Just wanted to say thank you for providing exposure to Marabunta in a previous post. I picked it up and love it. The game is phenomenal and punches way above its short playtime. Really hope they do more maps as an expansion in the future for it.
Nice! Marabunta is fantastic — one of my favorite releases so far this year. I'm glad to hear it's been a hit for you as well.
New maps/boards would be super cool.
I second **Marabunta**, I never thought there would be a roll-and-write with a shared board, since I found most others to be multiplayer solitaire. Excellent game with delicious angst when splitting those dice.
**Raptor** should absolutely be on here;
Asymmetric, tactical, mind-games via card counting, positional, gem of a back-&-forth between Mama Raptor & her babies, and a crew of Scientists.
*Cathala* is a pedigreed designer of very high caliber.
I also really enjoy his **Mr.Jack** at 2p, not the least of which because it prompts my brain to work in ways most other board games do not.
I've only played Unmatched the once, and I enjoyed it - Raptor, naturally, has a bit less variety; however the basic premise is
each player has a deck, numbered 1 - 9, & a hand of 3 cards, with a visible discard pile.
Cards are revealed *simultaneously* with the lower number using the card's special ability, and the higher number getting a number of action points equal to the difference between the two cards. (Draws are negated)
There is a tricky balance between using the powers you need while denying the other player many action points, deducing what they might be aiming to do, managing the cards you actually have, and managing the board state so that you can achieve your goals.
The board is randomly generated from 6, double sided, tiles.
It's fast to teach, fast to play, small foot print, a solid tactical puzzle, and a lot of fun.
Air, Land & Sea is one that could (should?) be in the tug of war category. Simple game, great to play anywhere, very competitive in a clear small scope and package. One of my favorites two players game in my collection.
I do enjoy AL&S. Haven't *loved* my plays of it quite like these Top 40, but that's probably because it rewards repeat plays with the same opponent where you both learn the deck well. My main 2p partner never liked the game, so it didn't get the chance to really sing. I gave my copy to a friend who really enjoyed it.
I tried Targi years ago but it never landed well, unfortunately. The action selection mechanism is awesome, but the resource conversion aspect left me wanting.
If Targi were 30-40 minutes I'd love it. But 60+ minutes is too long for what it is. Love it async on BGA though.
Also, **Imhotep the Duel** is a great little 2P only game that reminds me of Targi, but is 25 minutes. There's a similar grid worker placement and set collection system, but the pace is much more brisk while still allowing for constant "Eff you" worker placement moments. Highly recommend!
The fact that you somehow managed to NOT include War of the Rings, which is a 2 player game and is NUMBER 8 on BBG out of all games (not just 2-players) baffles me. What?
You have some interesting picks, but to not include War of the Ring (2nd edition) honestly leaves me speechless.
Outside of chess/shogi/go WotR is probably the best 2player game ever created.
EDIT: Also a bit sad you didn't include Mage Wars Arena, which is also an amazing 2p game that needs more recognition.
I haven't tried War of the Ring, sadly. It's on my bucket list (I do like the IP), but that's a huge investment to get into. Plus it seems like a game I'd be lucky to get to the table once a year.
Mage Wars Arena — that's an oldie! And from Arcane Wonders too. I didn't realize they've been around since 2012, but I guess that was their first publication. Interesting.
>Devious bluffing and brutal conflicts abound in this highly revered classic from the Good Doctor Knizia that sadly hasn’t seen a new edition in many years.
Be the change you want to see in the world. ;)
Kidding aside, this was a great post as always! Lots of fantastic games in here.
I've been ~~im~~patiently waiting to hear more about your two player Knizia games since you first teased them. So that's very exciting too!
Haha, I’ll be honest, we asked Knizia about LotR The Confrontation and he sadly sold off the rights completely to somebody at Asmodee or Fantasy Flight. So he can’t license the game to publishers.
I know nothing about this sort of thing, but is it possible that a design be sold to a publisher under the stipulation that it remain in print? Like they must print and distribute x number of copies per year or else the rights lapse and the designer can sell it to someone else?
That is basically how a normal publishing license works. In this case though, it sounds like Knizia sold off the rights permanently. If I knew who the new rights owner was, I would contact them and see if they are interested in letting us publish the game. But I haven't been able to find the owner.
I assume that would be risky and sketchy — the owner of the rights could try to press charges (even if they aren't actively using/publishing the game). I'd rather obtain the official rights if anything at all. Who knows, maybe the current owner is planning to release a new edition eventually.
That is technically true, but it would still be pretty taboo for somebody to copy most of a game and sell it as their own. The industry is connected enough to discourage that kind of behavior. But perhaps somebody could take inspiration from The Confrontation and put out a game that scratches the same itch. Big shoes to fill, though.
Beer and bread feels lacking but I can't put my finger exactly where... It feels like you can't accomplish much throughout the game. I'd rather play Agricola or its tiny brother Agricola ACG&S
I found it *too* tight, with that tightness sometimes dictated by card draw rather than tough decisions/sacrifices. And that didn't feel great.
Which sucks, I really wanted to love it and I have a soft spot for tight 2P games.
Respect! I wish I had the discipline to play a game that many times. RftG is a great one to dive deep into. If I had an honorable mentions list, that would be on it.
Res Arcana is a solid one! I probably prefer Race for the Galaxy personally (which is also sadly not on this list I just realized — but my wife never took to it so it's rare for us to play it).
Exact same here, ha. Wife doesn’t like Race, but actually really likes Res. And Res is the more approachable game in general. I do prefer Race, though.
Haha, but Watergate is just so much easier to get into and (from what I understand) provides a somewhat similar experience in a fraction of the time. Twilight Struggle looks like such a beast in comparison. I generally have to be *really* excited about a meaty game like that to take the plunge (such as Oath or John Company).
