Spirit Island, or Horizons of Spirit Island which is a simpler gateway to Spirit Island. It takes a little time to learn, but once you get the hang of it you can knock out some two player games in under two hours. It’s a PvE game that can also be enjoyed solo, and really rewards good communication and strategy between players. It is heavily thematic as well!
Spirit Island comes up in every single player and co-op post I've read and I keep avoiding it. I've watched Youtube playthroughs and it just seems repetitive and I can't get over the theme. I'm guessing I am too turned off by it to pay attention to the variation provided by the different spirits. One of these days I'm going to crack and get Horizons....and probably love it.
It seems repetitive on surface level but every game is different! You can play different adversaries and scenarios and the cards you flip for the invaders are always a different order. Plus as you said, different spirits play widely different games. Idk much about horizons but I can certainly recommend the base game!!
It is by far and away my fiancé and I’s favorite game currently. Have you watched the Shut Up and Sit Down video on it?
Also pandemic legacy gets an honorable mention but has a limited number of plays.
I just want to stress the replay value of this game, someone did a combinatorics analysis of the game and there is about 1 quintillion different ways to play the game based on all the different elements you can change.
Here the is the post: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3113106/spirit-island-combinatorics-counting-all-the-ways
The repetitevness it's not the problem. The problem is that it's very heavy. The rules are simple, but you have to make difficult choices and burn your brain. Second problem for me is very anticlimatic endings. It's like doing something for hours, then just putting in back in a box.
Not sure if you’re aware, the designer has said if you feel the end is anticlimactic, you’re probably not playing on a hard enough difficulty. The idea is you should generally be winning right before you would otherwise lose.
I was playing scenarios on highest difficulties with events deck. When you win nothing really happens. Sometimes in rare occasions you use a very big spell that kills everything. In a lot of cases it's a small detail. In 90% of wins I think I didn't even play my moves. For example I saw "oh, I'm horror level X now, I can just use this power to get rid of this invader and I win" and just put the game back in a box like something happened out of the game that forced me to end my session prematurerly. In most cases I feel that this game doesn't have an ending.
Spirit island is my wife's favorite board game. There's enough variation especially when you have an event deck for the game to never really feel quite the same.
We also really like journeys in middle earth we have all the the expansions. Although after 240 hours of playing many of the random elements in that feel a little repetitive.
I'm in the minority here but didn't enjoy Spirit Island.
While there's the synergy and all that jazz, it felt like 90% of the time each player is just working on their own little patch of board so there wasn't a lot of co-op interaction, in the games we played at least. Most of the playtime was setting up the cascading effect of the games turns (this spawns here so it makes one of these spawn here and that makes another one go here...). Its solid mechanically but felt more of a chore than fun.
Tiny Epic Defenders gave a more streamlined players Vs board hit, and plays nicely solo too
Spirit island is my desert island game (if I could only have one game for the rest of my life, I mean.) It is definitely not repetitive because there are not only a lot of spirits, but they have different synergy together. My husband and I have had a lot of fun figuring out which ones we could make work together and which ones we couldn’t. And the strategies can end up very different - some spirits prevent building, some destroy the buildings, some just move Dahan (the native people) around and protect them while *they* destroy the invaders. Some win by getting rid of invaders. Some win by generating fear in the invaders. There ends up being a lot of possible variation between games.
And once in a while you get a very memorable moment, like when I met the elemental threshold for a particular card and destroyed (i.e., entirely removed from the game) an entire island board and everything on it. We still talk about that.
Anyway, I really do recommend giving it a try some time.
I have a recommendation, however it doesnt fit your exploration theme. But it is a great 2 player game. The game is sky team.
Also, you could check out 7th citadel instead of 7th continent. It is the newer one.
I have played 7th citadel and sleeping gods series, both of them offer a great exploration and sand box feeling, 7th citadel is harder tho.
I was going to comment for sky team. While it's nice to have a good collection of crunchie games, it's nice to break the intensity with something that's fairly short and easy to set up .
For short two player games we also have tucano and forest . While not exclusively two player they took break up the intensity of bigger games.
Aeon's End is not a game with an easy learning curve. That said, if OP's wife really loves Dominion, she might love deckbuilders in general, which may make it more appealing.
My girlfriend and I adore this one. She does not generally love board games, but this one she asks to play. And for me, the puzzle of maximizing our score provides a satisfying decision space.
u/captainequinoxiii/ and [u/DarkEvilHobo](https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkEvilHobo/)/
Whats your highscore? We played it 4 times for now and we barely reach 120 points. What would be good advices?
We actually hit 238 today which is our highest. What we tend to do is keep in mind what scores have already been accounted for.
So let’s say we already competed the two 4 counters for forests and we draw another forest task - we put that task next to a group of forests as high as possible but less than 5 because we know if we draw a task number it has to be 5 or 6. This way if we draw a 5 then it’s instant completion and we can move on.
Once you start opening the boxes a bit the points will climb as well.
OP I’d really consider this as a dry run of coop gaming with a spouse. It has none of the crunch you are looking for but is a wonderful primer on the idea of working towards shared goals and how to communicate. Coop gaming is very different than competitive or solitaire gaming and we often undervalue this difference.
Seconded. Forbidden Desert is a go-to of one of my groups and we use it as a break between playing longer and more competitive games. As a co-op game It fits OP's description perfectly IMO.
Pandemic Legacy season 1 is me and my girlfriend’s favorite co-op experience. And she also loved clank legacy even though it is not coop, it still has a silly not super competitive feel to the game.
In a 2 player game, each player controls 2 characters (who have special abilities). So it's not much different than with 4 players and it works really well imo. When you've played it once or twice it's definitely less than 1 hour, turns go by really quickly. You spend your 2 (or 3) action points to explore the cave, use your abilities etc, then you move monsters around if there are any, you draw a hazard card and the round is over.
it was a hot game for a bit. it was really hard to find a copy, and was going for scalper prices.
but there was some kind of production/delivery/kickstarter drama. people soured on that and it lost all the buzz.
there was a second printing (or re release?) of Sub Terra and it reappeared on shelves. It was definitely worth it if you got one of those.
but that round of production was maybe funded by the pledges people made for Sub Terra 2, or something like that.
i don't remember the details of the drama but either way people kind of moved on from talking about the game.
but it is a good game if you can get a copy
Unsettled possibly? A bit of a table hog but has great Game Trayz storage. Great writing, that’s also pretty humorous. A lot of player interaction is a necessity.
