Best two player board games to try in 2025

So whether you and your partner fancy yourselves as strategists or you're roping your housemate into another game of Connect 4, you'll find plenty of board games below for every mood, and we've given them all a 'best for' award which we believe (in our expert opinions) best suit each game.

Plus, best of all, these board games can all be played with at least two players.

For real-life games, take a look at the best immersive experiences and best murder mystery experiences.

Best two player board games at a glance:

• Best for trivia: Where is Moldova? | £49.99
• Best online board game: Outsmarted | £10.46
• Best for couples: Carcassonne | £66.59
• Best for strategy: Connect 4 | £10
• Best classic board game: Yahtzee | £21.75
• Best card board game: Wingspan | £47.99
• Best for date night: Pass The Pigs | £10
• Best fast-paced board game: Bananagrams | £12.99

Best two player board games you have to try in 2025

Where is Moldova?

Best for trivia

Ages: 8+

Number of players: 2-4

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a smarty-pants, a trivia board game is a great way to show off your knowledge. If you haven't heard of 'Where is Moldova?' before, the aim of the game is to collect five or more bordering countries under your control by answering trivia questions, challenging others, and by outright stealing countries from them. This game has over 1,000 questions in 60 different trivia categories.

However, one of the things we love about this game is that it also relies on your memory and tactics to win, too, it's not a simple question and answer game.

Buy Where is Moldova? for £49.99 at Amazon

Outsmarted

Best online board game

Ages: 8+

Number of players: 2-24

If you're anything like us and your favourite round at a pub quiz is the music round, then this next board game is for you; this immersive quiz show game will put your knowledge of music across the decades to the test. Outsmarted can be played with two or more players and, interestingly, the two players don't have to be in the same room as each other as you join via the Outsmarted app. The Outsmarted app runs on Apple and Android smartphones, tablets, as well as PCs and Smart TVs.

Buy Outsmarted for £10.46 at Amazon

Carcassonne

Best for couples

Ages: 14+

Number of players: 2-6

In our opinion, one of the best ways to get to know your partner is seeing how they approach a board game – are they strategic? Do they hold their cards close to their chest? Are they competitive? Carcassonne is a brilliant board game for playing with your significant other.

The aim of Carcassonne is to complete an area of the southern French landscape by drawing tiles and place meeples (small, board game pieces) on chosen tiles, when an area is complete, the meeples score points for its owner. It's a game of forward-thinking since players only place one tile at a time and have the option to place one meeple on it.

Buy Carcassonne for £66.59 at Zatu Games

Connect 4

Best for strategy

Ages: 6+

Number of players: 2

Connect 4 reminds us of rainy days on holiday, which means its perfect for the upcoming autumnal weather we're about to have. We're sure you're familiar with the concept of Connect 4 (seeing as it's essentially a level-up of noughts and crosses), but just to reiterate: players drop their red or yellow discs in the grid with the aim of getting four in a row, and the first to have four of the same coloured discs in a row wins. If you notice your opponent getting too close to having four, then block them with your own disc.

Buy Connect 4 for £10 at Argos

Yahtzee

Best classic board game

Ages: 8+

Number of players: 1+

Yahtzee has been around since 1956, and it's a development of dice games like Poker Dice, Yacht and Generala. This timeless game has one (seemingly simple) objective: roll five dice to create a combination; the dice can be rolled up to three times in a single turn to try and make said combination. You might think this game revolves entirely on luck, but it also has elements of strategy and you'll need to anticipate your opponent's moves, too.

Buy Yahtzee for £21.75 at Amazon

Wingspan

Best card board game

Ages: 14+

Number of players: 1-5

If you're looking for a more challenging board game, then Wingspan is the game for you. Wingspan has a longer running time than a lot of board games, playing for approximately 40 to 70-minutes, and in the game, you'll put your bird enthusiast hat on. As bird enthusiasts, you'll try and attract the best birds to your network, and the winner is the player with the most points after four rounds.

Buy Wingspan for £47.99 at Amazon

Pass The Pigs

Best for date night

Ages: 7+

Number of players: 2+

This is one of our favourite games — this Digital Writer first played Pass The Pigs at their friend's house approximately three Christmasses ago, and it has become a firm pastime ever since on camping holidays and rainy weekends in.

We've selected Pass The Pigs as a date night board game as it makes us laugh so much when we play it, that we're sure you'll have an enjoyable time. Pass The Pigs works by throwing the pigs, and how they land determines how many points you get —will you get a Leaning Jowler? A Double Snouter? Or maybe the Piggy Back? The first person to 100 points wins, however, if you roll a certain position, your points will drop straight back to zero, so be careful...

Buy Pass The Pigs for £10 at Argos

Bananagrams

Best fast-paced board game

Ages: 7+

Number of players: 2-6

We've cheated a tiny bit with this next game as it doesn't involve a board in the same way that a game like Scrabble does, however, you will need a flat surface. Bananagrams is a fast-paced word game which challenges you to race against your opponent to use all of your letter tiles.

Buy Bananagrams for £12.99 at Boots

A board game would make a brilliant gift for someone, and for more present ideas, take a look at the best autobiographies.