Real Women of Gaming

Two Player Board Game Roundup!

Five game boxes sitting on a table, in descending hight order from left to right. They are: Sky Team, boop, Jaipur, The Fox In The Forest, and Cabo

Hi all! With Valentine’s Day coming up I figured it was an excellent time to share some great two player board games. The following five titles are perfect for a date night with a sweetheart, a game night with a friend or family member, or perhaps with your cat if you’re feeling particularly neurospicy!

Jaipur

The elements of the game Jaipur spread out on a table. The box has the word Jaipur in an ornate font, a digital painting of a bearded man with a white shirt and tunic, a number of brightly colored, valuable looking objects. The game consists of stacks of tokens in orange, yellow, blue, black, purple, green and brown, and cards. some of the cards show the bearded man's face and the word "Jaipur." Others show camels, cloth, or sacks of foodstuffs.
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First off let’s cover a classic and an old favorite of mine: Jaipur. Take and swap cards from the central market to build sets of matching goods, then sell them to take tokens for that of that product turned in. As the stack for each good decreases, so does the value of each individual token- will you save them up to get a bonus for turning in more at a time, or sell early to secure the highest point tokens? Jaipur is strictly two player, but perfectly balanced; don’t ignore what your opponent is picking up or you may fall behind in a hurry!

boop.

A board game on a table. The box shows a white cartoon cat with orange spots and the word 'boop.' In front of the box is a game board that looks like a matress with a blue comforter decorated with paw prints and fish bones, quilted into squares. On the quilt squares are cat shaped game tokens, some gray and some orange. Additional tokens are on the table beside the board, gray on one side and orange on the other.
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And now a new favorite! Kittens and cats keep jumping on the bed trying to line up in a group of three, but as other felines land adjacent to them they get “booped” a square in the opposite direction. Starting with just kittens, players take turns placing a kitten onto the bed trying to get them into a line of three. When three kittens of the same color are lined up, all three are removed from the bed and upgraded to cats in that player’s supply. Get three cats in a row and win! boop. is extremely simple to learn, but gets highly strategic quickly as the game progresses.

Sky Team

The board game "Sky Team" laid out on a table. The box is standing up and reads 'Sky Team - Prepare For Landing.' it has a picture of a plane in flight, two people with headsets, and a plane taking off. Directly below it there are two pieces of paper that say Sky Team, each with one of the planes from the box. To the lef is a complicate game board resembling an airplane's flight controls. On the table there are also two clusters of six sided dice in orange and blue, three coffee cup shaped pieces, and a single black six sided die.
Image by Real Women Of Gaming

Looking for something cooperative for two players? Check out Sky Team! Play as pilot and co-pilot of an airplane trying to successfully land at different airports around the world, each with their own challenges. Each player rolls their own set of dice and silently chooses where dice will be placed to keep the plane steady and on track for a safe landing. Find out how tune are you with the other player as you work together!

Fox in the Forest

Game laid out on a table. In the center is the box, with a painting of a fox and the words "The Fox in the Forest by Joshua Buergel." Above the box are four cards. Left to right they show: six moon symbols, a person in a blue robe holding what could be a sword, a blue swan, and a fox. To the right of the box is a stack of yellow pieces with the number 6 on them, and a stack of light green cards with a white floral design. To the left of the box is a stack of orange pieces with the number 1 and blue pieces with the number 3.
image by Real Women Of Gaming

Fox in the Forest is a trick-taking game for exactly two players. The deck consists of 33 cards across three suits (Keys, Bells and Moons) where the even numbered cards are plain and the odd numbered cards have special abilities such as changing the trump suit, letting you swap a card in your hard, or leading the next trick even if you don’t win this one! Fox in the Forest has a quick play time, is easy to learn and is the perfect size to pack on a trip.

Cabo

The game Cabo laid out on a table. The box is a deep blue and reads, 'The Elusive Unicorn Card Game CABO' with an illustration of a person, dog and cat on a bence, with trees, bushes, and a unicorn in the background. To the right of the box are seven cards, each with a number in the top left corner. The cards also contain illustrations of the cat, dog, person, and unicorn from the box engaged in various activities.
image by Real Women of Gaming

The last game on my list today is Cabo: a card game where the object is to have the fewest points at the end of each round. Unlike the others I’ve covered here, Cabo can be played with up to four players but is great with only two. Setup is simple – put four face down cards in front of each player and the deck in the middle. Before the first turn, you all look at two of your cards, then put them back face down. On your turn, draw a card from the deck and decide if you want to discard it or swap it for one of your cards. Use the special abilities, try to keep track of what the cards are and end with the lowest score to win!

Would you play any of these games with a partner or friend? Let us know in the comments!

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