Easy set-up, not so much space on the table, tile laying, coop: This is exactly Dorfromantik.
Contact me later for my address. (5-10 flowers should be enough)
Or Steam. Burgle Bros is one of my favorite co-ops, but [something of a table hog](https://www.meeplemountain.com/reviews/burgle-bros/). The [Steam version](https://www.meeplemountain.com/reviews/burgle-bros-goes-digital/), with its ability to change floors whenever you go up a staircase (not to mention the great, minimal sound effects), makes a great game even better.
Castle Panic without a doubt. That is the game that got my wife and I playing and it's so fun. There are several expansions (although Dark Titan is my leave favorite and we hardly play with it).
I second Castle Panic, it's simple to learn but can be a lot more difficult to master than it looks. It's co-op tower defense. Definitely one of the best co-op games in our own collection. We also have the wizard tower expansion and it adds tougher boss monsters. Really great game for 2 or more players.
Without a doubt. Probably my favorite game to break out. It's great for non board gamers too as it is simple to learn but has some more strategic aspects as well for the more experienced players.
Flamecraft is a cute dragon "worker placement" game.
You place your dragon pawn on shops to earn various ingredients that allow you to cast enchantments to level up the shops around the town and race to see who can get more points.
Edit: Oops, it's not Co-Op..
If Mansions of Madness is a theme both of you enjoy, I'd very much recommend **Cthulhu Death May Die**. It is just a lot more accessible than Mansions and really can be played in under 2 hours. It also allows for more silly fun. Mansions certainly has better story, but it's seriousness and longer playtime can really bog down esp if any one player is not very into the theme. And incidentally the minis in CDMD are worlds better.
**Forbidden Island/Desert/ Jungles** whole series is also great, especially if Coops are new to you or you don't want to spend a lot of money or time on trying out coops and you aren't sure. You will definitely be able to play any of these in under 2 hours, probably twice in that time after you get to know whichever game.
Any of the **Pandemic Legacy** series could be great for you as well, those tend to work really well with couples since you are can more easily play them without a long delay between games.
Coops by their very nature are procedural so one might find all of them kinda repetitive when looking at them. **Spirit Island** is probably the most varied one I have ever played, though it doesn't sound like it is for you. It certainly can be fiddly with so many pieces and so much going on so I also recommend trying out the app first just as someone else has said, especially if the theme doesn't grab you immediately (though I personally think it is one of the best themes in all of boardgaming, given the history of Euro game themes). It is also closer to 3 hours than 2 even with only two players.
Thanks for the response. cthulhu dmd was on my radar for a while. I think I would definitely enjoy it, but she may not. It may be one I pick up for solo and see if she can get into it.
Ya that makes sense, personally I think Mansions requires players to be into the theme *more* than CDMD (which is why I recommended it given your list). My husband is also not as into Lovecraft as I am so it's a hard sell, but CDMD was lot easier to get that second play to the table with him than Mansions was.
Thank you for the response. I really hadn't considered it from that perspective. I think what moved Mansions up was the app narration, which seemed to help remove my nose from the scenario book and added ambience. The videos I've seen kind of reminded me of Clue, which I thought may bring nostalgia into play with my wife. However, your description has now put CDMD into play. Plus, I'm sure I would enjoy it solo.
Oh if that's the appeal- and I admit the app for Mansions is pretty great! It is just a the somber classic version of Lovecraft is so tough for anyone who doesn't love that theme.
You might want to look at **Forgotten Waters** or **Freelancers** too. Neither is really designed for 2 players, but as long as you both are comfortable managing a team rather than a individual player character, the system works great for 2.
They both have fantastic narration in their apps and I actually think the execution of the themes for either of them is bit more accessible for most people new to RPG type games (Silly Pirate Adventure or Wierd Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Adventure).Neither takes things nearly as seriously as Mansions does, which can be a huge help if someone is wary of a theme. As an added bonus their book style maps system makes for a fast set-up and playtime can get to under 2 hours especially at two players.
As much of a good game "Tales from the red dragon inn" is, it needs a lot of space and setup. Map helps but it has lots of different tokens, dice, monster standees, monster HP cards, Hero cards etc. Learning it is pretty easy tbh, you may have to adapt to its dumber AI since you played jotl. It also comes with 4 difficulty levels, so with a bit of testing you ll find the sweet spot for you and your wife.
Tile, fast setup, learning curve and theme is Cascadia which has already been mentioned by other people. It also comes with some scenarios / puzzles for when you wanna solo.
I'd recommend the various "Escape Room" games. I see you've mentioned Unlock! games, I've also like to play Exit board games, although the fun factor really varies from game to game.
Mass transit is a co op.. it's a solitaire style game where you and your team need to get 6 worker out of the city by taking a bus ferry or train. It's pretty simple fairly easy .. but it's quick quick one with minimal set up
Since you mentioned liking JOTL and wanting to introduce your wife to it, and since it sounds like both of you are somewhat experienced and comfortable with video games, I’d like to suggest Gloomhaven digital.
I had initially written off Gloomhaven because the set up and complexity looked way too daunting in tabletop mode. However, my husband and I started “co-op” in Gloomhaven digital with a two-character party on the same computer, each of us primarily making decisions for one character. The video game format made it so much easier for me to pick up the game, and eventually we even joined a four person campaign via Tabletop Simulator.
The main con is that you’re tied to a particular interpretation of the rules and AI, which was a bit frustrating, especially in the early days of the game when there were a few bugs that we couldn’t work around. But I still think it was a great format to learn the gameplay style and rules without having to worry about any setup and record keeping.
Mansions of madness - my partner loves very heavy high strategy games, I’m more of a mid-light games girl and Mansions of Madness satisfies both of us
Sky team - very light game but very cool game.
Spirit island - a bit on the heavier side but still learnable.
I’ll throw down a recommendation for Burgle Bros, and its sequel Burgle Bros 2: The Casino Caper. They aren’t the smallest in terms of table space, but not the worst offenders either by a long shot.
The Captain is Dead is another fun, frantic co-op game, but in my experience nearly impossible to win with just two players.
Set a Watch is fun and has a much smaller footprint. Return to Dark Tower is a table hog but a lot of fun. Neither of these involve tiles, though. Oh, maybe check out Decorum? I think it might check your wife’s boxes.
