Valentine’s Day is the perfect excuse to cozy up with your favorite person and dive into a great board game! Whether you're looking for strategic battles, cooperative adventures, or lighthearted fun, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite two-player games to make your date night even better. So grab some snacks, light a candle, and get ready for some friendly (or fierce) competition!
For a cozy, cooperative experience: Beacon Patrol
Not everyone wants to go head-to-head on a day that's supposed to be filled with love, so we're kicking this list off with our cooperative game, Beacon Patrol! You and your friends are captains of the Coast Guard, entrusted with ensuring the safety of the North Sea coast. In this cozy tile laying game you're trying to explore as much of the sea as possible. Put on some lo-fi music, light a candle, and get out there, Captain!
Buy Beacon Patrol - $19.95 and Ships & Shores expansion - $14.95
The new kid on the block: Wizards Cup
If you've played just about every 2 player game out there, we bet you haven't tried this one! (Or if you have, that's impressive because it just released last week) Each century a magical dueling tournament is held, and as King/Queen of your country you must select your best wizards to compete. Wizards Cup is an auto-battler card game; select the order your wizards will battle and reveal them one at a time against your opponents' team, resolving a winner based on strength, powers, and values. May the best team win 2 out of 3 rounds!
A game you'll want to play again: District Noir
And we're not just saying that. At the head of the city's largest criminal organization, everyone is trying to gain control of the District Noir. The road to victory seems simple—either directly control the city's three strategic location cards or gain the most supporters... but the timing that you play your cards is crucial. The first game might be a big weird to wrap your head around, but once that's done and you understand, you'll immediately start resetting for a second.
If you love parallel play: Rivages
Sometimes we want to play a game without interacting with others too much, and Rivages is perfect for nights like that! Explore the lost islands of the Myr Archipelago in this pass-and-write game. Each player has their own map of an island that they're exploring by crossing off terrain hexes, completing quests, and looting treasures. However, you can only take actions according to the discovery cards you have for that turn—which are passed back and forth between each player.
A card game with a campaign option: Unrest + Uprising Expansion
It's the Rebellion vs. the Empire. And no we're not talking about Star Wars, this is Unrest! In this 2 player card game you're pitted against your opponent in an asymmetric struggle for control over five City Districts. Games are fairly quick (about 10-15 minutes), so the new expansion Unrest: Uprising adds not only new content, but the ability to play a campaign (which lasts a couple of hours). We love variety!