a shortlist of the best 2 player board games out there?

The beauty with two-player board games is that they mitigate most of the concerns associated with playing board games with a group. There are no issues around plotting or balancing, as most of the time, both players start their game on the same foot. It probably represents the purest form of board gaming, where similar to chess – there is you, your opponent, and the board.

Just like solo games, board games for two players have recently picked up in popularity. They have become more accessible and streamlined appealing to wider audiences. Alternatively, if you are a skilled player, there are also amazingly deep and more complex board games available.

In our review, we assess board game complexity, style, themes, and much more in our quest for finding the best two-player board games of 2018 in each category.

With dozens of new board games coming out every month, you will find that the vast majority of them support a two-player mode. But you don’t want the board games that would only work with two players, do you? You want to know the best 2 player board games that have either been specifically designed or adapted for two players.

Best 2 Player Board Games – Top 10 Comparison

1. Best Two Player Board Game For Adults – Star Wars: Rebellion

As you would have expected, the game is exceptionally thematic. Depending on which side you play for, the emotions experienced are very different, in fact, asymmetrical again. Playing for the Empire feels epic since you have the mighty galactic army at your disposal. Conversely, playing for Rebels feels impossible to win. However, by rallying planets and putting your negotiation skills to the test – it always gives you a sense of hope, even when the lookout is pretty grim.

Rebellion is genuinely grandiose, in all regards. You get to feel it first by holding a massive and heavy box in your hands. It comes with 150 miniatures, two game boards, decks of cards, and two rulebooks (download here and here).

The core rules are not complex, but the number of fine-print rules forces you to refer to the rulebooks frequently. It was only the third time around when we felt comfortable enough to play the game without checking the rules for special conditions. It is not a filler game either, as some games took us up to 4 hours to finish.

Despite the length, the board game nails the theme and offers an amazingly tactical and heroic experience. It puts it among the best two-player board games ever made, but it is not for everyone. The game requires energy and more importantly – commitment. Moreover, to make the game truly shine, you need to have the same levels of dedication and enthusiasm from your gaming partner since in mastering the game comes the greatest enjoyment.

2. Best Card Drafting – 7 Wonders Duel

The notable and very welcome change compared to the original release is three ways to win the game:

• Scientific – as soon as the player manages to collect six different scientific symbols
• Military – as soon as the conflict pawn on the board enters the opponent’s capital
• Civilian – by accumulating the most victory points when the game ends

The game goes for three ages where each age starts with 20 age-specific cards set up in a pyramid-like fashion. Cards are drafted in a round-robin fashion. The novelty with the drafting process is that you can only pick the cards that have no other cards on top of them.

On their turns, players can choose to erect a building by buying the card from the pyramid, build a wonder or discard cards to get money. Once the 20 cards from the pyramid have been played or discarded, the age ends, and the new age starts.

Overall, the updated two-player variant feels more balanced and streamlined than the original game. It plays fast with almost no downtime between the player turns and delivers enough strategic depth for most players to enjoy.

3. Best Strategy – Twilight Struggle

In essence, the board represents a map of the world with countries and their ‘stability’ ratings. The number stands for the difficulty of influencing the country’s allegiance to the USA or the USSR. All of which makes Twilight Struggle an area control game at heart.

To win the game, you must have more political influence over the world than the opposing player before the war ends.

To spread the influence, superpower leaders must play event cards. Each card represents a real historical event that has happened between the years of 1945 and 1989. The trick is that some events benefit one side and are detrimental to the other. Picking the right events and understanding when to activate them is the essence of the game.

Players start the game with the hand of event cards which they will get more of as the game progresses. The catch is that the cards in players hands might favor the other side, so picking when to play the cards is crucial to winning the game. To give you an idea of the events, you have Moon Landing, the Marshall Plan, Cuba Missile Crisis, and much more. 

Overall, the game is all about keeping the right balance and doing it better than your opponent. The game continually poses dilemmas about expanding your influence. At the same time, you also need to contain your opponent’s influence, minimize the damage done by adverse events, and work out the right mix of the immediate tactical play and long-term strategy.