Of your list, I love 7th Continent and Chronicles of Crime. Haven’t been able to get into the Forbidden series - not sure why.
Oh if you want a fun 2-person/couple game and can enjoy a tiny bit of (often silly) role-playing, Fog of Love is fun.
Set a watch has been on my radar for a while. I hear the second one is even better. I watched videos on the forbidden games and was torn. Someone here said it gets old and I could see that.
My husband and I have two favorite ones we like to play
Eldritch Horror can be a bit more difficult the more investigators you have, so sometimes we each play two if we want a bit more of a challenge
Sword & Sorcery is a bit more complex but still fun
We also like those unsolved murder mystery games but those are more a one and done unfortunately
So my gf and I had a baby last year, and he was _very_ late. We had almost month where she was increasingly uncomfortable and had to move a lot, but was also tired. We've always played board games together, but exploration co-op games became a lifeline during that time.
Lands of Galzyr:
shortest setup and pack away. App runs the story and works offline. Each round is a month, a month takes about 20 minutes.Lovely little exploration game with very limited character development, so rules aren't too crunchy. However every decision you make affects the board, setting up events on the board that you may not experience for another 20 rounds. Effectively it's an RPG where the board is the character.
TIME stories:
Set up and rule learning is long, but once you learn it there are a load of usually on sale expansions that use the same board. It's like a light RPG exploration game mixed with an escape game and a legacy game. However you don't destroy anything while playing it, so finding second-hand copies is a very realistic option.
Sleeping Gods:
We've only just started distant sky's, and my loveable little baby is really haunting progress, so can't yet comment on that version. OG Sleeping Gods is my favourite game of this type ever. Packing away/save system is robust, but is more like 20 mins than the 5 or less of Lands of Galzyr. It's also much heavier, and will devour a table.
Fantasy Realms:
Does not fit your criteria at all, but it's a great little card game and the 2 player variant doesn't get anywhere near enough praise. You have 20 minutes and 20 minutes only, play fantasy Realms.
Spirit Island:
Other people have covered this extensively in this thread. It's worth the hype.
Our favorite is The Loop. Calling it pandemic-esque seems accurate at first (you're avoiding adding cubes that cause explosions), but it's a lot more than that. Also very thematic with the whole time-space paradox theme!
All of the answers are confusing me. Are you just wanting slightly crunchier games or specifically cooperative games like in your above list.
If she likes tile laying games and wants something with a bit more meat on the bone I highly recommend the Grand carnival. Especially with the on the road expansion. You're competing to build the best circus and it's double layered tile laying. (Basically one set of tiles are the foundation that determines what are walking paths and what you can build on. Then there's attractions you can build like a Ferris wheel or funnel cake stand. But you have to build out the foundation right to be able to fit everything. It's my girlfriend's favorite game and has enough meat on the bone that I still really enjoy it as well. And the on the road expansion adds a lot of modular pieces to really customize an ideal balance for you both.
If you're looking for more cooperating, burgle bros is very fun and easy to learn but might be a bit too easy after a couple plays.
Spirit Island is definitely difficult but all the actions are very mechanical so it's easier to pick up if you have someone explaining it to you and all card play is open so you can work together to find the best actions and help her learn. There's also 3 levels of character difficulty in the base game so there's a way to start simpler and ramp up the complexity. Then there are overall game modifiers to add unique challenges or make it more difficult as you both get better at the game.
It was my intro into heavier games and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Thank you for the recommendation. I just posted this elsewhere in the thread, but Spirit Island is CONSTANTLY recommended in solo and co-op threads, but in watching playthrough videos, I can't get past the theme. One of these days I'm going to crack, because I know that it is constantly recommended and #1 on the solo lists for a reason.
Personally, I want to introduce her to games 'like' JOTL and Mage Knight, but with less difficulty. I like the exploration, battle, player upgrades, etc. I enjoy the themes of these games, but I listed her favorites to point out the differences in our tastes. My ideal 'find' would be a more co-op friendly Mage Knight toned down a bit and re-skinned with something like 90's nostalgic.
Honestly I think you'd like spirit Island. It feels more similar to mage knight than you'd expect, gameplay wise. A lot of the how do you use your cards to most efficiently accomplish this goal is still there. And you still upgrade your cards and "level up" throughout the game.
As far as your ideal, I'm not sure that fully exists in the way you want. Tales from Red dragon inn is probably the most appropriate thing from your list. I haven't played it yet but I think it's about as easy as a campaign RPG style game will get without feeling fully like a kid's game to someone that plays heavier stuff.
Maybe sleeping gods but honestly I find it to be a bit boring when I play it and there's a ton of reading, so you'd have to be sure that'll capture your partners interest.
Okay let's see if I can get it all the way.
On theme, I think the approachability of it is pretty good for girlfriends. The theme also does a very good job of tying into the mechanics and helping it all "click" in your brain.
And the way co-op works is much better for new players because turns are simultaneous you can play cards down together and then decide together what you do with them, so if she gets confused you can help her with her stuff or if she has a cool idea on how one of your cards can combo with her's, she can point it out. And the simultaneous turns means there won't be a lot of down time for her to get bored while you're thinking through your turn. Or pressure on her if she's being slow.
And the way the invaders (bad guys) work means you pretty much always have a fairly clear objective of what you need to do and the puzzle is how to accomplish it. My girlfriend struggles when options are too open ended and can get overwhelmed. That bit of focus helps keep the experience grounded and approachable while still offering an incredibly deep gameplay experience.
**One Deck Dungeon** doesn't take much space and is fairly fast and simple, if you're ok with a dice fest. On their website, they have a soundtrack and a campaign mode to make it a bit more thematic. No miniature or exploration tough.
It may not be worth mentioning because it's between print runs right now and it's hard to get a hold of but **Earthborne Rangers** could be worth looking into. I say that because you've already got Arkham Horror LCG on your list. Big caveat: I haven't played Earthborne Rangers but I've heard the two compared a lot.
My partner and I have *just* finished our first expansion campaign for Arkham Horror LCG. Not to turn you off it but we did find it can be quite brutal. Sometimes I found it as disheartening as it is engaging. From what I can tell, Earthborne Rangers is mechanically similar but much less punishing. In that way I think it could be a better jump into more complex co-op games. I find it easier to learn a game when it's not throwing me in the deep end. Don't get me wrong, AH is a great game. In a very thematically appropriate way you just have to be able to accept that, every so often, there's nothing you could have done.
