I need to Buy a Game...

November 8, 2024 3:14 PM

... for a bright boy who's about 9. Requirements: 1. It has to work for two players. 2-4 is OK, but 2 is necessary. 2. The less words on the game pieces, the better (he does not read English) 3. Being small would be nice, as I have to ship it internationally. 4. His parents will be able to help with the rules, but simple is good.

I was considering Fox in the Forest, because the cards are cute, but it's got a lot of writing to keep track of. Something like The Great Dalmudi or Love Letter are fine, but not best for 2 players. Any suggestions?

posted by GenjiandProust to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (22 answers total)

Spot it
posted by birdsquared at 3:16 PM on November 8 [5 favorites]

Hive is quite good and ticks all of your boxes.
posted by Dr. Wu at 3:21 PM on November 8 [6 favorites]

Ticket To Ride might be an option, as it's easy to navigate the routes visually without knowing the place-names. Everything else revolves around colours of cards, placing coloured trains on coloured tracks, and adding up scores at the end. It's a good fit in terms of being playable with just two people, which isn't always the case with '2-4 players' games. The rules should be simple enough for a typical nine year old.
posted by pipeski at 3:26 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

I think Jaipur is one of the best two player optimized games I've got. No words, just counting, it's long enough to be competitive but short enough not to get bored.

Ticket to Ride is also perfectly playable by only 2 players but can support more. Rules are more complex and the play time is longer, but it's more competitive.
posted by phunniemee at 3:26 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

He’s already got a chess set, has he?
posted by HandfulOfDust at 3:31 PM on November 8 [2 favorites]

These games are good for my 9yo now: Carcasonne, Sushi Go, SET.
posted by vunder at 3:46 PM on November 8 [3 favorites]

Mastermind
There is a kid version with animal pieces that's easier and an adult version.
posted by BoscosMom at 3:46 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

Seconding Hive, it's perfect. Simple, no words at all, two players only, and the rules are easy to understand (it's like chess with bugs, but more fun!)

There's even a tinier travel version.
posted by toucan at 3:49 PM on November 8 [3 favorites]

If you want small look for travel versions.
posted by BoscosMom at 3:50 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

I clicked through to say Hive as well.
posted by Perplexity at 3:52 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

Sea Sat and Paper. Same size as a deck of cards, pretty simple rules, some deeper strategy.

Bonus: pretty origami card art.
posted by nat at 7:27 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

One thing to remember: You'll probably want to find a website or YouTube video in his language with the rules for the game you choose. Or, find a copy of the rules and translate them.
posted by yellowcandy at 7:41 PM on November 8

Quirkle is fun and easy for kids to learn. It's all based on shapes & colors, no reading required. The travel version is small.
posted by belladonna at 8:10 PM on November 8 [2 favorites]

The Carcassonne games are great.
Tsuro is another very simple to learn game.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:16 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

Pass the Pigs! Its counting and adding, its strategy, its fun, it comes in travel size!
posted by atlantica at 11:38 PM on November 8 [1 favorite]

We have been enjoying SushiGo recently.
posted by newsomz at 2:25 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]

Yes definitely Set! It is 100% culture neutral and requires no English or other language ability . Simple and elegant.
posted by caviar2d2 at 4:34 AM on November 9 [1 favorite]

Kingdomino is probably worth a look.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:13 AM on November 9 [2 favorites]

All three of my kids including my 7 year old love Ticket to Ride. Not small but a great game. Simple rule set, that is easy to get but has layers of strategy that kids can learn. One vs one play works great and we've had up to 5 players.
posted by dstopps at 12:11 PM on November 9 [2 favorites]

I love Illusion, and it's just a deck of cards. No language required (other than to explain the rules, which takes about 2 minutes). Plays 2 or more. Patchwork is only slightly more involved, and is among my favorite 2 player games. I know 5-year-olds who can play both, but adults like them too.

Lost Cities is great fun -- somewhat high variance, but that might be good for a kid. Some arithmetic (addition, subtraction, and multiplication of 2 digit numbers) required, no language. Also very small (a deck of cards).

Hanabi works at 2 players, and is a co-op game that avoids the problems of many others.

All of these have a complexity rating of less than 2/5 on BGG.
posted by novalis_dt at 11:39 AM on November 10 [1 favorite]

Check out Akropolis! Easy to learn and play. Scoring requires simple multiplication (4x2, 5x3) so good for reinforcing that skill as well.
posted by soonertbone at 4:08 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]

Upon reflection, also: Hey, That's My Fish, 10 Days in the USA (or I think they make a Europe version too), Can't Stop, Heat: Pedal to the Metal (not a small box), Ingenious, Jaipur, Lost Cities, Nova Luna, Sky Team, Space Base. I think all of these would fit the criteria you listed! (Heat, Sky Team, and maybe Space Base have the most rules overhead, but I don't think they're too bad.) All should be language-independent once you have the rules down.
posted by soonertbone at 4:13 PM on November 15 [1 favorite]