The 14 best two-player board games 2022
Work together or against each other, these great two-player board games will keep you occupied for days.
Whether you're relaxing at home with family or sharing games in a garden with your best friend, cooperation makes the world go round - at least until you start having a disagreement over strategy and things get a little too "Game of Thrones." With that in mind, we've listed the best two-player games out there, ranging from colourful crime capers to epic battles across space! Check below to find something you're sure to enjoy, whether with friends, family, or your significant other.
Best two-player board games
- Star Realms
- Unmatched: Battle of Legends
- Santorini
- Fog of Love
- Fugitive
- Patchwork
- Moon Base
- Keyforge
- Klask
- Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game
- Skulk Hollow
- Raptor
- Jaipur
- Codenames: Duet
A quick note: we’re going to be focusing on games that you can quickly pick up and play, so no games typically requiring players to build decks ahead of time, such as Magic: The Gathering or Netrunner.
Grab your significant other, best friend or lifelong rival begging for a head-to-head showdown and find your perfect partner in some of the absolute best two-player board games.
Star Realms
A flexible deckbuilding game set in a sci-fi universe
At a glance Star Realms is your typical two-player duelling card game. You each have a certain amount of authority and if you can knock your opponent’s down to zero first then you win. However, it’s so much more. Star Realms is a deckbuilding game - you start with a deck of battered and worn-out ships and you use them to buy better ships from the four factions. These ships are not only more powerful, but they can also have faction bonuses allowing you to create massive combos when used together.
The beauty of the game comes from tailoring and evolving your own deck to smash the one your opponent is crafting. (In fact, as well as being one of the best two-player board games around, it's also one of the best expandable card games out there too.)
Buy Star Realms on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Unmatched: Battle of Legends
A surreal tactical hero-battler where icons of fiction wage war against each other.
So work with us on this one - Unmatched takes icons of culture across the world and pits them together in bizarre battle royales. Ever wanted to see Arthur of Camelot battle Alice of Wonderland? Or how about Medusa vs. Sinbad the Sailor?
Brazenly, lovably goofy, Unmatched is a turn-based board game all about tactical combat, using your chosen hero and their sidekick to wreak havoc on your opponent. Each hero has their own niche abilities, and there's even optional expansion packs that include more heroes to pick from. Bigfoot vs. Sherlock Holmes, anybody?
Buy Unmatched: Battle of Legends Vol. 1 on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Santorini
An abstract city-building game with simple and engaging gameplay
You see that ‘2-4’ on the game box? Go ahead and scratch off the ‘-4’. Santorini is an incredible and absolutely gorgeous two-player board game and a true exemplar of ‘easy to learn, difficult to master’. You have two workers, each turn you choose one to move one space and then build a bit of tower.
If you can clamber your way on top of a three-tall tower then you win the game. Sounds simple, but add in an opponent who is actively trying to block you by building towers too tall and you have an impeccable abstract game. Even if you somehow tire of the gameplay then you can add in unique player powers to keep things fresh.
Buy Santorini on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Fog of Love
Go through the highs and lows of a rom-com as a fictional couple
Not all two-player games need to be competitive. Fog of Love is a cooperative game that puts you in the shoes of two would-be lovers as they explore all life has to offer, from cute chats about hopes and dreams to full blown arguments and trips to the dreaded Ikea.
Fog of Love blurs the lines between board game and roleplaying game in the most elegant way. Just like real relationships there isn’t a clear victory condition at the start of the game; as the relationship develops you discover what you want - be it a loving, supportive relationship or a clean exit. Sometimes not everyone gets to be happy.
Buy Fog of Love on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Fugitive
A cat-and-mouse chase between cop and criminal. Which of you can out-manoeuvre the other?
All of us have that one friend or family member we'd like to rob blind and/or send to prison for a while. Fugitive gives both sides an opportunity to air their grievances, a head-to-head card game based around finding or escaping the other player, as one of you plays the eponymous fugitive and the other represents Johnny Law, hot on their trail.
Appropriately enough, the focus here is on trickery and analysis, with the fugitive player using tricks represented by hidden cards, while the agent has to guess and anticipate what those cards are. It's a great game about out-thinking the other player, bolstered by some superbly atmospheric artwork.
Buy Fugitive on Amazon US/Zatu.
Patchwork
Spend your time carefully to weave the best quilt
Sewing may not be the most immediately exciting theme, but then again neither is Tetris. It turns out when Uwe Rosenberg mashes the two of those together you get something spectacular.
In Patchwork you create a quilt and you’ll be damned (or darned) if it’s not better than your rival’s needlework. Each turn you’ll spend a combination of buttons and time to add a Tetris-style quilt piece to your board. The crucial thing here is time. It’s always the turn of the player at the back of the turn order track. Spend too long on intricate stitching and your opponent might get several turns in a row.
