We hear from many a board game-curious person looking to start their collection. We find it’s quite common to play some games with your partner, and then pepper in the odd game night with more friends. If that’s you, you probably want to find a few games that work just as well with your group of friends as when it’s just the 2 of you. So here are our favourite multiplayer games that are also great for couples.

Loony Quest

A daft drawing game that somehow makes a Mario-style platformer work with just a pen, meaning everyone will understand the rules in seconds. With 5 of you it’s a fast paced game of laughs as you throw bananas and traps at each other and argue over whether a line has hit the bad guy or not. You’ll probably find players leapfrogging each other until that final round. With 2 people, every level is a showdown, each boobytrap only has one target and it really will come down to who can hold their nerve and their pen the best.

Read our full recommendation here.

Get it on Amazon here and support Best Play at the same time!

Pandemic

A modern classic and a great game to start your collection. A well-honed and simple game that opens you up to the world of co-operative gaming, it works perfectly well with just 2 of you or the full 4. You’re a group of scientists trying to save the world from several deadly diseases, so you need to work together. How novel.

There are also plenty of expansions so you can eek even more joy out of this box before you add more boxes to your collection. There’s also one of our favourite games of all time, Pandemic Legacy, although we wouldn’t recommend changing your player count or team with each game there.

Get it on Amazon here and support Best Play at the same time!

Burgle Bros

A new Best Play co-op favourite. It’s densely packed into a nice little box and allows you to live out your heist-based fantasies, be that as a troublesome twosome or a whole group of you grabbing all the loot you can find. As a pair, it’s a really tightly thought-out puzzle as you discuss when to take a gamble and when to play it safe. As you add more players it becomes an even trickier conundrum, as the chance of being caught is that much greater, but equally your ability to find the loot by splitting up is faster.

Look forward to seeing much more on this lovely gem in the coming weeks.

Available here direct from the designer. It’s a nice feeling to support indies 🙂



Karuba

One of the most chill board game experiences we’ve had, no matter the group. You’re all chopping your way through the jungle to get each explorer to their temple of interest. It feels like you’re all simultaneously building jigsaw puzzles with the same pieces but only one of you is going to end up matching the box.

It’s pretty much the same game whether you’re playing with 2 or 4, so perfect to scale to any small group.

Read our full recommendation here.

Get it on Amazon here and support Best Play at the same time!

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

Ok, so picture this: a game without a board, without any cards, with not much more than a newspaper, a map and a book of clues. That’s Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. You and your pals are solving a mystery by investigating locations, questioning suspects and looking for tips in the paper. As a couple it’s a great game with a bottle of wine and some detective music going. As a group, the dynamic becomes about everyone pitching their farfetched or on-the-money theories to each other. It’s a game full of “AHA!” moments but runs at whatever pace you want it to. It’s sometimes hard to find copies, but look out for the reprint and alternatives to enrich your collection.

Read our full recommendation here.

Support Best Play and get this amazing game on Amazon here (if it’s too expensive currently you could also get the stand alone expansion which is just as good)

Splendor

A wonderful game of buying gems until you’re all stinking rich and can invite some noblemen to help you out. Look, the theme doesn’t matter, just know this is a game that’s just as fun with 2 people as it is with 3 or 4.

Look for out for our full recommendation and Gist coming very soon (or it’s already out if you’re reading this in the future).

Get this gem of a game here on Amazon.

Well that’s your lot, for now. There are plenty of games that work great with 2 or more and we endeavour to bring those to you. Or if you just want some of the best games for couples, games for your next party, games for your kids or things to play at work check out our recommendations.