Board games are awesome – they help us unplug, have fun at home, spend quality time with our partners, roommates, friends and loved ones, relieve stress, exercise our brain cells, get adrenaline going and endorphins flowing.

But how to choose from the hundreds of board games and other tabletop games out there? That’s why I’ve started this site: to share the games we – my hubby, family and friends – like best. I’d call us passionate but not overly geeky board game players. Consequently, most games I recommend here are modern Euro-style, light to medium-weight strategy games that tend to have a nice theme and a good balance between luck and strategy. Games that aren’t too complicated to learn and don’t take all day to play. In other words: Games with just the right mix of fun and challenge, relaxing and engaging!

Have fun reading and, more importantly, playing! And check back often – more game reviews coming soon! 

Scroll down and browse games or click and jump directly to recommendations for: 

Dedicated Two-Player Games

The following games were designed specifically for two players and are great choices for couples and pairs of players.

Pleasantly agonizing decisions and adrenalin-inducing tension make for a surprising amount of fun in this deceptively simple card game. Lost Cities strikes a great balance between luck, strategy, and those tough decisions. It’s easy to learn but challenging enough for seasoned gamers. Many couples call this one of their favorite games that both enjoy equally, and it’s been my go-to gift for couples who are interested in playing board games but are not seasoned gamers (yet).

This is not a lean-back kind of game – it’ll keep you on your tippy toes from start to finish. With its intensity, it’s probably a good thing that each game only lasts a pretty quick 15 minutes or so. That way, you can play just one or two games, the recommended three, or even more, if you just cannot stop or want to improve your overall score still.

Lost Cities life lessons:

• Make tough decisions and live with them
• Find a balance between risk and returns

The theme – building expeditions to explore ancient ruins in different settings – makes for colorful and interesting playing cards and a cool-looking game board. Beyond that, the theme is not really integrated into the game play and mechanics, nor does it need to be. Simple rules, tough decisions, quick strategizing, an element of luck and a good dose of tension and competition combine to a thrilling and fun game for two.

Scoring requires a bit of arithmetic, and ideally pen and paper for each player.

A note about playing with kids: The box of the original release says 13 years and up, and while the new version has dialed this down to 10 and up, some kids may well be ready even before then, especially – but not necessarily – if they like math and numbers. To make it easier for young or new players, you can start playing without the multiplier cards and add those later, to add stakes and complexity once all players have the concept and mechanics down. The arithmetic required for scoring might be a fun way to apply new math skills for elementary school-aged kids.

Pictured in this review is the original version. A new version of Lost Cities – The Card Game includes the original game (with new, bolder graphics) and also a sixth expedition/color and a two-sided game board to play a variant with the sixth expedition.

What I love about Lost Cities:

• Clean rules that are quick to learn
• Simple game mechanics
• Nice tension, agonizing (in a good way) decisions
• Requires some strategy
• Just the right amount of luck to keep things exciting and make every game different
• High replay value
• Quick to play, so you can always squeeze in a quick game or two or make it a longer session
• Relatively small box
• Very affordable
• Lots of fun!

The not-quite-perfect:

• Cards are very large and therefore a bit hard to mix for small hands
• In the original edition, it can be hard to distinguish the colors of the expeditions on the game board, but the new edition is a lot clearer on that. 

Note that the game reviewed here is the original Lost Cities card game for two players. Reiner Knizia later also designed “Lost Cities – The Board Game,” which can accommodate two to four players. The board game has a similar theme and cover but quite different game play. Make sure you pick the right game when shopping!

Note: This is a review of the stand-alone two player game. For a comparison with the original 7 Wonders game for 3-7 players, see below. For a full review of the original 7 Wonders multiplayer game, go here.

If you’re short on time but want an interesting, somewhat more complex two-player strategy game, 7 Wonders Duel is a great choice: It packs a lot into a game lasting about a half hour, from an interesting card drawing system to an engine building mechanism that will allow you to build more and more of your ancient civilization. While there are many ways to collect victory points within your own civilization, you are also forced into military battle with your opponent. Being a pacifist is not a choice here, since it will cost you the game – it truly is a duel!

The many different facets of the game, the strategy and tactical decisions it requires, and enough luck and randomness to keep things exciting and different each time combine into a competitive game that should be interesting for two more seasoned players but not too heavy for relative beginners.

7 Wonders Duel life lessons:

• When things seem complex, just tackle them, and before you know it, they’ll seem simple!
• Don’t be too focused on any one thing, or else you may miss opportunities and your competitor might beat you before you know it
• Sure, there is some luck, but focus on what you can control!

