Games for two: ideas for couples, siblings, journeys and waiting rooms

Two players change everything: what works and what doesn’t

Secret-role and voting games need at least three people. With two, if there is an impostor it can only be the other person, and every vote ends in a tie. The same goes for games where one player gives clues and the rest race to answer first: without a third person, there is no race.

What does work for two almost always falls into one of three families:

• Head-to-head: two secrets, two strategies, one winner. Every move the other person makes matters to you, and there is no sitting around waiting.
• Cooperation: your opponent is the game itself, such as a grid to complete or a word to save before it is too late.
• Conversation: games that are really an excuse to talk, find out what the other person thinks and bicker affectionately over an answer.

The PartyGames titles that work for two

Every game in this section can be played on a single phone passed back and forth, even without a connection. If you each have a phone, you can open a room and let the other person join with a code or a QR scan.

Duel, made for two

Duel takes exactly two players. Each of you looks at your own secret in private, then you take turns asking each other questions. In Words mode both words come from the same category, and the first to guess the other person’s word wins. In Numbers mode each of you gets a value on a themed scale and, when you are both ready, you each estimate the other’s number: the closer guess wins.

The winning strategy is the same as in Twenty Questions: ask questions that cut the possibilities in half. If the category is animals, “Does it live in water?” tells you far more than “Is it a dolphin?”. With two phones in a room, nobody has to hand the device over and each secret stays on its own screen.

Tic-Tac-Toe, for rematches

Tic-Tac-Toe is the classic three-by-three grid, noughts and crosses as most of us learnt it. The app draws lots for who starts and then alternates the first move in the following games, so nobody can complain about always going second. Between two careful players a game often ends in a draw, so it is worth playing a best of five or seven.

Who Am I?: one asks, one answers

Who Am I? already works with two players. The guesser holds the phone to their forehead without looking at it, the other reads the word and answers only yes, no or maybe; then you swap roles. With two, the person answering carries extra responsibility, because nobody else is there to correct them: a well-timed “maybe” is worth more than a hasty yes. A turn lasts from 60 to 180 seconds, or has no limit at all.

Name, Place, Thing, head to head

Name, Place, Thing works for anywhere from two to twenty people. On a single phone the app draws the letter, you write on paper and, as soon as one of you finishes, the other gets a final few seconds; then you compare answers out loud. In a room each of you types on your own phone and the scores are worked out for you. With two players, matching answers come up a lot and score only 5 points instead of 10, so pick a few less obvious categories, such as Occupation, Plant or Musical instrument, to give original answers a chance.

Word in Bloom and Word Wheel

In Word in Bloom, in the mode where you take turns setting the word, one of you writes a word and the other guesses it letter by letter before all the petals drop: 8, 6 or 4 of them, depending on the difficulty. If you would rather work together, in All together mode the app picks the words and you tackle them as a team. Word Wheel starts at two players: spin the wheel, call a consonant, buy vowels, and only the player who solves the phrase banks their winnings. With two it becomes a tight back-and-forth, where a single bankrupt can turn the game on its head.

Crossword and Would You Rather, with no opponent

The Crossword can be solved as a pair too, either sitting side by side on the same phone or in a room, where you both write on the same grid in real time and can each follow a different clue. Split the across and down clues between you, then compare notes where they cross. On a single phone, Would You Rather is designed for one person: read the question aloud and both answer before looking at each other. In a room each of you chooses in secret on your own phone, and at the end you find out how in tune you really are.

Not suitable for two: Impostor, The Spy, Most Likely To, Charades and Doodle Guess, which need at least three players, and Trio Sync, which is played in teams of three. Forbidden Word needs at least four.

Couples, siblings, journeys, waiting rooms: what to choose

• As a couple, in the evening. Would You Rather is a great excuse to talk about things that don’t usually come up; the Crossword is the relaxed choice for the sofa; Duel adds a bit of healthy rivalry. If you are apart, you can open a room and play while staying on a call: there are some tips in the guide to playing together over a video call.
• Between siblings. Tic-Tac-Toe is perfect for quick rematches, and the alternating first move removes one reason to squabble. In Word in Bloom the younger one loves setting the word and catching out the older one; when it is their turn to guess, choose the Easy difficulty.
• On a journey. The driver must not look at a screen, so with them you play out loud only, using the classics in the next section. Between two passengers, on a train or a plane, everything works: on a single phone the games need no connection, which helps in a tunnel or abroad.
• In a waiting room. You want quiet games you can drop at any moment: Tic-Tac-Toe, the Crossword or a game of Duel played in low voices. Better to avoid the ones that get you shouting, such as Who Am I? with its inevitable fits of laughter.

Spoken games for two, with nothing in your hands

When the phone stays in your pocket, or one of you is driving, two voices are enough. Twenty Questions and word chains are covered in the guide to games with no equipment; here are a few more classics that work particularly well for two.

The yes-no game

One player fires questions as fast as possible, and the other has to answer without ever saying “yes” or “no”, and without nodding or shaking their head. The best questions are harmless ones asked at speed: “Is your name Tom?”, “Are you sure?”, “Did you just say yes?”. Time how long each of you lasts, then swap roles: whoever holds out longest wins.

The number plate game

Perfect in the car, even for the driver. Take the first two letters of the number plate on the car in front and look for a word that contains them in that order: with FG you could say “fig”, with TR “train”, with BZ “bazaar”. The first to find a valid word scores a point; impossible combinations are skipped in favour of the next plate.

Place-name chain

One player names a town or city, and the other names one that begins with the last letter of the previous one: London, Nottingham, Manchester, Reading, Glasgow, Wigan, Norwich. No repeats, and whoever runs out of answers loses the round. With so many British places ending in -ton, -ham and -ford, the same few letters keep coming back, and after a few minutes it gets harder than it looks.

Guess the number

One player thinks of a number from 1 to 100, the other tries to guess it and is told only “higher” or “lower”. Then you swap: whoever needs fewer guesses wins. Anyone who always starts from the middle of the range soon discovers they have an edge, and that is exactly where the game gets interesting.

When the same person always wins

With two players an imbalance is felt more keenly: there is no third player to spread the wins and losses around. If one of you wins nearly every time, the other’s enthusiasm won’t last long. A few simple fixes:

• An open handicap. In Name, Place, Thing the stronger player must use words of at least five letters; in Tic-Tac-Toe they give up the centre square as their first move.
• Longer series. A defeat stings less in a best of five, with the results noted on a sheet of paper or in a phone note to pick up next time.
• Switch skills. Someone who dominates with letters won’t necessarily be good at estimating a number in Duel or asking sharp questions in Who Am I?. Alternating different games spreads the wins around.
• Switch to cooperation. The Crossword, or Word in Bloom in All together mode, puts you both on the same side: you win or lose together, and the more experienced player becomes an ally instead of an opponent.

If the two players are siblings with a big age gap, you will find more ideas in the guide to word games for kids.