My Top 10 Favorite 2-Player Games (Sunday Sitdown) 

Hanamikoji Is also my favorite 2 player game. It plays so different with each player I've played it with. The art is the second thing that gives it a plus. Great list!

I just wanted to let you know that I find it great that you share so much of your thoughts and point of view regarding boardgames with your viewers ! As somebody already pointed out, Pantheon is a fantastic expansion to 7 wonders duel, adding a coherent new mechanism that helps you define a working strategy... Cheers from France !

Congrats on 10,000!

Just played 7 Wonders Duel the other night and was reminded how brilliant it is. Each decision is so rich as every card that's good for you allows access to one that's great for your opponent. Crazy back and forth makes it so fun!

Good list !! It's always fun to discover new games. I personally love "abstract strategy games" "Pente" is my all time favorite. I also love: Dao, Tak, Shobu, Onitama, Abalone, The Duke, Quatro, Gobblets, Santorini, Hive...

Akrotiri is great for two players. Patchwork has been our favourite two players only. We do enjoy games like Roll for the galaxy and Port Royal with two players. My wife likes Five Tribes as two players, but that is not good in my opinion. Great video and congratulations on the 10.000 subscriptions...

Great video Jamey! Since you have mentioned Twilight Struggle but you prefer shorter 2-player games, I would recommend Iron Curtain or 13 days: the Cuban Missile Crisis! I really enjoy the spatial aspect and the uniqueness of Iron Curtain...a lot of depth in an 18 cards game!

Thank you for another sit-down video. Star Realms is definitely a great 2 player game. We actually play it 4 player virtually every games night, which is probably even more fun. My wife and I play Codenames Duet now pretty much every night, because it's quite quick, but really gets your brain matter going.

Great video! Have you played Baseball Highlights 2045? (First mention!). If you haven't then your friend Alex ( Dukes of Dice)would be sure to play it with you. Also Blood Of An Englishman is a great two player asymmetrical card game. Have a good night and congrats on 10k!!

Yeah Targi :-) What an honor to be mentioned by you with my little game. Don´t worry you will get faster playing the game. A Little under an hour is very accurate. Your other choices are also great two player games as well. Great list!

Not sure if intentional but you put chess down twice in the description. Also I love your list. Patchwork, 7 Wonders Duel, Jaipur and Onitama are my favourite 2 player games plus Five Tribes and Yamatai that I love to just play with 2 players.

Fields of Arle is my number one! It’s so immersive, deep, and fun! As for a short game...Race for the Galaxy (though it is for up to 4). Jambo is probably my favorite two-player only short game (or Asante, it’s predecessor/expansion). I have 7 Wonders: Duel and Star Wars: Rebellion waiting to be played, as well as other two-player games I think we will love, such as Mr. Jack. Thanks for the video! I’ve played Targi online, and it’s a good game that feels tense with just two. Agricola ACBAS is fun, but we love Agricola so much as a two-player game that the simplified version left us more inclined to invest a little extra time to play the big game.

The whole video I was thinking Lost Cities. Mind blown that I never heard it on any if your list. It's okay though, it's on my top 3. Along with Mr. Jack, take a look at those 2 games :D

I was going to suggest Morels (Fungi) but you seemed to have in the pipe. It would be great to hear what you think about the game. It is the game that my spouse and I have played the most and I'm not sick of it. It has something special with it. A really neat design.

My favorite 2p game has to be Android: Netrunner. It is just absolutely incredible and incredibly deep and dynamic. But my favorite 2p filler games are probably Hive Pocket and 7 Wonders Duel!

I really think what influences a persons taste in games is almost more interesting than what they think is good. For instance my list would be very different since I basically only play games two players, with my wife. This makes it difficult to separate games that are also playable at higher player counts from my list. It also means I tend to prefer somewhat more involved games and generally don’t like fillers as much. That being said as parents of two girls under two years old we don’t have time for anything much over an hour. Really liked your thoughts. 👍

I have a childhood connection to Stratego as well. Lord of the Rings: Confrontation is a great Stratego-like game. My favourite is Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn.

"Bigfoot" by Scott Almes is a 2-player game that combines "I split, you choose" with deduction in a fascinatingly unique manner. Putting it together on the fly just now, this would be my top dozen 2-player games. (Hmmm, I should do a video, too...) 12) Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small 11) Hive 10) King & Assassins 9) Steam Torpedo: First Contact 8) Le Fantôme de l'Opéra 7) Perry Rhodan: The Cosmic League 6) Raptor 5) Akrotiri 4) Star Wars: Rebellion 3) Battles of Westeros 2) Mr. Jack in New York (to represent the entire Mr. Jack family of games) 1) War of the Ring (I acquired 7 Wonders: Duel with the Pantheon expansion just 2 days ago and am eager to give it a whirl!) Thanks for the video, Jamey!

