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So, with all the lurgy going about at the moment, My partner and I find ourselves playing through a lot of our board games each evening.

We have about 25 board games at the moment, but we are starting to feel that we're running out of games to play - and with the UK lockdown looking to last another 2 months, we're going to need something new or we'll have to resort to doing the housework!

What good 2 player games can people recommend, particularly for relay-value? I unfortunately suffer from a bizarre memory glitch where I remember most of the cards and such in games, which basically means any games which use the whole game in one go will get dull for me quite quickly - I'm hoping for a game or two which have a large variety of features (cards, tiles, whatever) but which don't use all of them at once, so there's something new in every game! That, or a game where it doesn't rely on the comedic value of the cards themselves.

For my part, I can recommend:

Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards - it's decidedly NSFW, but all the expansions pile together into one huge game (we have 3 boxes, and it would take hours to get through all the cards). My only issue is that they don't carry new features outside of the boxes, so the second one adds "blood" to the rules (gain 1 blood, spend 2 blood, etc). But then the third one (actually the 4th, we skipped the 3rd as it was out of stock) doesn't mention blood again so only some of the cards affect or use blood, which makes it a little scarce. better with more than 2 players, as some abilities attack strongest foe, weakest foe, foe on left, foe on right - all of which are "the other player" if it's just 2 of you!

Exploding kittens - it's a fun little game, and a good warm-up for a bigger board game

Rabbit Island - very enjoyable game of exploration and building, with a very smooth map-creating & movement mechanic, with 2 sizes of game depending on attention spans and time limitations.

Joking Hazard (for 3+ people) - very funny and re-playable. some dud combos but that's a price you pay for variety.

I would not recommend:

Bears vs babies. I'll be murdered in my sleep if my partner reads this, but it's not a great game. It's god some amusing elements which are a great novelty when you first play it, but it's no good for a regular game. It's also very skewed, in that once one player starts winning, they win. The baby armies are never powerful enough to pose a proper threat, unless they build up fast and then are provoked before you build a decent defence. The "bears can fight anything" and "everyone starts with a bear" mechanics combine to mean that 9 times out of 10, everyone starts by playing a bear, meaning they don't want to activate any army in case it kills their bear, meaning the bear armies build up so strong that they always beat the babies. It's normally a game of "who can get the most hats", which is again, bad for replay value. It's a good party game, but not great for replay.

Last Night on Earth
Shadespire

Both very good games

Magic?

Twilight Struggle- the game of the Cold War between the US and USSR.

Carcassone.

Othelo / Reversi

Dominion is pretty good 2 player. You only use like 10 decks out of 20-30 in the base game. There are slso a ton of expansions that add more cards and mechanics.

If you’re mostly looking for sillier games, there’s Cards Against Humanity, Munchkin, or even the old standby Cranium.

For a dungeon crawler, I recommend Shadows of Brimstone/Forbidden Fortress. It’s entirely cooperative and has a large number of tiles, cards and expansions. My family has really become invested in their characters as they have advanced. Be warned, though, that it is a big box board game with miniatures.

Pandemic is pretty good and quite challenging with 2 players, and is different every setup. I recommend the base game, but the Cthulhu and Fall of Rome version are excellent as well.

Blood Bowl is a great 2-player tactical game that's good for memorable experience and a lot of laughs.

There's a 2-player version of Agricola called Agricola All Creatures Big and Small. Nice wholesome farm development game with wooden animal meeples and building cards.

Quarriors is a bit less of a thinker and is decent at 2 players. Lots of expansions and variable setup keep it fresh for a little while. This is one of my spouse's favorites but I got tired of it fairly quickly.

Did you just suggest Pandemic?

Do you want a party game? Kings of Tokyo.

Light fun? Small World and Splendor. Honorable mention to Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

The Pathfinder Adventure Card game is fun and is a campaign game. It is also a Cooperative game, which is nice when playing with the Mrs. You'll get many hours out of it.

A Classic? Backgammon.

Terraforming mars is great fun at 2-5 players and have a number of exansions with optional components that mix up the game to keep it fresh.

An old "but still available game" called Illuminati by Steve Jackson Games was always a good laugh when I played it before. Not the best rules, but a lot of fun anyway.

Watergate is a fantastic 2 player game. Where one player takes on the role as Nixon, while the other player takes in the role of the press.

7 Wonders Duel, a game that is designed for 2 players who are competing to build the most successful civilization.

Brass Lancashire, it has a dedicated 2 player board, which makes for a very intense game.

Hanamikoji, a great tug of war game based on 4 actions. A game that is simple, yet offers so much choice.

The box set of Dice Throne. Really dynamic head-to-head dice and card strategy battles with multiple characters = high replay ability. Excellent components too.