Gadabout Top 5: Our favorite competitive 2-player games
Sometimes game night is a grudge match! Here’s a list of five of our favorite competitive, two-player games that will keep your tabletop rivalry burning hot.
7 Wonders Duel
This thinky card-drafting game is all about outmaneuvering your opponent to get the best resources and rack up the points. It’s the alternate win conditions that make this one sing though: The military track becomes a literal tug-of-war and a way to corner the other player into making impossible decisions. The science victory is perhaps the sneakiest in the game, demanding that you keep a close eye on the machine that your opponent might be assembling.
Turf War
A dueling city-builder with a twisted suburban theme, this unique game brings together a lot of classic mechanics into a compact box that you can take anywhere. But it’s the strategic decision-making coupled with cartoonish mayhem that gets us every time. Turf War is filled with big, exciting plays that keep the table talking. Just be careful: This game is sure to have your opponent gunning for a rematch.
Star Realms
This deckbuilder-in-a-box is one of our favorites to pop out between rounds of bigger, crunchier games. Fans of Dominion and Magic: The Gathering will find a lot to love in the card-based space combat as you try to assemble the ultimate fleet to dominate the galaxy. It plays smoothly and lasts just the right amount of time. (You know, the amount of time it takes to annihilate your opponent.)
Villainous
It’s all about the characters in this asymmetrical free-for-all. It’s a devious tit-for-tat as you try to thwart your opponents while advancing your own scheme. Just try not to quote some of your favorite Disney villains while you use their unique powers to try and achieve their distinct win condition! There was a ton of care put into this one to make sure that the story beats play out while you duke it out.
The Fox in the Forest
A two-player trick-taking game may seem out of place on this list, but once you get to playing, the rivalry can get intense! The genius move that The Fox in the Forest makes is asking players to carefully balance how many tricks they win: Take too few, and you’ll fall behind. Take too many, and your greed will be punished. Quick to play, this one is a fun one to break out when you feel the need to outfox your opponent.