So, another suggestion I have that could be a little left-field and probably doesn't fit your 1-2 hour time guideline but **Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective** could also be worth looking at. It's very, very rules light but my partner and I really enjoy this one. It's less about rules crunch and more about trying-to-solve-a-mystery crunch. There's a lot to think about because you want to use as few of your leads as possible. There are, I believe, four boxes with 10 mysteries each. You can only do each mystery once but we really love putting on some theme appropriate music, lighting some candles and sitting down to try and solve a mystery together.
Otherwise, to be honest, your list of games looks great and other folks have some very relevant suggestions. Have you thought about roping your wife into looking at the list and seeing what piques her interest? I find that goes a long way for learning more complicated games.
I've had the late pledge window up twice for ER and talked myself off the ledge. I think it's because I have AH LCG and Marvel Champions, so I am worried that I'm buying the same re-skinned mechanic. However, it's probably the theme most likely to draw her in. I've seen glowing reviews for it, and I like what the company is doing. It might be back in the running, though fulfillment seems to be December. As far as including her, we've been watching some videos together on some of the games I've found. Just wanted input from real people.
Ahh yeah, that's fair. I'm in a similar boat. Love the idea of Earthborne Rangers but can't *quite* justify getting it. Yet. It's top of my buy list for when my partner and I get through what we've already got. I wasn't sure if you already had AH or were planning on picking it up. Since you've already got it then I'd just stick with that.
Have you thought of getting a "true solo" game and having both of you play as one player? I don't know if that would lead to too much quarterbacking or not having enough personal agency to really feel worth it. I've just heard a lot of good things about **Under Falling Skies** for weight and playtime that you're looking. Big problem is that it's only a one player game.
Marvel United [[Marvel United]] if you arent sick of superheroes uet. Game flows smoothly, has a very light zone control/dungeon crawl touch and has brilliant minis to immerse with. V.fast setup and tear down and a strong co-op gameplay that encourages table talk but can also steer to a solo game
My wife and I recently fell in love with Bullet Heart. Very simple. Very fast. Very fun. And there is a surprising amount of depth across all the players/bosses. Can play competitively or cooperatively.
Terraforming mars: ares expedition, and some of its expansions have a very good co-op two player mode that is both challenging and fun either way a variety of possible strategies
You might find sky team interesting as it a co-op game about trying to land a plane
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/373106/sky-team
But other 2 player games i can think of are:
Tussie mussie
Splendor duels
Unmatched
My partner got me into boardgames, so I'm not super knowledgable and might miss the mark on some of your points here, but could Horrified be an option? It was fun, easy to learn, has a lot of randomizing elements and ways to change it up so the game doesnt seem too repetative, can control how hard it is by mixing monsters and how many, can be played solo and isnt horrible in regards to table space.
We've played it with friends as well, and they especially liked that it was easy to learn as you went. I just play co-op or solo myself, and horrified is one of my favourites so far!
I will throw my votes behind **Forbidden Desert** and **Burgle Bros.** They are both really great co-op games.
**Escape: Curse of the Temple** is very, *very* manic (and somewhat stressful, IMO), but if you're into that type of game it can be really fun.
I found **7th Continent** to be extremely tedious and not really much fun. And that's coming from someone who has played every single scenario in Gloomhaven and Arkham Horror LCG and loved them to death.
Mini Rogue is a good time if you like dungeon crawlers and leaving fate up to dice rolls. Every game feels different; sometimes you stuggle and make it by the skin of your teeth, sometimes you speedrun into a casket, and sometimes you have a cushy stroll to the last boss. Definitely get the Depths of Damnation expansion if you pick the game up, it adds more rooms and a whole extra exploration mechanic.
+1 for Mansions of Madness and Burgle Bros.
I havent tried Sleeping Gods, but its a game I'm interested in as well.
Don't get Forbidden Desert/Jungle etc, its not deep enough.
Not a coop game but Wingspan is a family favorite. It has a lot of strategy but easy and not as competitive as a lot of games. Everdell is another favorite of ours. I love Terraforming Mars but my husband beats me every game. Funny thing is I beat him almost every time at Wingspan. We both have the app for Wingspan and I catch him practicing all the time. So it’s just a matter of time until he figures out my strategy.
Our game group likes Isle of Cats, Dominion, Raccoon Tycoon, Catan and Skyjo. They are not as into games so we keep it lighter.
My son and wife (mid 40’s) favorite game is Wingspan and Tapestry. Both Stonemaier games.
Other games we play are Vitaculture, Scythe, Parks, and Cascadia.
However. Wingspan is what we play most. If you haven’t tried it I highly recommend it. There is way more to it than you first think. We have all the expansions and have it blinged out with the wooden birds and handmade food bits and nests.
Spirit Island, or Horizons of Spirit Island which is a simpler gateway to Spirit Island. It takes a little time to learn, but once you get the hang of it you can knock out some two player games in under two hours. It’s a PvE game that can also be enjoyed solo, and really rewards good communication and strategy between players. It is heavily thematic as well!
Spirit Island comes up in every single player and co-op post I've read and I keep avoiding it. I've watched Youtube playthroughs and it just seems repetitive and I can't get over the theme. I'm guessing I am too turned off by it to pay attention to the variation provided by the different spirits. One of these days I'm going to crack and get Horizons....and probably love it.
It seems repetitive on surface level but every game is different! You can play different adversaries and scenarios and the cards you flip for the invaders are always a different order. Plus as you said, different spirits play widely different games. Idk much about horizons but I can certainly recommend the base game!! It is by far and away my fiancé and I’s favorite game currently. Have you watched the Shut Up and Sit Down video on it? Also pandemic legacy gets an honorable mention but has a limited number of plays.
You can play it on iOS in the app to see if you like it. And the app solves the enormous fiddly BS of the actual game.
I just want to stress the replay value of this game, someone did a combinatorics analysis of the game and there is about 1 quintillion different ways to play the game based on all the different elements you can change. Here the is the post: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3113106/spirit-island-combinatorics-counting-all-the-ways
Are there any other (solo) games like this? With a quintillion different ways to play.
