Two-Player Games That Are Actually Fun

On our very first date over six years ago, Scott and I went bowling and played pool. And it pretty much set the tone for the rest of our relationship. We love playing games, especially if it means we get to compete against each other. But even as competitive as we are, not all games are fun to play with just two people. So, I’m breaking down our favorite fun two-player games!

Card Games

Skip-Bo

I used to play this card game with my family as a kid and kind of forgot about it until recently. But then I came across a deck at Target when I was looking for some at-home activities (thanks, coronavirus) and Scott and I have been hooked. It’s a game that combines strategy and luck of the draw. There’s also the added bonus of purposely blocking your opponent’s moves which, if your also really competitive, makes it all the more fun.

Uno

You can’t go wrong with a classic, and Uno is about as classic as it gets. Strangely, Scott had never actually played it before, but he regularly watches some YouTube stream of people playing it virtually. (No, I don’t get it either).  We did tweak the rules a bit to make it even more fun for two players. According to the official rules, if you don’t have a card to play on your turn, you draw one card, play it if you can, and then play continues to the next person. We decided it made the game more fun if the player who doesn’t have a card to play, keeps drawing cards until they do have one to play. (Because, obviously, it’s more fun watching your opponent draw 10 cards instead of just one).

Texas Hold ‘Em Poker

We enjoy other poker games too, but Texas Hold ‘Em is our favorite. I won’t go into details of exactly how to play (you can find the rules here), but here’s a little story for you. When we first started dating, Scott used to tell me about the group of friends he played poker with back in high school. This, of course, involved quite a bit of bragging on his part about his poker skills. So, I challenged him to a game. What I didn‘t tell him was that my dad taught me to play poker before I see over the edge of the table. (He and his friends got together for poker nights all the time). I’ll let you guess how that first game ended.

Gin Rummy

Again, I won’t go into all the details because you can easily find the rules through a million sources online. In a nutshell, if you’ve never played Gin before, the object of the game is to create runs (consecutive numbers in the same suit or matching numbers) with all the cards in your hand. I taught Scott how to play this game several years ago (it was another game my dad taught me) and he quickly started kicking my butt. Which is why, at one point in time, I refused to play with him. (I never claimed to be a graceful loser).

Outdoor

Cornhole

Cornhole has been one of our favorite games since day one. Most of our early “dates” involved meeting up with friends at our favorite brewery to play. In fact, my wedding gift to him was a set of custom boards made by my sister. We celebrated the night before our wedding by setting them up in the parking lot of our hotel and having a little party with our friends. When it’s just the two of us, we only use one board to play and it’s one of our favorite activities when we’re hanging out at home.

Yard Pong

Essentially, this is just a giant version of beer pong played outdoors. You can find sets for this game online through several retailers, or you can do what we did and DIY your own set. Check out this blog post sharing how I created ours using Dollar Tree supplies. I came up with the idea because Scott challenged me to come with a creative at-home date idea and this game was the result.

Other

The Game of Life: Quarter-Life Crisis

This is not the Game of Life you remember from childhood. Instead of trying to be a doctor or fill your car with little plastic kids, you’re just trying to stay out of debt and not get divorced. (Fun fact: during one game we played, I managed to get married and divorced 5 times.) While there’s still a competitive edge to the game that we enjoy, we really play because it’s hilarious. Some of the cards even have an added truth or dare element.

Exit The Game

If you’re a little nerdy like us and enjoy doing Escape Rooms or just solving puzzles, these games can be addictive. We originally received one for Christmas but didn’t get around to playing it until the pandemic forced us to spend more time at home. I immediately ended up buying another box and I just ordered several more from Amazon. Each game can only be played once, but they’re fairly inexpensive. The prices vary but most of them are between $10-15. These are literally the only game we’ve had fun playing where we aren’t competing against each other.

Nostalgia Games

Old school is making a come back this year in fashion, movies, home decor, and even games. And, I’ll admit, we’ve been suckered into trying games just for the nostalgia factor.

In particular, I want to mention two specific games.

The first is Jumanji: The Game based on the original movie from 1995. (There’s also one based on the new movie but we haven’t tried that one.) From the design of the board to the riddles, it looks almost exactly like the game from the movie.

The gameplay itself is pretty simple to follow. Overall, we liked the game and it is definitely one that can be played with only two people. However, we think it would have been more fun with more players.

The next game is The Oregon Trail card game. Sadly, excited as we were to try this game, even the nostalgia factor couldn’t save it. Figuring out certain parts of the game was a little confusing (even after watching a video). It’s also more of a team effort style of game play which, if you know Scott and I, kind of took the fun out of it.

If you’ve got a fun game for two players you think we should try, drop it in the comments!