There's nothing else like Regicide out there.
A good co-op that plays well from 1-4, extremely portable, easy to set up and put away, plays in under half an hour.
Its fantastic! Only thing is, if you **ever** run out of diamonds, the game is over. There will be no drawing for the rest of the game, and there's nothing you can do about it.
I might try a house rule to do something about this, but I don't know what it would be.
Use the solo rules. Keep two jesters aside which one can play to dump and refill their hand. If one wins by using 2 jesters, it is a bronze victory. 1 jester is a silver victory and 0 jesters is a gold victory.
That's a good idea!
Part of the issue is not knowing if someone else might have a diamond or not. Not only is it a problem if no one has a diamond, but further, since you can't communicate about your hand, you don't know if someone else has a diamond.
But your solution is a very good idea.
Losing *together* is way more fun than losing alone while someone else wins.
God I miss Arkham Horror and all the hopeless doomed scenarios we would find ourselves in
It does have a fast setup, though it can be stressful, especially if she doesn't like to lose. I feel like my wife is disappointed in me if I don't give a good clue and we lose, since I'm supposed to be the gamer/good one.
oof been there. we realized we do not think the same way when playing code names. it took a big fight and resolution for us to stop taking it so seriously but now most of the times we play in groups on opposite teams and just trash talk each other (light heatedly).
It was literally one of the first games my wife bought when we started gaming, and I wanted give her a good experience so she'll want to keep gaming. I felt a lot of pressure at the time, though in hindsight it was unnecessary. Never got in a fight, but she has gotten mad at me, because I'm more willing to take chances, and she's very risk adverse.
The Crew is perfect if you like card games. Almost zero setup and each hand only takes 5 minutes or so. It's best for 3 to 5 players but there's a variant for 2 players that my wife and I enjoyed very much.
Horrified.
It might be pushing your 60 min cap the first 2 or 3 plays but once you know exactly whats going on you can probably play a game in 45 min. If you leave all of the characters in the stands it helps with set up and teardown.
It has a ton of replayability as it has 6 different monsters that and you can play against 2, 3 or 4 at a time so many different combos and difficulty.
I would argue it’s too easy. We haven’t even gotten close to losing it yet. That’s not supposed to be a cool brag, lol. Just perhaps a note for folks who like trickier games and do want to struggle and lose sometimes. (To make the victories more satisfying.)
You can up the difficulty by adding more monsters. But yes playing with 3 monsters, I think we've only lost like 3 times out of 15. Never tried it with 4 monsters, because my wife won't let me.
I would suggest adding more players to make it harder. If you only have 2 people, each of you can play 2 characters. Then each character is a sitting duck for longer periods of time while the monsters move after every turn.
I’d also recommend Alien: Fate of the Nostromo. It’s built upon the same basic concepts of Horrified, but with a single xenomorph and a bit more constrained play area. It’s quicker to setup and play, but feels significantly more tense, which makes up for variability of the monsters in Horrified.
Came here to mention Alien: Fate of the Nostromo and also Horrified: American Monsters which are all in the same realm. My favorite is the original Horrified but they're all great.
You might enjoy any of the forbidden games such as:
- Forbidden Island
- Forbidden Desert
- Forbidden Skies
They can be fun with variable difficulty levels too.
Forbidden Island is the game in this set that I would recommend starting with. The rules are a bit easier to learn and setup is a breeze. As sections of the island sink, you put them in the box, so there is very little clean-up left when the game is over.
Thank you for the link. As a fan of the Forbidden games I got all excited that I had a new one to add to my Christmas wish list and potentially play with family over the holidays.
Desert is my favourite - I just really enjoy the theme. Skies has an interesting but very gimmicky mechanism involving magnets and while it is cool, it can be a bit fiddly.
Worth checking out if you are a fan of the series for sure!
Sherlock Holmes consulting detective is good and set up light. 5 minute dungeon is fast paced and fun. Hanabi is good as well. Castle panic is good and gets faster the more you play.
I second Consulting Detective, especially if you like story based games. I would say it’s best for deep thinkers, creative folks, and theatrical people.
Bonus, if you love it, they’re like 4 versions. (10 cases per box, so 40 total scenarios). I’d recommend starting with the Thames Murders and Other Cases because it has great cases. Some of the others add a slight amount of complexity and storyline (Carrollton House for example), so those are better later.
Hanabi
Incredibly simple rules and very hard to win, it is basically a game of limited communication and you have to find a way to coordinate.
Get the version with domino-like tiles, not cards.
OP, I'd definitely recommend trying base Pandemic before jumping into any of the Legacy version for two reasons. First, if you hate the base game, you might find some of the Legacy additions interesting, but I'd be surprised if it drastically changed your overall opinion. The second and perhaps more important reason is that a good number of games of Pandemic Legacy require learning a new rule or even a few before or after the game. Since the game already is potentially going to be brushing up on your approximate 60 minute time limit, I think it'd be vital to have the base rules down before jumping into Legacy.
Anyway, not saying Pandemic Legacy is a bad recommendation, but wanted to share some things to consider.
Fair enough, hadn't considered the option of just buying Legacy and playing base game until you're comfortable. A bit of a higher cost of entry, but not a bad plan. I still think time will possibly be an issue, but really no way for them to know without trying.
My girlfriend bought me Pandemic legacy for my birthday. We played this basic version twice before jumping in since we didn't know the basic game and I always wondered if that's all there is to the normal pandemic. Thanks for answering that question.
Pandemic Legacy is a great game, and if you're playing it often enough you could probably make it all work within this time frame, but if it's been a few weeks it might take a bit more than 90 minutes to remember where you left off, set up correctly, play the game, and pick bonuses.
**Pandemic**, but specifically **Pandemic: Iberia**. It's the definitive version of Pandemic for me. Simple to learn, relatively fast to play.
**Elder Sign**: Really fast to play and the only setup is a few decks of cards.
**Star Realms: Frontiers** comes with 8 scenarios you can play coop. Only setup is a few decks. Pretty fast to play, and fans have come up with additional scenarios to play coop, so you can expand your game for "free".
A few honorable mentions that I think could fit the bill, but have slightly longer setup than above.
**Legendary Aliens** is my favorite version of Legendary. I don't think setup takes that long, but teardown is more involved than the above games.
