Two-Player Games
Two-player games are designed around a direct contest: no teams, no waiting for a turn to come back around, just two people and a board or a hand of cards between them. Many of the oldest and most studied games in the world — chess and go among them — fall into this category, along with quieter, faster games that are perfect for a single evening.
Chess
A two-player war of position played across 64 squares.
Checkers
A fast-moving capture game of diagonal jumps, also known as draughts.
Backgammon
A race around the board that blends dice luck with real strategy.
Nine Men's Morris
A quiet game of forming rows of three on a triple-square grid.
Gin Rummy
A fast two-player card game of matching sets and runs.
Cribbage
A card and board game where counting card combinations scores points on a peg track.
Dots and Boxes
A pen-and-paper territory game of claiming squares one careful line at a time.
Go
An ancient territory game played with black and white stones on a grid.