Table of Contents
The date night board game. The concept seems so simple – there are plenty of two-player board games out there. Surely, it’s as simple as choosing one and rolling with it?
Wrong!
There are certain things a date night board game needs to have in order to make sure the date goes smoothly, doesn’t drag on for hours and most importantly – that you still have your partner at the end of the night!
The game needs to be engaging and most of all fun– sorry scrabble you aren’t going to make the cut.
When putting together the list of date night games in this article, I had to find the perfect equilibrium between a board game that is competitive, captivating, portable and most importantly – non-rage-inducing. Not the easiest task.
Below you will find a list of date night games that me and my wife like to bring along to a restaurant, bar or simply to play at home with a pizza and a bottle of wine.
What are the best date night board games?
1. Fog of Love
Nothing is more romantic than playing a game about romance right!
Fog of Love is a co-operative game for two players that is incredibly unique. The game is marketed as a ‘Romantic Comedy’ board game and was a huge Kickstarter success story!
The game starts innocently enough, with each player assuming the identity of one of two characters, who coincidentally start the game in a relationship.
When you first ‘assume’ your character’s identity, you are allocated three secret traits and three public features which are shared with your partner – these are dealt randomly in the form of cards.
These cards define who your character is. They set the precedent for the game and how different events will affect your character.
The goal of the game is to craft the identity and therefore the actions of your character using their ‘trait’ cards and work “cooperatively” with your partner’s character through 3 chapters and a finale which ultimately defines your relationship and whether or not you will stay together.
The 3 chapters represent important events or moments in your relationship and your characters’ attributes determine how you as a player can make decisions about how to handle these.
Without spoiling too much. The chapters are big events. Not knowing your partners’ motivations or traits makes handling these scenarios very fun and interesting to play – especially if you both allow yourselves to ‘become’ your character.
The finale ultimately decides whether your relationship has lasted or if you have fallen apart.
I mentioned that the game was played cooperatively above. Now I put that in quotation marks because, while the game is technically co-op (you aren’t directly playing against each other), the hidden card mechanic of the game means you can never really tell exactly how your partners’ character really feels about the different events that happen during the game.
All is fair in love and war.
To really enjoy this game, both players need to fully immerse themselves into their characters. Think of it as a mini role play.
Fog of Love is a great board game for date night. It’s easy to set up. Takes about 90 minutes to play through and allows you to learn a lot about your partner and how they would react in many of the made-up scenarios in the game.
2. Onitama
Onitama is one of the best date night games if you are going to be eating at a restaurant or sitting down for a drink at a bar.
The game is very easy to learn, takes up a small amount of table space and only takes about 10 mins to play.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking you will only play one round though because the game is addictively fun.
The game is a very simple and challenging abstract strategy board game that has enough of a theme and artwork that makes it incredibly beautiful and engaging.
The game is played on a small 5×5 chess-like board with each player controlling opposing martial artist forces made up of 4 students and 1 master (these are pawns on the board).
The aim of the game is to use strategy to out-wit your opponent in order to capture their master OR move your master pawn from your starting tile to your opponents’.
Movement in the game is decided by cards. At one time only five cards are on the table. Each player has two movement cards with one card on the side that neither player can use.
Once a player uses a movement card, he replaces that card with the fifth card on the side, placing the card they just used in its place.
The next player then uses one of their cards and picks up the card on the side (which of course is the card the previous player just used).
As you can see this game is simple yet very deep. The movement mechanics make this game incredibly fun to play. Because of the reuse of cards, you can effectively strategize and think a few moves ahead.
Onitama has the perfect amount of competition for a board game on a date. There is enough to keep the game interesting and have you thinking of your next 3 moves, but not enough that you will flip the table if you lose.
3. Hive
Much like Onitama, Hive is a great two-player strategy game that can be incredibly addictive. Unlike Onitama however, Hive comes in a pocket-size pack and only requires a table-top and the pieces to play.
Hive is a game made up of twenty-two hexagonal tiles (eleven black, eleven white). Each tile represents a different bug that has a unique way of moving.
The game has no setup and simply starts when the first tile is placed.
The only aim of Hive is to surround your opponents’ queen piece. A simple enough objective right? Well, it’s a lot harder to do than you think because you are also trying to stop your opponent from doing the same to you!
It’s a simple enough game but requires a decent amount of thinking if you are going to be competitive. The game takes about 25 minutes to play and is drink and food resistant – a perfect date night board game!
4. The Mind
The Mind is a game I just had to sneak into this list. While not technically a board game, the Mind is an excellent choice to take along to a date night.
The game is deceptively simple, but it is also frustratingly fun.
When you get on a hot streak things can become super exciting super quickly.
The Mind is only a single deck of cards numbered 1 to 100. You and your partner play cooperatively with each other with the goal to defeat all levels of the game.
What is the objective?
Simple, each round you and your partner will receive a hand of cards equal to the round you are playing (1 card for round one, 2 cards for round two, etc.). Your goal is to play cards onto the table into a single discard pile in ascending order (from the lowest number to the highest number).
Here is the catch – YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR OPPONENT WHATSOEVER.
Not being able to communicate can create some incredibly tense nail-biting decisions. If you or your opponent play a card that is not the lowest card held in either hand – the game is over and a life is deducted from your pool.
You start the game with lives equal to the number of players (2 on a date).
The game also allows the use of one ‘shuriken’ which – if both players agree, can be used and both players discard their lowest cards face up.
Later in levels, you can receive extra rewards (like lives and additional shurikens).
The Mind is a great game to carry around in a purse or pocket. It is also equally enjoyable playing with more people!
5. Azul
In the game of Azul, you are an interior decorator. Your objective is to decorate and tile the interior walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. You are competing with other decorators (your date) and to win your tiles need to be the most aesthetically pleasing.
Both you and your partner will start the game with a board that will have a score tracker, area for you to put down the tiles that you collect and information about how the end game is scored.
The game consists of five rounds where each player will take turns taking tiles from a factory that produces tiles or from the center pile. The player chooses the color of the tile and must take all tiles of that color from the factory (if you choose blue you must then take all blue tiles).
The number of factories is determined by the number of players (which in this case is 2) and they produce 4 tiles each round.
Scoring in Azul starts slow but quickly ramps up. The game has replayability because the tiles produced by the factory are randomly picked from a bag every round. Players score additional points at the end of the game for each completed row (+2), each completed column (+7) and if you place five or more tiles of the same color on your board (+10).
Azul is a game that is as great to play as a duo as it is if you have four players all scrambling for tiles.
The game pieces are well made and durable and once you know how the game works it is incredibly fun.
Final Thoughts
Above are board games which in my opinion are the best date night board games. These have been goto games for me and my wife when we decide to hire a babysitter and head out for the night.
There is a good mix of board games and mechanics above that I think everyone will find something that interests them.