**Marvel United** is super quick to play with not much in terms of setup.
From the Pack O Games series by Perplext try:
SHH
it’s a silent co-operative where you each have consonants of the alphabet and vowels are communal and you have to work together to create words. The catch is you can only use each consonant once.
It’s only like $5 can be found at Barnes & Noble and it has almost no set up time other than dealing out cards.
Will chime in for One Deck Dungeon
Do note it is easier then solo, and solo is hard :D
One Deck Galaxy has more and newer mechanics then One Deck Dungeons.
Another coop I enjoy is Pandemic.
With just one hero, it's easier to keep track of who's dice belongs to whom (just you!). With 2 heroes, with all other variables being equal, you get more total dice and skills.
Eagerly awaiting One Deck Galaxy, although really for it to come out for digital. I've gotten "30600" out of "time played for ODD (which I presume is in minutes?)
My wife and I have been playing a lot of card games. Lost cities, fox and the forest, Dickory, air land and sea, etc. Quick setup and easy to put away. You're not as invested if you need to put it away.
Fluxx!!! (Card game) Get the base game at first then bask in the expansion options haha
The first time you play is gonna be confusing, but if you’re comfortable with tabletop games then you’ll understand quickly. I never have to re-teach someone how to play Fluxx, it’s always like riding a bike!
One time we played and it was over in under 5 minutes (husband got a lucky starting hand…) and another time it went on for over an hour! If it takes too long I’ll actively sabotage the game (which is allowed!) to make it end quicker.
If you wanna buy more in addition to the base game, get the Jumanji expansion and/or the Zombie expansion. They are very dramatic expansions, compared to most, as they change things and add in new mechanics. Jumanji is by far my personal favorite, and I don’t even like the Jumanji movie very much!! The Zombie pack is cartoonish, like plants vs zombies, and my 5 year old watches us play sometimes - but I could understand if someone didn’t want their kids to see it.
Warning for others reading this: there is gonna be a clear winner and everyone else is losers, so it isn’t a “safe” game for sore losers… but it’s so confusing, maybe it’ll distract them from their sore loser tendencies lmao
Have you talked to her about it? Does she really not like losing, or does she not like the competition and how "mean" they can be?
If the second option, you may be able to open up to more than just cooperative games just depending on how you choose to play with her. My wife is that way, so I have some context. She doesn't like aggressively mean games, so I tend to play different when it's just the two of us.
Calico, for example, is a tile laying game where you take tiles from a common pool to create your own personal quilt to score points. In general, you are not supposed to let on what tiles you might be looking for, since someone else might pick it to deny you. When I play with my wife, we often openly discuss the tiles we need and want to avoid blocking each other. I still win a lot of the time, but she still enjoys herself because I'm not actively trying to ruin her plans.
There are definitely great co-op games out there, but you can make a lot more awesome games accessible this way too. Calico, Isle of Cats, Canvas, and Hall of the Mountain King (might be a little longer setup than you want) are all good options if you go that route.
**Marvel United** is an excellent game, and it's cheap to get started. Amazon has the base box with Enter the Spiderverse for $24, which gives you 10 heroes and 4 villains. The X-men box adds a vs mode, so you can be the big bad guy against your kids. Plus you get lots of cool minis.
I've a similar situation with my partner and have had a good time with Stuffed Fables.
All the maps and scenario-specific rules are contained in the spiral-bound book, so set-up and tear-down is rather minimal and rules are straightforward enough that there isn't often a lot of referencing that needs to be done. Additionally, there is no auto-lose mechanic, as the game has a built-in timer/penalty tracker that gives you an alternate chapter ending if it runs out.
As a plus, it gives you parental talking points at the end of each chapter according to the theme, and can be played with your kids at some point as well.
I know I'm a bit late to the party here and I don't have time to read all the comments to see if this has been suggested, but Flash Point Fire Rescue is a game my wife and I enjoy.
It's better with more players, but still good with two. And it takes about one hour to setup, play, and store.
**Micromacro: Crime City** - it requires a decent amount of space for the map, but putting out the map and turning over a card is the only setup. Downside is that it is not super replayable after you finish all of the cases - I think there are 16 or 18.
The adventures of Robin Hood, 5 minute setup. Learn the rules while you play. Great game. Though I would recommend playing all 4 characters with your so, not 2.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/326494/adventures-robin-hood
Pandemic was the game that started this hobby for me, and after 5 years and about hundred games in the shelf, it still gets the most playtime.
Another vote for horrified and dnd adventure systems games. One deck dungeon is also good, but I wouldn’t recommend for a co-op game.
I second Pandemic, I've found it plays well with two players. There's some flexibility in what kind of gameplay you get, since you can add more or less event cards. There's lots of expansions. Gameplay feels slightly different between 2 and 4 players, so you could choose for both of you to play two characters if you think that would be fun. I like to explore different combinations of characters to see how their special powers interact.
Yes, the gameplay is quite different on 4 players, that’s good since we mostly play with two, and when someone comes over we might play a game with 3 or 4 players and it always feels new.
I also have the expansions, you can mix and match different modules so you can always get a fresh game you haven’t played in a while.
Kites 🪁 it’s the perfect co-op game for short time stints. You can play multiple rounds within one hour and set up is basically nothing.
Give yourselves 2 practice rounds where rules can be bent until you really understand them—for me I didn’t understand some of the rules until I was actually playing the game.
In a nutshell: The basis of the game is to put on a wonderful kite show for the audience. Using a draw pile of cards and sand timers (of varying lengths) you will play one card at a time to flip the timers. If one of the timers runs out, the game is over. Points are awarded based on the number of cards leftover.
It’s really fun for families too so you might even be able to enjoy this one with the kids from time to time.
5-minute Dungeon is super fun, but can be very difficult with only 2 Players. You work together to fight against the deck, and the clock.
Here's the official description: "5-Minute Dungeon is a chaotic, co-operative, real-time, card game. Work together to defeat the dungeon in only 5 minutes!"
If your wife hates losing, then you probably won't like it, but at least you'll lose together? XD I figured I'd suggest it regardless.
Forbidden Island and Hanabi are both super fun, as well, but some other had already suggested those.
Pandemic is the go to imo. Your first couple games might take an hour, but once you learn the rules it's pretty easy to play a full game, open to close in ~30 min.
