Board games for two players

Connect, Draughts and Dominoes were always the favourite with my family. The little ones started off with snakes and ladders and the boys liked Battleships until grandad taught them gin rummy 😳

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Oh yes Greyduster I’d forgotten Build a Beetle, that brings back happy memories. I’ve just found a backgammon board hidden at the back of a cupboard so am going to try and teach myself how to play over the weekend. If 10 year olds can learn it there’s some hope for me. I don’t know if it’s down to my dyspraxia but I find some games very hard to master.

I would recommend backgammon. My husband and I were once on an overnight ferry. We had taken our board to occupy ourselves. We were suddenly mobbed by a "gang" of Spanish children who appeared to be on a school trip. They were probably about ten years old. They were fascinated and a couple of hours later they all seemed to have mastered the basics, despite the language barrier. Their teachers came over to buy us a drink as a thank you.

Retread

I used to love playing Chinese Checkers with my grandad when I was little. Happy memories.

I remember that. Lovely game but one I haven't seen in years.

Othello

I used to love playing Chinese Checkers with my grandad when I was little. Happy memories.

Try 'Magnetic Chess' - it has nothing to do with chess, but is just addictive and lots of fun for all ages.

And Chinese Chequers!

Mention of Snakes and Ladders reminded me that our GS used to really enjoy Ludo. It could get a bit cutthroat but was huge fun. Also a favourite: Build a Beetle. The old ones never go out of fashion.

I confess to being addicted to Stone Age.

It works really well for two.

Another vote for Labyrinth. Colour Brain, Dobble and Guess in 10 are all good games for that age group with Grannies who need to sit down to play. My youngest, coming up to 11, loves Snakes and Ladders and as a Harry Potter fan loves the board games that feature anything to do with Hogwarts.

You coukd have a look in charity shops. There are often an astonishing amount to choose from. Have fun with your gd. The grow up so fast. .

I’ve never heard of Mancala or Quirkle and dgd would love Jenga, partly because she would always beat me! Now the next step is to clear some cupboard space so I’ve somewhere to keep the games.

Qwirkle is popular with all ages in our family.

Great post !
I choose backgammon, mancala and jenga.

To be honest I’m trying to avoid card games, I really don’t enjoy them as I have great difficulty remembering what cards have been played. Being made to play whist at a young age was ahorrendous experience.

Cribbage, draughts, chess.

Card games - Cribbage, I learnt how to play it when I was 11/12. Gin Rummy, can’t remember when I was taught this but definitely earlier than Cribbage.
As someone has already suggested - Backgammon - I only learnt to play as an adult but know that children can pick it up very quickly.

Connect four

I’ve never heard of games cafes Keepingquiet, thanks for that, I shall Google.

I'm not sure where in the country you are but in some places there are games cafes- where you can go and play all sorts of different board games. The one I go to with my grandkids is called Chance and Counters or maybe Chance Encounters?
The drinks and the food isn't cheap but the games are free and will keep you busy for ages.
I suggest you look up games cafes in your area and give it a try if you find one. Booking is recommended in school holidays. Staff are good at finding games to suit your needs too.

Thank you all, lots of good ideas to keep dgd occupied and me sat down.

Could you play chess or checkers? Those work for two people. Maybe you could see if you could find Scotland Yard - this is an older game but a very interesting one; one player is "Mr. X" and the other players are police officers trying to capture him and deducing his movements across London based on the transit tickets he is using. Risk is another one that can be played with two, and it can take a long time to play.

We like Ingenious; can be played with two, three or four players. GS hated Scrabble but would always play Bananagrams. There is also a little game called Minotaurus that we both enjoyed playing.