Luck and variability come into play in several ways: In addition to the structure cards being laid out randomly, half of them face down to be turned up and unveiled as the rounds progress, there are always some cards per age taken out at random, so you don’t know for certain what structure cards will be available in a game. Also, players take turns choosing their four of eight randomly chosen wonder cards, changing it up that way as well. Interestingly, while cards come up at random, players usually still have a degree of control over which ones they will choose.  

Overall, I would recommend this game especially to couples and other players who have some experience playing strategy games already and are not intimidated by learning a more complex new game. 

What I love about 7 Wonders Duel:

• Cool card drafting mechanism that mixes luck and tactics
• Many layers, dimensions and ways to win
• Good tension and interesting decisions
• Might seem complex but is actually straight forward and logical, not the “I need to read up on what this card means again” kind of complexity
• Good replay value, aided by a variety of wonder cards and the random distribution of structure cards
• Challenging but not too demanding
• Fast game, may allow you to play a rematch
• Very nice graphics, design and components
• Compact box with well designed compartments to store the different components
• Lots of complexity in an affordable package
• Great redesign of the popular multiplayer game 7 Wonders to feel familiar yet fresh, different and decidedly like a solid two player game

Comparison with the original 7 Wonders:

If you like the original 7 Wonders for multiple players, you should find 7 Wonders Duel to be a challenging, satisfying two player game that feels familiar yet refreshingly different. In fact, you might like it even more, since – as the name “duel” promises – there is more direct competition with your opponent, resulting in more tension and additional strategy and tactical decision-making. Duel is not some cobbled together variant of the original game but a solid game for two. It has been thoroughly re-designed without compromise, keeping the theme and many of the mechanisms intact while introducing new, interesting features that make up for loosing one of the best features of the multiplayer game, the simultaneous game play.

Here are some of the main differences between 7 Wonders Duel and the original multiplayer 7 Wonders:

• Definitely a duel, with more head-on, direct competition
• Players take turns, rather than choosing cards and then building at the same time
• More ways to win: In Duel, you may also tally the winner by scoring and adding points from different categories like in the original – but only if no one has not yet claimed sudden victory through military or sciences before the end of Age III. So neither player can afford to completely disregard these two categories (nor rely on them, either), and you’ll have to adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Different mechanism for choosing cards: In Duel, cards are laid out in an intricate pattern, some face up and others face down, which will be revealed successively as other cards are taken. It’s quite genius, actually – it keeps things exciting and also allows for additional strategy (how can you play to get a particular card you want or prevent your opponent from getting a card that might hand them the win?)
• Overall feels more challenging with more room for tactics and strategy
• Instead of one Wonder board, you receive four Wonder cards. Some of these contain a “take another turn” power, which you can cleverly use to gain and build a choice second card (see above).
• Resource prices go up with the number of resources your opponent holds. Also, you pay the bank and not your opponent. Money overall feels more important in Duel.
• Duel looks and feels a bit different, too, with more and different components, smaller cards, no individual wonder boards but a joint military score board. 

Games for two and more players

What if you could play the same great game with two players and with more people on social occasions as well? Or, put differently, if you and your partner, room mate or best friend could enjoy a multiplayer game that feels just like a great two-player-game? 

Luckily, thanks to brilliant design, a few games do just that: play really well with two player but also with groups of people – and some can even be great fun for solo players as well.

My favorite games in this category include (more on each below):

• Azul (2-4 players)
• Wingspan (1-5 players)

 Azul Life Lessons:

• Have a plan but remain flexible and open to new opportunities that present themselves
• There are multiple ways to get to the win
• Sometimes, it’s worth paying a higher cost upfront for greater reward later
• Pretty doesn’t always win
• Being first is not necessarily best

The game ends when the first player has completed a horizontal row. However, finishing first does not guarantee a win and is not necessarily desirable. Therefore, games often keep going for several rounds past the first time a player has had the option of finishing a row and, with it, the game. This results in more tension, excitement and decisions, since you don’t know how many more rounds you have to lay tiles and score points. 

The game scales well to different numbers of players by setting up with varying numbers of “factory displays” and therefore tiles per round.

A warning, of sorts: With the pretty colors and designs, some players might be tempted to draw and play their favorite tiles, even if that is not the smartest move for scoring points. This could especially be an issue for kids – but then again, they may be happy even if they lost because they made a pretty pattern 🙂

Variant: The backside of the game boards contains a variant to Azul for advanced players. Here, you can lay your tiles in any place in the corresponding row at right, creating your own pattern. However, there can still only be one of each tile type in each row and column. This variation is quite challenging and it’s easy to make a mistake – i.e., placing two of the same tiles in a row or column. If you don’t discover the mistake right away (trust me, it’s easier to miss than you may think!), it basically blows up that game, which can be very frustrating. But if all players pay close attention to everyone’s board, this can be a great way to take Azul to the next level.