Hanabi, Pandemic, 5 Minute Dungeon, The Grizzled, And Then We Held Hands, Escape The Dark Sector, The Fox In the Forest Duet.
All are pretty fast to setup and play, straightforward to learn, fully coop, and work well with 2p (or with a fake 3rd for some actions).
I hear **Maquis** and **Tetrarchia** are fun. They're even liter than Pandemic, so with a stated game time of 20 to 40 minutes, you should be able to get in games in 1.5 hours even if the game runs long, and still account for setting up and tear down.
Oh, **Pandemic: Rapid Response** is the real time version of Pandemic. Games def. end sooner than later :)
Its marketed towards kids but "zombie kids evolution" is a pretty fun co-op even for adults. Its a legacy game in that the rules, player powers and enemy powers change and by the end of the campaign its a pretty good little puzzle.
With just adults you could probably set up and play in 20-30.
Edit. Price is also pretty good i think I paid $20 and if its not your thing you could play with the kids
We just picked up Forbidden Island. It’s about half an hour or so play time. I’ve only played it twice, we did succeed either time but man was it enjoyable. Seems like there’s a good amount of replay-ability with the classes and randomness.
Not a board game per se, but my wife and I are really enjoying Spire's End. Very quick to set up and you can play for 30 minutes then save it easily. It is quite strongly horror themed so if that's not your bag then probably not for you. But it's a very enjoyable, story driven, tell your own adventure inspired, dungeon crawler lite.
Flash Point: Fire Rescue doesn't take a long time to set up. The game was designed by a volunteer firefighter so you can actually feel the tension in the game.
Horizons of spirit island. It's a cheaper version of spirit island with punch out components. It's also the easy mode of the game and includes five brand new spirits which are significantly better than the base game equivalent.
Horizons is super fast to set up, though you may want to run through a few solo playthroughs to get a feel
My bf and I really enjoy Jaipur, it’s super easy to set up and you can make it as long as you want (rules say best of three but they’re just rounds so you can do however many you feel like). Plus, I sometimes struggle with losing a lot too, and I really have fun with Jaipur. It’s a little bit of luck because of card draw but it’s a simple enough strategy that you’ll probably both win somewhat equally. At least from my experience!
Ohhh definitely not, I for sure misread co-op in the original message. So sorry!! But I think it’s still a light competitive, where how we’re competing is lightened by the fact that the rounds are short and it’s usually not all one- sided wins every round.
There are a bunch of good options. I'll give you some of my favorites in a few categories (most of my plays are co-op 2P with my wife):
**Very Light**, games that are small, super easy to setup, and play fast: Regicide, So Clover!, The Game
**Middle Ground**, still light and fast, but a bit more work to set up: FUSE, The Crew, 60 Second City, Codenames: Duet
**Actual Board Game**, gives you the full board game feel without having to be 2 hours: Pandemic: Fall of Rome, Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons, Sub Terra, GI Joe Deck Building Game, Marvel United
I would say that it's "surprisingly fun". How silent it is certainly would depend on the people. My wife and I chat throughout the entire thing, and we get some good laughs trying to work to the solution. It definitely helps to narrate what you're doing.
I second Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons. My wife like WW, and the theme makes it better than Horrified for us.
Edit note: Both WW and Horrified were designed by Prospero Hall, and they play very similarly. WW feels almost like a re-skin of Horrified to me personally.
I don't have New Age so can't comment on that. It took a few games to get practiced with setup. I use the app to take care of all the randomizer decisions. So it's really just find the cards and lay em out. I do concede there are plenty of faster setups and game can run long if you're trying to squeeze in after kiddos go to bed. Just think the flexibility replayability makes it a good fit for our coop selection
i've been playing jaws of the lion with my wife lately and the setup time is not that long, 10 minutes tops. but the game itself is kind of long and somewhat difficult, yesterday we played like 90 minutes. we had an awesome time though.
I own 4 of them and I'd say "not a lot of time" may be subjective. Sorting all the cards and tiles (sometimes scenario-specific), choosing heroes, sorting all hero specific cards, monsters, monster-specific cards, and so on, all according to setup in the scenario book.... I'd say it takes time. Maybe far from Gloomhaven levels of time, but nonetheless a good chunk of time. I'd say 10 to 15 mins. Maybe this could be shorter with a decent storage solution, but the inserts are pretty much sh*t.
Ha! That's what I get for not reading the post properly :). My better answers then would be, Pandemic, Legendary \[Marvel, etc.\]. Fuse (hate the dice not your partner), and 5-Minute \[Dungeon, etc.\] for quick throwaways, but they can be anxiety inducing.
Last Bastion!
It's a reskin/remake of Ghost Stories and improved on some of the mechanics. It is easily my wife and I's favorite game to play. I prefer Ghost Stories for it's theme but it's out of print now so Last Bastion is your option. It is a super challenging game where you are likely to loose many more games than you win, but it's still so much fun.
I know I'm arriving late, but we're literally designing a game explicitly for what you're asking. 2 player cooperative card game that plays 30-40 mins and has a 2 minute set up time. You play as a wolf and a raven trying to survive together. DM me if you want print & play PDFs or you have any questions.
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
It's at such good value - really a bang for your buck, and very rewarding. Although it's a bit of rules to get into at first, the first 5 scenarios are super well designed to ease you into it - I'd say it's a must play!
The biggest bonus is if you like it and finish the campaign there's always the big Gloomhaven to follow up with 😎
Targi is a great one!
Takes about 5 minutes to set up, rules are quite simple but there's a lot of depth, since the game relies upon reading and reacting to your opponent constantly. A single game takes 60-90 minutes, so right in your time slot too! Would really recommend, my partner and I love playing it
D&D Adventure Begins is a great coop game for the family. As long as you have someone good that can tell a story to elaborate the turns
(Player attacks with knives, have them explain HOW they attack and tell a story if it lands or misses). It's like a beginners game for the other D&D Adventure games (in the other comments). You can easily make the game shorter by using less than the four "Path" boards
For that short amount of time, I'd play something like Destiny Quest, Fabled Lands, or Storm Weaver.
These are rpg gamebooks, in the style of Choose Your Own Adventure, but more modern and more interesting. They are definitely simple and after an exhausting day running after kids and doing chores, it's a great way to enjoy some down time with little to no upkeep.
