Top 10 Couples Board Games - The Best Gateway Friendly Options

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Best Couples Games 2020 - • Top 10 Couples Games i...
If you're looking for some excellent recommendations for games to play with your spouse, this list will get you started with some amazing board game options for you and your other. Or you and your friend too, they'll work either way.
TimeStamps:
0:00:00 - Introduction
0:01:53 - Almanac: The Dragon Road
0:03:30 - Spirits of the Wild
0:04:52 - Dice Throne
0:06:53 - Canvas
0:08:32 - Patchwork
0:10:20 - Skulls of Sedlec
0:12:36 - Tranquility
0:15:11 - Cascadia
0:18:03 - Railroad Ink
0:19:50 - Unlock
0:23:23 - Codenames Duet
0:25:25 - Wrapping Up
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[@Quackalope]

You never play these with me . . .

[@BoardGameCo]

Wait until the medium weight list! (not sure I played them with you either)

[@successfulgeek]

That's just Alex trying to tell you something...

[@stacie_everdell]

🤣🤣🤣

[@jcapo5]

I think you guys should talk this out

[@danielerse238]

Maybe you should do a video with the title “Couple’s Games I don’t play with Alex”

[@eyoung6943]

I’d really love to see separate lists for medium and heavy. I know it can be hard to draw that line sometimes, but as a couples gamer, I’m always looking for various weights and *why* they work well for couples…or at least 2p.

[@successfulgeek]

Dice Throne is really getting my wife back into board games. I am just really bad at rolling dice while she has incredible luck with it so she always wins, but I am very ok with that because it is always fun!

[@Darkthur]

Good list! Cant wait for the next ones, please go with 2nd and 3rd episodes!

[@RolandsBriedis]

Thanks! Yes, please do one more for medium, one for heavy couple games!

[@UKDagnar]

Caper: Europe has been a delightful 2 player game for my Wife & I. Really engaging game that is quick and different every time. Highly recommend checking out as a 2 player game.

[@Sebastian-rt9qf]

Nice and feathery light list. I like it. Yet you missed Lost Cities though. You could add Cartographers or Trails of Tucana. Guess 7 Wonders Duel will be on the heavier list.

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

Thank you for clarifying the weight on this! So many people do "best couples games" and just disregard heavy gaming couples. We find things like "Food Chain Magnate", "Agricola", "Trickerion", "Lisboa", "Gaia Project", and "Pax Pamir 2e" as some of our favorite 2 player games along with fun light games, so this being explicitly lighter games is really helpful. "Targi", "Race for the Galaxy", "Black Angel", and "Roads & Boats" are others we find ourselves coming back to.

[@Avtomatik]

pax pamir with two? how?

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

@@Avtomatik It plays fine at two with normal rules or you can throw in the AI deck for a different experience. It's definitely a different feel than higher player counts, but it turns almost chess-like with two sans AI deck.

[@jaquaun911]

Love the list and definitely agree with all of the choices that we currently own! I would definitely love you to do a medium or heavy list as well!

[@danielerse238]

Great list. I definitely agree with Dice Thrones, Tranquility and Cascadia. I still have to try the others.

[@capnbob0618]

Thanks for the update on this topic! Unlock has definitely increased my wife's interest in board games. We appreciate its sustainability more than Exit because it's resuable/tradeable since no components are destroyed. Need to try out Codenames Duet sometime!

[@donkeytorin8137]

I think it is definitely worth doing a heavy group. One of the first games that me and my wife got into was War of the Ring and that later expanded into all the board games we own now. In hindsight, it was definitely a weird one to start with since it has about 5000 edge cases and rules but heavy 2 player games definitely hold a special place for me in my collection. I will be patiently waiting for your WotR review that may or may not ever happen. Best thematic game ever IMO.

[@HussBuss44]

Good morning 🌻🌻 looking forward to watching this one!

[@BoardGameCo]

Enjoy :)

[@stacie_everdell]

I loved this video! It's not the usual 2p games list...and perfect timing for me. I just introduced a friend to the hobby yesterday with Cascadia. She loved it (and scored a 92 on her first game). These lighter games hit the sweet spot as intro games. At 83, she's still a contender, but I don't want to overwhelm her...yet. :) Patchwork, Canvas, and Unlock are likely next on my list.

[@Table.Fables]

Codenames Duet 100%. One of the best games… I feel this is one of those games that I’ll never tire of

[@ladyshay913]

I really enjoyed this list! Thank you!

[@gregbauer6638]

Thanks Alex, there's some games in there I need to try. My girlfriend isn't overly interested in games, but she's enjoyed Lucky Numbers, Mysterium Park, Ticket to Ride: London, Kingdomino, and Dive.