Buy Patchwork on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Moon Base
A unique battle for control of the Moon
Moon Base pits two rival corporations in control of the moon via the art of overlapping ring placement. Moon Base is a game of serene beauty as you place your stellar halos in the craters of the moon before stacking them over each other to create functional buildings.
Each round you will place four rings, but you won’t only be placing your colour. You’ll have to try and place your opponent’s rings in awkward places all while trying to get yours on top. Moon Base is a game with a huge amount of counter-play, with every placement opening up new opportunities to exploit.
It might be hard to get hold of, but we've managed to find a few copies available over at Amazon JP.
Keyforge
A head-to-head card game where every deck is different
The latest card game from the creator of Magic: The Gathering, Keyforge takes the conventions of traditional trading card games and turns them on their heads. You can’t build decks and you can’t hunt for rare cards. You simply buy a sealed, algorithmically-generated deck, learn how to play Keyforge and play with your unique set of cards.
Each deck comes with an algorithmically-generated card list from three of the various factions, meaning every player in the world has a different combination of cards - you will literally never see the same deck twice. Even without the ability to customise your deck, Keyforge's gameplay has a ton of strategy in it, from knowing when to fight and when to use your creatures to reap for the precious Æmber (pronounced 'amber') which you need to win. Each deck will play differently so every time you open a new one you have to adapt how you play.
Buy Keyforge on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Klask
Part table football, part air hockey - and even more fun
Klask is the lovechild of air hockey and table football and is just as easy to pick up and play.
Each player has a single piece which they control via a magnet underneath the board. Your goal is simply to get the ball into your opponent’s goal to score points. This is made more complex by the three magnetic penalty pieces which will cost you a point should you gather two. Not to mention the ever-present risk of falling into your own goal. Bridging the gap between board games and sport, Klask even has its own World Championships.
Buy Klask on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game
Intense spaceship shootouts in a galaxy far, far away
Star Wars has featured some of the most epic space battles in cinematic history. The X-Wing Miniatures Game puts you straight into the famous cockpits of X-Wings and TIE Fighters.
While the game has impressive depth and a sizeable competitive scene, the base gameplay isn’t too complex. Most importantly, it really captures the feel of a dogfight. Using the curved movement templates you are constantly trying to outmanoeuvre your opponent, get on their six and dodge asteroids along the way. You even have to worry about G-forces as certain actions can stress your pilots, limiting their ability to fly.
Buy Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Skulk Hollow
It's big versus small in this asymmetric showdown
This asymmetric combat game - one of Alex Meehan's favourite games of 2019 - will immediately resonate with anyone who has seen anime series Attack on Titan. One player controls a band of humanoid fox warriors who defend their lands from the other player: a hulking behemoth of stone and fury that comes in one of four different forms.
How can the tiny foxes hope to win? By clambering onto the monster and attacking its weak points, slowly wearing it down and cutting off its abilities. But it’s not just a simple case of killing the monster, each creature has a secondary objective for victory should the foxes fail to adequately defend their lands.
Buy Skulk Hollow on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Raptor
Will dino or human triumph in this two-player fight for survival?
Sometimes wild animals don’t know what’s in their best interest. That’s the moral of the story of Raptor, where a group of scientists have located the last living velociraptor and her five children. The endangered animals are certain to die out in the wild, so the scientists want to sedate and capture the young creatures to repopulate the species. The raptor player wants to protect their babies and eat people.
Players will play action cards to achieve their goals. Each card has a unique special action, or can produce action points to be used for moving and sedating/mauling. Which you get depends on the card your opponent uses, so predicting your opponent’s actions is vital.
Buy Raptor on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Jaipur
Buy and sell to profit and prove you're the top merchant.
A classic two-player sell-em-up, Jaipur is about aspiring to be the personal merchant to the Maharaja himself, done by - what else? - achieving more wealth and riches than your opponent.
Jaipur is a superb example of the old "easy to learn, hard to master" ideology, with growing complexity as you play more and more. Buy products, sell them off, navigate your opponent and the market, all in the hope of making more rupees and building your own little financial empire. Not only that, but the game favours big plays, meaning that "selling" three cards or more in one go can net you extra rewards. Play boldly, play carefully, play cleverly, play however you want - just don't play poorly.
Buy Jaipur on Amazon US/Amazon UK.
Codenames: Duet
Find the secret agent in this streamlined version of the classic word game.
Codenames is a great game on its own, but Codenames Duet is specifically redesigned to be a co-op game for a smaller audience. Rather than two teams competing to uncover (and presumably assassinate) each other's secret agents, this time everybody is working together to pull their own hidden spies out of the field. It's smaller and more focused, and while it can be played by up to eight players, it's perfectly fine for just two, too!