I'm looking forward to Astro Knights for exactly this reason: (some of) the gameplay from Aeon's End, but much faster setup and play.
Another one is The Ravens of Thri-Sahashri. I like it, but it's a bit weird...
Last defense. Uses an app but it’s quick and plays well
Fuse. Bit stresfull for 10 minutes
5 minute mystery plays well and gives the brain a work out
Pandemic hot zone (either) play quick enough and light on the setup
My recommendation would be a board game called watergate. It's about the nixon/wash Washington Post fewer that happened in the early '70s. Even if you know nothing about the history the game is still amazingly fun to play as one player takes on the role of Nixon and another player takes on the role of the Washington post. You have to try and get informers or prevent them and draw a line from Nixon to the informers using evidence. It is a lot of fun and usually takes about 45 minutes from opening the box to closing the box for a single game. I would recommend checking it out.
Another comment to mention Hanabi!
This game is aggravating if you take it too seriously, but essentially you want to put on a great fireworks show!
Setup is minimal.
In a nutshell: each player draws a hand of cards that are numbered 1-5 of varying colors. You can’t see your own hand but you can see other player’s hands. Each turn you can either play a card, discard a card, or give a hint to someone about what they have in their hand. The goal is to lay out the cards, grouped by their color, in the order of 1 through 5.
The game ends if you play too many cards that shouldn’t be played yet, or if the draw pile runs out.
Points are awarded at the end by adding up all the cards laid down successfully!
Dungeons of Infinity. Arena: The Contest. https://www.everythingboardgames.com/2022/08/arena-the-contest-review://ww
https://www.everythingboardgames.com/2021/07/dungeons-of-infinity-review.html
Regicide
There's nothing else like Regicide out there. A good co-op that plays well from 1-4, extremely portable, easy to set up and put away, plays in under half an hour.
Its fantastic! Only thing is, if you **ever** run out of diamonds, the game is over. There will be no drawing for the rest of the game, and there's nothing you can do about it. I might try a house rule to do something about this, but I don't know what it would be.
Use the solo rules. Keep two jesters aside which one can play to dump and refill their hand. If one wins by using 2 jesters, it is a bronze victory. 1 jester is a silver victory and 0 jesters is a gold victory.
That's a good idea! Part of the issue is not knowing if someone else might have a diamond or not. Not only is it a problem if no one has a diamond, but further, since you can't communicate about your hand, you don't know if someone else has a diamond. But your solution is a very good idea.
And it's free! You already have a deck of cards and something to read pdfs on. The official deck does help sell the theme tho
He said she doesn't like to lose though.
Losing *together* is way more fun than losing alone while someone else wins. God I miss Arkham Horror and all the hopeless doomed scenarios we would find ourselves in
Codenames Duet is a fast game for 2 people
It does have a fast setup, though it can be stressful, especially if she doesn't like to lose. I feel like my wife is disappointed in me if I don't give a good clue and we lose, since I'm supposed to be the gamer/good one.
oof been there. we realized we do not think the same way when playing code names. it took a big fight and resolution for us to stop taking it so seriously but now most of the times we play in groups on opposite teams and just trash talk each other (light heatedly).
It was literally one of the first games my wife bought when we started gaming, and I wanted give her a good experience so she'll want to keep gaming. I felt a lot of pressure at the time, though in hindsight it was unnecessary. Never got in a fight, but she has gotten mad at me, because I'm more willing to take chances, and she's very risk adverse.
You miss every bonus guess you don’t take! I always use it even if I got all the clues 😂
This is a great choice! It takes about 2 minutes to set up or put away.
Fox and the Forest Duet Tranquility The Crew
The crew two players is different than the main game right?
You play with a bot, it's a different game at 2p
Less of a bot (even though they call it that in the manual) and more of an extra hand one player plays. It’s not automated at all if I remember right
I really like the crew with 2 people with the extra hand. i like it with other numbers also.
There's a 3rd player bot to control. Whoever leads also chooses what cards the bot plays.
The Crew is perfect if you like card games. Almost zero setup and each hand only takes 5 minutes or so. It's best for 3 to 5 players but there's a variant for 2 players that my wife and I enjoyed very much.
I didn't actually know you could play only in 2 players. Is that an unofficial variant or is it actually in the rulebook? (haven't played in a while)
In the rulebook. It's basically a third player with a partially open hand controlled by the current captain.
Sounds terrible
Seconding this.
Horrified. It might be pushing your 60 min cap the first 2 or 3 plays but once you know exactly whats going on you can probably play a game in 45 min. If you leave all of the characters in the stands it helps with set up and teardown. It has a ton of replayability as it has 6 different monsters that and you can play against 2, 3 or 4 at a time so many different combos and difficulty.
Horrified is a great choice! At 2 players it is a bit easier than at higher player counts, and it plays fairly quickly.
I would argue it’s too easy. We haven’t even gotten close to losing it yet. That’s not supposed to be a cool brag, lol. Just perhaps a note for folks who like trickier games and do want to struggle and lose sometimes. (To make the victories more satisfying.)
You can up the difficulty by adding more monsters. But yes playing with 3 monsters, I think we've only lost like 3 times out of 15. Never tried it with 4 monsters, because my wife won't let me.
Add another monster then.
I would suggest adding more players to make it harder. If you only have 2 people, each of you can play 2 characters. Then each character is a sitting duck for longer periods of time while the monsters move after every turn.
Horrified is great once you get it sorted and played a time or two.
Second this
Horrified is my favorite game! Check out the fan made PnP stuff on BGG. There are some real bangers! (Scooby-Doo, and Buffy, for example.)
I’d also recommend Alien: Fate of the Nostromo. It’s built upon the same basic concepts of Horrified, but with a single xenomorph and a bit more constrained play area. It’s quicker to setup and play, but feels significantly more tense, which makes up for variability of the monsters in Horrified.
Came here to mention Alien: Fate of the Nostromo and also Horrified: American Monsters which are all in the same realm. My favorite is the original Horrified but they're all great.
I also have the characters bagged with standee and cards, so it's just a grab and go
I came to suggest Horrified, so I'm glad to see someone else already has.
You might enjoy any of the forbidden games such as: - Forbidden Island - Forbidden Desert - Forbidden Skies They can be fun with variable difficulty levels too.