The balance, tight game mechanics, and real historical theme create a truly immersive gaming experience that only the best two-player games ever made can deliver. Just keep in mind that to rip those rewards, you need to have your partner and you closely matched on your experience and enthusiasm levels. 

4. Best Card Game For Two Players – Arkham Horror: The Card Game

5. Best Abstract Board Game For Two Players – Azul

Throughout the game, players take turns drafting colored, beautiful and chunky tiles and placing them on their player boards according to the rules. Once everyone had their turn, the players are ready to score their points for the round by moving the tiles from the left to the right section of the board.

You get to score points for completing rows in the same color or placing the tiles adjacent to other tiles already in place. Bonus points are scored for completing sets or distinctive patterns. Any tiles the player took but was not able to play result in a negative point penalty.

The game ends when the first player completes at least one row in the right side of their board. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Azul is not a straightforward game in the beginning as it takes a little bit of time to wrap your head around it. The rules and mechanics are simple, but getting used to the scoring combinations took a little bit of practice.

It is a game that keeps your brain active all the time. It is not a brain burner, but you definitely won’t find it to be a walk in the park. You can play the game both casually or strategically, and the experience would hugely vary. Just make sure that your partner shares the same approach as you since the gap in scores could be quite significant otherwise.

Overall, the game is quite innovative and unique as there is nothing like it on the market. It has an excellent interaction between the players as you always need to pay attention to the tiles picked up by your opponent and potentially alter your strategy on the go.

The experience it offers reminds me of chess, the rules are simple and elegant, but the gameplay can be deep and strategic. The game seems to have all the elements to become the ‘next classic’ and I would not be surprised.

It works well with couples too due to its aesthetics, simplicity and quick competitive feel which we have recently reviewed as part of our best board games for couples round up.

6. Best Light Couple Board Game – Patchwork

The idea is to place patches tight to each other so that there are no gaps between them. You can flip and rotate as you see fit, as long as the patches do not overlap. Sounds probably simple, but not always possible in practice. 

To fix small holes in the layout, the game comes with five single-tile patches. They can be collected from the time track by whoever passes 1×1 patches first.

If your time token is behind the token of the other player, you get to have an extra turn, which is an excellent way to keep the competitive spirit alive and timeboxing the game.

As soon as both players pass the last space on the time track, the game ends. Next, each player needs to count the number of buttons they have and subtract two points for every hole they left out in the quilt and the player with the most points win!

7. Best Detective Board Game For Two Players – Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: Jack The Ripper & West End Adventures

If you and your gaming partner feel that you have solved the puzzle and can crack the case, go to the end of the casebook and refer to questions. The question section consists of two parts – questions about the main case and questions about ancillary matters.

If you know the answers, you can check the answers and score the points, if you don’t – feel free to visit any other places in London to find the missing bits. This time, however, you may get penalized for excessive location visits.

Once you have answered the questions and have scored points, you can compare the way you have solved the mystery with the way Sherlock Holmes would have solved it. So who is the better investigator now?

Although the game supports up to 8 players, it truly shines with two. Mystery solving becomes intimate, engaging, and rewarding when you need to challenge and bounce the ideas off each other. You will also have a lot to discuss, once the answers to the puzzle and the Sherlock Holmes solution is revealed. 

8. Best Cooperative Board Game For 2 Players – Codenames Duet

The key card represents the 25 agents on the board. It also marks some agents with green color (your agents) or black color (assassins), others are bystanders.

To win the game, you must collectively find your 15 agents (green color) amongst the 25 on the board by giving each other clues. 

Clues are given by saying a word and a number. The other player must figure out which words on the board relate to your clue and point to them. If correctly identified, the friendly agent card goes on top, and another guess is made. If the bystander is identified, the turn ends. However, if you have revealed an assassin, the game ends, and you both lose.

Codenames Duet is one of the best two-player board games for fun and casual gaming. It takes 5 minutes to set up the game and under 30 minutes to play.

The rules are straightforward and do work for 10-year-old kids and older. The game comes with 400-word cards and 100 key cards, which offers enormous replay value, yet if you ever feel that you need more, there are multiple expansion available.

