Our favorite two player games always end up being the unintentional two player games like Five Tribes or Underworld Cities. I think you hit the nail on the head halfway through when you were talking about how it feels like this weird branding thing that feels a little obnoxious. But I guess it's better than tinkering with an existing game to cram a play mode in there that doesn't make sense. More chill chats, please. Love the content.
There are a few games that I can think of that say 1-4 or 1-6 or whatever that have pretty good solo modes. Castles of Burgundy Special Edition, Libertalia :Winds of Galecrest, Wild Tiled West, and River Valley Glassworks are all very fun solo. Glad to see another Buzz Chat!
Yay Board Game Buzzz Duo (Carly and Kim) I really enjoy this channel alot. I recently played Moonrakers at three and also at four players. The game wasn't that good at three. I would love to see a one to two player version that is really good.
First of all, I'm glad to hear Aquatica plays well at two as I am getting that for my birthday. 😊 I think many games don't really need those variants so they do have that cash grab touch (Everdell, Quacks …). I would love to see a good two-player version of Root, I guess.
Hey, I’ve heard that Azul Duo is less a two-player version of the base, and more a 4th iteration with mechanics that doesn’t work at higher player counts. So same universe, different flavour.
Great discussion. I view games that took 3+ player count games and reformulated for two (Rivals for Catan) differently than the Everdell or Azul examples. Smaller box sizes like Splendor Duel or 7 Wonders Duel are something to celebrate though. The discussion about Wingspan Asia is interesting since SMG didn’t heavily market the Duet mode, and core gameplay is left unchanged (only bonuses and free resources from Duet). I’d prefer to see that approach (quietly adding a 2-player feature) over slapping on Duo labels without significant gameplay changes.
I think duel/duo games allow designers to expand and explore interesting gameplay mechanisms that wouldn’t scale up well with more players, which I find pretty neat. I think this is a positive trend so long as the games continue to be as good if not better than the original at 2p as has seemed to typically be the case. The other plus is if you want to play a game primarily at 2p it’s nice to have an option to buy a cheaper, shorter, and more accessible version. One anecdotal example that y’all pretty much nailed is I think my wife would like Everdell but I’m only lukewarm on it and can’t justify spending the kinda absurd asking price for Everdell or Farshore plus she prefers shorter games, so Everdell Duo looks perfect for our situation (and has a co-op mini-campaign to boot). If Everdell Duo didn’t exist she’d never get to experience the Everdell “universe”.
And now Isle of Cats Duo has been announced as well with new mechanics. I think Azul Duel looks very interesting. It looks like it is going to have some different things in it. And the factory floor tiles looks interesting with the pieces in 2 different areas.
@ sounds like they took out the drafting mechanic. And it’s coming direct to their website. I found it odd that Azul Duel was kickstarted and not direct to retail.
I've been thinking the same thing too and think it's driven by 2 player being the most popular player count (a lot of couples play games at home). However, it is interesting that the Kelp publisher said there was some resistance to Kelp because it was restrictive as a 2 player game (but obviously that did amazingly well). I also agree I don't feel the need to get most of these games unless they do something very different than the original (Everdell is my favorite game, but I have no desire to get Everdell Duo). However, some of these duel versions are interesting, like Aquatica with its tug of war mechanic. Also, I don't know if I would consider Madcala as a 2 player version of Wonderland's War because the mechanics seem very different. I do love how Druid City Games though builds games with different mechanics in the same universe tho (Tidal Blades 1 - worker placement/dice battling, Tidal Blades Banner festival - trick taking, Tidal Blades 2 - dungeon crawler/RPG).
Yes! I know it’s not a true version, but that’s why I liked it! and I hope more companies do this. It’s so cool to see a game that set in the same world as a larger game, but have different mechanisms and works with 2! I think it is so cool!
I prefer games that scale well from 2-to-whatever. Space and money is limited. I wonder how the market would react to a potential "duo" version inside the regular game box. I know I'm always a little annoyed when there are special caveats for 2-players (search through the deck and remove specific cards, etc), but if it was a completely different game with the same vibe... I could maybe be down for that.
