It’s time to take on your partner – as we check out the best card games for couples!
The rise of tabletop gaming, fuelled in part by pandemic-related lockdowns, saw couples able to explore just how far the pastime had come since their youth.
Now, clever, satisfying card games specifically designed for two players – as well as others that work brilliantly, if not being designed only for two players – are everywhere.
The thing is, it’s often quite difficult to sort through them and work out which ones are the best not just for two players, but for couples too – you don’t want anything that’s too aggressive or nasty; after all, you don’t want your gaming time to be responsible for any household arguments, right?
So which would we at Card Gamer recommend as the ones worth playing?
Let’s find out, as we check out the best card games for couples!
1. Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Though a scary theme might not be the most obvious choice to recommend as a game for couples to play together, don’t forget there’s good precedent here – as evidenced by decades of couples, making a date night of going to the cinema to watch terrifying movies together!
In some ways, your partner is the perfect person to play a spooky game with – after all, they’ll be right beside you if you do need a hug, right?
So why Arkham Horror: The Card Game?
Well, this Living Card Game – check out our ‘What Are Living Card Games?’ article to find out more – sees players taking on the ghoulish threats of the Cthulhu Mythos as a team; not only is it a superb co-operative game for couples to play together, but it’s also one of the very best card games we’ve ever played.
Which – as I’m sure you’ll agree, given the years of tabletop gaming experience we have here at Card Gamer – is high praise indeed.
What makes Arkham Horror: The Card Game so special is that each adventure unfolds like a cleverly written story.
The Origins
Befitting its literary origins, the narrative in Arkham Horror: The Card Game is cleverly woven into the game mechanics, with lasting effects on your characters – which carry over as you continue the campaign past your first adventure and take on new tales with the same characters.
There’s a bewildering number of expansions available that allow you to take your characters – or new ones, which may be your choice or a consequence of your original character perishing to the terrors of the Mythos – to travel the globe and uncover the evil behind countless supernatural mysteries.
With its RPG-esque, branching narrative adventures (which all play out using cards), Arkham Horror’s creepy co-operative campaigns are the perfect way for couples to truly become immersed in a thrilling storyline, which reacts to – and can be permanently affected by – the players themselves!
2. Love Letter
Card games designed in Japan have a tendency to be incredibly minimalist in design and included components – with Love Letter, originally released in 2012, being no exception.
In fact, Love Letter is so minimal that the entire game comprises just sixteen cards in the original version, with the second edition upping the card count to a still tiny twenty cards!
Regardless of the edition you pick up, each is packaged in a tiny blister pack, with the cards and tokens in a very portable, velvety drawstring bag – making it perfect to carry around with you, absolutely everywhere.
It’s even small enough to fully play the game on a plane next to your partner!
The Rules
The aim of the game is to deliver the titular Love Letter to the Princess, using various members of her Royal entourage and a few friends to do so.
The theme, however, is fairly abstract – taking a back seat to the clever draw a card, play a card gameplay in which every single type of card has a different, powerful effect on what happens during any given turn.
Though playable by up to six players (or four in the original edition), it’s a superb two player game; straightforward to learn, easy to teach and with a playing time of, generally, just a minute or two for each round.
Even if you’re beaten very quickly by a lucky guess (the Guard card allows you to eliminate another player if you guess what number card is in their hand), the brevity and simplicity of the game means it doesn’t become frustrating.
Love Letter is also available in several different versions – including variations on the original such as the Star Wars themed Jabba’s Palace and Marvel themed, one vs many asymmetry of Infinity Gauntlet.
However, the base Love Letter game remains the most satisfying of them all; it’s a fascinating exercise in minimalism and unquestionably one of the best card games for couples.
3. Star Realms Frontiers
Initially born from a successful Kickstarter campaign in 2013, Star Realms has become one of the most beloved two player deckbuilding games in existence.
It’s spawned several expansions, several of which are standalone – though they can also be combined in numerous ways with the base game.