My favorite two player games are Jaipur and thunder and lightening. Both are quicker and as “crunchy” as you want them to be! Thanks for sharing yours!

I'm confused by Fantasy Football 2052 and Fantasy Baseball 2045 ; should I read Football Highlights 2052 instead ? Thanks for the video !

i really enjoy fugitive from fowers games.. have you tried that one out? it plays very fast yet strategically and hast very cool art.. plus the box is a cool little suitcase with a magnetic closure.

While it's a simple and super fast filler, the out of print Spirits of the Wild is absolutely delightful. It's easy enough for a kid to grasp but also with enough tactical choices to entertain an adult.

In my small collection, I have Hive and Claim as my 2p go to games. They're great little and fast games. I've also recently tried Patchwork and loved it, but as you said it felt to me that I would prefere A Feast for Odin.

Star Realms works for me because it is more about building the most efficient deck while under fire more than it is a combat duel.

I like your list a lot. I am a huge fan of Patchwork and Star Realms. I think you should try YINSH if you haven’t played it-it’s like a brilliant smash up of Connect Four and Othello and the bits have superb production value. I also love Innovation as a great two player game. I have been told by many people that Innovation is only good with two players and dreadful with more players.

My favorite 2-player game goes back and forth between "Schotten Totten" and "The Duke". Battleline is one that was mentioned, and it's exactly the same as Schotten Totten, but Schotten Totten is better looking.

Good vibes!

To add a few great 2 player games that my wife and I tend to lean toward. Fleet, Fleet Wharfside, Mintworks, Fjords, Morels, Shields Up, I Hate to Kill you, Odin’s Ravens, Dragon Farkle, Shut the box and Dig Down Dwarf. Those would be the ones I would say you should play.

Onitama is easily my favorite 2p game (Stratego is also one of my favorites). I really want to try War of the Ring, Hive, and Santorini.

really good video :)

Targi is fun and simple but we found it's replayability lacking. In fact, we were bored with it after about 5 or 10 plays.

Have you played Trambahn? It uses the lost cities mechanism of adding cards with increasing values by color but has more strategic depth in my opinion. Worth checking out. I've also enjoyed 7 Ronin, a nice asymmetrical 2-player game set in feudal Japan. From those already on your list, definitely check out Codenames Duet... it's surprisingly good at 2 considering it came from a party game.

Chess is so great you listed it twice :-) One fairly unknown 2-player game is Roma - it's simple and fairly quick, I haven't played it for ages but it's a good gateway game or filler. 6.8/10 on BGG

On your insights around Magic the Gathering and how every card seems to add interesting mechanics and how unique they are, I have a non-physical game suggestion: Legends of Runeterra! It's by Riot games, the people who made Mechs vs. Minions the game that you love so much. I love the interesting mechanics they have in that game and how clearly they're explained in the 9 or so tutorial games you first play starting out. It has beautiful art and animations, feels great to build your deck of cards, and very easy to understand as all the various unique mechanics are clearly explained in-game and off-game. Although it's a dueling game, no matter how hard you're being beat, there's always a chance to win if you play and time your cards right. They also have this feature called "Labs' where they release interesting experiments on the traditional duel format.... one mode they have now is where you can team up with another person, and duel two other players. They also have an interesting system of refilling energy to spend... refreshing game in the domain of Magic, Hearthstone etc. Mostly recommending this to maybe get some ideas for mechanics that can be translated to board games!

I love and enjoy Fog of Love. And I have to suggest Fugitive, it's really great police-n-thief experience. It reminds the hidden movement games, but its much faster and smaller. It only plays in two players.

Jamey, did you played 7 Wonders duel with the Pantheon expansion? Because it takes a highly tactical game and it ads strategy. Now you don’t HAVE to take a card from the pyramid, you can pay to have a new kind of action, and let your adversary to take that card. And that new kind of action makes the military or the scientific victory a real goal. In the first game it was very unlikely to pull one of those out. Now you can more or less decide from the beginning if you want to pursue a military or scientific victory. When I lost the 7 Wonders duel no expansion I said… “eh… bad luck, what can you do” When I lose 7 Wonders duel with the Pantheon I can pinpoint exactly the moment when I was stupid. No bad luck… Mistake, not paying attention, not thinking hard enough. Man, I love this. If you deserve it, you win in, if you not, you lose and you know exactly what you did wrong. I want to see that more in games. Also I recommend War of the Ring second edition. Did you play it?

