2-Player Games to Play Online with a Friend

Some games are simply better with exactly two people: one board, two sides, one winner. Playboard has a whole shelf of them, from Chess and Othello to Backgammon, Gin Rummy and Connect Four. They are all free and run in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Neither of you needs an account or a download. Your friend only needs a link.

Two ways to start a game with a friend

Open a Playroom. Create a Playroom and send your friend the link. It is a private room: only people with the link can come in. In the lobby you pick a game, and when a match is over you can pick another one without sending a new link. Text chat is built in, so the conversation (and the trash talk) stays in the same window as the board.

Start from the game you want. If you already know what you'd like to play, open that game's page, press Play now, choose Create playroom and then Copy link. The link drops your friend straight into that game. Paste it into WhatsApp, iMessage or Discord and it previews as an invite to that game, so your friend knows exactly what they are tapping.

Quick 2-player games for a short break

• Tic-Tac-Toe: three in a row on a 3×3 grid. A match is over in a minute or two, but setting up a fork is real strategy.
• Connect Four: drop discs into the grid and be the first to line up four. Fast, tactical and perfect for a best-of-five. More in play Connect Four with friends.
• Dots and Boxes: the pencil-and-paper classic. Close the fourth side of a box to claim it and move again; most boxes wins.
• Battleship: hide your fleet on a 10×10 grid, then take turns calling shots until one fleet is sunk. More in play Battleship with friends.

Strategy games for a long evening

• Chess: the game that needs no introduction. Easy to start, impossible to finish learning.
• Othello: also known as Reversi. Trap your opponent's discs between yours to flip them, and watch the board change colour in a single move. If you came here looking for Othello for 2 players online, see how to play Othello with a friend.
• Checkers: an 8×8 board, diagonal moves and jumps that can turn a game around in one turn.
• Go: the ancient game of placing stones and surrounding territory, on a 9×9 board, so a game stays short while the strategy stays deep.

Dice, card and domino games for two

• Backgammon: race your 15 checkers around the board on the roll of two dice. Every roll weighs speed against safety. More in play Backgammon with friends.
• Gin Rummy: the classic two-player card game. Build sets and runs, cut your deadwood and knock before your opponent does.
• Truco: the bluffing card game of Argentina and Uruguay, head to head. Call Truco to raise the stakes, or Envido to bet on the value of your cards.
• Ludo: roll the dice, race your four tokens home and capture your friend's tokens on the way. With two of you in the room, the board is set up for two.
• Dominoes: match pips end to end, empty your hand first and score the pips left in your opponent's hand. First to 100 wins.
• Mexican Train: dominoes with the double-twelve set, a train of your own and a shared Mexican Train. The lowest total at the end wins.

More than two of you?

Ludo, Dominoes and Mexican Train also take three or four players, so they still work when the group grows. For group ideas, see browser games with friends or browse everything in the Playroom hub.