Interaction and engagement: While each player focuses on placing tiles on their own board, your game play is intimately involved with that of your opponent(s), and there is plenty of indirect interaction. Since all players take turns drawing from the same supply of tiles, you’ll hold your breath for the tiles you want and may have to quickly adjust to what’s actually available on your turn. Sometimes, the availability of tiles changes in your favor, so it’s important to remain flexible and take advantage of new opportunities. Also, while you will mostly play to increase your own chances of winning, you can also be mean and sabotage your opponents’ plans by drawing certain tiles that you know would be perfect for them, or by forcing them to take on negative points. These dynamics can make the game quite competitive and even cut-throat, especially in a two player game where your actions directly impact each other.

Ease of learning: Even though this will be a different type of game for most, the rulebook does a decent job explaining the mechanics and gives many illustrated examples (plus, there are always “how to play” videos to watch). Players should get the hang of it within a round or two – though learning all the tactical nuances and honing your strategy will take quite a bit longer.

What I love about Azul:

• Very versatile – plays well as a two-player game or with small groups
• Interesting game play with plenty of room for strategy and tactical decisions
• Beautiful and high quality game components and box
• Multiple ways to score points
• Good balance of strategy, tactics and luck
• Can get quite competitive and tense
• High replay value plus a variant for advanced players
• Not too hard for beginners but also interesting for more seasoned gamers
• Scoring mechanism is integrated into each individual game board
• Relatively quick game play – satisfying enough to play just one game, but short enough in case you have to play a rematch

The not-quite-perfect:

• It’s easy to accidentally move the little scoring marker, creating confusion about a player’s score
• Could be even prettier if all five tile types had designs on them – two are just plain red and blue

 For even more fun: Azul is great out of the box. But if you’re a fan already, or know others who are, you can find fantastic aftermarket pieces on Etsy that promise to enhance the joy of playing Azul even further. My favorites: Gorgeous wooden factory display tile holders and game board overlays in blue and brown that aren’t just pretty but also keep the tiles and the pesky little score markers in place, and more affordable acrylic board overlays that also keep tiles and markers from sliding around.

But those are far from the only reasons to love this game, which is great for any number from one to five players. Elizabeth Hargrave describes her game as “a competitive, medium-weight, card-driven, engine-building board game” – we’ll see how this plays out in the gameplay overview below.  

Wingspan life lessons: 

• Hard work and persistence can be more important than luck for reaching your goal
• Keep an open mind and adapt your strategy to new opportunities
• Birds are amazing and diverse creatures!

While you’ll be honing your strategy with each game, it’s important to not get too hung up on your strategy and remain flexible so you can make the most of the cards you get. You’ll be faced with many tactical decisions – which bird cards to keep or draw, in which habitats to build your birds, which actions to take and in what sequence, whether to activate certain bird powers, etc. With 170 bird cards with different values, features and powers, plus different bonus goals both for each individual and the group, no two games will be alike.  

Interaction: Competition is friendly in this game: You’ll mostly try to do well for yourself. There is no potential to be really mean in this game – no killing birds, stealing eggs from others or the like. Overall, direct interaction is limited but you will be following the turns of your opponent(s) closely, as you’ll be competing for cards, food resources, and, of course, victory points. Also, some of the bird powers and actions of your fellow players may trigger benefits for you. While not an official part of the rules, we read the bird’s name and their special power out loud when they get played (you could also add the real life facts on the bottom), so everyone stays informed of what goes on in everyone else’s habitats.  

Since this is a classic turn-taking game, you may at times have to wait a while for your next turn, but typically, with steps to plan and birds to explore, neither this nor the limited interaction have been big deals for us. 

Ease of learning: There is a lot going on in this game, which can be a tad bit intimidating if you haven’t played other games that also employ elements like engine building or collecting and using resources before. However, don’t let that scare you away: The mechanics are actually quite simple and the instructions clear and straightforward. In addition, to ease beginners into the game, the box includes a sample starter set-up that guides players through the first few rounds until they get the idea. And should it still look confusing, there are some great instructional videos out there.  

Playing with two players versus three, four or five is absolutely no compromise – it’s the exact same gameplay, no need for dummy players or the like. In fact, having just one opponent makes for more strategizing and faster game play. The only potential downside to a two-player game is that it can get a bit lopsided if one player has exceptional luck with their cards, though that is highly unusual, in our experience. 