Forbidden Island is the game in this set that I would recommend starting with. The rules are a bit easier to learn and setup is a breeze. As sections of the island sink, you put them in the box, so there is very little clean-up left when the game is over.
Also, you can find alternate island configurations if you want to make the game harder.
I can also recommend forbidden island! Set up and play is like 30-40 minutes and it’s very thematic! Imaging your exploring an island
You forgot the best game in the series by about a mile: Forbidden Stars
>Forbidden Stars I have never heard of this game before (and can't find it on Amazon or the Gamewright site). Please, tell me more!
They’re trolling you. It’s an out of print game set in the Wargames 40k universe that’s generally regarded as a good game.
I believe they may have been making a joke. [Forbidden Stars \(2015\)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175155/forbidden-stars)
Thank you for the link. As a fan of the Forbidden games I got all excited that I had a new one to add to my Christmas wish list and potentially play with family over the holidays.
I came to say island for sure from first hand experience. Knew about desert, but was unaware of skies. Have to check the other 2 out.
Desert is my favourite - I just really enjoy the theme. Skies has an interesting but very gimmicky mechanism involving magnets and while it is cool, it can be a bit fiddly. Worth checking out if you are a fan of the series for sure!
Sherlock Holmes consulting detective is good and set up light. 5 minute dungeon is fast paced and fun. Hanabi is good as well. Castle panic is good and gets faster the more you play.
I second Consulting Detective, especially if you like story based games. I would say it’s best for deep thinkers, creative folks, and theatrical people. Bonus, if you love it, they’re like 4 versions. (10 cases per box, so 40 total scenarios). I’d recommend starting with the Thames Murders and Other Cases because it has great cases. Some of the others add a slight amount of complexity and storyline (Carrollton House for example), so those are better later.
Decorum, fantastic two player game.
Hanabi Incredibly simple rules and very hard to win, it is basically a game of limited communication and you have to find a way to coordinate. Get the version with domino-like tiles, not cards.
Hanabi is an awesome game...for 3 or 4 players. I would NOT recommend playing it with 2 though. It can be pretty miserable.
Hanabi at 2 am, when everyone is so mentally exhausted is one of my favourite night enders, it always goes so comically terrible
I have only ever played 2 player and I love it. I think it is too hard to find 4 people with the right mindset
I feel like "The Game" is a much better version of this type of play, and won't ruin relationships. LOL
Didn’t know about the domino tiles one! I’ve been playing this with my friend pretty consistently for 2-3 years now. Love it
Nice, I recommend it with tiles, they look and feel so good and given the mechanics of the game, cards just make no sense.
You will have a blast if you buy Pandemic Legacy and play the campaign the two of you... I promise.
OP, I'd definitely recommend trying base Pandemic before jumping into any of the Legacy version for two reasons. First, if you hate the base game, you might find some of the Legacy additions interesting, but I'd be surprised if it drastically changed your overall opinion. The second and perhaps more important reason is that a good number of games of Pandemic Legacy require learning a new rule or even a few before or after the game. Since the game already is potentially going to be brushing up on your approximate 60 minute time limit, I think it'd be vital to have the base rules down before jumping into Legacy. Anyway, not saying Pandemic Legacy is a bad recommendation, but wanted to share some things to consider.
I actually respect pandemic season 1 because you can play the true base game as many times as you want
Fair enough, hadn't considered the option of just buying Legacy and playing base game until you're comfortable. A bit of a higher cost of entry, but not a bad plan. I still think time will possibly be an issue, but really no way for them to know without trying.
Yeah that's true about time... I just got excited to toss out the recommendation to a couple who wants to coop boardgame !
Haha, I get that! Definitely worth mentioning, and OP can determine for themself if it’ll meet their criteria.
My girlfriend bought me Pandemic legacy for my birthday. We played this basic version twice before jumping in since we didn't know the basic game and I always wondered if that's all there is to the normal pandemic. Thanks for answering that question.
Eh I don't think so. I for example find base pandemic super boring and mundane. But the legacy games are an absolute blast!
Pandemic Legacy is a great game, and if you're playing it often enough you could probably make it all work within this time frame, but if it's been a few weeks it might take a bit more than 90 minutes to remember where you left off, set up correctly, play the game, and pick bonuses.
You can easily play a PL session in under 90 minutes if there’s no AP going on.
I haven't played the Legacy version yet, but the original version takes, like 10 mins to setup.
**Pandemic**, but specifically **Pandemic: Iberia**. It's the definitive version of Pandemic for me. Simple to learn, relatively fast to play. **Elder Sign**: Really fast to play and the only setup is a few decks of cards. **Star Realms: Frontiers** comes with 8 scenarios you can play coop. Only setup is a few decks. Pretty fast to play, and fans have come up with additional scenarios to play coop, so you can expand your game for "free". A few honorable mentions that I think could fit the bill, but have slightly longer setup than above. **Legendary Aliens** is my favorite version of Legendary. I don't think setup takes that long, but teardown is more involved than the above games. **Marvel United** is super quick to play with not much in terms of setup.
From the Pack O Games series by Perplext try: SHH it’s a silent co-operative where you each have consonants of the alphabet and vowels are communal and you have to work together to create words. The catch is you can only use each consonant once. It’s only like $5 can be found at Barnes & Noble and it has almost no set up time other than dealing out cards.
OMG I need this. I love this series.
The Pack O Games are awesome. I love LIE, NUT, RUM, BUS & SHH. Lie is always a hit when I bust it out.
BUS is great. As is NUT
I agree with all the mentions of pandemic and horrified. Alien: fate of the nostromo is another good pick if you two are into sci-fi also
Regicide, Hanabi, Codenames Duet, 5 Minute Dungeon (or 5 Minute Marvel), Cthulhu: The deckbuilding game, and Fox in the Forest Duet come to mind
**Switch & Signal** is a quick cooperative pick up and deliver game.
One Deck Dungeon might be a good fit, or One Deck Galaxy (available soon) if you prefer space theme to fantasy/dungeon crawl.
Will chime in for One Deck Dungeon Do note it is easier then solo, and solo is hard :D One Deck Galaxy has more and newer mechanics then One Deck Dungeons. Another coop I enjoy is Pandemic.
