Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[ashersky]

I'm looking specifically for games that are great for two players to play with my wife.  They need to be on the simpler side (vice the complexity of Dominion), and easily understood by someone for whom English is a third language.

After some hesitation, she now really enjoys Ticket to Ride.  I'd say we'd keep the complexity at that level.  I've skimmed and search, and thought about King of Tokyo, but worry the replayability isn't there.  I tried to teach her Dominion with only Intrigue and Seaside to do it, but that wasn't the best plan.

I'm not adverse to coop games, I suppose.  I could be convinced to try Blokus, maybe, but I don't like that game.

Any ideas?  I'm talking married people games, I guess.

[Watno]

Just wanted to suggest TTR, then reread your post...
Other games that might work are:
Carcassonne
Lost Cities (gets a bit mathy though)
Ingenious
Hey, that's my fish
Thurn & Taxis (which is a but similar to TTR)

Unless I missed something, none of these contain any language dependant components.
Is the mother tongue of your wife one that popular games be available in?

King of Tokyo isn't a good two player game imo.

[ashersky]

Portuguese and Japanese languages are fine, and good games must exist, but then I'd have the hard time.

Carcassonne is a good idea.  What's the fish game?

[Qvist]

- Hanabi (I just played it the first time with my wife and she enjoyed it)
- Alhambra
- I second Lost Cities / Keltis (basically a similar game)
- I second Thurn & Taxis
- and of course Forbidden Island / Pandemic (but it has a little bit of text)

All games that my wife enjoys and she isn't a gamer.

[Davio]

My wife is a total non-gamer, yet she will indulge the occasional game of Lost Cities and Jaipur with me.

[Watno]

Hey, that's my fish! is a game where you control a family of penguins on a melting ice floe, trying to grab as much fish as possibly. The rules are very simple, and on the surface it looks like a children's game. But it can become really cutthroat and highly tactical.

[eHalcyon]

Portuguese and Japanese languages are fine, and good games must exist, but then I'd have the hard time.

Carcassonne is a good idea.  What's the fish game?

Are Japanese and Portuguese your wife's first and second languages?  That is neat.  Do you speak either?



I think you should take a look at rahdo's run-throughs.  He primarily plays 2 player with his wife.  The run through videos usually consist of an initial video showing the start of gameplay, an extended video showing more gameplay, and a conclusion video with general thoughts.  If you don't have time, just watching the conclusions could give you an idea of which games are worth trying out.

[ashersky]

Portuguese and Japanese languages are fine, and good games must exist, but then I'd have the hard time.

Carcassonne is a good idea.  What's the fish game?

Are Japanese and Portuguese your wife's first and second languages?  That is neat.  Do you speak either?



I think you should take a look at rahdo's run-throughs.  He primarily plays 2 player with his wife.  The run through videos usually consist of an initial video showing the start of gameplay, an extended video showing more gameplay, and a conclusion video with general thoughts.  If you don't have time, just watching the conclusions could give you an idea of which games are worth trying out.

Yes, but flip the order.  I can speak, but not read well, Japanese.  I understand Portuguese.

I'll check out rahdo, thanks!

[yuma]

- Hanabi (I just played it the first time with my wife and she enjoyed it)
- Alhambra
- I second Lost Cities / Keltis (basically a similar game)
- I second Thurn & Taxis
- and of course Forbidden Island / Pandemic (but it has a little bit of text)

All games that my wife enjoys and she isn't a gamer.

I just bought Hanabi (going to open it for Christmas and am excited to try it)

My wife and I love... love... Innovation. It is a kinda complex, but my wife loves it x5 compared to dominion. At the start it is a lot to take in obviously but after 3-4 games is pretty easy to grasp.

We also started playing Race for the Galaxy somewhat recently. Again kinda complex, but after 3-4 games is pretty easy to grasp. (Both are good because they are rather symbol based meaning that it can be explained in whatever language and then remembered based off the symbols.)

We also like, but don't love Piece of Cake and Tsuro The Sea