What I love about Wingspan:   

• Lovely bird theme that is deeply integrated into the game play
• High replay value: With 170 bird cards and a variety of possible bonus goals, every game is different
• Good balance of luck and skill. Randomness of bird cards makes for interesting challenges, and an apparent lack of luck can be overcome with persistence and clever play
• Many different ways to score points; no run-away winners
• Friendly competition – no one gets eliminated or robbed, no birds killed (not by players, anyway), and there is no hand limit
• Excitement and tension builds with the rounds
• Versatile number of players – excellent game for couples/pairs, groups up to five, and even for one solo player
• Nicely detailed, high quality game components, which fill the sturdy box completely – no fluff here
• You learn about birds!

Good to know:

• Wingspan is language dependent – you need to be able to read what’s written on each card
• The game requires a considerable amount of tabletop space 

The not-quite-perfect:

• Limited direct interaction and classic turn-taking mechanics, meaning you may have to wait a while for your turn
• Not a cheap game, but you are getting a lot of value for your money
• The many smaller game components are stored in plastic baggies rather than a box insert, but this might make the best use of the box space. 

Fun aftermarket components 

While Wingspan comes with lots of great pieces and details, some of these can be improved on. Consequently, there is a whole aftermarket for Wingspan components on Etsy, from box organizers to a sturdier birdhouse for rolling the food dice. My favorite upgrade, personally: Replacing the little wooden action cubes, which keep track of each player’s actions, with little birds. Take a look at the photos below – isn’t is so much cuter to use birds as action and score markers? 

Multiplayer Games 

The following games are some of our favorite games for three or more players.

Great games that play well with groups and also with just two players include Wingspan and Azul, described above.

Seven Wonders is our go-to game with larger groups: You can play it with up to seven players; simultaneous gameplay, with all players taking their turn at the same time, keeps everyone engaged at all times; and it’s easy to teach to new players, some of whom have even won their very first game. Add to that many different ways to win points, a decent balance between luck and strategy, and fast game play, and you have a game that everyone seems to enjoy.

The game is set in ancient civilizations and the original seven wonders of the world. Boards and cards are richly illustrated and of nice quality. Players use cards to build structures and wonders, make scientific discoveries and wage military battles. 

In 7 Wonders, you make lots of decisions and feel a certain amount of control, but there is also luck, randomness and, of course, the actions of the other players that influence the outcome of your game. Since room for strategy is fairly narrow, and focusing on just one category of victory points will almost certainly not lead to a win, the game feels a bit more tactical rather than strategic. Part of the beauty of this game is that you need to flexibly adapt to the course of each game and the changing situation, the cards you can pick from, the individual wonder board you got dealt etc., and that you can always try out a different approach in a new game. And that new players have a fair shot at doing well!

7 Wonders life lessons:

• Adapt to your situation; be flexible and open to new opportunities
• Diversify your investments
• Don’t be intimidated by something that looks complicated on the surface! 

The interesting method of card distribution (also known as a booster draft) adds a measure of fairness, or mitigation of luck, as well as room for tactical decisions: Every player starts each age with a random hand of cards. After picking a card, you pass your hand of cards on to your neighbor on one side and receive a new hand of cards from your neighbor on the other side, to pick from on your next turn. This mechanism keeps repeating until the last turn of each age, with a choice of just two cards 

After three phases or “ages” that progress from heavier on resource-building to higher on point scoring, everyone’s points in seven different categories are tallied in the provided score pad. Typically, the winner has a fair number of points in several categories, so it pays to invest in different areas and not be too stuck on any one path to victory.

The only direct competition happens in military points, where you can earn – or lose – points based on how your military power (as measured on shields on your military cards/structures) compares to that of your immediate neighbors. That competition can get quite fierce, though, and there are usually a few warmongers at the table that you can either fight – with no guarantee of winning – or capitulate to. You’re in luck if your neighbors are pacifists!

With its variability, you should be able to play 7 Wonders many times without getting bored. If you do look to change things up a bit, there are several expansions that can add to your civilizations, wonders, cards and gameplay. 

If 7 Wonders sounds interesting but it’s only two of you, check out 7 Wonders Duel, which is 7 Wonders completely redesigned as a solid and interesting two-player game.

