The best 2-player games to play online

Two-player games are their own thing. There is nowhere to hide, no third player to gang up on the leader, and every decision is aimed at one person. The best ones are quick to start and hard to stop playing. Here are our favorites, grouped by how much time and thought you want to give them.

Every game on this list runs in the browser. Send your opponent the invite link from Create a Game, or play the computer at Easy, Normal or Hard while you learn. Most turn-based ones also offer A turn a day, so a match can run all week between two busy people.

Five-minute classics

These are the games to play while dinner is in the oven, or best of five before bed. Simple rules, instant rematches.

• 
  Drop Four2 players
• 
  Salvo2 players
• 
  Who's Who2 players
• 
  Dots and Boxes2-4 players

• Drop Four: drop discs, stack threats and line up four. A game takes two minutes and there is more to it than it looks: the player who controls the odd or even rows usually wins the endgame.
• Salvo: hide your fleet, call your shots and sink every boat first. Spread your early shots in a checkerboard pattern; no ship fits between them.
• Who's Who: twenty-four faces, one secret pick each. Ask yes-or-no questions that cut the board in half, not ones that knock out a single face.
• Dots and Boxes: take turns drawing lines and claim the boxes you close. The trick is counting the long chains near the end.
• Ultimate Tic-Tac-Toe is the upgrade for anyone who solved the original as a kid: where you play decides which board your opponent must play next.

Deep strategy for two

When you want a game that rewards getting better over years, these are the ones. No luck at all in most of them.

• 
  Chess2 players
• 
  Go2 players
• 
  Backgammon2 players
• 
  Flip Side2 players

• Chess: the one everyone knows. Play a friend, or the computer at three levels. For a daily dose, try Chess Puzzles.
• Go: black and white stones and four thousand years of strategy. Start on the 9x9 board, where a game takes ten minutes; move to 13x13 and 19x19 when the shapes start to make sense.
• Backgammon: a race with dice and a lot of skill. Hit the blots, build a prime, and double when you smell blood.
• Flip Side: sandwich a line and flip it your color. Corners are gold and the edges are a trap; the board can turn in one move.
• Shogi and Xiangqi are two great chess cousins, each with their own feel, if you want something new on a familiar grid.

Modern two-player board games

Newer designs made for exactly two players. Each has a clever central idea and plays in 15 to 30 minutes.

• 
  Dojo2 players
• 
  Swarm2 players
• 
  Quilt2 players
• 
  Ambush2 players

• Dojo: five pieces each and five move cards that pass back and forth. The card you use goes to your opponent, so every move is also a gift.
• Swarm: no board, just bugs. Surround the other queen before yours gets trapped.
• Quilt: buy patches with buttons and time, fit them on your board, and finish the coziest quilt. Gentle, satisfying and surprisingly tight.
• Ambush: hide your army, bluff your strength and hunt down the enemy flag. Every attack is a reveal.
• Bazaar and Tin Brigade are two more: a trading duel between two merchants over three rounds, and turn-based tactics with a toy army, fog of war and turn clocks up to a day.

Card games for two

• Gin Rummy: draw, discard, meld and knock. Go gin, dodge the undercut, first to 100 takes the match.
• Cribbage: fifteen-two, fifteen-four, and a pair is six. Peg your way to 121. There is a discard hint if you are learning.
• Spit: a speed game against the computer when you want to play alone for a few minutes.
• Bazaar is a trading card duel: take goods, swap with your mules and sell before the coins run out.

Play together, not against each other

Not every pair wants to compete. These co-op games put you on the same side, and they are especially good for couples.

• 
  Co-Pilot2 players
• 
  Tether TowerSolo or 2-4 co-op
• 
  Fireflies2-5 players
• 
  Northbound2-5 players

• Co-Pilot: land a plane together, one die at a time. Plan out loud, then go silent: the dice you place are all you can say.
• Tether Tower: climb a giant clock tower chained together. Jump together, brace when your partner slips.
• Fireflies: you can see your partner's hand but not your own, and you build the show in order together.
• Northbound: a co-op trick-taking campaign of forty legs, saved for your pair, with one signal each and no talking about your cards.

Head-to-head action

For pairs who would rather react than plan, these are real-time and over in minutes.

• Air Hockey: neon table hockey with real puck physics. Play on one device, with phones as paddles on a big screen, or online. First to seven.
• Pool: eight-ball, turn by turn. Line it up, send it, and talk trash.
• Tank Duel: top-down tank battles with shells that ricochet off walls. Bank shots and mines.
• Table Tennis and Knockout Boxing put two players on one screen, or swing and punch with your phones in front of a TV.
• Math Duel is the quick brain version: head-to-head mental math, where the first right answer wins the point.

Sharing one device

You do not need two devices to play. Turn-based games can be played by passing a phone or tablet back and forth, and several action games have a mode for two on one screen: Air Hockey puts a paddle at each end, and Table Tennis and Knockout Boxing split the controls. On a TV, each player can use their own phone as the controller instead.

How to pick

• Short on time: Drop Four or Dots and Boxes.
• Want to get better over years: Chess or Go.
• Want something new and clever: Dojo or Quilt.
• Want to play on the same side: Co-Pilot.
• Live far apart: any turn-based game a turn a day. See Games to play with long-distance friends and on a video call.

Most two-player games also play against the computer, so you can practice before challenging anyone. For bigger groups, see The best free online games to play with friends, and for more board games, Free board games online, with no download.