Plenty of travel games need a group, so when it's just two of you, whether you're a couple or two adults travelling together, the choice gets much smaller. These are the two-player games from our collection, and the one we'd pick first.
If you only pack one game for two people, make it Hive Pocket or The Fox in the Forest. They're the two games in our collection designed specifically for two, and they're the ones we come back to most. The others below all support two players, but some of them come into their own with a bigger group.
No board and no cards, just chunky tiles you place on any flat surface. Games take anything from a few minutes to around ten, and we've happily kept playing for a couple of hours. It works on a plane, outside in the wind and on a café table.
A tactical card game made for exactly two players, in a 197 g box. The odd-numbered cards each have a special action, so rounds are very hard to predict, and winning too many tricks scores you nothing. Games take around 30 minutes and it works brilliantly on a plane. If one of you loves a bit of head-to-head competition, this is the one.
A cooperative game where you work together rather than against each other, at around 45 minutes per game. It's big and heavy for a travel game, so we'd only pack it if we knew we'd have a table and some evenings to fill.
Easy to learn and quick to play, with around 15 minutes per game. It's a good change of pace between longer games.
The tin is tiny and a game takes about five minutes, so it's easy to get out while you're waiting for food or a transfer.
Every game here supports two players. New games appear here automatically when they do.
A tense, funny cooperative game our children wanted to play every night of our caravan holiday. Too big for a flight, but brilliant when you have the space.
Large
~30 min
A brilliant two-player card game in a tiny box. Unpredictable, tactical and perfect for a plane, it's now a game we take on every holiday.
Small
~30 min
Tiny, simple and chaotic. It's one of those games that can generate a surprising amount of laughter from little more than a deck of cards.
Tiny
10–20 min
A very easy game to recommend for holidays: quick, compact and ideal when you want something that fills 10–20 minutes without committing to a long game.
Small
~15 min
An excellent holiday game for two people. The chunky pieces make it particularly useful when you want to play somewhere that wouldn't suit ordinary cards.
Small
10 min
Brilliant with children and ideal when you've got 10–20 minutes to fill. Individual games are extremely quick, although we find it becomes repetitive if played for too long.
Tiny
~5 min
A much meatier holiday game than our small card games. Excellent if you want something substantial for an evening and have enough luggage and table space.
Large
~45 min
The retail box is unnecessarily large for travelling, but take the cards out and Exploding Minions becomes a compact, simple and very good holiday game — particularly with more players.
Tiny
~30 min
Some of our favourite holiday games won't work for two players, so they're not on this page:
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea and The Crew: Family Adventure need at least three players.
Just One needs at least three, and is best with more.
Herd Mentality needs at least four.
Pick at least one game made for two. Many group games technically play with two, but they're usually better with more people.
Mix a quick game with a longer one. Something like Dobble fills ten minutes, while Hive Pocket or Forbidden Desert can carry an evening.
Think about where you'll play. If you'll be outside or on a plane, choose chunky pieces over loose cards.
Hive Pocket or The Fox in the Forest. Both are designed for two players and work almost anywhere, including on a plane. Hive Pocket packs into a small pouch, while The Fox in the Forest is a tactical card game in a tiny box.
Yes. Forbidden Desert plays with two to five, and you work together against the game rather than against each other.
Hive Pocket. It has no cards to blow away, so it copes with a breeze far better than card games.
A couple of simple accessories we use ourselves to protect games and cut down the amount of packaging we need to take away.
We use these sleeves with our card games, including The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Exploding Minions and The Fox in the Forest. They add a little bulk, but they help protect games that get handled and shuffled a lot while we're away.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Exploding Minions and The Fox in the Forest
These simple deck boxes are useful for leaving bulky game packaging at home and taking only the cards you actually need. Different colours also make it easy to keep several games separate in your luggage.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Exploding Minions, Herd Mentality and The Fox in the Forest
We wouldn't bother using one for Just One because you still need the other components from the original box.
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