 Good to know:

• Requires some set-up and a good amount of tabletop space
• The gameplay does not require a specific language or reading

The not-quite-perfect:

Note that the first two potential drawbacks have benefits in that they keep the game moving even with a large number of players

• Limited interaction: While all play at the same time and no one will get bored, you are very much focused on building your own city. You’ll keep an eye on what others are doing and pay your neighbors for resources, but even that is a one-sided affair rather than a negotiation (“Here is two coins for your stone”).
• Your interactions, direct competition on military and your sphere of influence are limited to your immediately adjacent neighbors
• Can look intimidating to new players at first

Sometimes, good things come in small packages. This is a card game I’d trade many of my large, beautiful and much more expensive board games for – it’s just that much fun. Wizard puts an interesting twist on traditional trick taking card games, is highly engaging and interactive, accommodates group sizes from three to six, and it’s not hard to learn.

But be warned: This game is highly addictive! I first got it because a friend posted on Facebook that her family had been playing it obsessively all summer. Sure enough, we got hooked as well. Years later, we still love to come back to this very competitive, fun and social game.

Wizard life lessons:

• You need to find a balance between being conservative and aggressive – too much of either and you’ll lose!
• Taking a whole new perspective on a known thing can be really worthwhile
• Recognize a good hand or opportunity when you see one and work to realize its potential
• You get to apply statistics and probability
• Don’t judge a book – or game, or anything else – by it’s cover. You don’t know what treasure may be hidden behind a plain exterior!

The bids are either announced and recorded on the score pad or, if you have the Deluxe version, done by each player on their individual bidding disk and revealed consecutively, simultaneously or kept hidden until the end of a round. Any of these variations change the dynamics and strategizing, so you can mix it up or find your preferred variant.

Skill and strategy are very helpful in this game, but the random draw of the cards, the unpredictable use of Jesters and Wizards, and, of course, never knowing what other players will play, add just the right amount of luck to keep tension and excitement high.

Ease of learning: If you have played other trick taking and classic card games before, you’ll only need to add the rules around the two special cards – jesters and wizards – and wrap your head around the fact that you are going after accurately predicting the number of tricks, rather than taking as many tricks as possible. And then, of course, develop the necessary strategies. If you haven’t played classic card games before, you’ll need to understand the concepts of suits and trump first. It’s not too hard, and trust me, it will be well worth it!

The length of a game of Wizard varies a lot with the number of players. It’s fastest with the maximum number of players, due to the card dealing mechanics: The first round starts with just one card dealt, to which one card is added in each round until there are no cards left to deal. Consequently, three players play 20 rounds, with 20 cards for each player in the last round, four players play 15 rounds, five 12 rounds and six players play ten rounds, with just ten cards per player in the last round. This makes for quick games with five or six players and significantly longer games with fewer players. We sometimes break a game with just three or four players into two sessions – the nifty score pad makes it easy to pick up where you left off.

As for scoring, we don’t score in the suggested tens but leave off the zero at the end – why score 20, 30 or minus ten if you can just score 1, 2, or -1?. We’ve personalized Wizard in a couple of other ways as well: We use the hidden bidding variant as our standard version, since it seems fair and also more fun if everyone does their bidding simultaneously and independent of what others have bid already, plus it’s faster; and we definitely keep the bidding disks in front of each player for everyone to see, since it adds to both fun and strategy to see where someone’s actual tricks stand in comparison to their bid.

What I love about Wizard:

• Highly engaging with no downtime
• Very social and interactive
• Simple and clean rules
• Twist on a known game play that changes everything
• Great balance between luck and skill
• Exciting and fun
• Plays with 3-6 players
• Very affordable

Good to know:

• Can be played just about anywhere – small table, picnic blanket…
• No language or reading required

The not-quite-perfect:

• Should be sold standard with bidding disks 

Shopping:

A little card game shouldn’t be hard to shop for, but you actually have three choices:

1. Wizard Card Game, Deluxe edition. Includes playing cards, score pad plus six bidding disks. – If you can afford it and it’s available, get the Deluxe version; the bidding disks are an integral part of the game, not a luxury!

2. Wizard the Card Game. This ultra affordable version contains just the playing cards and a score pad. – If you go with this version, get a little stash of items (pennies, pebbles, beans…) or make little cards with the numbers 0-10 for each player, so everyone can bid simultaneously and put their bid in front of them for all to see.

3. Fantasy Wizard. Includes fantasy cards plus score pad. – This is a visually more interesting version of the card game, with elf characters numbered from 1-12 plus a flag (ace) for each suit. This might be especially appealing to kids who are used to richly illustrated games. Note that the US version is (barely) adapted from its German original, so that Wizards and Jesters are denoted not with W and J but Z (for Zauberer) und N (for Narr). This game comes in a small minimalist package without individual bidding disks, so gather some coins or beans to indicate everyone’s bids.

More game reviews coming soon!

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