Hey Jamey, have you ever tried The Duke? Great 2 player game, like advanced chess. Quick play, many variations to try and the rules are on each piece so easy to learn.

A couple we really like are Akrotiri - a pick up and deliver style game about the the same weight as Targi (about 45-60 min) and Tides of Madness (or Tides of Time) - a card drafting, set collection sort of game that plays quickly but offers some interesting choices. We would also second a couple already mentioned like Fox in the Forest, Memoir '44, and Santorini.

As much as I like playing a short, casual wargame like your favourites from time to time, nothing beats a solid miniatures wargame for me, when it comes to 1on1 competition. They have come a long way since my beginnings with Warhammer Fantasy, now I enjoy Warmachine for its incredible plethora of creative options with every turn (tournaments are played with chess clocks ALWAYS, because players can be overwhelmed by those options easily and stall), reduced impact of randomness and the hobby part outside the gaming table (planning your lists, painitng, converting etc) No regular boardgame offers that kind of scope.

Some opinions on Battlecon? Even if it seems that could not be a good game for you, since it is a dueling game with a lot to explore, even if the rules are easy. As far as my favorite 2 player game (even if it plays up to 4, it tends to be too long) is Arboretum. Great choices for a top 10.

Jamey, have you tried Codex Card Time Strategy? It does everything Magic does but improves on many of the shortcomings. My favorite two player game, along with Santorini.

I need to try Hanamikoji. Have you tried Stratego Legends? I enjoyed it because it is Stratego in a fantasy world.

Definitely give Fox in the Forest a try! It's a favorite for me and my wife :) I also mostly consider Imperial Settlers to be a 2 player game and really enjoy it as well

Gee, way to call out our Fog of Love date, Jamey. Could’ve just said I wasn’t your type. ;)

Add Jambo to the need to play list... sounds up your alley

Hanamikoji! I guessed it :D Great game indeed.

Do you use a draft cube for MtG? I've found it is a great way to have awesome draft experiences for many CCGs. :)

No two-player game in my collection has seen more plays than the "Lost Cities" card game. An excellent and addicting game that my wife and I always take with us when we travel. I may buy another copy because we have worn out the cards. It's a superb mix of strategy and luck. Whenever we introduce this to others, they want to buy it.

Nice list, you might want to try Ginkgopolis (Pearl Games) too. 45 minutes for 2 player game and yet very deep. Drafting, resource management and area control. For me, this game shines with 2 plagers because of the drafting; you have your own goals but also have to get in the head of your opponent. It gives very tense and sometimes grinding decisions. Fantastic game!!

7 wonders duela with expansion and Ashes: The Rise of Phoenixborn is my two favourite 2 player game

Hi, I love your videos :P

Nice to see Jolly & Roger get some love! A great list!

Now just to wait for Scythe Duel 😎😁

Had a feeling it was going to be Hanamikoji! Started getting nervous there towards the end that either it was 1 or not at all! It is indeed a fantastic game though.

Wow, we really share the same taste! I also still have my childhood copy of Stratego and my boys LOVE to play different versions of it (Star Wars Stratego, Pirate Stratego...). Since I know we share the same taste in board games I have ordered Jolly & Roger which luckily is still available in Germany :) If you like Agricola, have you tried the 2-player Caverna (Cave vs. Cave)? I love it and my guess is you would enjoy it very much, too!

My top 2 are Battle Line and Ravens of Thri Sahashri! Battle Line is such a great chess match, and Ravens is so unique mechanically, with such stark asymmetry in its cooperation! Fox in the Forest is a great one, too. Agricola: ACB&S is also a great 3rd flavor to the abstract card game - cooperative - resource management euro neapolitan.

If you like Chess and Onitama, you might enjoy Tak - another 2-player abstract strategy game.