Star Realms sees two players battling it out to reduce their opponent’s Authority – essentially, their political influence in the universe – to zero.
This is done by purchasing cards from a central row, then adding said cards to their discard pile and their deck – using cards in play to purchase more cards and attack their opponents.
Though it has four distinct factions – each with their own thematic strengths – the card iconography is very distinct and clean, making it incredibly easy to learn.
Better still, the completely symmetrical nature of Star Realms – with players starting out with the exact same deck before they purchase new cards – gives it real balance, making games tense, tight-knit races to the conclusion.
So why have we opted for standalone expansion Star Realms Frontiers over the base game?
Well, Star Realms Frontiers offers some new mechanics on the cards it includes, but also a co-operative mode in which players can team up against a ‘boss’!
That latter point makes it one of the best card games for couples – and, seeing as Star Realms Frontiers also has a solo mode, one of the most well rounded of the Star Realms games overall!
4. Star Wars: The Deck Building Game
Taking huge inspiration from fellow sci-fi deck building game Star Realms, Star Wars: The Deck Building Game does – thankfully – add some thematically appropriate mechanics of its own to the otherwise familiar formula.
That said, it is so similar in gameplay to Star Realms – in so many ways – that anyone already familiar with that game will be right at home with Star Wars: The Deck Building Game.
So, what makes this one of the best card games for couples?
Well, for starters – it’s Star Wars!
The point being: surely everyone knows Star Wars.
Also, the fact that the game is set during the period of the Rebellion battling against the Galactic Empire – covered in films Rogue One, right up to the end of Return of the Jedi – means that it takes place during arguably the most popular and well known time of the entire saga.
The Rules
Players, in the slightly asymmetric roles of Empire or Rebellion, take turns to purchase cards from the central market, add these to their discard piles (which are later shuffled into their decks) and attack each other’s base planets, with the aim of the game to destroy a certain number of their opponent’s bases.
Capital Ships soak up damage to stop bases being attacked directly too.
So far, so Star Realms, right?
However, one of the biggest twists is in the form of the aforementioned central market row, from which cards are purchased.
These are oriented towards each player – Imperial cards facing the Imperial player and likewise for the Rebel cards, with Neutral cards (such as bounty hunters and unaligned vehicles) turned sideways.
Players can only purchase neutral cards or cards facing them – but, in a further neat, thematic mechanic, available character cards from the opposing side can be attacked and removed from the central row for a one off bonus!
Cards produce resources and/or attack values when played, as well as some producing the Force!
If ‘the Force is with you’ on the Force track – that is, if the Force is all the way to either the Dark or Light side – you can also get a bonus resource.
Though competitive and asymmetrical, it’s very well balanced – so usually doesn’t lead to one player absolutely dominating the game, making it a great game for couples to play.
Star Wars: The Deck Building Game takes a familiar design, wraps it up in a popular theme and adds plenty of flavour to become one of the best two player card games we’ve played recently.
5. Fox In The Forest Duet
Though the original Fox in the Forest game is also a great two-player only title, we’ve opted to showcase Fox in the Forest Duet for our couples game recommendation.
As to why, well – that’s simple: this is a co-operative, rather than competitive, trick-taking game.
Though Fox in the Forest Duet does feature a board, overall the game does feel like a card game; though we may have cheated a little by including it in our list of the best card games for couples, we feel that its mechanics, feel and overall quality more than justify its inclusion!
In Fox in the Forest Duet, players will be working together to complete and win tricks, with the winner of each being able to move along the board’s forest pathway and remove gem tokens, with the ultimate aim being to remove all gems from the forest.
Though co-operative, players are forbidden from communicating exactly what’s in their hand of cards – so a high level of trust is definitely very useful.
This aspect – as well as the fairy tale-inspired aesthetic of the beautiful components and packaging – makes it an absolutely perfect card game for couples to play together!
Of course, if you do prefer to be a bit more competitive with your partner, the original Fox in the Forest game is well worth checking out too.
