One of our favorite ways to spend time together is by playing a great board game for date night! With 6 kids, you can imagine that finding a sitter and getting out of the house isn’t always an easy task. But that doesn’t mean that date nights have to take a back seat.

We strongly believe in making time to spend together as a couple. Sometimes that looks like going out to dinner and a movie, sometimes it’s a Netflix binge of a new favorite show, and other times it looks like picking up a new game to play together.

What We Look for in a Date Night Game

While any game you love can make a great date night game, our criteria for date night shifts ever so slightly.

I like to prioritize the date over the game.

The goal of a date is to connect and enjoy your time together. That means the game should help create an environment to do that.

The games we like to choose for date nights won’t take up your whole evening. No need to plan hours around a huge game. Likewise, the games below are not overly complex and are relatively free of frustrating elements. Not only do we want you to be able to chat together while playing, but we also don’t want to ruin a perfectly good date with an argument over rules.

Most importantly, these are all games we feel are very fun to play as a couple. Some are two-player only, others allow for more.

Either way, they’re Tabletop Family Date Night Approved! 

So grab your favorite drinks, a selection of delicious snacks (we love a good charcuterie board!) turn on some background tunes and get ready for a fun night together!

This is the fourth installment in our Date Night Series.

Click here for the First, Second, and Third installments!

Two Player Games

Schotten Totten

You know I can’t resist a good card game! 

In Schotten Totten you’re training to gain control of the most boundary stones by paying high ranking formations of cards. We love how addicting Schotten Totten is — it is near impossible to only play one or two games! Best out of three is a must! Perhaps our favorite part is how you can force a win on a boundary stone by proving that your opponent cannot beat your card set on that stone. We love using that to our advantage by holding onto cards we know the other needs — grandly revealing it well into the game with an “Ah ha! See this? You cannot win the stone, Laddie” is a great way to win the game. 10/10 recommend.

Schotten Totten is an older game. You might have the best luck finding at a local game store. (There is a second game called Schotten Totten 2 which is not the same game.)

7 Wonders Duel

Whether you’re a fan of 7 Wonders or not, 7 Wonders Duel is an interesting two player game. A player can win in one of three ways, through military strength and might; through scientific dominance, or by having the most points at the end. 

While it plays out in about 30 minutes, it is much trickier than it appears at first glance. Perfect for couples looking for a more intellectual strategy challenge. 

Air, Land, and Sea

This card game packs the fun and tense excitement of a war game into a quick 15 minute experience. We love how players have to manage their hand of cards carefully. Skillfully assessing where their opponent is going to strike to know how they’ll need to parry. When it looks like the battle isn’t going to go in your favor, wise players will use that knowledge to withdraw, denying their opponent an outright win, hoping to cede the battle to win the war. 

It’s fast, fun, and provides excellent tension for two players. 

Games that Play Great at Two

Space Invaders

For couples that just want to have fun, Space Invaders is for you! This perfectly retro game has you working together to take down aliens by shooting them and the mothership with your disc launcher! 

It’s all the fun of an arcade game right on your table! To say we’ve had a blast with this game would be an understatement! 

Cascadia

The perfect game for couples who love being out in nature! Cascadia will have you dreaming of taking hike through a forest or sitting by a bubbling brook listening to a hawk cry as it flies overhead. We love the challenge of building a cohesive ecosystem in this beautiful and tactile game. With high replay value, this is one you’re sure to come back to again and again. 

BärenPark

For fans of tile placement puzzles, you’ll definitely want to check out Barenpark! We love the Tetris style challenge of trying to fit all the pieces you need together and the race to get to them first before your opponent. Barenpark manages to be tightly competitive but never so much so that you’re not ready to reset and play again after a loss.

This is perfect for any player that loves Patchwork! (Another date night game we love!)

Floriferous

We have loved playing this sweet little card game together. Floriferous is absolutely beautiful set collection game where players choose how their flowers score. We love how replayable Floriferous is. Players can attempt different scoring combinations and sets each game, adjusting to the flowers available. Each game is unique and lovely! 

All I’m saying is if you paired this game with a small bouquet of wildflowers and some candy…I wouldn’t be mad about it one bit.

Space Base

Space Base uses the core mechanism of “I roll, everyone gets stuff.” Players will build engines using their player board to create a powerful combo creating space base that helps them secure the win. Our favorite part of this game is how you can literally teach the whole game in the first round — get right to playing with no rules struggle. We also love that players can truly build their engine however they want. If you want a slow, steady, reliable engine to power you to the end you can purchase cards to create that. Or perhaps you like that “hit the jackpot” feel and would rather load up with a long shot engine that catapults you to the front when it hits. Whatever style you choose, you’re free to pursue! 

Micro Macro Crime City

Imagine taking Where’s Waldo and turning it into a murder mystery game — that’s pretty much exactly what Micro Macro Crime City is and it’s a lot of fun! We loved working through all the cases together — you could easily do them all in one night! While you can play Micro Macro Crime city with more, we think two is best. Be aware: this game features mature themes. Full review here. 

If you’ve already played through this game, you may want to give the sequel, Micro Macro Crime City: Full House a try!

Dinosaur World

Dinosaur World is by far the heaviest game on our list, but man o man is this game a blast! Perfect for any dinosaur fans! We love how the theme of building your dinosaur park is so perfectly worked into every aspect of the game.

Our favorite part of the game is when it’s time to go on a tour of the park. We love to take on the role of tour guide and make a show of this part. It never fails to make us laugh!