While it definitely feels like there are a lot more “duel” reiterations of multiplayer games lately, and I’ve heard COVID-19 stated as a reason for the uptick, when I search BGG for “duel/duo/duet” etc it looks like this type of reimplementation has been going on since well before COVID - at least as far back as 2005’s “Blokus Duo”. In fact, there were (at least) 5 “duel” games released in 2017, pre-dating COVID, which ties 2024 for the most (that I could find): - Blokus Duo (2005) - Ubongo: Duel (2008) - Animal Upon Animal: The Duel (2008) - German "Tier auf Tier: Das Duell" - Pillars of the Earth: Builders Duel (2009) - Neuroshima Hex! Duel (2009) - Rivals for Catan (2010) - German "Catan: Das Duell" - Animal Upon Animal: Small Yet Great (2011) - Agricola: All Creatures Great & Small (2012) - Antike Duellum (2012) - Saboteur: The Duel (2014) - 7 Wonders Duel (2015) - Coconuts Duo (2015) - Bang! The Duel (2015) - Bohnanaza: The Duel (2016) - Qwixx: Das Duell (2016) - Tesla vs. Edison: Duel (2017) - Zooleretto Duell (2017) - Caverna: Cave vs Cave (2017) - Codenames Duet (2017) - The Game: Face to Face (2017) - Kodama Duo (2018) - Imhotep: The Duel (2018) - Yokohama Duel (2018) - Kingdomino Duel (2019) - Cosmic Encounter Duel (2020) - Fox in the Forest Duet (2020) - Cthulhu Wars: Duel (2020) - Sobek: 2 Players (2021) - German "Sobek: Das Duell" - Splendor Duel (2022) - Tokaido Duo (2022) - Partners Duo (2022) - Black Rose Wars: Duel (2023) - Catan: Starfarers Duel (2023) - Dorfromantik: The Duel (2023) - Kluster Duo (2023) - Lord of the rings: Duel for Middle-earth (2024) - reimplementation of 7 Wonders Duel - Quacks of Quedlinburg: The Duel (2024) - Barrage: Duel (2024) - King of Tokyo: Duel (2024) - Res Arcana Duo (2024) - Everdell Duo (2025) - Aquatica Duellum (2025) - Azul Duel (2025)
2 player is my least played player count. I’m single so I either play solo or at a game night. However, when I first got into gaming about 3 years ago, I started out buying a lot of 2P games as those were often branded as what are easy to get into (which makes sense, if you’re just starting a new hobby, it may be easier to find one other person to play with you than a whole group). Also, a lot of times the 2P version is simpler, so they’re easier to get into for new people. I fell for that with The Rivals Networks 2P vs. just The Networks since simpler was better when I was newer. Now, I would love to get my hands on the original so I can actually get some plays out of it, but it’s no longer in stock. I do really enjoy those 2P only games and I feel that they do the best in creating that head-to-head or tug-of-war feel, but there are quite a few games on my shelf that I think would do best at 2P, whether it be due to scaling or due to less downtime if it’s a multi-player solitaire.
As a primarily solo gamer who tends towards heavy euros I can definitively say that there are a lot of really good multiplayer games that are fantastic solo. Designs by Garphill Games, Stonemaier, and David Turczi are ones to look out for. Garphill: All the South Tigris trilogy games and Ezra and Nehemiah have phenomenal solo modes. And Raiders of the North Sea Redux is a great solo game, too. Stonemaier: I prefer Tapestry solo to multiplayer. Expeditions is terrific solo. And Red Rising has a really good solo mode. Turczi: Voidfall is probably better solo than multiplayer just because the teach would be so heavy. Nucleum, Anachrony, Weather Machine, 3 Ring Circus, and Darwin's Journey all have great solo modes, too. Sabika, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Windmill Valley, Barcelona, Obsession, and Everdell (Mistwood) are also great games to play solo. Solo gaming can be a really good way to play a game that your group may not want to or to just fully explore a game with its various strategies and paths to victory.
When is Twilight Imperium : Duel coming out? After that I want Azul : Duel : the Duel. Development cycles are too long for them to following trends. People must just be coincidentally or subconsciously coming up with the same idea to create a 2p game and developing it in parallel timelines.
Our favorite two player games always end up being the unintentional two player games like Five Tribes or Underworld Cities. I think you hit the nail on the head halfway through when you were talking about how it feels like this weird branding thing that feels a little obnoxious. But I guess it's better than tinkering with an existing game to cram a play mode in there that doesn't make sense. More chill chats, please. Love the content.