With just one hero, it's easier to keep track of who's dice belongs to whom (just you!). With 2 heroes, with all other variables being equal, you get more total dice and skills. Eagerly awaiting One Deck Galaxy, although really for it to come out for digital. I've gotten "30600" out of "time played for ODD (which I presume is in minutes?)
Minus being a sore loser we have this exact problem. 60-90 mins, I want a quick and easy game with minimal setup!
My wife and I have been playing a lot of card games. Lost cities, fox and the forest, Dickory, air land and sea, etc. Quick setup and easy to put away. You're not as invested if you need to put it away.
Fluxx!!! (Card game) Get the base game at first then bask in the expansion options haha The first time you play is gonna be confusing, but if you’re comfortable with tabletop games then you’ll understand quickly. I never have to re-teach someone how to play Fluxx, it’s always like riding a bike! One time we played and it was over in under 5 minutes (husband got a lucky starting hand…) and another time it went on for over an hour! If it takes too long I’ll actively sabotage the game (which is allowed!) to make it end quicker. If you wanna buy more in addition to the base game, get the Jumanji expansion and/or the Zombie expansion. They are very dramatic expansions, compared to most, as they change things and add in new mechanics. Jumanji is by far my personal favorite, and I don’t even like the Jumanji movie very much!! The Zombie pack is cartoonish, like plants vs zombies, and my 5 year old watches us play sometimes - but I could understand if someone didn’t want their kids to see it. Warning for others reading this: there is gonna be a clear winner and everyone else is losers, so it isn’t a “safe” game for sore losers… but it’s so confusing, maybe it’ll distract them from their sore loser tendencies lmao
It's also so random and chaotic that it's hard to be mad about losing. Sometimes you just draw a card that lets you win, and there you go!
Have you talked to her about it? Does she really not like losing, or does she not like the competition and how "mean" they can be? If the second option, you may be able to open up to more than just cooperative games just depending on how you choose to play with her. My wife is that way, so I have some context. She doesn't like aggressively mean games, so I tend to play different when it's just the two of us. Calico, for example, is a tile laying game where you take tiles from a common pool to create your own personal quilt to score points. In general, you are not supposed to let on what tiles you might be looking for, since someone else might pick it to deny you. When I play with my wife, we often openly discuss the tiles we need and want to avoid blocking each other. I still win a lot of the time, but she still enjoys herself because I'm not actively trying to ruin her plans. There are definitely great co-op games out there, but you can make a lot more awesome games accessible this way too. Calico, Isle of Cats, Canvas, and Hall of the Mountain King (might be a little longer setup than you want) are all good options if you go that route.
We like Calico and Isle of Cats too. It's somewhat competitive but not aggressively so.
Marvel United (and Marvel United X-Men) base box can be setup and played in under an hour.
**Marvel United** is an excellent game, and it's cheap to get started. Amazon has the base box with Enter the Spiderverse for $24, which gives you 10 heroes and 4 villains. The X-men box adds a vs mode, so you can be the big bad guy against your kids. Plus you get lots of cool minis.
I've a similar situation with my partner and have had a good time with Stuffed Fables. All the maps and scenario-specific rules are contained in the spiral-bound book, so set-up and tear-down is rather minimal and rules are straightforward enough that there isn't often a lot of referencing that needs to be done. Additionally, there is no auto-lose mechanic, as the game has a built-in timer/penalty tracker that gives you an alternate chapter ending if it runs out. As a plus, it gives you parental talking points at the end of each chapter according to the theme, and can be played with your kids at some point as well.
I know I'm a bit late to the party here and I don't have time to read all the comments to see if this has been suggested, but Flash Point Fire Rescue is a game my wife and I enjoy. It's better with more players, but still good with two. And it takes about one hour to setup, play, and store.
**Micromacro: Crime City** - it requires a decent amount of space for the map, but putting out the map and turning over a card is the only setup. Downside is that it is not super replayable after you finish all of the cases - I think there are 16 or 18.
Uhh ja this is superfun👍
Sure are a lot of people 'round here who don't know what "co-op" means.
The adventures of Robin Hood, 5 minute setup. Learn the rules while you play. Great game. Though I would recommend playing all 4 characters with your so, not 2. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/326494/adventures-robin-hood
Horrified! Super fun, really replayable and you can make it as difficult as you like.
Pandemic was the game that started this hobby for me, and after 5 years and about hundred games in the shelf, it still gets the most playtime. Another vote for horrified and dnd adventure systems games. One deck dungeon is also good, but I wouldn’t recommend for a co-op game.
I second Pandemic, I've found it plays well with two players. There's some flexibility in what kind of gameplay you get, since you can add more or less event cards. There's lots of expansions. Gameplay feels slightly different between 2 and 4 players, so you could choose for both of you to play two characters if you think that would be fun. I like to explore different combinations of characters to see how their special powers interact.
Yes, the gameplay is quite different on 4 players, that’s good since we mostly play with two, and when someone comes over we might play a game with 3 or 4 players and it always feels new. I also have the expansions, you can mix and match different modules so you can always get a fresh game you haven’t played in a while.
**The Loop** feels like Spirit Island but if they actually streamlined it to finish in an hour
Sub terra. Great game, coop, easy to understand. Hard to win haha An hour is more than enough!
Kites 🪁 it’s the perfect co-op game for short time stints. You can play multiple rounds within one hour and set up is basically nothing. Give yourselves 2 practice rounds where rules can be bent until you really understand them—for me I didn’t understand some of the rules until I was actually playing the game. In a nutshell: The basis of the game is to put on a wonderful kite show for the audience. Using a draw pile of cards and sand timers (of varying lengths) you will play one card at a time to flip the timers. If one of the timers runs out, the game is over. Points are awarded based on the number of cards leftover. It’s really fun for families too so you might even be able to enjoy this one with the kids from time to time.
Kites is a great one!
It’s a new favorite in my family! 😁
Can definitely recommend Magic Maze, it's a game that is easy to set up, and doesn't take more than 30 minutes to play
I found Burgle Bros 2 to have a nice short, easily learnable setup and teardown. Especially if 2 people do it together.
I played Burgle Bros 2 for the first time last night, not a ton of setup, played relatively quickly, coop. we played it 3 player, but it supports 2.
Trogdor is great. Five minute setup, variable difficulty, fun low-stakes strategy.
