Most board game lists are written for a full table. Six people, a Saturday night, snacks. That is not how most games actually get played.
For a lot of us the real situation is two people, a kitchen table, and an hour before bed. A game that needs four players is a game that stays in the cupboard.
So this list only contains games that genuinely work with two, and it is honest about which ones are merely playable at two and which ones are at their best there.
First, the ones that are simply out
Four of the ten games on this site cannot be used here, and the publishers settle it before opinion gets involved.
- Catan: the base box is listed for 3 to 4 players. Not two.
- Dixit: Libellud lists 3 to 8.
- Munchkin: Steve Jackson Games lists 3 to 6.
- Codenames: Czech Games Edition lists 4 to 8 or more. In my experience it really does need a crowd. The game comes alive when people can argue about the words, and two people cannot argue with themselves.
That leaves six, and the good news is that the six include some of the best games on the shelf.
The six that work with two
Ordered by how much each game is built around two players, not by how much you will enjoy it. Player counts and play times are the publishers’ figures.
| Game | At two players it is | Players | Play time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santorini | At its very best | 2 to 4 | 20 min |
| Splendor | At its very best | 2 to 4 | 30 min |
| Azul | Calmer and easier to plan | 2 to 4 | 30 to 45 min |
| Carcassonne | Calmer, more strategic | 2 to 5 | 30 to 45 min |
| Ticket to Ride | A blocking game | 2 to 5 | 30 to 60 min |
| Sushi Go Party! | Fast, and easy to plan | 2 to 8 | 30 min |
1. Santorini
At two players: this is the one it was built around. Two builders each, one small board, nothing hidden and nothing random.
You each move a builder and then add a block to the island, trying to be the first to step onto the third level.
Good for you if: You want a real contest in twenty minutes. Roxley lists 20 minutes and that is about right, which means you can play three in the time one longer game takes.
Skip if: You want to relax. There is nowhere to hide in a game with no luck in it.
My take: a game I am still waiting to play in person. I have only played Santorini on Board Game Arena, against strangers, so I cannot tell you how the pieces feel to stack.
The god powers look counterintuitive for the first few turns and then start to feel like the whole point.
2. Splendor
At two players: it turns into a duel. With four people you take what is left. With two, you are watching one other person and taking the card they needed.
You collect gem tokens and spend them on cards, and those cards become permanent discounts on everything you buy afterwards.
Good for you if: You want the game you can play every night without getting bored of it.
Skip if: You want to talk during the game. Splendor is quiet and mostly happens behind people’s eyes.
My take: after Ticket to Ride, this is the game my partner and I have played most as a pair. Dozens of games, plus a good number on Board Game Arena.
The rules are simple and finding a winning strategy is genuinely hard. When I pay close attention to the nobles I seem to lose, and when I forget they exist it goes better.
FOTO: una partida de Splendor a dos jugadores
3. Azul
At two players: more predictable, and that is the point. The rulebook sets out 5 factory displays for two players, 7 for three and 9 for four, so there is less on the table and only one other person taking from it.
You take coloured tiles from those shared displays onto your own board, completing rows without picking up tiles you cannot place.
Good for you if: You want to build at your own pace and actually plan. With one opponent you can see what they are doing and roughly where the score stands, and only one pick happens between your turns.
Skip if: You want the chaos of a full table. At two, very little arrives that you did not see coming.
My take: calm, elegant, easy to teach, and it has been in my collection for years. It is one of my safest picks when the people at the table are very different from each other.
I have played Azul with two and with four, and it feels different.
With two, it is easier to just enjoy the game and build your wall at your own pace. You only have one opponent to watch, so it is easy to see what they are doing and roughly how far apart your scores are.
There is also only one pick between your turn and your next one. That makes it easy to predict which tiles will still be there for you.
4. Carcassonne
At two players: calmer and more strategic. With five people the map is chaos and your plans last one turn. With two you can actually see the shape of what you are building.
