Once the kids go down on a Friday or Saturday night, my husband and I pull out the board games.
We used to gravitate towards cards games like Canasta or old-school video games like Dr. Mario, but we recently acquired two games that have us looking forward to date nights in rather than out. These board games aren’t the usual suspects like Monopoly or Scrabble though, so if you are looking for new games to add into the mix, keep reading!
Our two go-to games allow us to either play with each other or against. This is great because we are able to be competitive or work as a team depending on our moods.
So once the kids are soundly sleeping, a bottle of wine is opened, a meat and cheese board is whipped up, and the game is laid out. It’s our perfect chill night at home for us to have fun, unwind, and release some tension with some friendly competition.
Seven Wonders Duel
If you are looking for a competitive strategy game, I highly recommend Seven Wonders Duel. This two person duel has a game time of 20-30 minutes, so it is not very time consuming.
In this game, you develop your science and your army, construct prestigious buildings, and lead your civilization to victory. With each turn, you are buying, trading, building, or developing your science. You are dealing with coins, resources, buildings, and the other player’s hand all at once. It gets you thinking, a lot.
There are so many layers and strategies and things to think about, but it is very well done. The game can end a few ways and there are multiple strategies, so each time we have played it has been drastically different.
This game is the two person adaption of Seven Wonders, so if you loved that game, you will enjoy this version. It also reminds me of other strategy games like Settlers of Cattan or Ticket to Ride, so if you like either of those, the pace and strategy feels similar.
Pandemic
This game is so, so much fun and very different from other games in that it is a cooperative game. You are actually playing WITH your partner to beat the game as opposed to against. This was the first ever coop game I have ever played, but because of it, I plan on buying more games like this in the future.
In Pandemic, you are working with your teammate(s) to control outbreaks of four diseases. You can play with two to four people, and the game time can last anywhere between 30-60 minutes depending on your cards, roles, and actions.
In this game, cards are drawn and with each card, a new city is infected. On your turn, you roam the world and travel city to city trying to eradicate the diseases before a full outbreak takes place and the diseases overwhelm the world.
Each time you play, the game is very different too because of a multitude of roles you can select from and also the luck of the draw. We seriously lost the game in 5 minutes before, which is less time than it took to set up.
This game visually reminds me of Ticket to Ride in that cities are connected and you are traveling the map. Of course, the big difference is that you are playing together and not against.
This has been my favorite game ever since we bought it and the perfect balance of strategy and teamwork.
