9 Comments
Jan 5, 2022Liked by Justin Davis

Love the house rule tip for Carcassonne! It’s a popular game in our household; will definitely implement this on our next playthrough.

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Reincarnated is a card drafting game where players take turns incarnating beings into the preferred being to gain Karma cards. Each player begins the game with a face-down Life Purpose card, which may or not be revealed during the game, and a starter being for their lifeline. Certain beings and Karma cards allow players to look at their own or an opponent's Life Purpose card.

This is a very fun game and ends when someone incarnates the Human. We had a great time playing Reincarnated and will definitely be bringing it out on the table again soon. If you enjoy card drafting point salad games you will truly enjoy the Reincarnated board game. https://boardgameempire.co/reincardnated-card-game-playthrough/

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Keyflower is an incredible auction/bidding + strategy game (and probably in my top 3 board games of all time). It's super fun with 2 players and can go up to 6 players.

Two other games I love that work well with 2 but can accommodate up to 4 players are Maracaibo (hand management/strategy) and Tzolk'in (worker placement/strategy).

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Feb 9, 2022·edited Feb 9, 2022

Hi Justin!

Love the suggestions! Would you consider doing a post in the opposite perspective of games that scale down? In other words, what games are denoted as 4+ players that may also be well suited for 2-3 players with modifications?

One simple example my wife and I found is playing Ticket to Ride where we each control 2 colors (we combine totals from each of our trains at the end). I know this is quite basic which is why I’m counting on you to help us get more creative!

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Hey Justin if you are looking for good 2 players that scale up I just bought a a game off the recommendation of a good friend of mine called dice throne and it's a very fun deck building fighting game that looks to scale up very well for up to 6 people. A 2 player set is only $25 on Amazon and the fist season is $80, the entire season gets you 8 different heros to play as where the 2 player boxes come with 2 heros each. I've played 4 times now and every time was a blast.

Another game I've played a lot of and highly recommend is boss monster it is a very fun game and have played 2, 4, and 5 player games and every time has been a blast it is another deck building game if you can't tell I love them too.

I will 100% be picking up dominion on my next game night purchase as it sounds right up my alley.

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I couldn't agree more about Dominion. It's one of my personal favorites and a go to if we can't decide on another game.

I can sympathize with the core thesis of this article as within my group I am considered to be the board game aficionado. I am the only one to own any board games and before I bring them out to the wider group I test them out with just one of my friends. This helps to both to learn the game and judge their interest before I completely blow a very rare group board game night. Here are a couple more that have made it through both steps of the process and have seen multiple play sessions:

Splendor: Of all the games I own, this has by far seen the most play time. It very easy to learn, quick to play, and isn’t overly or underly thematic: all problems that all tend to discourage my play group. To date, it is the only board game that has ever come on vacation with me and has even had my Mom and Grandma cursing each other out. While I personally think it works slightly better with 3 or 4 players, it is still great with 2. Also, in board games terms it is pretty cheap, small, and widely available (I picked up my copy at Target years ago).

Galaxy Trucker: This is a recent addition that has help get our group back together after lockdown. It is a genuinely funny game that is equally great with 2, 3, or 4 players. Heck, I might even enjoy it solo sometimes. It also fills the storytelling role that D&D or other tabletop RPGs normally play. We have tried those, but as much as I liked it, my “normie” friends found it a bit too out there for their taste. However, I run the sessions of Galaxy Trucker a bit like a DM, adding a flavor text and emotion to the event cards I pull which tends to enliven the group. This is viewed as a classic by many and I can see why after playing it.

Power Grid: I personally love this game, but I am a more hesitant in recommending it to just anyone. I don’t regularly play this with my normal group, rather I have a separate group of friends who are fascinated by economics and logistics that really enjoy this game. During our first board game night, this separate group demanded we play Monopoly. While we enjoyed our time playing that (mainly because we all payed close attention throughout the entire session) I recommended that we try other games and this was the logical step up from there. They really enjoyed it and we have played it a couple times since.

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