[@biznesstime83]

I could have used this 2 weeks ago when I celebrated my anniversary. That said I agree with Skulls of Sedlac, Patchwork, Codenames, and Canvas. My wife and I regularly play them. I would add - Six (very simple game but it’s got sentimental connections as the game my wife and I would play most often when we first started dating) - Tussie Mussie -Kingdomino - Crokinole - Santorini (looking forward to Ragnarocks) - Mountain Goats - Azul

[@daveyoungdahl8349]

Azul is also great for this. Easy to play, looks great, and plays great with 2.

[@PRC533]

I would just add to your Dice Throne segment, that Dice Throne Adventures is also a great 2 player cooperative experience.

[@BoardGameCo]

Good to know!

[@deemich1815]

Yes to the medium/heavy version of this category!

[@BoardGameCo]

Will do :)

[@StuartHetzler]

I think a lot of people would be interested in a heavier list. my gf and i game together and play everything from Hive to War of the Ring

[@rgoresjr]

I'd line up to see a medium and a heavy list as well :) Great stuff!

[@HeeeeySteve]

The Railroad Ink app is one of those that I rarely recommend from the board game space. It’s such great implementation of what the actual game does in the physical box and we don’t have to bring anything if we want to be on a phone instead or if we don’t want to add up points. Sometimes we are lazy.

[@j3ffmcmuffin]

Agree with Codenames Duet and Patchwork. My wife and I also enjoy MicroMacro, Decorum, and Mind MGMT.

[@albertomartinayala9757]

Awesome video!! I'd love to see medium and heavy weight video!!

[@mojojojo8625]

Super video !!! I really love to play railroad ink with my wife but we also like Caper Europe. You should give it a try

[@diamondmeeple]

Played Botanik today. Works really well as a couple game too.

[@angelarosano4598]

Thank you for doing light games. I’m new at this. I’m obsessed with splendor and Jaipur. Any other games similar to this.

[@snowchamp]

Hmm. Surprised Azul didn’t make this list! I also still find Carcassonne works well at 2 and is a classic for me that will stay in the top 10. Finally, I find Shards of Infinity beats out Star Realms for my go to 2p deckbuilder which is truly light.

[@RPG_Bliss]

Looking forward to the medium video!

[@edwina4228]

personally I'd add fox in the forest duet to this. probably because of the simplicity and ease of travel. also every single non-gamer I have played this with has literally asked about playing the game again. it pulls people back.

[@diamondmeeple]

NMBR9, Jaipur, Lost Cities, Mandala, Qwirkle, Royal Visit. All these work decent for couples.

[@BoardGameCo]

Jaipur almost made the cut :) And Lost cities is fantastic

[@Karandaras2k]

My wife and I really enjoy Night Parade of a Hundred Yokai and any of the Azuls. But also Kitchen Rush and Kingdom Rush.

[@mortalwombat9424]

My wife and I play a lot of games together, would love to see another video on medium to heavy games

[@davebelcher3307]

For Dice Throne, The Moon Elf/Barbarian and Gunslinger/Samurai boxes are,in my opinion, the most accessible.

[@BoardGameCo]

Good to know :)

[@RedeemedChains]

can't stress enough if you are going to play codenames duet play it with the codenames pictures cards. it is so great.

[@BoardGameCo]

My wife does not like pictures :)

[@derekkulda4605]

Do a heavy/medium list!! Also if Jesse is a duck and Devon is a hamster, what are you?

[@DarkAgent80]

Yes please. We,d love two more videos on this. Me and the wife thank you!

[@Gwanosh]

I found forbidden island to be a great intro to stuff like pandemic and similar

[@JohnClem56]

OK, let's clear this up... Alice is in Wonderland, Peter Pan is in Neverland, and Dorothy was from Kansas but went to the Land of Oz!

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol thanks :)

[@kylenelson6141]

Alice is wonderland like you said at first, Dorothy went to visit the Wizard of Oz. Both of those IPs have been adapted in an Unlock.

[@BoardGameCo]

Ya....I messed that up :)

[@DashOr]

perfect list for me since I only play with my gf (typical family with young kids thing I guess) spirits of the wild is a delightful game. Beautiful artwork, nice components, pretty cheap cost wise and a perfect lightweight game for öate evenings after the children are finally asleep ;) And even with the coyote blocking the other player it's not a mean cutthroat duel either. and yes cascadia is undebatable a great and super pretty feelgod game that manages to feels relaxed while playing.

[@GKEK]

Maybe compact couples games? Also if like another update on family games. 😁

[@ButOneThingIsNeedful]

So, thinking of board games to play with my wife (not a big gamer ... yet), Cascadia has me interested for sure (Christmas?). Was wondering if Parks might also make this list. A visually pleasing aspect would be a big plus (and both I mentioned seem to check that box).