You draw a tile and add it to a shared map of roads, cities and fields, then decide whether to claim what you built with one of your figures.
Good for you if: You want a shared board rather than two separate ones. This is the only game here where you and your opponent build the same thing.
Skip if: You want short. It is the joint longest on this list alongside Ticket to Ride.
My take: I mostly play this with friends, but it works just as well with my partner. Two to four is the sweet spot with only the base game, and past that it starts to feel cluttered.
The tension that gets me is in the second half, trying to close a big city and not knowing whether it is going to happen.
5. Ticket to Ride
At two players: it becomes a blocking game. With five people the map fills up on its own. With two, every route you take is a route you took from someone.
You collect train cards by colour and spend them claiming routes between cities, connecting the destinations on the tickets in your hand.
Good for you if: You want something that still feels like a family board game night even when there are only two of you.
Skip if: You are both the sort to take a route purely out of spite. At two, that is most of the game.
My take: all of my two player Ticket to Ride has been on Board Game Arena with my partner. I bought a physical copy and it is still in the box, unopened, so I cannot tell you a thing about how it plays across a real table.
On Board Game Arena the United States map is where I have lost the most. My partner is just that good at it.
I also travel the map in my head while I build it. When I claim the two train cars between New York and Boston I am picturing that trip, and that is why the board stays with me afterwards.
FOTO: la caja de Ticket to Ride, todavia sin abrir
6. Sushi Go Party!
At two players: it works. Gamewright lists 2 to 8, and at two the rulebook deals 10 cards each and removes the penalty for having the fewest temaki or pudding.
You keep one card from your hand, pass the rest, and repeat. The dishes you collect score in different ways at the end of each round.
Good for you if: You want one box that covers both the two of you tonight and eight people at Christmas.
Skip if: You want a game designed only for two players.
My take: the game that almost never fails. My own original copy is actually Sushi Go, my brother’s version.
I still play Sushi Go Party! with two all the time, mostly on Board Game Arena with my partner. Maybe not with every menu, I have never checked, but with plenty of them.
With two it is much faster, and it is easier to know which cards and strategies to go for. Any card you did not take, your opponent did. That makes it much easier to plan.
If you are buying one game for the two of you
- You want the best pure two player game here: Santorini. Twenty minutes, no luck, and you will want a rematch.
- You want the one that has held up: Splendor. After Ticket to Ride it is the game my partner and I have played most as a pair.
- You want something beautiful on the table: Azul.
- You want one box that also covers a full house: Sushi Go Party!, or Ticket to Ride if you would rather have a board.
The game my partner and I have played most as a pair is Ticket to Ride, though so far only on Board Game Arena. My physical copy is still in its box.
After that, it would be Splendor.
Honestly, any game on this list that works with two is a good option.
Worth saying plainly: the game we reach for most is not the one at the top of this list, and that does not bother me. Ticket to Ride is not my favourite game here. We play it most because it is my partner’s favourite, and because I lose at it more often than I win.
What to read next
- Easy board games for beginners, the main hub, with all ten games in more depth.
- What to play after Risk, if you want the strategy without the long evening.
- What to play after Monopoly, if your complaint is luck rather than player count.
- Splendor in the hub.
How this article was written
Every player count above comes from the publisher: Roxley, Space Cowboys, Next Move Games, Z-Man Games, Days of Wonder, Gamewright, Catan Studio, Libellud, Czech Games Edition and Steve Jackson Games. The four games I ruled out were ruled out on those numbers, not on taste.
I own physical copies of Azul, Carcassonne, Splendor, Sushi Go Party! and Ticket to Ride, though the Ticket to Ride box is still unopened.
The two games my partner and I have played most as a pair are Ticket to Ride and Splendor. All of that Ticket to Ride has been on Board Game Arena, none of it across a table.
Santorini I have only played on Board Game Arena, never in person, so I do not comment on its components.
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