Good 1v1 board games?

[pshreck]

Looking for a fun board game that is fun with just 2 people. If you post one, please explain the general idea of the game.

Also, posting obvious ones (like Risk) is also good as I can't really think of what I want.

[TimTimSalabim]

Stratego

[eric5148]

Chess

[pshreck]

Unfamous games are welcome too.... I always read about these ones in things like Games magazine, they just aren't maintstream. Anyone heard of the game New England? Games magazine game of the year apparently.

[private joker]

The correct answer is Connect Four, but technically it does not have a board. I don't know what this is called. A vertical board?

http://www.abstractstrategy.com/connect-four.jpg

We would have also accepted Life, Sorry, and Scrabble.

[GrunchCan]

Milles Bornes is fun, but its a card game.

[emil3000]

Backgammon.
WeBoggle for money.

[nolanfan34]

[ QUOTE ]
Stratego

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the first thing that popped into my head.

Backgammon is a lot of fun too. When you fill your 1-6 slots, so your opponent can't get off the bar, well, that pretty much kicks ass. I'm not good with the terminology, but just trust me, it rules, and I haven't even learned how to play with the doubling cube yet.

[wacki]

Axis vs. Allies

It's Risk times 10. I wrote a 50 page battle plan when I was younger just on this game. Being Hitler can be fun. /images/graemlins/grin.gif The game can scale to 5 people. You can keep the game pretty simple if you want, so the learning curve is pretty low.

[PhatPots]

Battleship is pretty good. You have to try to sink the other guys ships, simple stuff. An Oldie but a goodie


Cheers,
Pots

[shant]

http://www.farscapegames.co.uk/ishop/images/1003/B12505.jpg

[Reef]

[ QUOTE ]
Chess

[/ QUOTE ]

the ultimate 1 v 1 game

[sublime]

Stratego

[sthief09]

Stratego and it's not close

[partygirluk]

[ QUOTE ]
Stratego

[/ QUOTE ]

Good call. Can you play it online?

[Grisgra]

Stratego: Legends. It's Stratego on some very nice drugs.

[offTopic]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Stratego

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Good call. Can you play it online?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yup - you want to play for $500/game? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Monty Cantsin]

Reiner Knizia's LOTR: Confrontation (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=013487) is a fantastic little 2-P board game that takes a Stratego like hidden-piece mechanic and kicks it up about a thousand notches. Highly Recommended.

Here's another great, quick-playing Knizia 2-P game: Lost Cities (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=006644). It's got a board in it but is more of a simple card/strategy game.

Kris Burm makes great 2-P abstract strategy games. He has something called the Gipf project which are a series of separate games that can be linked together into a complex metagame. They're great standalone games: Gipf (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=002105), Zertz (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=008108), Dvonn (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~category_id=SERIES_0222/~product_id=012123).

A personal favorite of mine is a game called Plateau (http://www.plateaugame.com/). It's a small but incredibly deep game with, again, some hidden piece mechanics and lots of opportunities for 2nd and 3rd level thinking, bluffing and other good stuff. A great boardgame for poker fans.

Of course, if you don't already play Go...

/mc

[housenuts]

Settlers of Catan - you can play up to 4 players

[Sponger15SB]

[ QUOTE ]
Reiner Knizia's LOTR: Confrontation (http://www.funagain.com/control/product/~product_id=013487) is a fantastic little 2-P board game that takes a Stratego like hidden-piece mechanic and kicks it up about a thousand notches. Highly Recommended.

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope they didn't ruin stratego in the way they ruined risk with a LOTR version.

[mason55]

chinese checkers is great

[mosta]

go-moku, which was marketed (essentially) in this country as Pente (without one refinement). basically, it's five-in-a-row. it's usually played on a Go board (a much much more complicated game), which is just a grid and two sacks of stone markers, one for each player. take turns, put five stones in a row on the grid. it's a sophisticated enough game that you can calculate big combnations in your head, but easy enough that you can play it drunk (except don't play with bar girls in taiwan for money).

the refinement I mentioned is: you can't play a double open three. to force a win you have to make a 3 and a 4, or two 4's, or 3 3's, or something other than 2 open 3's. if you don't get it, try a few games, then you will. pente omits this rule. also, pente has capturing--no capturing.

[fnord_too]

Go
Gin Rummy
Scrable
Cribbage

[Monty Cantsin]

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I hope they didn't ruin stratego in the way they ruined risk with a LOTR version.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't let the license fool you, this is a great little game.

/mc

[mistrpug]

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chinese checkers is great

[/ QUOTE ]

I always found Chinese checkers with two people totally boring.


The first thing I thought of was Stratego, but I'm just learning backgammon and that's a great game too.

[MarkL444]

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Stratego

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Good call. Can you play it online?

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i want to do this. someone find it.

[Bulldog]

Better for three or four but good for two--Carcasonne.

[EliteNinja]

Chinese Checkers and Chinese Chess are good.
Battleship is always a good one (you can play it on graph paper and make up all sorts of fun rules, such as single-block ships)
How about Twister?

[housenuts]

yahtzee is also fun