Out of curiosity since you brought up not currently having interest in taking Stonemaier in the direction of two player only games - Would you ever consider working with another publisher for a duel version of one of your games? Similar to how you worked with Overworld Games for Leaders of Euphoria, which is another type of game that doesn't fit what Stonemaier tends to do as a publisher. My top 10 pure 2 player games (discounting ones I tend to play solo such as Arkham Horror the Card Game): 10. The Institute of Magical Arts - Distills the multiple tug of war experience of Twilight Struggle style games into what it claims to be a 30 minute (It tends to take us closer to an hour) experience. Has some cool stuff going on besides that, but that's the biggest draw of it for me. 9. Tides of Time - Two player drafting at about as simple as it can get. Also as small a card pool as you can get, a drafting game with 18 cards, which uses all 18 of those cards across the course of the game. 8. Patchwork - Not sure we're ever going to play this again, Indian Summer appeals to at least me more, but the simultainious button and time economies are really neat and is something both Cottage Garden and Indian Summer misses out on so I wouldn't say no if someone really wanted to play Patchwork with me. 7. Twilight Struggle - Multiple hours, hand management, multiple tug of wars with a strategic map going on. Lovely way to spend a few hours with my husband. 6. 1989: Dawn of Freedom - Very similar to Twilight Struggle, both mechanically and thematically (fall of the soviet union vs the entire cold war). Mechanically I prefer every little change except for how scoring cards work, which now involve a fairly involved minigame which I apparently don't even like at two players without the downtime issue. Oscillates with TS for me a lot due to this. 5. 7 Wonders: Duel - Love the pyramid draft. Easily my favourite pure drafting game at two, dedicated two player game or otherwise. I tend to prefer drafting games that aren't as pure a draft, but for pure drafting at two? 95% of the time this is the game I'm going to want to play, and I wish we'd see this pyramid draft in other games, either at two or at higher player counts. 4. Agricola: All Creatures Big And Small - Very nice, pure, worker placement game, especially once you add the More Buildings expansion in which adds some variability to the setup. 3. Caverna: Cave vs Cave - Not sure if this replaces All Creatures Big and Small for me, but it's a similar distillation of Caverna, focusing on furnishing your cave instead of animal husbandry, and I tend to gravitate to it over All Creatures because it's less mathy. Not so keen on not having physical workers but instead being an action draft with changing amount of actions as the game progresses, that can be awkward to keep track of even with a game where you use the same amount of workers as your opponent throughout. 2. Jaipur - Lovely little two player trading game, which is rare to see, played as best of 3 so you could easily extend or reduce the game length by just playing a single match or a best of five. 1. Wir Sind Das Volk! - Heavy economic game with a decent amount of asymetry, about the economic conflict between East and West Germany. Love the use of a public draft rather than the hand management which most games of this variety I've seen uses, love the economic . Ridiculously heavy, however, and to add to the learning curve most things you're doing is manipulating levers for the end of the decade rather than directly doing thing. West Germany has a harder time to learn than East Germany, because West has to play offense, while all East has to do to win is survive until the end of the game so can play defense which is easier for newer players to do.

Pocket Hive. More portable than any game previosly mentioned. With all three expansions more strategic than even chess. Worth checking out.

Targi rocks, even though I find it hard getting people to play my German version with. And yes, Stratego. I also still own my childhood version. Haven, Lost Cities, Tash Kalar and Naga Raja are some of my recent favorites for 2.

Starship Catan is one of my all time favorite 2 player games. I wish they'd reprint it. I know it was reprinted as a different game with a different theme, but it's not the same as the Starship Catan theme.

Very Nice list. What from your games do you prefer to play in 2p? I know all of them are designed for more players.

I do admit that a legacy or modern or vintage cube draft is very hard to beat

If you like chess and MTG drafting, I highly suggest Knightmare Chess!

For 2 players fillers I go to Tides of Time/Madness and Claim. For non fillers I go to Stronghold 2nd er. and Sola Fide.

This will probably change, but for now mine are, in no order, Klask 7 Wonders Duel Braverats Fox In The Forest Onitama Chess The Game Blokus Duo Sonar Jaipur

My 2-player games mostly encompass my son and I playing and as we're both not keen on sharp competition we tend to play storytelling (like 'Legacy of Dragonholt') or puzzle-solving games ('Exit', 'Unlock' etc). The key is often that the game should be easy to set up, easy to learn, and easy on game length. I do prefer 1-4 player games. Having said that, of my 2 games-in-design one is solo and the other is 6-10 players. Both with social themes.

My 2 recommendations. Blood bowl, and Space Hulk (with a timer). Nothing feels more like Aliens 2 the movie, than playing Space Hulk with a timer....

Fun video! I love two player games. One I’d recommend is Warhammer Underworlds: Shadespire/Night Vault. It’s a great card driven head to head game. It does have a lot of combat, but it’s objective focused too. Actions are tight (only 12 the whole game) but it provides a lot of fun exciting moments

Have you played Magic the Gathering Arena? The open beta just came out and it's good.