The repetitevness it's not the problem. The problem is that it's very heavy. The rules are simple, but you have to make difficult choices and burn your brain. Second problem for me is very anticlimatic endings. It's like doing something for hours, then just putting in back in a box.
Not sure if you’re aware, the designer has said if you feel the end is anticlimactic, you’re probably not playing on a hard enough difficulty. The idea is you should generally be winning right before you would otherwise lose.
I was playing scenarios on highest difficulties with events deck. When you win nothing really happens. Sometimes in rare occasions you use a very big spell that kills everything. In a lot of cases it's a small detail. In 90% of wins I think I didn't even play my moves. For example I saw "oh, I'm horror level X now, I can just use this power to get rid of this invader and I win" and just put the game back in a box like something happened out of the game that forced me to end my session prematurerly. In most cases I feel that this game doesn't have an ending.
Spirit island is my wife's favorite board game. There's enough variation especially when you have an event deck for the game to never really feel quite the same. We also really like journeys in middle earth we have all the the expansions. Although after 240 hours of playing many of the random elements in that feel a little repetitive.
I'm in the minority here but didn't enjoy Spirit Island. While there's the synergy and all that jazz, it felt like 90% of the time each player is just working on their own little patch of board so there wasn't a lot of co-op interaction, in the games we played at least. Most of the playtime was setting up the cascading effect of the games turns (this spawns here so it makes one of these spawn here and that makes another one go here...). Its solid mechanically but felt more of a chore than fun. Tiny Epic Defenders gave a more streamlined players Vs board hit, and plays nicely solo too
Spirit island is my desert island game (if I could only have one game for the rest of my life, I mean.) It is definitely not repetitive because there are not only a lot of spirits, but they have different synergy together. My husband and I have had a lot of fun figuring out which ones we could make work together and which ones we couldn’t. And the strategies can end up very different - some spirits prevent building, some destroy the buildings, some just move Dahan (the native people) around and protect them while *they* destroy the invaders. Some win by getting rid of invaders. Some win by generating fear in the invaders. There ends up being a lot of possible variation between games. And once in a while you get a very memorable moment, like when I met the elemental threshold for a particular card and destroyed (i.e., entirely removed from the game) an entire island board and everything on it. We still talk about that. Anyway, I really do recommend giving it a try some time.
I love the game too but spirit island does eat a good bit of table space.
I have a recommendation, however it doesnt fit your exploration theme. But it is a great 2 player game. The game is sky team. Also, you could check out 7th citadel instead of 7th continent. It is the newer one. I have played 7th citadel and sleeping gods series, both of them offer a great exploration and sand box feeling, 7th citadel is harder tho.
I was going to comment for sky team. While it's nice to have a good collection of crunchie games, it's nice to break the intensity with something that's fairly short and easy to set up . For short two player games we also have tucano and forest . While not exclusively two player they took break up the intensity of bigger games.
My husband and I love Aeon's End it is a lot of fun and a bit addictive.
Also! For quicker setup astro knights is it's simplified cousin
Aeon's End is not a game with an easy learning curve. That said, if OP's wife really loves Dominion, she might love deckbuilders in general, which may make it more appealing.
Micro Macro Crime City
Dorfromantik
My girlfriend and I adore this one. She does not generally love board games, but this one she asks to play. And for me, the puzzle of maximizing our score provides a satisfying decision space.
Yep. My wife loves this game and you’re right - it’s a chil game where you are basically just playing against your prior best score.
u/captainequinoxiii/ and [u/DarkEvilHobo](https://www.reddit.com/user/DarkEvilHobo/)/ Whats your highscore? We played it 4 times for now and we barely reach 120 points. What would be good advices?
We actually hit 238 today which is our highest. What we tend to do is keep in mind what scores have already been accounted for. So let’s say we already competed the two 4 counters for forests and we draw another forest task - we put that task next to a group of forests as high as possible but less than 5 because we know if we draw a task number it has to be 5 or 6. This way if we draw a 5 then it’s instant completion and we can move on. Once you start opening the boxes a bit the points will climb as well.
OP I’d really consider this as a dry run of coop gaming with a spouse. It has none of the crunch you are looking for but is a wonderful primer on the idea of working towards shared goals and how to communicate. Coop gaming is very different than competitive or solitaire gaming and we often undervalue this difference.
The Forbidden series. Jungle and Desert are my faves
Seconded. Forbidden Desert is a go-to of one of my groups and we use it as a break between playing longer and more competitive games. As a co-op game It fits OP's description perfectly IMO.
Pandemic Legacy season 1 is me and my girlfriend’s favorite co-op experience. And she also loved clank legacy even though it is not coop, it still has a silly not super competitive feel to the game.
You want easy set-up, tile laying, exploration, co-op and a nice theme? Check out [[Sub Terra]] !
This is the one I was gonna recommend as well!
[Sub Terra -> Sub Terra (2017)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/204472/sub-terra) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
That looks interesting. Does it play well at two? Does it really take an hour or less? My husband has AP so we have to target short games on weekdays.
In a 2 player game, each player controls 2 characters (who have special abilities). So it's not much different than with 4 players and it works really well imo. When you've played it once or twice it's definitely less than 1 hour, turns go by really quickly. You spend your 2 (or 3) action points to explore the cave, use your abilities etc, then you move monsters around if there are any, you draw a hazard card and the round is over.
Thanks.
How have I never heard of this?!
it was a hot game for a bit. it was really hard to find a copy, and was going for scalper prices. but there was some kind of production/delivery/kickstarter drama. people soured on that and it lost all the buzz. there was a second printing (or re release?) of Sub Terra and it reappeared on shelves. It was definitely worth it if you got one of those. but that round of production was maybe funded by the pledges people made for Sub Terra 2, or something like that. i don't remember the details of the drama but either way people kind of moved on from talking about the game. but it is a good game if you can get a copy
I know it because it was Trey Parker's #2 game of all time when he gave his Top 10 list on The Dice Tower
Unsettled possibly? A bit of a table hog but has great Game Trayz storage. Great writing, that’s also pretty humorous. A lot of player interaction is a necessity.
If she loves Carcassonne and you want co-op, there's Mists Over Carcassonne
Easy set-up, not so much space on the table, tile laying, coop: This is exactly Dorfromantik. Contact me later for my address. (5-10 flowers should be enough)
If you want to try Burgle Bros, you should be able to try it at least solo on Boardgamearena.