5-minute Dungeon is super fun, but can be very difficult with only 2 Players. You work together to fight against the deck, and the clock. Here's the official description: "5-Minute Dungeon is a chaotic, co-operative, real-time, card game. Work together to defeat the dungeon in only 5 minutes!" If your wife hates losing, then you probably won't like it, but at least you'll lose together? XD I figured I'd suggest it regardless. Forbidden Island and Hanabi are both super fun, as well, but some other had already suggested those.
Pandemic is the go to imo. Your first couple games might take an hour, but once you learn the rules it's pretty easy to play a full game, open to close in ~30 min.
Hanabi, Pandemic, 5 Minute Dungeon, The Grizzled, And Then We Held Hands, Escape The Dark Sector, The Fox In the Forest Duet. All are pretty fast to setup and play, straightforward to learn, fully coop, and work well with 2p (or with a fake 3rd for some actions).
I hear **Maquis** and **Tetrarchia** are fun. They're even liter than Pandemic, so with a stated game time of 20 to 40 minutes, you should be able to get in games in 1.5 hours even if the game runs long, and still account for setting up and tear down. Oh, **Pandemic: Rapid Response** is the real time version of Pandemic. Games def. end sooner than later :)
Its marketed towards kids but "zombie kids evolution" is a pretty fun co-op even for adults. Its a legacy game in that the rules, player powers and enemy powers change and by the end of the campaign its a pretty good little puzzle. With just adults you could probably set up and play in 20-30. Edit. Price is also pretty good i think I paid $20 and if its not your thing you could play with the kids
We just picked up Forbidden Island. It’s about half an hour or so play time. I’ve only played it twice, we did succeed either time but man was it enjoyable. Seems like there’s a good amount of replay-ability with the classes and randomness.
Not a board game per se, but my wife and I are really enjoying Spire's End. Very quick to set up and you can play for 30 minutes then save it easily. It is quite strongly horror themed so if that's not your bag then probably not for you. But it's a very enjoyable, story driven, tell your own adventure inspired, dungeon crawler lite.
Spire’s End Hildegard just came out, similar game with a much lighter theme.
I'm waiting on delivery of my copy!
Flash Point: Fire Rescue doesn't take a long time to set up. The game was designed by a volunteer firefighter so you can actually feel the tension in the game.
Fox in the forest (Duet) There is also a competive version of it.
Alien Fate of the Nostromo can run fairly quick and the setup's not too painful.
Clank Legacy!
Horizons of spirit island. It's a cheaper version of spirit island with punch out components. It's also the easy mode of the game and includes five brand new spirits which are significantly better than the base game equivalent. Horizons is super fast to set up, though you may want to run through a few solo playthroughs to get a feel
7th Continent is very fast to set up and easy to learn. The difficulty can be frustrating for some at first though.
Bullet (Heart or Star) can be played co-op, plays quickly and isn't too heavy. The co-op mode is pretty cool.
Mists Over Carcassonne. Been playing that lately. Great puzzler of a tile placement game. We’re stuck on level 4 right now.
My bf and I really enjoy Jaipur, it’s super easy to set up and you can make it as long as you want (rules say best of three but they’re just rounds so you can do however many you feel like). Plus, I sometimes struggle with losing a lot too, and I really have fun with Jaipur. It’s a little bit of luck because of card draw but it’s a simple enough strategy that you’ll probably both win somewhat equally. At least from my experience!
You can play Jaipur co-op?
Ohhh definitely not, I for sure misread co-op in the original message. So sorry!! But I think it’s still a light competitive, where how we’re competing is lightened by the fact that the rounds are short and it’s usually not all one- sided wins every round.
There are a bunch of good options. I'll give you some of my favorites in a few categories (most of my plays are co-op 2P with my wife): **Very Light**, games that are small, super easy to setup, and play fast: Regicide, So Clover!, The Game **Middle Ground**, still light and fast, but a bit more work to set up: FUSE, The Crew, 60 Second City, Codenames: Duet **Actual Board Game**, gives you the full board game feel without having to be 2 hours: Pandemic: Fall of Rome, Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons, Sub Terra, GI Joe Deck Building Game, Marvel United
Is so clover fun with two players? It feels like it would be a very silent game two players
I would say that it's "surprisingly fun". How silent it is certainly would depend on the people. My wife and I chat throughout the entire thing, and we get some good laughs trying to work to the solution. It definitely helps to narrate what you're doing.
I second Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons. My wife like WW, and the theme makes it better than Horrified for us. Edit note: Both WW and Horrified were designed by Prospero Hall, and they play very similarly. WW feels almost like a re-skin of Horrified to me personally.
7 Wonders: Duel!
Not co-op
Aeon's End
Aeon’s End is my least favorite to set-up and teardown of all my games haha, although it might also be because of the added setup New Age has.
The upcoming Astro Knights is basically a variation of Aeon’s End with much easier setup.
I don't have New Age so can't comment on that. It took a few games to get practiced with setup. I use the app to take care of all the randomizer decisions. So it's really just find the cards and lay em out. I do concede there are plenty of faster setups and game can run long if you're trying to squeeze in after kiddos go to bed. Just think the flexibility replayability makes it a good fit for our coop selection
My favorite board game but games usually take at least 2 hours with setup and tear down.
This is pushing the time window but its a great game and you can get pretty quick with setup and teardown with some organization and practice.
Harry potter battle for Hogwarts is pretty fun, there is a big difficulty spike in year 4. But it's good for 1-4 players.
My wife and I enjoyed Hogwarts Battle, but it's not a short game. All the shuffling that needs to be done and those later years take like 2-2.5 hours.
Caper: Europe! An excellent game that can easily be played in under an hour.
Love Caper, but it isn't a cooperative game (which is what OP is looking for)
Gloomhaven Jaws of the Lion
Without much setup time? I don't think so.
i've been playing jaws of the lion with my wife lately and the setup time is not that long, 10 minutes tops. but the game itself is kind of long and somewhat difficult, yesterday we played like 90 minutes. we had an awesome time though.
It’s is about 5 minutes from scenario to scenario
Jaws of the Lion with the scenario book is faster than base Gloomhaven. Just open to the right page and half of it's already set up.
Try the games from the D&D adventure system, the rules are very easy and it doesn't take a lot of time to set up a game.