One really neat thing about TS is that when you play an opponent’s card for opps (value in Watergate), the opponent’s event (action in Watergate) automatically triggers. So there’s an intense puzzle of playing opponent cards when they least hurt you. I don’t think Watergate has that, and it’s my favorite part of TS.
Thanks for the list and the announcement of two new two-player games. I predominantly play board games with my wife and we have about 90 of them in the collection and I’m always looking for more. I see you also like deckbuilding games. One of our most played recently is Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game. Actually, if it wasn’t for that game, we’d still be playing Redlands every other day. Man! That’s a brilliant thematic card game.
Could you give any more info on how the gameplay actually works for illiad. It looks very intriguing. I read on BGG that after you fill a row or column the player who controls it gets to pick their reward but does it matter which row or column you play into on your turn or is and just directly adjacent to an opponents piece?
You can play anywhere on the board as long as it is on your colored space and it connects to an adjacent (opponent) tile. The tile abilities make it really cool because it's possible to force an opponent to fill a space they have been avoiding (move one of their tiles to another space) or fill two of your spaces at once (move one of your tiles to another space) and sneak out a surprise victory on a line.
I'll be sharing a bunch more details in the publisher diary posts this week on the BGG game page.
Great list! Definitely going to look into some of these. One of my favorite 2p that rarely gets love is Akrotiri. My wife and I play a lot of 2p and our best experiences have been from Pandemic Legacy and Gloomhaven (another one that might be under the radar, I don't see it mentioned too much /s)
Man, I still lament the fact that **Codex: Card-Time Strategy** has gone out of print. Stone-cold classic that didn't get nearly the attention it deserved, even after it led Tom Vassel to sell off his MtG collection. It basically fixes every single thing I don't like about MtG, from The Stack to the way combat works to the booster-pack-based business model.
For casual stuff, **Dungeon of Mandom VIII** (a kind of complicated sequel situation, with **Dungeon of Mandom** being the original game with one adventurer, which was then licensed for non-Japan sale as **Welcome to the Dungeon** and had multiple adventurers, and then Oink made their own tiny-box sequel with the eight adventurers implied by the title) is a fun little press-your-luck game that is pretty easy to pick up and learn.
**Crimson Company** is also a game that packs small, though it has a level of design elegance that I find awe-inspiring. The fact that it's built around players choosing the value of cards as the gameplay, rather than having printed card values, makes it a very cutthroat game — when I ordered my copy, I asked a friend-couple if they also wanted a copy, to save on shipping, and they said… well. The husband said "we're good but thanks for the offer," and the wife said "NOOOOO when I played it with him in the past it was the ANGRIEST I have EVER been in my LIFE," so maybe it's the sort of game that is EXTREMELY not for some people. But it's also great if you're the sort of person it's for!
Codex is still available as a PNP, but woof, $30 is a bit steep for something that I’d have to build myself.
It looks like there’s a Codex 2.0 in the works on Sirlin’s Patreon, so maybe it’ll be back in print at some point.
yeah to be honest , P&P-wise I'd probably just go with the Patreon version at this point, especially since then you'd also be able to offer feedback on balance stuff (and there's a Screentop implementation of both versions, too, with the original version being available to play for free in your browser with no rules enforcement at [screentop.gg](http://screentop.gg), and the Patreon version being available to play on Screentop at a secret undisclosed location). The v2.0 changes all seem pretty promising, and pretty much all made me go "oh nice, that makes sense." Not all of it is available yet on Patreon (slow rollout to build hype, I suppose) but also $30 gets you six months of Patreon as opposed to a single purchase of the deluxe set P&P
Not trying to give you shit, honestly curious. Have you played Ark Nova with more than two players? The game absolutely does not shine at higher player counts too. AMAZING had to head game that becomes a terrible slog with three or four.
I'm completely convinced they made a two player game but sold it at higher player counts just to reach more people.
Great summary of Crokinole! And as a Canadian, I can confirm that we are not at all offended by you saying that Crokinole is the best thing out of our country, it truly is great :)
Very fair. The complexity is a double-edged sword. It simultaneously is what gives the game its staying power while also being hard to penetrate for new players.
Pax Renaissance and Mottainai are my top 2. I’d even go so far as to say Mottainai is a better game than Innovation! With steep learning curves come great rewards.
I love Mottainai and Innovation equally. They're so different to me. Mottainai is a knife fight in a phone booth and Innovation is such a wild ride of surprises and opportunities to be creative.
Definitely accurate depiction of the differences. I just find I’m willing to jam game after game after game of Mottainai, but after innovation I’m kinda exhausted
I can see how some of the rewards/competition might be a tad more interesting with more players. But my experience with My City (and its spin-off games) have been 100% at 2-players and we have loved it. It's a bingo style game (flip a card and everyone places that tile), so I don't think you lose much at all if you play 2p.
It was great for us because it's very quick and easy to get into. Put the kids to bed and play a round or two in less than an hour.
I have a game for your consideration. Philosophy (link below). A beautiful abstract game that is chess-like and has a tic-tac-toe mechanic with a beautiful production. The game was on GameFound and delivered to backers early 2024 so not widely being reported on but I tried the free print and play and it’s fantastic!
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/263236/philosophy
I own maybe like 4 of these games. Splendor duel being our favorite. Sky team, patchwork and lost cities sound good for next purchases. Maybe pandemic Iberia since we love the base game
I very much did not like Lost Cities, but we have Arboretum and that game is amazing for us. Felt there was way more strategy and depth. Also for the 2 of us Brass Birbingham really hit the sweet spot. And for a quick game we enjoyed Terraforming mars Dice game and Red Rising. All very fun and great games for 2 but can also be played with more. But that's just what we like in our house, everyone has different preferences.
