Not all 2-player games are good board games for couples. It's important to find a game that meets the personalities of each player in order for both players to enjoy the game.
Know Your Partner
Board games can be a fun way to spend time with another adult. If you are playing with your partner, you may find that the time spent while a game is played can encourage conversation in a usually quiet relationship. A game also allows both players to put aside any day-to-day thoughts and focus on game-related activities and decisions. Playing games together won't make a good relationship terrific or a bad relationship better, but they can sure provide a fun respite and allow players to focus on having a good time together!
The key to finding a board game that both players will enjoy is to understand the basic personalities of both players. Some games have a lot of very complex rules and can be frustrating to a person who has a short attention span or who does not have much patience. Other games rely on a lot of abstract thinking, which may not be comfortable for a player who is more visual or reality-driven.
There are a lot of board games that work well with two players. Before you select your next board game for couples, review the basic premise of the game's play and compare it against the personality styles of both players. For example:
- Length of play - Does the game take hours to play, or can a game be finished in twenty to thirty minutes?
- Number of rules - Are there a lot of rules to remember, or are there just a few basic rules?
- Need for confrontation - Are players required to be confrontational in order to successfully play the game?
- Attention to detail - Do the players need to pay attention to lots of details?
- Abstract vs reality - Does the game require players to think in an abstract way in order to be successful?
- Patience - Does the pace of the game or the number of rules require a lot of patience by the players?
Popular Board Games For Couples
Many couples enjoy the classic board games like Chess, and Backgammon and have very little interest in trying new games. Other couples enjoy the more modern games and are always looking for a fun new game to spend their afternoon or evening. Some couples enjoy a more romantic game and include it as part of their date night activities or to rev-up their sex lives.
Classic
- Backgammon is a dice-based strategy game where players roll, count and move game pieces across the game board. Portable versions of this game make it a favorite for vacation play.
- Battleship is a naval combat strategy game in which each player uses a fleet of ships to find and attack the ship of the other player.
- Scrabble is a word game where players form words using their own letter tiles as well as the tiles used by the other player to form words.
- Checkers is a simple strategy game where a player moves towards the another player's game pieces, capturing those game pieces.
- Chess is similar to Checkers except the game pieces can be moved in a variety of ways, which adds to the levels of strategy used.
- Cribbage is a counting card game where the points earned are tracked with pegs on a game board.
Modern
- Carcassone is a simple-to-learn tile setting game.
- Blokus has simple rules which make it very easy to learn this strategy and visually-oriented tile game.
- Hansa is very simple to learn and fast-paced. It is very tactical, not strategic..
- Hey! That's My Fish! is a fast game for strategic gamers.
- Ingenious requires visual and pattern-recognition skills to lay the game tiles. This fun game involves minimal confrontation.
- Othello is a strategy game that involves flipping discs on a game board. It is very easy to learn.
Romantic
Not all romantic board games are sex games. Some capture a lot of sexual conversation and innuendos but have little or no sex involved. New couples often enjoy playing these games as a way to get to know a their new partner. Games like Dirty Minds and Truth, Dare or Chocolate are fun, fast-paced and very popular when played by one couple or a group of couples.
Some couples enjoy a game that provides sexual closeness, sexual stimulation and arousal. Couples may use the game as a key part of their love-making. Some of the more popular games include:
- Dirty Minds has suggestive clues that sometimes cause players to reveal sexually-oriented answers.
- Truth, Dare or Chocolate is an interesting combination of Spin the Bottle, Truth or Dare and cake frosting. Players take dares and tattoo their partner with Chocoholics Body Frosting.
- Embrace has three levels of intimacy and sexuality from which to select. Players perform sensual challenges and share their sexually-intimate thoughts and fantasies.
- 101 Nights of Grrrrreat Sex involves answering erotic trivia questions and following specific instructions to perform seductions.
- Kama Sutra introduces players to ideas and sexual positions like those included in the Kama Sutra, a thousand-year old guide for lovers.
Gift Giving
Board games for couples could be a terrific gift idea particularly for wedding showers, anniversaries and birthdays. Be sure that you select a game that matches the personalities of both players, or it won't be fun for both of them to play - and it might just sit in your friends' closet!