Despite being accessible, it takes effort and creative thinking to win the game. The time pressure gives a touch of urgency to the game, which can make the gameplay quite emotional. Guessing the cards wrong gets the tension to a whole new level which is fun to watch and even more so to experience. Overall, the game has a unique way to challenge both players at the same time in a very engaging and cooperative way. 

9. Best Two Player Board Game in Cyberspace – Android: Netrunner

Throughout the game, the corporation player installs agenda and other cards on the corporate servers. Those agenda cards are protected with ICE (defense firewall) cards which make it harder for the Netrunner to penetrate the defenses and hack the server. For the corporation to win, the player is required to advance seven points worth of agendas, which the Netrunner is continuously trying to steal.

At the same time, the Netrunner player installs computer hardware and programs that help him get into the corporate servers, break the firewalls and steal agenda cards by making hacking attempts. The Netrunner wins if the player manages to steal seven points worth of agenda cards the corporation has installed on their servers.

The game is relatively short and takes around 30-45 minutes to play. Throughout the game, you don’t get to take too many actions making each one extremely important. In fact, any wrong decision can easily make or break the game.

Although the game is very strategic, it is also a game of phycology which at times reminds me of poker. The players can decide to be either blunt or deceptive or even both. Tricking other players adds that extra bit of suspense and tension to the game that is already full of paranoia.

For example, as a corporation player, you need to install agenda cards on the main and remote servers. The biggest dilemma is to decide which servers to protect and to what extent. With a limited number of ICE (defense) cards, there are two choices to consider. The first option is to protect agenda cards and install defenses on those servers. Alternatively, you can try to trick the Runner by upgrading the servers that have no agenda cards behind them. This mechanism alone is sufficient to recommend this game even to non-cyberpunk theme lovers.

Overall, Android: Netrunner is a brilliant game. If you are a casual gamer, looking at playing the game from time to time, the core set is sufficient. At the same time, if you feel that the game become slightly repetitive and you would like to have more action option on hands, I wholeheartedly recommend a getting the deluxe expansion packs. For hardcore gamers, there are always new data packs released if you need that extra edge.

10. Best Two Player War Game For Casual Gaming – Memoir ’44

Miniature lovers will be delighted as you get 180 of them in the box! You get troops, artillery, tanks, sandbags, hedgehogs (tank stoppers), and barbed wire. The miniatures are made of good quality plastic and are reasonably detailed.

The game starts by picking a scenario and reading a historical description that explains the basics of the battle, army placement, mission objectives for both sides, and special rules (if any). Once the board is set up, players take their Command cards, and the game begins.

Cards are picked randomly and may all represent options that are sub-optimal. This behavior is intentional as it simulates the limitations of control and command in a real-life combat scenario.

The turn rules are pretty simple. Players play one of their Command cards that either order, move, or engage units. Making the best use of cards on hands is key to winning battles and ultimately the game. Moreover, making terrain specificities and the opponent’s army placement work for you can give an important tactical advantage in battles.

Memoir ’44 is a relatively short, neat, and simple wargame that many will enjoy. The Command cards add an element of luck and surprise to what otherwise is reasonably strategic gameplay. The game tends to grow on you as scenarios become more interesting, challenging, and engaging as you progress.

Although there are other, more strategic war games out there, Memoir ’44 is the first game that made war board games accessible to almost anyone.

The game was published more than ten years ago and has sold more copies than any other war game in the history of board gaming. After all, the designers have done a fantastic job of making a war game accessible to broad audiences.

Besides, I have never thought I could play a war game with my wife until we have stumbled upon Memoir ’44. We were both surprised how easy, streamlined, and enjoyable the board game is.

Conclusion

If you have come to our website wondering what is a fun 2 player board game? Or perhaps what is the best card game for two players? Or any other question related to two-player board games – we hope we have answered it. If not, please let us know in the comments, and we will get back to you.

Boardgame reviews are always slightly biased as we all have our preferences, so we have genuinely tried staying objective. Picking the top two-player board games is a tricky challenge, as most of the board games in the world support 2 player mode.

Knowing that choosing the right two-player board game for yourself was not easy; we have created a comparison table at the beginning of this article, so we hope you find it useful. It helps quickly decide by highlighting the board game theme, age, difficulty level, player count, and duration.

We hope you enjoyed it!

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