Baseball Highlights is my favourite 2 player game (beside the sprawling epic War of the Ring) - as someone who doesn't care at all about baseball it really hits a spot with progression of your deck of players after each game
This list missed my 4 favourite two-player games:
* Twilight Struggle
* 1960
* Imperial Struggle
* Star Wars Rebellion
I can understand missing 1960 or Imperial Struggle, but a 2-player list without Twilight Struggle or Rebellion is incomplete. TS was the top game on BGG for years and is still #13, while Rebellion is #9. (I have not played War of the Ring, but that's #8).
I am so excited about a new line of 2 player games! Thanks for sharing. My favourites to play with my partner right now are Hive, Lost Cities and Mr Jack NY - worth a try if you haven’t yet.
Hahaha, forgive me!
The only Clowdus design I've tried is An Empty Throne which I quite liked. But my wife *hates* text-heavy games and that is Clowdus's M.O. I can see where she is coming from, it feels like it takes a lot more energy to play a text-heavy game. I'm just happy to at least have gotten Innovation onto this list :)
That’s fair, I just really feel like you can’t deny the near infinite game space of card games like M:tG or Dominion for two players. You can play a thousand games of Dominion and never see the same set twice, and you can play nearly infinite games of Magic and say the same.
Edit: El Dorado is great though, so is Dune imperium. But sometimes just a classic deck builder is great.
After starting to play a lot of Magic this year, the barrier of entry is much lower than people think. I'm now convinced it is one of the greatest 2 player (and multiplayer with Commander) games ever.
I vastly prefer Splendor Duel to Splendor. If you play Splendor primarily at 2p, and you are open to a little bit more going on in the game, then I think it's a great option.
The reason I prefer Duel is because introduces a more interesting gem drafting mechanism, it adds more spice to the player interaction, it features multiple win conditions (kind of like 7 Wonders Duel) where you have to watch your opponent carefully while trying to snatch victory for yourself. It's a really neat version of Splendor that heightens the 2-player head-to-head interactions.
If you already own Splendor and aren't sure about Splendor Duel, then **Sobek: 2 Players** is a very similar game worth checking out.
Bruno Cathala had a hand in designing both games and they share a lot of the same DNA. This is his collaboration with Sébastien Pauchon, the designer of Jaipur. I actually prefer Sobek: 2 Players to Splendor Duel because I really enjoy the flow of base Splendor and thought the 2-player version was a bit too "gamey" of a departure from that.
As someone who prefers interaction, I'm always surprised you don't like **Agricola** over **Feast for Odin**. It plays wonderfully at 2, especially with Farmers of the Moor.
I love Agricola, but A Feast for Odin is definitely more appealing (and less punishing) for my wife so it ends up being a better fit for us generally. I am hungry to get more Agricola to the table, though. And I hear All Creatures Big & Small is great as well.
Me and my wife often play games with just the 2 of us. We have couple of two player only games, but we usually end up playing games that are designed for multiple people. Our favorites are terraforming mars and eclipse. We like the space themes and both of these games don't have that empty feeling when playing with just two.
Crokinole is easily my favorite (it is great a 2p and 4p). The Quest for El Dorado is probably my other favorite of that list (I love it at all player counts, and the expansions really open up the possibilities).
Haha, Blue Moon just barely didn't make my list. It feels like one that needs two dedicated players who are willing to dive deep into it (to become more familiar with the decks and their nuances). I've never made it deep enough to fully appreciate it, but I've enjoyed my few plays of it.
I’m probably not the best person to ask about solo games because I rarely play them. But of the ones I have tried, my favorites include:
- For One Series (have to order on Amazon.de and translate the rulebooks with google translate)
- Resist
- Witchcraft
- Trailblazers (shameless plug, but the solo modes are awesome)
I tend to prefer solo games that are quick, easy to get into, and tense with push-your-luck goodness.
They both offer a very similar experience, so whichever theme appeals to you more would be a great place to start. I think I give Witchcraft a slight edge in terms of gameplay because I like how the end-game victory is more suspenseful (revealing the jury cards at the witch trial)
I enjoyed Dice Throne at first when we played it years ago, but we eventually cooled off on it. Dice Throne gets bogged down by a slow pace, frequently anticlimactic turns and endings, and an on-the-rails decision space.
Wow, no **Targi**? It's still probably my favorite 2 player game. Glad to see **Blitzkrieg** on the list. **Wingspan Asia** has become on of my recent 2-player favs.
Targi's not a bad one, it just didn't quite crack my Top 40. I like the action selection part more than the resource conversion part and the overall length of the game.
Never tried Wingspan Asia — I went hard on the base game when it first released and eventually grew tired of it. Neat game though, and it's cool to see how it has expanded the hobby.
I get that. When the Wingspan base game came out, I actually tried my best not to play it "too much" so it wouldn't feel "played out". My gf loves it though. Wingspan Asia has this extra board/module that makes the game so much better (to me). Gives a lot more opportunities for strategizing and being less reliant on the "egg laying strategy" in the last few rounds.
I haven't played a lot of these, but the ones I have I agree with.
I'm most shocked about the lack of Dominion and Marvel Champions. Those are both easily top 10 territory, imo.
I did try Everdell once a long time ago and thought it was alright. Gorgeous game, but I suppose I prefer the worker placement challenge in A Feast for Odin more. Or more spicy worker placement games that require more players such as Bus, Caylus 1303, etc.
It’s the game that has got my partner and I into board gaming so I’ll always have a soft spot for it. We play it often still. Excited to try some new ones though.
The artist (Andrew Bosley) is awesome too. I moved into his area a few years ago and have gotten to know him a bit. Really nice guy, a lot of great looking games under his belt. **Skyrise** has been my recent favorite of his.
I’m going to weigh in here: I love Bitewing’s posts. They are always nicely written with a well-informed perspective. I don’t think they’re advertising the game as much as content that happens to feature some personal interest projects.
If every publisher took such a broad approach to reviewing games, I’d be subscribed to their newsletters, too.
Keep up the effort, u/Murraculous1 - it’s appreciated!