There are a few games that I can think of that say 1-4 or 1-6 or whatever that have pretty good solo modes. Castles of Burgundy Special Edition, Libertalia :Winds of Galecrest, Wild Tiled West, and River Valley Glassworks are all very fun solo. Glad to see another Buzz Chat!
Same!!!
Yay Board Game Buzzz Duo (Carly and Kim) I really enjoy this channel alot. I recently played Moonrakers at three and also at four players. The game wasn't that good at three. I would love to see a one to two player version that is really good.
Great point!!!
First of all, I'm glad to hear Aquatica plays well at two as I am getting that for my birthday. 😊 I think many games don't really need those variants so they do have that cash grab touch (Everdell, Quacks …). I would love to see a good two-player version of Root, I guess.
I totally agree!
Aquatica is great at 2 (or more). I don’t know what the Duo version will do differently, but I don’t see a need for a 2-player only version.
Hey, I’ve heard that Azul Duo is less a two-player version of the base, and more a 4th iteration with mechanics that doesn’t work at higher player counts. So same universe, different flavour.
I guess we will see!! ❤️
interesting talk!
❤️❤️❤️
Great discussion. I view games that took 3+ player count games and reformulated for two (Rivals for Catan) differently than the Everdell or Azul examples. Smaller box sizes like Splendor Duel or 7 Wonders Duel are something to celebrate though.
The discussion about Wingspan Asia is interesting since SMG didn’t heavily market the Duet mode, and core gameplay is left unchanged (only bonuses and free resources from Duet). I’d prefer to see that approach (quietly adding a 2-player feature) over slapping on Duo labels without significant gameplay changes.
I think duel/duo games allow designers to expand and explore interesting gameplay mechanisms that wouldn’t scale up well with more players, which I find pretty neat. I think this is a positive trend so long as the games continue to be as good if not better than the original at 2p as has seemed to typically be the case.
The other plus is if you want to play a game primarily at 2p it’s nice to have an option to buy a cheaper, shorter, and more accessible version. One anecdotal example that y’all pretty much nailed is I think my wife would like Everdell but I’m only lukewarm on it and can’t justify spending the kinda absurd asking price for Everdell or Farshore plus she prefers shorter games, so Everdell Duo looks perfect for our situation (and has a co-op mini-campaign to boot). If Everdell Duo didn’t exist she’d never get to experience the Everdell “universe”.
Love this! Totally agree! Thank you for sharing!!!
And now Isle of Cats Duo has been announced as well with new mechanics.
I think Azul Duel looks very interesting. It looks like it is going to have some different things in it. And the factory floor tiles looks interesting with the pieces in 2 different areas.
Yes!! I totally forgot about isle of cats! Fingers crossed!
@ sounds like they took out the drafting mechanic. And it’s coming direct to their website. I found it odd that Azul Duel was kickstarted and not direct to retail.
I've been thinking the same thing too and think it's driven by 2 player being the most popular player count (a lot of couples play games at home). However, it is interesting that the Kelp publisher said there was some resistance to Kelp because it was restrictive as a 2 player game (but obviously that did amazingly well).
I also agree I don't feel the need to get most of these games unless they do something very different than the original (Everdell is my favorite game, but I have no desire to get Everdell Duo). However, some of these duel versions are interesting, like Aquatica with its tug of war mechanic. Also, I don't know if I would consider Madcala as a 2 player version of Wonderland's War because the mechanics seem very different. I do love how Druid City Games though builds games with different mechanics in the same universe tho (Tidal Blades 1 - worker placement/dice battling, Tidal Blades Banner festival - trick taking, Tidal Blades 2 - dungeon crawler/RPG).
Yes! I know it’s not a true version, but that’s why I liked it! and I hope more companies do this. It’s so cool to see a game that set in the same world as a larger game, but have different mechanisms and works with 2! I think it is so cool!
I prefer games that scale well from 2-to-whatever. Space and money is limited. I wonder how the market would react to a potential "duo" version inside the regular game box. I know I'm always a little annoyed when there are special caveats for 2-players (search through the deck and remove specific cards, etc), but if it was a completely different game with the same vibe... I could maybe be down for that.
Totally agree with this!!!
