Online games for two players

Plenty of party games need four or more people, so it's annoying when it's just the two of you. Most Snazzlebop games start at two players, and the classics were made for exactly that.

You can play side by side on the sofa with two phones, or in different cities over a call. And when there's only one of you, many games have bots to play against.

The best games for it

• Chess: The real rules, with castling, en passant, promotion and chess clocks. Choose a time control and play.
• Battleships: Two hidden fleets: call your shots, hear the splash or the boom and sink theirs first.
• Four in a Row: Drop discs and line up four in a row. Quick enough to play best of five.
• Liar's Dice: Bluff about the dice under your cup. With two players, every bid is a direct duel.
• Draw & Guess: One draws, one guesses, then swap. Good for couples and long-distance friends.
• Word Race: Hunt the same five-letter word and compare who needed fewer guesses.

Picking a game for two

Want a quiet, thoughtful match? Chess and Four in a Row are pure skill, so the better player usually wins. If one of you is much stronger, Battleships and Liar's Dice mix luck with judgement and keep the games close.

Short on time? Word Race and Four in a Row take a few minutes. For a long evening, Property Tycoon and a best-of-seven at chess fill it.

Playing alone

Nobody around? Choose Play with bots on the home page. Chess, Four in a Row, Battleships, Ludo, Last Card, trivia, Five Dice and more have bots that play properly. Bot games are just for fun and don't earn coins.

Playing long distance

Both open the same room code on your phones and talk on any call. The board stays in sync on both screens, and the server keeps the clock, so neither connection has an edge.

Questions

Which games work with exactly two players?

Most of them: every classic, Draw & Guess, Word Race, Liar's Dice, Split or Steal, Code Crackers and more. Each game's page lists its player range.

Host a room and play