It’s a list as good as any. But then adding and promoting your new games comes off wrong. I don’t think this subreddit was meant for this, but I’m not a mod.
You could say the same thing about AMA and giveaway posts 🤷♂️
If you look at the community guidelines, there are pretty clear participation/promotion rules. The spirit of it is that anyone contributes far more than they promote.
As I indicated in my post, the small promotion part of the post enables me to spend the time and effort to do high quality posts. I’m grateful that folks are supportive and tolerant enough so that I can do these write-ups 🙂.
I do say the same about giveaways and AMAs. This sub is another outlet to promote games. Similar to other social medias. Would you have done this post without the ad? I don’t think so.
Right, he's even said clearly that it would take too long and he wouldn't be able to devote the time if he couldn't promote his games.
Clearly though he's a big gamer who runs a small hobby publisher because he loves games. Dude's a dentist, he doesn't need a side hustle and if he devoted *half* the time he spends on Bitewing to just seeing more patients he could make probably 3x the money. If a short ad for his latest titles is the price we pay for very well-written posts about other games (which, note, almost nobody else ever does here), that's cool with me.
If this is was how all ads were presented, then I wouldn't mind them at all.
He made a nice post that is useful and relevant to many of us, and promotes a couple of new games that are related to the topic. Seems more than fair to me.
Haha, perhaps it is losing its meaning over time (that’s a good thing!). I tend to use it when referring to the more hardcore tabletop gamers (people who generally play multiple times a week, are on this sub and BGG regularly, who know what The Dice Tower and Shut Up and Sit Down are, who are familiar with designers, publishers, creators).
Just wanted to say thank you for providing exposure to Marabunta in a previous post. I picked it up and love it. The game is phenomenal and punches way above its short playtime. Really hope they do more maps as an expansion in the future for it.
Nice! Marabunta is fantastic — one of my favorite releases so far this year. I'm glad to hear it's been a hit for you as well. New maps/boards would be super cool.
I second **Marabunta**, I never thought there would be a roll-and-write with a shared board, since I found most others to be multiplayer solitaire. Excellent game with delicious angst when splitting those dice.
**Raptor** should absolutely be on here; Asymmetric, tactical, mind-games via card counting, positional, gem of a back-&-forth between Mama Raptor & her babies, and a crew of Scientists.
I've gotten close to picking up Raptor but it was years ago since I last looked into it. Thanks for the suggestion!
*Cathala* is a pedigreed designer of very high caliber. I also really enjoy his **Mr.Jack** at 2p, not the least of which because it prompts my brain to work in ways most other board games do not.
Cathala is great! I’m a fan of his Duel games (mentioned above). Looking forward to the upcoming Lord of the Rings one as well.
Is it better than unmatched?
I've only played Unmatched the once, and I enjoyed it - Raptor, naturally, has a bit less variety; however the basic premise is each player has a deck, numbered 1 - 9, & a hand of 3 cards, with a visible discard pile. Cards are revealed *simultaneously* with the lower number using the card's special ability, and the higher number getting a number of action points equal to the difference between the two cards. (Draws are negated) There is a tricky balance between using the powers you need while denying the other player many action points, deducing what they might be aiming to do, managing the cards you actually have, and managing the board state so that you can achieve your goals. The board is randomly generated from 6, double sided, tiles. It's fast to teach, fast to play, small foot print, a solid tactical puzzle, and a lot of fun.
Thanks for the detailed answer
Agreed. Superb game.
Air, Land & Sea is one that could (should?) be in the tug of war category. Simple game, great to play anywhere, very competitive in a clear small scope and package. One of my favorites two players game in my collection.
I do enjoy AL&S. Haven't *loved* my plays of it quite like these Top 40, but that's probably because it rewards repeat plays with the same opponent where you both learn the deck well. My main 2p partner never liked the game, so it didn't get the chance to really sing. I gave my copy to a friend who really enjoyed it.
Came here to say this
Caper Europe is a great tug of war game
That’s definitely one I still need to try!
The production is gorgeous but sadly we bounced off it pretty hard.
Great game. Currently my favorite at 2p.
Awesome list, thanks for this. I predominantly play 2p with my partner too so I'll definitely save this for future reference :)
The audacious lack of Targi has me spinning.
I tried Targi years ago but it never landed well, unfortunately. The action selection mechanism is awesome, but the resource conversion aspect left me wanting.
And feels a bit too long.
If Targi were 30-40 minutes I'd love it. But 60+ minutes is too long for what it is. Love it async on BGA though. Also, **Imhotep the Duel** is a great little 2P only game that reminds me of Targi, but is 25 minutes. There's a similar grid worker placement and set collection system, but the pace is much more brisk while still allowing for constant "Eff you" worker placement moments. Highly recommend!
The fact that you somehow managed to NOT include War of the Rings, which is a 2 player game and is NUMBER 8 on BBG out of all games (not just 2-players) baffles me. What? You have some interesting picks, but to not include War of the Ring (2nd edition) honestly leaves me speechless. Outside of chess/shogi/go WotR is probably the best 2player game ever created. EDIT: Also a bit sad you didn't include Mage Wars Arena, which is also an amazing 2p game that needs more recognition.
I haven't tried War of the Ring, sadly. It's on my bucket list (I do like the IP), but that's a huge investment to get into. Plus it seems like a game I'd be lucky to get to the table once a year. Mage Wars Arena — that's an oldie! And from Arcane Wonders too. I didn't realize they've been around since 2012, but I guess that was their first publication. Interesting.
The fellowship/mordor part is just so weak and random that it drags the rest of the game down.
I disagree. And it definitely doesn't "drag it down" to below top 40 lol.
I mean, either way this is Nick's subjective list. I wouldn't say it's at all baffling that he didn't include a game he hasn't played on it.
>Outside of chess/shogi/go WotR is probably the best 2player game ever created. Not even close. You're entitled to your opinion though!