While it definitely feels like there are a lot more “duel” reiterations of multiplayer games lately, and I’ve heard COVID-19 stated as a reason for the uptick, when I search BGG for “duel/duo/duet” etc it looks like this type of reimplementation has been going on since well before COVID - at least as far back as 2005’s “Blokus Duo”. In fact, there were (at least) 5 “duel” games released in 2017, pre-dating COVID, which ties 2024 for the most (that I could find):
- Blokus Duo (2005)
- Ubongo: Duel (2008)
- Animal Upon Animal: The Duel (2008) - German "Tier auf Tier: Das Duell"
- Pillars of the Earth: Builders Duel (2009)
- Neuroshima Hex! Duel (2009)
- Rivals for Catan (2010) - German "Catan: Das Duell"
- Animal Upon Animal: Small Yet Great (2011)
- Agricola: All Creatures Great & Small (2012)
- Antike Duellum (2012)
- Saboteur: The Duel (2014)
- 7 Wonders Duel (2015)
- Coconuts Duo (2015)
- Bang! The Duel (2015)
- Bohnanaza: The Duel (2016)
- Qwixx: Das Duell (2016)
- Tesla vs. Edison: Duel (2017)
- Zooleretto Duell (2017)
- Caverna: Cave vs Cave (2017)
- Codenames Duet (2017)
- The Game: Face to Face (2017)
- Kodama Duo (2018)
- Imhotep: The Duel (2018)
- Yokohama Duel (2018)
- Kingdomino Duel (2019)
- Cosmic Encounter Duel (2020)
- Fox in the Forest Duet (2020)
- Cthulhu Wars: Duel (2020)
- Sobek: 2 Players (2021) - German "Sobek: Das Duell"
- Splendor Duel (2022)
- Tokaido Duo (2022)
- Partners Duo (2022)
- Black Rose Wars: Duel (2023)
- Catan: Starfarers Duel (2023)
- Dorfromantik: The Duel (2023)
- Kluster Duo (2023)
- Lord of the rings: Duel for Middle-earth (2024) - reimplementation of 7 Wonders Duel
- Quacks of Quedlinburg: The Duel (2024)
- Barrage: Duel (2024)
- King of Tokyo: Duel (2024)
- Res Arcana Duo (2024)
- Everdell Duo (2025)
- Aquatica Duellum (2025)
- Azul Duel (2025)
I didn’t catch the name, what is the “Wonderland wars” one?
Madcala by Druid City Games ❤️
2 player is my least played player count. I’m single so I either play solo or at a game night. However, when I first got into gaming about 3 years ago, I started out buying a lot of 2P games as those were often branded as what are easy to get into (which makes sense, if you’re just starting a new hobby, it may be easier to find one other person to play with you than a whole group). Also, a lot of times the 2P version is simpler, so they’re easier to get into for new people. I fell for that with The Rivals Networks 2P vs. just The Networks since simpler was better when I was newer. Now, I would love to get my hands on the original so I can actually get some plays out of it, but it’s no longer in stock.
I do really enjoy those 2P only games and I feel that they do the best in creating that head-to-head or tug-of-war feel, but there are quite a few games on my shelf that I think would do best at 2P, whether it be due to scaling or due to less downtime if it’s a multi-player solitaire.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I totally agree!!!
As a primarily solo gamer who tends towards heavy euros I can definitively say that there are a lot of really good multiplayer games that are fantastic solo. Designs by Garphill Games, Stonemaier, and David Turczi are ones to look out for.
Garphill: All the South Tigris trilogy games and Ezra and Nehemiah have phenomenal solo modes. And Raiders of the North Sea Redux is a great solo game, too.
Stonemaier: I prefer Tapestry solo to multiplayer. Expeditions is terrific solo. And Red Rising has a really good solo mode.
Turczi: Voidfall is probably better solo than multiplayer just because the teach would be so heavy. Nucleum, Anachrony, Weather Machine, 3 Ring Circus, and Darwin's Journey all have great solo modes, too.
Sabika, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Windmill Valley, Barcelona, Obsession, and Everdell (Mistwood) are also great games to play solo. Solo gaming can be a really good way to play a game that your group may not want to or to just fully explore a game with its various strategies and paths to victory.
i play sherlock holmes consulting detective by myself all the time🤣 i also tried Night Cage, but i'd say that wasnt as fun as with a group
When is Twilight Imperium : Duel coming out?
After that I want Azul : Duel : the Duel.
Development cycles are too long for them to following trends. People must just be coincidentally or subconsciously coming up with the same idea to create a 2p game and developing it in parallel timelines.
Twilight imperium duel 🤣🤣🤣
There’s a Twilight Imperium roll & write, so anything is possible. :)