A two-player board game is one of the best remedies for a dull day. Whether you’ve chosen to stay home or found yourself stuck inside due to weather or sickness, a mono-mono board game is a great way for siblings, friends, and romantic partners to make their time indoors meaningful.
How much enjoyment you’ll get from any of the two-player board games on this list depends on many factors. I spent most of my childhood playing one-on-one with friends, so I know on good authority what separates the two-player board games you” keep pulling out of the closet from those that’ll collect a coat of dust.
What defines a two-player board game?
Before we kick things off, I feel it’s important to say that you can play some of the games featured on this list can be played with more than two players. That said, I’ve successfully started and finished a round of every board game on this list with just one other player, so I’d argue they count as two-player games.
10. Tic-Tac-Toe
Whether you know it as Xs and Os, Noughts and Crosses, or its most well-known num-de-plume, Tic-Tac-Toe is the game for two people to play when they’ve got time to kill. The rules are so simple and ubiquitous that I’d be worried about you if you didn’t know them by heart, and I’m willing to bet that everyone reading this found themselves with nothing to do but play a game or two at some point in their life.
Whether you play the “official” board game version or draw the grid up on paper, Tic-Tac-Toe is a great way to practice your planning skills in a fun way. If you want to draw things out, you can spice things up by adding a few extra rows and columns.
9. Connect 4
Some people would call Connect 4 Tic-Tac-Toe with extra steps. They’d be wrong. The ability to stack your pieces on top of each other adds a literal level of complexity to Connect 4 that Tic-Tac-Toe lacks, and you need to be aware of where your piece will fall before you drop it, else give your opponent an opening to either finish one of their rows or block you from completing one of yours.
Connect 4 isn’t a brain-buster by any means, but it does require you to keep your eyes open for any possible avenues to victory. Whether you play it at home or in the backseat of a car, Connect 4 is a fantastic game for two people who want to watch the pieces of a strategy fall into place.
8. Scrabble
Some of the most passionate arguments I’ve ever been in revolved around how to spell certain words. Coincidentally, many of these disagreements came up during a game of Scrabble.
Up to four players can play Scrabble, but I’d argue the game is at its finest when it’s a good old-fashioned duel. Few things in life reveal more about a person than their choice of words, and I’ve genuinely gotten to know people better by playing a no-stakes, one-on-one game of Scrabble with them.
7. Catan
Anyone who’s played with Lego or any other construction toy with a close friend understands how fun it is to lose yourself in a good-natured one-on-one build-off. If investing in Lego sets isn’t an option on your current budget, Catan is an accessible stand-in.
Catan challenges players to build the grandest settlement on the game map, rolling dice to claim the territory and resources they’ll need to expand their city. If the base version of Catan doesn’t seem exciting to you, you can always pick up one of the many licensed editions that have popped up over the years.
6. Monopoly (Rivals Edition)
You can play the base version of Monopoly with two players, but the game you start will drag on for at least a few hours. Trust me, I know from experience. Fortunately, Monopoly: Rivals Edition exists for those who want to 1V1 each other in a land development race.
Monopoly: Rivals Edition trims its baseline counterpart’s fat, shrinking the board size and significantly lowering the number of game pieces. The game’s as fun and challenging as the original, but the lessened scope of everything makes it much easier for two people to start and finish a game.
5. Lost Cities
One of the best ways to spend time with someone you care about is to take them on a vacation to some exotic, faraway locale. Most of us can only afford to do that occasionally, but Lost Cities lets you simulate that experience in the comfort of your home.
Lost Cities is a card-based exploration game that sends its players on a semi-randomized “expedition,” using cards pulled from a deck to make decisions that will either lengthen or end your adventure. Lost Cities isn’t as competitive as other games on this list, making it the perfect choice for people in the mood to enjoy a more laid-back board game experience.
4. Hive
When you think of “fun things to do with someone you like,” anything involving bugs isn’t one of the first options that comes to mind unless you’re both into entomology. That might change after you’ve played a game of Hive.
Hive is a tile-based strategy game that puts both players in command of a colony of insects, with the end goal for both players being to capture the other players’ “Queen Bee.” Combining the gameplay of most one-on-one strategy games with the unique ability to position your pieces wherever you want at the start of the game, Hive is an addictive dose of competitive board gaming that will make you want to say, “Just one more round.”
3. Summoner Wars
Look, once in a while, all you can do is look at someone and invoke Bugs Binny’s age-old adage, “Of course, you realize this means war. There are a lot of war games out there that allow you to live the thrill of combat without the accompanying destruction, but few are as built for one-on-one warfare as Summoner Wars.
Summoner Wars takes all the fun of deck-building fantasy combat games like Magic: the Gathering and distills it into a digestible, easy-to-pick-up experience that will delight those who might be scared to dive into the genuine sport. There’s even an online edition for those who find themselves drawn to the world of Itharia.
2. Checkers
I challenge you to find someone who hasn’t played a game of Checkers at some in their life. If you do, sit them down and play a game of it with them because that’s honestly just sad.
There’s something truly mesmerizing about playing Checkers. The pieces may not have unique abilities, but that shared utility means every piece on the board can be the one that secures victory if you use it correctly. Besides, try to name a sound more satisfying than the repetitive “click” that sings whenever you capture multiple checkers at once.
1. Chess
How can the number one spot on this list not go to Chess? It’s not called the “Game of Kings” for nothing.
I’ve been playing Chess at my local coffee shop’s public board for years, and I’ve learned that there’s always something new to discover about the world’s go-to competitive strategy game. There are as many winning Chess strategies as there are Chess players, and I can’t think of a game that will get you and another lucky player’s brains humming more than a round or two of this classic.
