2-Player Games

What are some of your favorite two-player games?

- We love Agricola All Creatures Big and Small. it plays very similarly to the big version of Agricola, which can take a couple of hours to play, depending on how many you are playing with, but the two-player version hones it down to maybe 30 to 45 minutes. My son still prefers the full version of Agricola, but it takes so long that we never pull it out of the closet. Sadness!

- Mr. Jack Pocket — stressful! But fun to play either as the detectives or as Mr. Jack. You only have a certain number of turns to do what you need to do to win.

- Akrotiri — you are building a map and using your ship to try and fulfill victory point goals. It's beautiful, and I feel like I'm going on a little bit of an adventure whenever I play it.

- Quarto is a great fast game, I love that you are picking the piece for the other person to put down. It's maybe a little bit like Connect Four, but since there are more ways to win, it really keeps you on your toes!

- Chaos — I guess I have a few of these modern and faster chess/checkers type of games on my list. Notice that chess and checkers are not on my list 😄

- Nowhere to Go, Razzle, and Input are all fun plastic games to pull out. By that I mean that they are on a plastic board with some plastic pieces and there's not a lot to them, but they are simply ingenious and addictive.

- Hive is a wonderful little game that everyone always enjoys. You each have a set of insect tiles — each insect has different ways that it can move — and you are trying to surround the other person's bee before they can surround yours.

- Steam Torpedo — it's lower on my list because it is clunkier, but I really appreciate the art and mechanics of it. You each create a submarine out of a set of tiles in front of you. Each room of your submarine has different defenses, crew, and ways to attack. Then there is a separate board where you track how your submarines are moving around each other so you can set yourself up to attack an area of their ship. You are just trying to destroy theirs before they can destroy yours. okay it's harder to explain than I thought it would be in one or two sentences. It really is a unique game.

I wish I could play all of these more, but the games that I end up pulling out more our games that I can play solitaire, or games that I can play with a group of four. I need to have a game night where I invite a few people over and we just pair off and play solitaire games, switching opponents after each one.

Spring Games

With Saint Paddy's Day around the corner, my friends and I were wondering if it would be a fun excuse to pull out some games and enjoy them with our Guinness and Irish stew. So what do we have that might fit in with the theme? We scanned our list and came up with a few goodies...

Get Lucky

This is the only one with the word "Lucky" in the title. I don't have the full board game, just this little card game, but it is a fun game full of murderous intentions and friendly backstabbing.

March of the Ants

Okay, yes, we are already grasping at straws here. Not a lot of Irish stuff on the shelves. But I chose this one because it hash"March" in the title, it is one of my newer games and I am really enjoying it! I purchased it used and think it was a Kickstarter game. Easy rules, with instructions on all the cards that explain what to do, which I love! Lots of different strategies to try to win. Is it spring themed? Sure, why not ;)

Bring Your Own Book

I thought this could be a fun one if you happen to have some Irish/spring books on your bookshelves. This is an easy Cards Against Humanity style party game. Someone draws a card that asks for an answer, and do you have to quickly have to quickly paw through the book you've chosen to play with, then you all laugh and pick the best one :) I'm a little over those types of games, but with a new crowd, they are always fun. This one tends to get more tedious, so we never play it as long as it suggests we do.

Terraforming Mars

Wait, what is spring themed about this one? Well you're going around planting trees! Starting new life! What could be more Earth-/Arbor-Day-ish? It also happens to be one of my favorite games. The cards make it interesting and force you to change up your strategy each time you play.

Catan British Isles

Ah, there we go! Ireland on the map! This one requires the Seafarers Expansion and possibly some labels that you make yourself. But it certainly fulfills my St. Patrick's Day needs. Maybe you can change the robber into snakes that you have to drive out of your territory ;)

Photosynthesis

Again, a game in keeping with the tree planting theme of spring and Earth Day and Arbor Day. This is a fun and easy one that is made for a younger crowd, but is actually pretty tricky to master and I enjoy playing it with a table full of adults. And, let's face it, it's a beautiful game.

What are you playing at your spring party? Let us know in the comments!