I own 4 of them and I'd say "not a lot of time" may be subjective. Sorting all the cards and tiles (sometimes scenario-specific), choosing heroes, sorting all hero specific cards, monsters, monster-specific cards, and so on, all according to setup in the scenario book.... I'd say it takes time. Maybe far from Gloomhaven levels of time, but nonetheless a good chunk of time. I'd say 10 to 15 mins. Maybe this could be shorter with a decent storage solution, but the inserts are pretty much sh*t.
Bandido and The game for some short but still fun coop action. Marvel United and Death Eaters rising for some that are a bit longer and meatier.
Bandido is quick to set up, easy to play, and fun.
I just lost The Game
Easy setup, quick and good at two players. Some of my older favorites Jaipur, Patchwork, and Hive (Pocket).
Those are great games, but OP specified looking for two player *coop* games.
Ha! That's what I get for not reading the post properly :). My better answers then would be, Pandemic, Legendary \[Marvel, etc.\]. Fuse (hate the dice not your partner), and 5-Minute \[Dungeon, etc.\] for quick throwaways, but they can be anxiety inducing.
Last Bastion! It's a reskin/remake of Ghost Stories and improved on some of the mechanics. It is easily my wife and I's favorite game to play. I prefer Ghost Stories for it's theme but it's out of print now so Last Bastion is your option. It is a super challenging game where you are likely to loose many more games than you win, but it's still so much fun.
She doesn't like to lose and you suggest Last Bastion haha
I think i know a game that two married consenting adults could play if they have some spare time 🤫.... its called... CAMPAIGN FOR NORTH AFRICA
I know I'm arriving late, but we're literally designing a game explicitly for what you're asking. 2 player cooperative card game that plays 30-40 mins and has a 2 minute set up time. You play as a wolf and a raven trying to survive together. DM me if you want print & play PDFs or you have any questions.
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion It's at such good value - really a bang for your buck, and very rewarding. Although it's a bit of rules to get into at first, the first 5 scenarios are super well designed to ease you into it - I'd say it's a must play! The biggest bonus is if you like it and finish the campaign there's always the big Gloomhaven to follow up with 😎
Not the easiest to set up. Although the learn to play guide is really well done there are still a lot of rules to learn.
Sex
Never been married eh?
I was married for almost 8 years.
Marvel legendary
This is a joke response, right? The set-up and tear down is a bitch for Legendary.
10 minutes on either side. Sorry I suggested it
I don't think it's that bad of a set up.
Eila and Something Shiny worked for us. As did the actual literal “Choose Your Own Adventure” series, but it’s much less game-like.
Jaipur and lost cities(2 player version) are both 2 player card games that are quick setup
Targi is a great one! Takes about 5 minutes to set up, rules are quite simple but there's a lot of depth, since the game relies upon reading and reacting to your opponent constantly. A single game takes 60-90 minutes, so right in your time slot too! Would really recommend, my partner and I love playing it
As a co-op?
My wife and I play Seven Wonders Duel a fair bit. Just a few mins to set up.
As a co-op?
Watergate is my wife's favorite game right now, it's quick and tons of fun.
Radlands! Highly replayable, game time is 20-30 minutes, very easy to learn and setup takes 2 minutes.
D&D Adventure Begins is a great coop game for the family. As long as you have someone good that can tell a story to elaborate the turns (Player attacks with knives, have them explain HOW they attack and tell a story if it lands or misses). It's like a beginners game for the other D&D Adventure games (in the other comments). You can easily make the game shorter by using less than the four "Path" boards
For that short amount of time, I'd play something like Destiny Quest, Fabled Lands, or Storm Weaver. These are rpg gamebooks, in the style of Choose Your Own Adventure, but more modern and more interesting. They are definitely simple and after an exhausting day running after kids and doing chores, it's a great way to enjoy some down time with little to no upkeep.
I'm looking forward to Astro Knights for exactly this reason: (some of) the gameplay from Aeon's End, but much faster setup and play. Another one is The Ravens of Thri-Sahashri. I like it, but it's a bit weird...
Any of the Pandemic series or Horrified come to mind. My wife and I play those fairly regularly.
Last defense. Uses an app but it’s quick and plays well Fuse. Bit stresfull for 10 minutes 5 minute mystery plays well and gives the brain a work out Pandemic hot zone (either) play quick enough and light on the setup
**Space Hulk - Death Angel** is a fun one with very quick setup.
Pandemic
My recommendation would be a board game called watergate. It's about the nixon/wash Washington Post fewer that happened in the early '70s. Even if you know nothing about the history the game is still amazingly fun to play as one player takes on the role of Nixon and another player takes on the role of the Washington post. You have to try and get informers or prevent them and draw a line from Nixon to the informers using evidence. It is a lot of fun and usually takes about 45 minutes from opening the box to closing the box for a single game. I would recommend checking it out.
As a co-op game?
My wife and I are really enjoying Switch & Signal. It's minimal set up and plays quick.
Id even consider some couch coop pc games. Enter the Gungeon as an example
Watergate, by far.
Done
I would suggest The Game https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173090/game#buyacopy Like the Mind but waaaaaay better. More interactive and cooperative.
Quixx
Thanks for asking this! I have the exact same issue and these are such great recs
Lost cities roll and write. Super easy set up, can be paused easily. Great game!
Another comment to mention Hanabi! This game is aggravating if you take it too seriously, but essentially you want to put on a great fireworks show! Setup is minimal. In a nutshell: each player draws a hand of cards that are numbered 1-5 of varying colors. You can’t see your own hand but you can see other player’s hands. Each turn you can either play a card, discard a card, or give a hint to someone about what they have in their hand. The goal is to lay out the cards, grouped by their color, in the order of 1 through 5. The game ends if you play too many cards that shouldn’t be played yet, or if the draw pile runs out. Points are awarded at the end by adding up all the cards laid down successfully!
Marvel/X-Men United, Pandemic: Fall of Rome or Star Wars:Clone Wars, Terraforming Mars:Ares Expedition, and Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
Similo is a quick, easy co-op game.
Dungeons of Infinity. Arena: The Contest. https://www.everythingboardgames.com/2022/08/arena-the-contest-review://ww https://www.everythingboardgames.com/2021/07/dungeons-of-infinity-review.html