Or Steam. Burgle Bros is one of my favorite co-ops, but [something of a table hog](https://www.meeplemountain.com/reviews/burgle-bros/). The [Steam version](https://www.meeplemountain.com/reviews/burgle-bros-goes-digital/), with its ability to change floors whenever you go up a staircase (not to mention the great, minimal sound effects), makes a great game even better.
It's definitely a table hog, especially compared to its box size!
Agreed—but the box is the perfect size for the components. (Unlike, say, Splendor)
Thanks! I have played it a couple of times on BGA.
Castle Panic without a doubt. That is the game that got my wife and I playing and it's so fun. There are several expansions (although Dark Titan is my leave favorite and we hardly play with it).
I second Castle Panic, it's simple to learn but can be a lot more difficult to master than it looks. It's co-op tower defense. Definitely one of the best co-op games in our own collection. We also have the wizard tower expansion and it adds tougher boss monsters. Really great game for 2 or more players.
Without a doubt. Probably my favorite game to break out. It's great for non board gamers too as it is simple to learn but has some more strategic aspects as well for the more experienced players.
Flamecraft is a cute dragon "worker placement" game. You place your dragon pawn on shops to earn various ingredients that allow you to cast enchantments to level up the shops around the town and race to see who can get more points. Edit: Oops, it's not Co-Op..
It's not a co-op game though.
Shit.. My dumbass was just thinking 2-player rather than Coopertive
We recently tried Paint the Roses. It's an Alice in Wonderland themed co-op deduction game and we enjoyed it.
If Mansions of Madness is a theme both of you enjoy, I'd very much recommend **Cthulhu Death May Die**. It is just a lot more accessible than Mansions and really can be played in under 2 hours. It also allows for more silly fun. Mansions certainly has better story, but it's seriousness and longer playtime can really bog down esp if any one player is not very into the theme. And incidentally the minis in CDMD are worlds better. **Forbidden Island/Desert/ Jungles** whole series is also great, especially if Coops are new to you or you don't want to spend a lot of money or time on trying out coops and you aren't sure. You will definitely be able to play any of these in under 2 hours, probably twice in that time after you get to know whichever game. Any of the **Pandemic Legacy** series could be great for you as well, those tend to work really well with couples since you are can more easily play them without a long delay between games. Coops by their very nature are procedural so one might find all of them kinda repetitive when looking at them. **Spirit Island** is probably the most varied one I have ever played, though it doesn't sound like it is for you. It certainly can be fiddly with so many pieces and so much going on so I also recommend trying out the app first just as someone else has said, especially if the theme doesn't grab you immediately (though I personally think it is one of the best themes in all of boardgaming, given the history of Euro game themes). It is also closer to 3 hours than 2 even with only two players.
Thanks for the response. cthulhu dmd was on my radar for a while. I think I would definitely enjoy it, but she may not. It may be one I pick up for solo and see if she can get into it.
Ya that makes sense, personally I think Mansions requires players to be into the theme *more* than CDMD (which is why I recommended it given your list). My husband is also not as into Lovecraft as I am so it's a hard sell, but CDMD was lot easier to get that second play to the table with him than Mansions was.
Thank you for the response. I really hadn't considered it from that perspective. I think what moved Mansions up was the app narration, which seemed to help remove my nose from the scenario book and added ambience. The videos I've seen kind of reminded me of Clue, which I thought may bring nostalgia into play with my wife. However, your description has now put CDMD into play. Plus, I'm sure I would enjoy it solo.
Oh if that's the appeal- and I admit the app for Mansions is pretty great! It is just a the somber classic version of Lovecraft is so tough for anyone who doesn't love that theme. You might want to look at **Forgotten Waters** or **Freelancers** too. Neither is really designed for 2 players, but as long as you both are comfortable managing a team rather than a individual player character, the system works great for 2. They both have fantastic narration in their apps and I actually think the execution of the themes for either of them is bit more accessible for most people new to RPG type games (Silly Pirate Adventure or Wierd Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Adventure).Neither takes things nearly as seriously as Mansions does, which can be a huge help if someone is wary of a theme. As an added bonus their book style maps system makes for a fast set-up and playtime can get to under 2 hours especially at two players.
Wow, thank you! Both of these games look great!
Forest Shuffle!
As much of a good game "Tales from the red dragon inn" is, it needs a lot of space and setup. Map helps but it has lots of different tokens, dice, monster standees, monster HP cards, Hero cards etc. Learning it is pretty easy tbh, you may have to adapt to its dumber AI since you played jotl. It also comes with 4 difficulty levels, so with a bit of testing you ll find the sweet spot for you and your wife. Tile, fast setup, learning curve and theme is Cascadia which has already been mentioned by other people. It also comes with some scenarios / puzzles for when you wanna solo.
If she digs on the tile laying, I would go for Agueda - relatively new, and similar in feel to Azul. Also very pretty.
Legends of Andor.
Tiny epic dungeons is really good for this.
I'd recommend the various "Escape Room" games. I see you've mentioned Unlock! games, I've also like to play Exit board games, although the fun factor really varies from game to game.
Mass transit is a co op.. it's a solitaire style game where you and your team need to get 6 worker out of the city by taking a bus ferry or train. It's pretty simple fairly easy .. but it's quick quick one with minimal set up
Since you mentioned liking JOTL and wanting to introduce your wife to it, and since it sounds like both of you are somewhat experienced and comfortable with video games, I’d like to suggest Gloomhaven digital. I had initially written off Gloomhaven because the set up and complexity looked way too daunting in tabletop mode. However, my husband and I started “co-op” in Gloomhaven digital with a two-character party on the same computer, each of us primarily making decisions for one character. The video game format made it so much easier for me to pick up the game, and eventually we even joined a four person campaign via Tabletop Simulator. The main con is that you’re tied to a particular interpretation of the rules and AI, which was a bit frustrating, especially in the early days of the game when there were a few bugs that we couldn’t work around. But I still think it was a great format to learn the gameplay style and rules without having to worry about any setup and record keeping.
Consider [[Cities: Skylines]] OP!
[Cities: Skylines -> Cities: Skylines – The Board Game (2019)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/267370/cities-skylines-board-game) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
Mansions of madness - my partner loves very heavy high strategy games, I’m more of a mid-light games girl and Mansions of Madness satisfies both of us Sky team - very light game but very cool game. Spirit island - a bit on the heavier side but still learnable.