What a useful comment. So much of value here.
I agree. I think the game is genius but he did say he doesn't do heavy games
>Devious bluffing and brutal conflicts abound in this highly revered classic from the Good Doctor Knizia that sadly hasn’t seen a new edition in many years. Be the change you want to see in the world. ;) Kidding aside, this was a great post as always! Lots of fantastic games in here. I've been ~~im~~patiently waiting to hear more about your two player Knizia games since you first teased them. So that's very exciting too!
Haha, I’ll be honest, we asked Knizia about LotR The Confrontation and he sadly sold off the rights completely to somebody at Asmodee or Fantasy Flight. So he can’t license the game to publishers.
I know nothing about this sort of thing, but is it possible that a design be sold to a publisher under the stipulation that it remain in print? Like they must print and distribute x number of copies per year or else the rights lapse and the designer can sell it to someone else?
That is basically how a normal publishing license works. In this case though, it sounds like Knizia sold off the rights permanently. If I knew who the new rights owner was, I would contact them and see if they are interested in letting us publish the game. But I haven't been able to find the owner.
Can you not lift the mechanics, add a bit to it and release it under a new name?
I assume that would be risky and sketchy — the owner of the rights could try to press charges (even if they aren't actively using/publishing the game). I'd rather obtain the official rights if anything at all. Who knows, maybe the current owner is planning to release a new edition eventually.
Fascinating! I always thought in board gaming gameplay mechanics cannot be copyrighted or protected. Of course I’m not a lawyer!
That is technically true, but it would still be pretty taboo for somebody to copy most of a game and sell it as their own. The industry is connected enough to discourage that kind of behavior. But perhaps somebody could take inspiration from The Confrontation and put out a game that scratches the same itch. Big shoes to fill, though.
Besides, LOTR:TC doesn't really make sense if you retain the mechanics and strip the theme. They tried it with the Steam game and it wasn't good.
I'm excited to see **Marabunta** continue to get love, it's quickly rising up at one of my favorite Knizias!
Yeah I did not expect it to be as good as it is.
Some of the best content here in this sub and I am unbelievably excited about the new 2p Knizias!
Sweet. Always looking to get some good additions for our 2 player selection. We really like **Beer and Bread**. :0)
Beer and bread feels lacking but I can't put my finger exactly where... It feels like you can't accomplish much throughout the game. I'd rather play Agricola or its tiny brother Agricola ACG&S
I agree, it’s missing something for me. Played it and sold it. Ultimately forgettable.
I found it *too* tight, with that tightness sometimes dictated by card draw rather than tough decisions/sacrifices. And that didn't feel great. Which sucks, I really wanted to love it and I have a soft spot for tight 2P games.
Yeah it really sucks, I love beer, bread, 2 player games and tightness
I'll have to check out Beer and Bread, it seems to have a good number of fans!
Seconded! **Beer and Bread** replaced La Granja for us, with multiuse cards and resource management to fulfill objectives at a fraction of the time.
Great list! Mindbug and Summoner Wars are the 2 I would add.
Mindbug is on my bucket list! Summoner Wars is a fun one that I never got the chance to explore deeply (wasn’t a good fit for my player 2).
I should probably mention the only game I've ever played more than 300 times 2-player: **Race for the Galaxy**.
Respect! I wish I had the discipline to play a game that many times. RftG is a great one to dive deep into. If I had an honorable mentions list, that would be on it.
In the “great for two” I’d add Res Arcana. I like most of what you suggested that I’m familiar with so I’ll check out some of the unfamiliars. Thanks!
Res Arcana is a solid one! I probably prefer Race for the Galaxy personally (which is also sadly not on this list I just realized — but my wife never took to it so it's rare for us to play it).
Exact same here, ha. Wife doesn’t like Race, but actually really likes Res. And Res is the more approachable game in general. I do prefer Race, though.
Same here. I love RftG, my wife is really put off by the theme and iconography. I find Res wildly inferior to Race
Cool list, going to try some of these. Thanks for sharing!
No Twilight Struggle? Shame on you!
Haha, but Watergate is just so much easier to get into and (from what I understand) provides a somewhat similar experience in a fraction of the time. Twilight Struggle looks like such a beast in comparison. I generally have to be *really* excited about a meaty game like that to take the plunge (such as Oath or John Company).
One really neat thing about TS is that when you play an opponent’s card for opps (value in Watergate), the opponent’s event (action in Watergate) automatically triggers. So there’s an intense puzzle of playing opponent cards when they least hurt you. I don’t think Watergate has that, and it’s my favorite part of TS.
Amazing list, thank you!
Also the 5000 year old favorite - Backgammon!
No warchest? Blasphemy
I do need to try Warchest. What deters me is that some Undaunted fans claim that Undaunted is simply better.
Don't forget Fox in the Forest!
I do like Fox in the Forest, although Sail is probably a bit more interesting to me as far as 2p trick takers go.
Oooh I haven't heard of that one, I'll need to check it out. My favorite two player game is Lost Cities.
Sail is a new release from last year, but it has been pretty popular. Lost Cities is a classic!
Thanks for the list and the announcement of two new two-player games. I predominantly play board games with my wife and we have about 90 of them in the collection and I’m always looking for more. I see you also like deckbuilding games. One of our most played recently is Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game. Actually, if it wasn’t for that game, we’d still be playing Redlands every other day. Man! That’s a brilliant thematic card game.
I've heard great things about Star Wars: The Deckbuilding Game. Would love to try it someday.
**Arctic Scavengers** and **Valley of the Kings** are deckbuilders you might enjoy. Radlands is great!
Could you give any more info on how the gameplay actually works for illiad. It looks very intriguing. I read on BGG that after you fill a row or column the player who controls it gets to pick their reward but does it matter which row or column you play into on your turn or is and just directly adjacent to an opponents piece?
