this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2025
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Looking For a Simple, Short, Portable 2 Player game (discuss.online)
submitted 6 days ago by umean2me@discuss.online to c/boardgames@sopuli.xyz
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Im familiar enough with board games to know that I’m asking a lot here. My goal is to have a game that I can carry around with me, walk up to people I meet in public, and ask them to play.

The most obvious path here I thought of would be some type of game played with a standard deck of cards. While I’m not opposed to this, I fear the randomness that comes with that might not be what I’m looking for. I want the game to be strategic with minimal luck but simple enough that a first time player could reasonably win against someone experienced.

Something like Hive comes to mind, as it has the pocket variation and seems like it could be easy enough to teach, but I have yet to play it so I fear it might be daunting to newcomers in ways similar to chess.

Thank you in advance for any and all answers, and if you would like further clarification I’d be happy to elaborate!

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[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 9 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

in Hive, there is no way a new player can challenge somebody who already knows the game + the movements of the insects confuses new players

do you know Set, it's not a strategy game but that's why somebody who's playing for the first time can challenge a more experienced player. No luck either.

I've recently discovered Ninjan ☞ https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/425254/ninjan basics are from rock paper scissors (so everybody is familiar with the dynamics) It adds another level to this base

[–] umean2me@discuss.online 1 points 5 hours ago

Ninjan looks really neat! After reading through replies I'm starting to consider having maybe a few games I rotate out, some more strategic and others simpler more social games. Ninjan is definitely getting added to that list.