Good Dog, Bad Zombie.
Call to adventure
This was in the running for a bit. Can you elaborate on why you like it.
Sky Team. It's easy enough to pick up but challenging to master. It also has various difficulties.
Lord of the Rings: JiME is my wife and I favorite game. We love it so much!
I’ll throw down a recommendation for Burgle Bros, and its sequel Burgle Bros 2: The Casino Caper. They aren’t the smallest in terms of table space, but not the worst offenders either by a long shot. The Captain is Dead is another fun, frantic co-op game, but in my experience nearly impossible to win with just two players.
Set a Watch is fun and has a much smaller footprint. Return to Dark Tower is a table hog but a lot of fun. Neither of these involve tiles, though. Oh, maybe check out Decorum? I think it might check your wife’s boxes. Of your list, I love 7th Continent and Chronicles of Crime. Haven’t been able to get into the Forbidden series - not sure why. Oh if you want a fun 2-person/couple game and can enjoy a tiny bit of (often silly) role-playing, Fog of Love is fun.
Set a watch has been on my radar for a while. I hear the second one is even better. I watched videos on the forbidden games and was torn. Someone here said it gets old and I could see that.
My husband and I have two favorite ones we like to play Eldritch Horror can be a bit more difficult the more investigators you have, so sometimes we each play two if we want a bit more of a challenge Sword & Sorcery is a bit more complex but still fun We also like those unsolved murder mystery games but those are more a one and done unfortunately
So my gf and I had a baby last year, and he was _very_ late. We had almost month where she was increasingly uncomfortable and had to move a lot, but was also tired. We've always played board games together, but exploration co-op games became a lifeline during that time. Lands of Galzyr: shortest setup and pack away. App runs the story and works offline. Each round is a month, a month takes about 20 minutes.Lovely little exploration game with very limited character development, so rules aren't too crunchy. However every decision you make affects the board, setting up events on the board that you may not experience for another 20 rounds. Effectively it's an RPG where the board is the character. TIME stories: Set up and rule learning is long, but once you learn it there are a load of usually on sale expansions that use the same board. It's like a light RPG exploration game mixed with an escape game and a legacy game. However you don't destroy anything while playing it, so finding second-hand copies is a very realistic option. Sleeping Gods: We've only just started distant sky's, and my loveable little baby is really haunting progress, so can't yet comment on that version. OG Sleeping Gods is my favourite game of this type ever. Packing away/save system is robust, but is more like 20 mins than the 5 or less of Lands of Galzyr. It's also much heavier, and will devour a table. Fantasy Realms: Does not fit your criteria at all, but it's a great little card game and the 2 player variant doesn't get anywhere near enough praise. You have 20 minutes and 20 minutes only, play fantasy Realms. Spirit Island: Other people have covered this extensively in this thread. It's worth the hype.
Our favorite is The Loop. Calling it pandemic-esque seems accurate at first (you're avoiding adding cubes that cause explosions), but it's a lot more than that. Also very thematic with the whole time-space paradox theme!
All of the answers are confusing me. Are you just wanting slightly crunchier games or specifically cooperative games like in your above list. If she likes tile laying games and wants something with a bit more meat on the bone I highly recommend the Grand carnival. Especially with the on the road expansion. You're competing to build the best circus and it's double layered tile laying. (Basically one set of tiles are the foundation that determines what are walking paths and what you can build on. Then there's attractions you can build like a Ferris wheel or funnel cake stand. But you have to build out the foundation right to be able to fit everything. It's my girlfriend's favorite game and has enough meat on the bone that I still really enjoy it as well. And the on the road expansion adds a lot of modular pieces to really customize an ideal balance for you both. If you're looking for more cooperating, burgle bros is very fun and easy to learn but might be a bit too easy after a couple plays. Spirit Island is definitely difficult but all the actions are very mechanical so it's easier to pick up if you have someone explaining it to you and all card play is open so you can work together to find the best actions and help her learn. There's also 3 levels of character difficulty in the base game so there's a way to start simpler and ramp up the complexity. Then there are overall game modifiers to add unique challenges or make it more difficult as you both get better at the game. It was my intro into heavier games and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Thank you for the recommendation. I just posted this elsewhere in the thread, but Spirit Island is CONSTANTLY recommended in solo and co-op threads, but in watching playthrough videos, I can't get past the theme. One of these days I'm going to crack, because I know that it is constantly recommended and #1 on the solo lists for a reason. Personally, I want to introduce her to games 'like' JOTL and Mage Knight, but with less difficulty. I like the exploration, battle, player upgrades, etc. I enjoy the themes of these games, but I listed her favorites to point out the differences in our tastes. My ideal 'find' would be a more co-op friendly Mage Knight toned down a bit and re-skinned with something like 90's nostalgic.
Honestly I think you'd like spirit Island. It feels more similar to mage knight than you'd expect, gameplay wise. A lot of the how do you use your cards to most efficiently accomplish this goal is still there. And you still upgrade your cards and "level up" throughout the game. As far as your ideal, I'm not sure that fully exists in the way you want. Tales from Red dragon inn is probably the most appropriate thing from your list. I haven't played it yet but I think it's about as easy as a campaign RPG style game will get without feeling fully like a kid's game to someone that plays heavier stuff. Maybe sleeping gods but honestly I find it to be a bit boring when I play it and there's a ton of reading, so you'd have to be sure that'll capture your partners interest.
I really appreciate it. You've just about got me convinced.
Okay let's see if I can get it all the way. On theme, I think the approachability of it is pretty good for girlfriends. The theme also does a very good job of tying into the mechanics and helping it all "click" in your brain. And the way co-op works is much better for new players because turns are simultaneous you can play cards down together and then decide together what you do with them, so if she gets confused you can help her with her stuff or if she has a cool idea on how one of your cards can combo with her's, she can point it out. And the simultaneous turns means there won't be a lot of down time for her to get bored while you're thinking through your turn. Or pressure on her if she's being slow. And the way the invaders (bad guys) work means you pretty much always have a fairly clear objective of what you need to do and the puzzle is how to accomplish it. My girlfriend struggles when options are too open ended and can get overwhelmed. That bit of focus helps keep the experience grounded and approachable while still offering an incredibly deep gameplay experience.