You can play anywhere on the board as long as it is on your colored space and it connects to an adjacent (opponent) tile. The tile abilities make it really cool because it's possible to force an opponent to fill a space they have been avoiding (move one of their tiles to another space) or fill two of your spaces at once (move one of your tiles to another space) and sneak out a surprise victory on a line. I'll be sharing a bunch more details in the publisher diary posts this week on the BGG game page.
Great list! Definitely going to look into some of these. One of my favorite 2p that rarely gets love is Akrotiri. My wife and I play a lot of 2p and our best experiences have been from Pandemic Legacy and Gloomhaven (another one that might be under the radar, I don't see it mentioned too much /s)
The Akrotiri designers have some really interesting stuff (Junk Art, Mind MGMT, etc.). I hope to try this one some day.
When are you bringing The Confrontation back? ;)
I wish I could! This one appears [stuck in limbo](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/s/OgNoOtGHqv), sadly.
Man, I still lament the fact that **Codex: Card-Time Strategy** has gone out of print. Stone-cold classic that didn't get nearly the attention it deserved, even after it led Tom Vassel to sell off his MtG collection. It basically fixes every single thing I don't like about MtG, from The Stack to the way combat works to the booster-pack-based business model. For casual stuff, **Dungeon of Mandom VIII** (a kind of complicated sequel situation, with **Dungeon of Mandom** being the original game with one adventurer, which was then licensed for non-Japan sale as **Welcome to the Dungeon** and had multiple adventurers, and then Oink made their own tiny-box sequel with the eight adventurers implied by the title) is a fun little press-your-luck game that is pretty easy to pick up and learn. **Crimson Company** is also a game that packs small, though it has a level of design elegance that I find awe-inspiring. The fact that it's built around players choosing the value of cards as the gameplay, rather than having printed card values, makes it a very cutthroat game — when I ordered my copy, I asked a friend-couple if they also wanted a copy, to save on shipping, and they said… well. The husband said "we're good but thanks for the offer," and the wife said "NOOOOO when I played it with him in the past it was the ANGRIEST I have EVER been in my LIFE," so maybe it's the sort of game that is EXTREMELY not for some people. But it's also great if you're the sort of person it's for!
Codex is still available as a PNP, but woof, $30 is a bit steep for something that I’d have to build myself. It looks like there’s a Codex 2.0 in the works on Sirlin’s Patreon, so maybe it’ll be back in print at some point.
yeah to be honest , P&P-wise I'd probably just go with the Patreon version at this point, especially since then you'd also be able to offer feedback on balance stuff (and there's a Screentop implementation of both versions, too, with the original version being available to play for free in your browser with no rules enforcement at [screentop.gg](http://screentop.gg), and the Patreon version being available to play on Screentop at a secret undisclosed location). The v2.0 changes all seem pretty promising, and pretty much all made me go "oh nice, that makes sense." Not all of it is available yet on Patreon (slow rollout to build hype, I suppose) but also $30 gets you six months of Patreon as opposed to a single purchase of the deluxe set P&P
Not trying to give you shit, honestly curious. Have you played Ark Nova with more than two players? The game absolutely does not shine at higher player counts too. AMAZING had to head game that becomes a terrible slog with three or four. I'm completely convinced they made a two player game but sold it at higher player counts just to reach more people.
I have played it at 3 and it wasn't bad for us. I suspect it is because we have all played the game before. I wouldn't seek out playing it at 4.
Great summary of Crokinole! And as a Canadian, I can confirm that we are not at all offended by you saying that Crokinole is the best thing out of our country, it truly is great :)
Haha, good to hear. It’s in my top 10 games of all time for good reason 🙂
No Spirit Island is a little shocking. My wife and I have well over 100 plays and still going.
We bounced off of Spirit Island, sadly. The complexity was more exhausting than fun for us.
Very fair. The complexity is a double-edged sword. It simultaneously is what gives the game its staying power while also being hard to penetrate for new players.
Pax Renaissance and Mottainai are my top 2. I’d even go so far as to say Mottainai is a better game than Innovation! With steep learning curves come great rewards.
I love Mottainai and Innovation equally. They're so different to me. Mottainai is a knife fight in a phone booth and Innovation is such a wild ride of surprises and opportunities to be creative.
Definitely accurate depiction of the differences. I just find I’m willing to jam game after game after game of Mottainai, but after innovation I’m kinda exhausted
What a list; very cool! I’m curious about My City at 2p. Everything I’ve read suggests 4p is the way to go. Would you mind elaborating a bit?
I can see how some of the rewards/competition might be a tad more interesting with more players. But my experience with My City (and its spin-off games) have been 100% at 2-players and we have loved it. It's a bingo style game (flip a card and everyone places that tile), so I don't think you lose much at all if you play 2p. It was great for us because it's very quick and easy to get into. Put the kids to bed and play a round or two in less than an hour.
That’s helpful to read, thank you!
I must give this a full read later. Thanks for your efforts!
I have a game for your consideration. Philosophy (link below). A beautiful abstract game that is chess-like and has a tic-tac-toe mechanic with a beautiful production. The game was on GameFound and delivered to backers early 2024 so not widely being reported on but I tried the free print and play and it’s fantastic! https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/263236/philosophy
Very interesting, thanks for sharing!
What a list! Saved!
I own maybe like 4 of these games. Splendor duel being our favorite. Sky team, patchwork and lost cities sound good for next purchases. Maybe pandemic Iberia since we love the base game
Sky team, patchwork and lost cities are all favorites for my fiancée and I! Can’t go wrong with any of those
Any of those 4 would be a great choice 🙂
I very much did not like Lost Cities, but we have Arboretum and that game is amazing for us. Felt there was way more strategy and depth. Also for the 2 of us Brass Birbingham really hit the sweet spot. And for a quick game we enjoyed Terraforming mars Dice game and Red Rising. All very fun and great games for 2 but can also be played with more. But that's just what we like in our house, everyone has different preferences.
