Games that Are Worth Purchasing Solely for Playing Two-Player, but Are Capable of Supporting More Players
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I'm in the common situation of liking board games, not having the time and energy to join a game group, and playing mostly with my wife. There are a large number of great games made for two players, but usually they are smaller in scope than games that can accommodate more players.
This list is of games that are playable by 2 or more, but are worth purchasing solely to play as a two player game. If it does not "officially" support 2, but has a two player variant that makes it a worthwhile purchase, that is just fine. I don't want any games that only support two on the list, as those are obviously worth purchasing just for two players.
To be clear, for purposes of this list, it does not matter how the game plays with more than two players. It does not matter how many players it is "best" with. What matters is whether the game is worth purchasing only to be played with two players.
Other geeklists that are similar are here, but none are as comprehensive as this aims to be:
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/2816
http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/984
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/14971
A particularly good list is here, with much more in depth commentary:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/14040
A geeklist with 2-player variants is here, which includes some of the variants discussed below:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/15749
Feel free to comment or add more games. I've added games that I think are worth purchasing just for two, and games that I haven't played, but appear from forum comments and other geeklists to be worthwhile.
May 2009: Edits made. I rearranged to put some of my favorite two player games on top. (dragging is annoying for large geeklists!)
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Richard Dowdy
United States
Texas
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Fun for two players. It plays up to four, and though I haven't tried 3 or 4 yet, I would expect it scales similarly to Carcassonne, with 2p balancing building your own position with blocking our opponent, and larger numbers getting more unpredictable as more tiles get placed between each of your turns, hindering long term planning in a way some people will thrive on and others find too chaotic.
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Juan Urista
United States
Radford
Virginia
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Can support up to 5 players but probably plays best with 2 players as it becomes a great bluffing game with several strategies to throw off your opponent. Here you try not to let your opponent know which explorer you are controlling and have a much smaller chance of moving your opponents pawn, and thus have several strategies to outwit your opponent. Of course it becomes much harder to guess which explorer your opponent is controlling so it makes for some interesting play.
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John Cabral
United States
Bristol
Rhode Island
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Great with two!
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Jonathan Kandell
United States
Tucson
Arizona
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Since it's a coop game, it works with 3 or 4 (or more) playing the four detectives; but works great too with 2 players, one playing X the other playing all four detectives.
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Jonathan Kandell
United States
Tucson
Arizona
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Works best for four in cooperation. But two can play just fine each taking on two monks, or by using the "neutral power tokens". Since both of you are cooperating anyway it works great with 1, 2, 3 or 4.
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Very underrated game...we have only played with 2p and it plays great but I think it would be just fine with more.
Even if you hate the board version you will probably like this version...very very surprised how much we enjoy it. And for $5 almost anywhere it is a cheap price for a great game, I only wish I could have picked up Mystery Rummy Jack the Ripper for that price.
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Henry Williams
United States
Kearny
New Jersey
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This game works very well as a two player game. It uses a custom die to take choices away from both players, just as a third player would.
I thoroughly enjoy this game.
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Lawrence Lopez
United States
Albuquerque
New Mexico
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Really good with two players!
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Awesome game to play with two players. It's also suitable with 3 or 4 players, but I find it works best with two.
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Louis-Nicolas Dozois
Canada
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Plays up to four players but lots of fun (and fast!) with two. My wife and I usually do a best 2 out of three in about an hour and a half.
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Jeff Dunford
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
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This deck-builder supports up to 5 players in 3 distinct scenarios: free-for-all, co-op (vs The Borg), and teams. The FFA and Co-op scenarios are both fun for 2 players. My girlfriend and I are both big Trekkies, and we'll often play a FFA duel before joining forces to face The Borg in an evening after work.
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Jeff Dunford
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
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And if you're a Trekkie, this one is a MUST HAVE!
It's built for 2 players, but also supports 4 players in teams of 2 (and future expansions are expected to support 3 and perhaps 4 in free-for-all).
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Arvydas Kazlauskas
Latvia
Riga
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Works really well with two.
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Justus Pang
United States
Houston
Texas
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I think I'm in a distinct minority here...but I liked it enough to write a review about it. Currently, I have ONLY played it 2P and enjoyed it immensely (though my GF has not enjoyed it AS much even though she has been willing to sit through four plays of it so far).
I would however, strongly recommend that you play with David Parletts latest version of the "Jugging the Hare" cards which are included on in the 2008, and 2010 editions of the game and also available on his website.
edit: plus this game is actually cheap enough to be a purchased as a 2P only game.
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Jim Flemming
United States
Philadelphia
Pennsylvania
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Blake Morris
United States
Henrico
Virginia
This size viola da gamba is like a cello with frets. I started playing at age 48.
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The two-player mechanism simply uses all cards discarded or left over as a third player's holdings at the end. It works very well and gives focus to the game.
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Blake Morris
United States
Henrico
Virginia
This size viola da gamba is like a cello with frets. I started playing at age 48.
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Here is another well-conceived two-player mechanism. Drawing the second tile of each family from the bag and keeping only those already chosen prevents copycat strategies and forces the game to open up.
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Brighton
East Sussex
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/14971
Doesn't attempt to be comprehensive, but does have some good commentary.
Helsinki
This ( http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/24727) list is called "Vote it yourself: are these multiplayer games any good with only 2 players?". The name says it all. We already have a good number of votes, but the more, the better! I have added many games thanks to your great list!
La Palma
California
Columbia
Missouri
I am going to get Bohnanza today
St Louis
Missouri
How do you think these multiplayer games play with 2? Also game length & complexity
Metalist for 2 Player Games Geeklists (59 lists!)