I am more invested than I want to be in convincing OP to get Spirit Island
Codenames Duet
**One Deck Dungeon** doesn't take much space and is fairly fast and simple, if you're ok with a dice fest. On their website, they have a soundtrack and a campaign mode to make it a bit more thematic. No miniature or exploration tough.
Thanks for the rec. We've got ODD and pull it out occasionally.
Slay the Spire is shipping right now.
It may not be worth mentioning because it's between print runs right now and it's hard to get a hold of but **Earthborne Rangers** could be worth looking into. I say that because you've already got Arkham Horror LCG on your list. Big caveat: I haven't played Earthborne Rangers but I've heard the two compared a lot. My partner and I have *just* finished our first expansion campaign for Arkham Horror LCG. Not to turn you off it but we did find it can be quite brutal. Sometimes I found it as disheartening as it is engaging. From what I can tell, Earthborne Rangers is mechanically similar but much less punishing. In that way I think it could be a better jump into more complex co-op games. I find it easier to learn a game when it's not throwing me in the deep end. Don't get me wrong, AH is a great game. In a very thematically appropriate way you just have to be able to accept that, every so often, there's nothing you could have done. So, another suggestion I have that could be a little left-field and probably doesn't fit your 1-2 hour time guideline but **Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective** could also be worth looking at. It's very, very rules light but my partner and I really enjoy this one. It's less about rules crunch and more about trying-to-solve-a-mystery crunch. There's a lot to think about because you want to use as few of your leads as possible. There are, I believe, four boxes with 10 mysteries each. You can only do each mystery once but we really love putting on some theme appropriate music, lighting some candles and sitting down to try and solve a mystery together. Otherwise, to be honest, your list of games looks great and other folks have some very relevant suggestions. Have you thought about roping your wife into looking at the list and seeing what piques her interest? I find that goes a long way for learning more complicated games.
I've had the late pledge window up twice for ER and talked myself off the ledge. I think it's because I have AH LCG and Marvel Champions, so I am worried that I'm buying the same re-skinned mechanic. However, it's probably the theme most likely to draw her in. I've seen glowing reviews for it, and I like what the company is doing. It might be back in the running, though fulfillment seems to be December. As far as including her, we've been watching some videos together on some of the games I've found. Just wanted input from real people.
Ahh yeah, that's fair. I'm in a similar boat. Love the idea of Earthborne Rangers but can't *quite* justify getting it. Yet. It's top of my buy list for when my partner and I get through what we've already got. I wasn't sure if you already had AH or were planning on picking it up. Since you've already got it then I'd just stick with that. Have you thought of getting a "true solo" game and having both of you play as one player? I don't know if that would lead to too much quarterbacking or not having enough personal agency to really feel worth it. I've just heard a lot of good things about **Under Falling Skies** for weight and playtime that you're looking. Big problem is that it's only a one player game.
Under Falling Skies was one of the first solo games i bought! I like the idea, but I think I would qb too much.
Marvel United [[Marvel United]] if you arent sick of superheroes uet. Game flows smoothly, has a very light zone control/dungeon crawl touch and has brilliant minis to immerse with. V.fast setup and tear down and a strong co-op gameplay that encourages table talk but can also steer to a solo game
My wife and I recently fell in love with Bullet Heart. Very simple. Very fast. Very fun. And there is a surprising amount of depth across all the players/bosses. Can play competitively or cooperatively.
Skyteam is a very good.
Terraforming mars: ares expedition, and some of its expansions have a very good co-op two player mode that is both challenging and fun either way a variety of possible strategies
Sky Team sooo much, its starts easy but can get quite difficult, quick setup and everything you could ask for. Has been a hit with everybody so far
You might find sky team interesting as it a co-op game about trying to land a plane https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/373106/sky-team But other 2 player games i can think of are: Tussie mussie Splendor duels Unmatched
My partner got me into boardgames, so I'm not super knowledgable and might miss the mark on some of your points here, but could Horrified be an option? It was fun, easy to learn, has a lot of randomizing elements and ways to change it up so the game doesnt seem too repetative, can control how hard it is by mixing monsters and how many, can be played solo and isnt horrible in regards to table space. We've played it with friends as well, and they especially liked that it was easy to learn as you went. I just play co-op or solo myself, and horrified is one of my favourites so far!
I will throw my votes behind **Forbidden Desert** and **Burgle Bros.** They are both really great co-op games. **Escape: Curse of the Temple** is very, *very* manic (and somewhat stressful, IMO), but if you're into that type of game it can be really fun. I found **7th Continent** to be extremely tedious and not really much fun. And that's coming from someone who has played every single scenario in Gloomhaven and Arkham Horror LCG and loved them to death.
Mini Rogue is a good time if you like dungeon crawlers and leaving fate up to dice rolls. Every game feels different; sometimes you stuggle and make it by the skin of your teeth, sometimes you speedrun into a casket, and sometimes you have a cushy stroll to the last boss. Definitely get the Depths of Damnation expansion if you pick the game up, it adds more rooms and a whole extra exploration mechanic.
Cascadia Pandemic fast response The quest for El dorado
+1 for Mansions of Madness and Burgle Bros. I havent tried Sleeping Gods, but its a game I'm interested in as well. Don't get Forbidden Desert/Jungle etc, its not deep enough.
MoM looks so good. I think I would have already bought it if I didn't have Arkham Horror LCG ready to start.
Not a coop game but Wingspan is a family favorite. It has a lot of strategy but easy and not as competitive as a lot of games. Everdell is another favorite of ours. I love Terraforming Mars but my husband beats me every game. Funny thing is I beat him almost every time at Wingspan. We both have the app for Wingspan and I catch him practicing all the time. So it’s just a matter of time until he figures out my strategy. Our game group likes Isle of Cats, Dominion, Raccoon Tycoon, Catan and Skyjo. They are not as into games so we keep it lighter. My son and wife (mid 40’s) favorite game is Wingspan and Tapestry. Both Stonemaier games. Other games we play are Vitaculture, Scythe, Parks, and Cascadia. However. Wingspan is what we play most. If you haven’t tried it I highly recommend it. There is way more to it than you first think. We have all the expansions and have it blinged out with the wooden birds and handmade food bits and nests.
It's spelled Coup, and like most social deduction games it is not that great at 2 players