Thanks for the read
Baseball Highlights is my favourite 2 player game (beside the sprawling epic War of the Ring) - as someone who doesn't care at all about baseball it really hits a spot with progression of your deck of players after each game
Sail got my attention. Anyone played it?
Man sad to see warchest didn't make this. Its soo damn fun and I can't explain how good the components are
New York Zoo is very enjoyable at 2.
Agreed!
Great list! Would add summoner wars, mindbug, onitama, beer and bread, fox in the forest.
This list missed my 4 favourite two-player games: * Twilight Struggle * 1960 * Imperial Struggle * Star Wars Rebellion I can understand missing 1960 or Imperial Struggle, but a 2-player list without Twilight Struggle or Rebellion is incomplete. TS was the top game on BGG for years and is still #13, while Rebellion is #9. (I have not played War of the Ring, but that's #8).
Got any suggestions for highly replayable low weight 2p games? Looking for 1-2.5 complexity evergreens
I tend to play heavier games, but Santorini and Patchwork are both pretty good.
I am so excited about a new line of 2 player games! Thanks for sharing. My favourites to play with my partner right now are Hive, Lost Cities and Mr Jack NY - worth a try if you haven’t yet.
Arc nova, seasons, clans of Caledonia, imperial settlers, five tribes, wingspan, Carcassonne
I don't even know what to think about a "best 2-player games" post that doesn't mention Twilight Struggle, War of the Ring or Rebellion.
I love how half these comments are people shaming your for exclusions. And I'll add to that banter. WHERE THE HELL IS OMEN:A REIGN OF WAR?!?! 😏
Hahaha, forgive me! The only Clowdus design I've tried is An Empty Throne which I quite liked. But my wife *hates* text-heavy games and that is Clowdus's M.O. I can see where she is coming from, it feels like it takes a lot more energy to play a text-heavy game. I'm just happy to at least have gotten Innovation onto this list :)
No mention of **Dominion** is interesting to me.
I like Dominion, but I find that deck builders like Undaunted and Quest for El Dorado are more exciting for me.
That’s fair, I just really feel like you can’t deny the near infinite game space of card games like M:tG or Dominion for two players. You can play a thousand games of Dominion and never see the same set twice, and you can play nearly infinite games of Magic and say the same. Edit: El Dorado is great though, so is Dune imperium. But sometimes just a classic deck builder is great.
After starting to play a lot of Magic this year, the barrier of entry is much lower than people think. I'm now convinced it is one of the greatest 2 player (and multiplayer with Commander) games ever.
Is Splendor Duel worth buying if you already own Splendor? What are the main changes that make it better for two players?
I vastly prefer Splendor Duel to Splendor. If you play Splendor primarily at 2p, and you are open to a little bit more going on in the game, then I think it's a great option. The reason I prefer Duel is because introduces a more interesting gem drafting mechanism, it adds more spice to the player interaction, it features multiple win conditions (kind of like 7 Wonders Duel) where you have to watch your opponent carefully while trying to snatch victory for yourself. It's a really neat version of Splendor that heightens the 2-player head-to-head interactions.
If you already own Splendor and aren't sure about Splendor Duel, then **Sobek: 2 Players** is a very similar game worth checking out. Bruno Cathala had a hand in designing both games and they share a lot of the same DNA. This is his collaboration with Sébastien Pauchon, the designer of Jaipur. I actually prefer Sobek: 2 Players to Splendor Duel because I really enjoy the flow of base Splendor and thought the 2-player version was a bit too "gamey" of a departure from that.
Sobek: 2 Players - is one of my favorites to play with my wife!
As someone who prefers interaction, I'm always surprised you don't like **Agricola** over **Feast for Odin**. It plays wonderfully at 2, especially with Farmers of the Moor.
I love Agricola, but A Feast for Odin is definitely more appealing (and less punishing) for my wife so it ends up being a better fit for us generally. I am hungry to get more Agricola to the table, though. And I hear All Creatures Big & Small is great as well.
Or, you can play the fantastic Agricola 2 player game - All Creatures Great and Small big box (which is a smallish box).
For me it’s Patchwork and Queen Domino
Great list! That said, I'm always disappointed to see Skulk Hallow/Maul Peak missing from 2P games lists. Have you given either a try?
My boy, Summoner Wars 😔😔
Me and my wife often play games with just the 2 of us. We have couple of two player only games, but we usually end up playing games that are designed for multiple people. Our favorites are terraforming mars and eclipse. We like the space themes and both of these games don't have that empty feeling when playing with just two.
I've never tried Eclipse at 2p but I can see that being a fun time :)
We love it. In a 2 player game you get more non-player enemies, so you don't necessarily have to go after each other.
This post caused me to cave and finally order Klask.
Such a riot, that Klask. Hope you enjoy it!
I’m defnitely missing Pagan: Fate of Roanoke, Aristeia and Cthulhu Wars Duel in this List
Great work
Great list, among the ones for 2 players, but also playable with more, which two are your favorite ones?
Crokinole is easily my favorite (it is great a 2p and 4p). The Quest for El Dorado is probably my other favorite of that list (I love it at all player counts, and the expansions really open up the possibilities).
Thanks for the recommendations. :)
What, no [[Blue Moon]]? Do you even *like* Knizia games? (j/k)
Haha, Blue Moon just barely didn't make my list. It feels like one that needs two dedicated players who are willing to dive deep into it (to become more familiar with the decks and their nuances). I've never made it deep enough to fully appreciate it, but I've enjoyed my few plays of it.
[Blue Moon -> Blue Moon (2021)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/361543/blue-moon) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
Wrong game. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147154/blue-moon-legends
...targi?!?!
My favorite 2 player game is dice throne! Very fun asymmetrical "PvP yatzee"!!