Ive only played Scythe so far, but I felt like it was excellent at 2 players! Maybe continue making excellent two player games, with a solo variant and can play 3- however many 😂

Is that tapestry on the table before it was fully realized given the time this video was recorded?

hmm this is tough for me since nearly all my "2 player games" are just 4 player games that play well at 2: 5. stratego 4. crokinole 3. twilight struggle 2. star realms 1. 7 Wonders duel

Pyramid arcade( all 2 player games) and hanamikoji!

I'll add these two games to try by Bruno Cathala : "Mr Jack pocket" (with Ludovic Maublanc), a high burning neurons little game + the recent "Jurassic Snack", a childish quick and fun game (play very well with "Raptor" ;) ) Oh, and I love the "Codenames" duo variant (in the multiplayer one), it's very clever, give it a try!! But I never compare it to "Codemanes duet"... Someone has?

Did you ever play Odin’s Ravens? I really enjoy it

Fort Sumter is well worth a look 👍

I do agree with your opinion that dueling games are a bit repetitive, but I absolutely love Dominion as a 2 player game. It feels more like two players trying to get above one another, not trying to push each other down.

I realize Five Tribes doesn't fit you criteria for two player games, however, it adds a mechanism that actually makes the game play more interesting at a two player count. And the extra action each turn makes the bidding for turn order so much more important at two players. It is one of my go to games for 2 players.

It is hard to justify 2 player only games these days, but I still love Star Wars: CCG and by extension, its short lived successor, Wars TCG, both by Decipher. There is just so much strategic depth to these games. I also rather love Star Wars: Rebellion. If you like Star Realms, there is also Cthulthy Realms as well. I think both games are cool and different enough to own both. Both games also can be played with more players. I played quite a bit of Stratego back in the day with my friend. It was cool way back when, but it has been ages since I last played. I also know how to play Magic, but I have never owned any decks. I'm sure there are so many more games that I'm forgetting about for now, oh well. I gotta go.

Great video Jamey. I love Raptor and think you'll love the chess-like strategies of movement, dual card actions, and head game vs opponent. Thunder & Lightning has great card interactions and elements of Stratego (hiding crown/ring in your hand vs battlefield). I guess I need to check out Hanamikoji :)

IS THAT A STONEMAIER GAMES PROTOTYPING SESSION IN THE BACKGROUND?!!! Okay, I've recovered. Sorry about that. I didn't hear Twilight Struggle on your list. I've not played that either, but I know it's really high on many people's list. Didn't hear it on your "have played" or "want to play". I haven't played many 2p games, but I am interested in getting more. My own list would include (app only): 4. Onitama, 3. Star Realms, 2. Ascension (does this count or can it play more?), 1. Jaipur. Physical games that make my 2p favorite list are all classics: 4. Stratego, 3. Cribbage, 2. Scrabble (this is 2-4 but the 2p version is so far superior), and 1. Chess. Chess, for me, is the pinnacle of 2p games, whether it is rapid chess or classic time limits or no time limits. I get consumed by a chess disease every few years, and I'm in the throes of it again. Plus it's a game where we have tens of thousands of recorded games (including games of the greats of the last century) so there's no end of ways to study it. 2p games on my wish list right now: Hanamikoji at the top, then The Duke, though this seems to be out of print. I played Hive once and it didn't really click for me, but I might have to give that another chance.

Jamey if you love Stratego you NEED to try Knizia's LoTR:Confrontation (it's OOP but man it's a great little game. Fast too) . Also, small correction: it's Football Highlights 2052 (not fantasy football). Likewise, Baseball highlights 2045

Thunder and lightning fired stratego for me.

Keyforge is currently my favorite

What do you think about Shards of infinity ? Vs Star realms ?

I think you should try war chest if you like chess

Also klask and pyramid poker!

What's going on in the background Mr. Stegmaier???

Hanamikoji is indeed excellent!! I’d also add Memoir 44 👍

Haven?

Blue Moon!

I am a huge fan of Richard Borgs Command and Colors system, thus I love Memoir 44, Battlecry, Battlelore, The Great War, and Command and Colors Ancients. Great list, sir.

I'd say try Claim! and War Chest. Claim! killed Fox and Forest for me.

You should try 13 days

You should play Mr Jack il you like Bruno Cathala (and Ludovic Maublanc)^^ And few Games Of Dr Steve Finn : Capo dei Capi, The Institute Of Magical Arts

You really do need to try Odin’s Ravens! It’s amazing

Surprised Lost Cities wasn’t somewhere in here. I’ve played thousands of games thanks to the great (though old) iOS app. Light on theme but heavy on strategy :)

Have you played Raptor since then?

Love Targi, my current #1 two player game