[@joshuag7027]

My Wife's favorite games to play with just us are: Dice Throne, Cthulhu Death May Die, Creature Comforts, Sagrada, Hanamikoji, Atlantis Rising, Destinies, Mission Catastrophe

[@lynnem687]

I like Land VS Sea as a 2 player game.

[@jcapo5]

cthulhu death may die was one of the only games I got my wife to play with me. and she kinda liked it.

[@EfrainRiveraJunior]

Very interesting list.

[@maxf.7262]

I know is super light but i enjoy Similo too (also like the art of it)

[@BoardGameCo]

That's on my radar to try.

[@MissyEtendances]

Our couple top includes 7wonders Duel, Oltrée and the Hunger. (although our best experience was Oltrée, because we find out we have more fun together in cooperative games... :-p ) please make a top with more medium and heavy games!

[@steveowen7508]

"Alice in Oz" sounds like a great game! :-)

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol

[@Cyberplex]

That t-shirt is great. Have you tried Unlock kids?

[@florianstock376]

Even when my wife is not a boardgame player, she likes "Targi" (despite it is more leaning on the heavier side), and "The Lady and the Tiger".

[@bennguyen1313]

Do any of your 2-player casual games work well in digital format (PC Game or smartphone)? Codenames Duel Unlock / Exit (Escape Room) Railroad Ink Cascadia Tranquility Skulls of Sedlec Patchwork Canvas Dice Thrown Spirits of the Wild Almanac the dragon road (3 player game) Or what about a general 2 player best-of list (experienced player or not)?

[@richardmagel4247]

General question: Railroad Ink or Cartographers? If you have the ideal play count, which would you prefer to play?

[@tedmcbride382]

Bring on the heavies!!

[@BoardGameCo]

Will do :)

[@denizkandemir9744]

Are you going to back Brethwalda? Looks awesome but I did not find any video that you are excited for this title

[@martonferenci]

Land vs Sea - just savage

[@TJ-jx6dx]

A lice in Oz is my new tag name.

[@krisztiancsillag2426]

Hey Alex! I can't find a single video about the top 10 boss battlers out there! Could you help out? ;)

[@hugotavaresgomes9539]

I wish you included some images of the games you talk about in the video.

[@danddjacko]

my favorite couples game is Qwirkle

[@zakkoehler6820]

I'd put Hanamikoji and Three Sisters on my list.

[@afrank525]

So Clover is close to replacing Codenames Duet for us.

[@Stephan_Kobalt_Nordstern]

I would put imperium classic/ legend and parks on the list

[@BoardGameCo]

If Imperium Classic is on your light list...I don't want to see your heavy list :)

[@Stephan_Kobalt_Nordstern]

@@BoardGameCo carnegie,hexpore it, Dwellings of Eldervale , Guild ball ;-)

[@tmills1565]

Are you able to use the word cards from regular code names with the duet version?

[@BoardGameCo]

Yes :)

[@wes8304]

I watch a ton of your video Alex, but can't watch this one yet. I just broke up with my girlfriend so this video is kind of confronting. Hopefully someday I can come back to this one and see which games I'm missing. Sorry Alex :(

[@BoardGameCo]

I'm sorry Wes. That's always hard. I hope things get better soon.

[@kasaklubdemola8625]

Two years have passed, time for update, portable and heavy please. [:

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol eventually

[@vinc3charming205]

Did you make a medium and heavy list?

[@BoardGameCo]

I did medium, not yet heavy

[@angelarosano4598]

Solo games for beginners?

[@BoardGameCo]

Oooh, good video idea

[@zakkoehler6820]

Dice Throne almost caused a "DIVORCE" lol

[@thehaydenroper]

Fox in the forest!

[@st0ox]

lol I read, "couple boardgames, the best gateway to be friendzoned".

[@Halcyonbane7]

Alice in wonderland Dorothy in oz

[@Halcyonbane7]

Peterpan in neverland

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol thank you :)

[@renatocarvalho6059]

Was it wonderland? 😂

[@BoardGameCo]

Lol no

[@renatocarvalho6059]

@@BoardGameCo sorry xD

[@Yxvandoolu]

“Couples”?! I guess this is irrelevant for me then. I just play with a friend or sibling. Too bad. Would have loved a list of 2-player games no matter thei players connection. 😞 What a narrowminded title. I feel really unwanted as a viewer just because I am not in a relationship. 😢

[@BoardGameCo]

No problem, you can skip it if you'd like. There are plenty of videos on the channel and many won't be for you. Or...you can decide if you still want to watch. I'll let you make that decision.

[@brianadavis5296]

Pretty sure these games play well with any 2 players, regardless of your connection with the opponent. Too bad that a video title has you so worked up.