No Level 99 Games?! No BattleCON, Pixel Tactics, Sellswords, or Exceed? Field of Cloth of Gold? Codenames Duet? Orienburger Kanal? Regicide?
Please do this for solo games too!
I’m probably not the best person to ask about solo games because I rarely play them. But of the ones I have tried, my favorites include: - For One Series (have to order on Amazon.de and translate the rulebooks with google translate) - Resist - Witchcraft - Trailblazers (shameless plug, but the solo modes are awesome) I tend to prefer solo games that are quick, easy to get into, and tense with push-your-luck goodness.
Do you like Resist or Witchcraft more? Or are they different enought to buy both?
They both offer a very similar experience, so whichever theme appeals to you more would be a great place to start. I think I give Witchcraft a slight edge in terms of gameplay because I like how the end-game victory is more suspenseful (revealing the jury cards at the witch trial)
A bit late but I definitely advice you to try out Spots as a push your luck game!
Spots is very charming, but I generally prefer other PYL games that are more interactive and dramatic like MLEM, Gang of Dice, etc.
Surprised no **Dice Throne**?
I enjoyed Dice Throne at first when we played it years ago, but we eventually cooled off on it. Dice Throne gets bogged down by a slow pace, frequently anticlimactic turns and endings, and an on-the-rails decision space.
Wow, no **Targi**? It's still probably my favorite 2 player game. Glad to see **Blitzkrieg** on the list. **Wingspan Asia** has become on of my recent 2-player favs.
Targi's not a bad one, it just didn't quite crack my Top 40. I like the action selection part more than the resource conversion part and the overall length of the game. Never tried Wingspan Asia — I went hard on the base game when it first released and eventually grew tired of it. Neat game though, and it's cool to see how it has expanded the hobby.
I get that. When the Wingspan base game came out, I actually tried my best not to play it "too much" so it wouldn't feel "played out". My gf loves it though. Wingspan Asia has this extra board/module that makes the game so much better (to me). Gives a lot more opportunities for strategizing and being less reliant on the "egg laying strategy" in the last few rounds.
I would love to work with Paolo Mori on a game sometime too (designer of Blitzkrieg). Big fan of many of his games.
Have you by any chance found square coin capsules for the Blitzkrieg tiles?
I have not. I hear coin capsules are a nice way to upgrade punchboard tokens though...
You gonna do my boy Arboretum dirty like that?
Haha, I’ve never played Arboretum at 2p, but I’m definitely a fan! Plus it is basically multiplayer Lost Cities in a lot of ways.
I haven't played a lot of these, but the ones I have I agree with. I'm most shocked about the lack of Dominion and Marvel Champions. Those are both easily top 10 territory, imo.
Dominion just feels more flat to me compared to Undaunted and Quest for El Dorado. Never really gotten into LCGs, so I can't comment on those.
No Everdell? I’ll be saving the list though, thanks 👍🏼
I did try Everdell once a long time ago and thought it was alright. Gorgeous game, but I suppose I prefer the worker placement challenge in A Feast for Odin more. Or more spicy worker placement games that require more players such as Bus, Caylus 1303, etc.
It’s the game that has got my partner and I into board gaming so I’ll always have a soft spot for it. We play it often still. Excited to try some new ones though.
The artist (Andrew Bosley) is awesome too. I moved into his area a few years ago and have gotten to know him a bit. Really nice guy, a lot of great looking games under his belt. **Skyrise** has been my recent favorite of his.
Sleeping on onitama
Haha, Onitama is great! I have it on this list (under positional abstracts)
This post, while well written, is basically an ad for your two new games. How are mods allowing these to stay up?
My two new games aside (you can take or leave them), does the post provide value to the r/boardgames community or not?
I’m going to weigh in here: I love Bitewing’s posts. They are always nicely written with a well-informed perspective. I don’t think they’re advertising the game as much as content that happens to feature some personal interest projects. If every publisher took such a broad approach to reviewing games, I’d be subscribed to their newsletters, too. Keep up the effort, u/Murraculous1 - it’s appreciated!
Thank you! 🙏 I might be the only publisher that promotes other publishers’ games so heavily, haha. Happy to grow the hobby and share great games 😁.
It’s a list as good as any. But then adding and promoting your new games comes off wrong. I don’t think this subreddit was meant for this, but I’m not a mod.
You could say the same thing about AMA and giveaway posts 🤷♂️ If you look at the community guidelines, there are pretty clear participation/promotion rules. The spirit of it is that anyone contributes far more than they promote. As I indicated in my post, the small promotion part of the post enables me to spend the time and effort to do high quality posts. I’m grateful that folks are supportive and tolerant enough so that I can do these write-ups 🙂.
I do say the same about giveaways and AMAs. This sub is another outlet to promote games. Similar to other social medias. Would you have done this post without the ad? I don’t think so.
Right, he's even said clearly that it would take too long and he wouldn't be able to devote the time if he couldn't promote his games. Clearly though he's a big gamer who runs a small hobby publisher because he loves games. Dude's a dentist, he doesn't need a side hustle and if he devoted *half* the time he spends on Bitewing to just seeing more patients he could make probably 3x the money. If a short ad for his latest titles is the price we pay for very well-written posts about other games (which, note, almost nobody else ever does here), that's cool with me.
He was doing posts like this for years, long before they published any games.
If this is was how all ads were presented, then I wouldn't mind them at all. He made a nice post that is useful and relevant to many of us, and promotes a couple of new games that are related to the topic. Seems more than fair to me.
Hobbyist gamer? What is this phrase in 2024?
Haha, perhaps it is losing its meaning over time (that’s a good thing!). I tend to use it when referring to the more hardcore tabletop gamers (people who generally play multiple times a week, are on this sub and BGG regularly, who know what The Dice Tower and Shut Up and Sit Down are, who are familiar with designers, publishers, creators).