Whether you’re spending this Valentine’s Day celebrating with your significant other/s, chilling with your bestie, or having the whole squad over, nothing beats a good game to facilitate some fun. Want something easy and engaging? Sweet and strategic? Relaxing and romantic? We’ve got just the game for you and your player two!
Love Letter
2-6 Players | 20 min | Ages 10+
Earn the trust of the Princess and evade your opponents to deliver her love letter!. Love Letter is a deceptive, hand-management card game where players take turns drawing and playing cards, striving to be the last one standing at the end of the round. Once a round is complete, whoever remains or has the highest card total earns a favor token. The person who claims the most favor tokens earns the trust of the Princess and becomes her confidant, winning the game.
Love Letters was re-released in 2019 with updated art and 2 new characters - the Chancellor, and the Spy.. The Chancellor lets the player draw 2cards and place another 2 on the bottom of the deck. The Spy adds a new way of earning favor tokens; bethe only person left standing to play a Spy in a given round.
Love Letters is simple to teach and easy to learn, only requiring the enclosed deck of cards and favor tokens to play. If you’re looking for something light and engaging this Valentine’s Day, I highly recommend giving this one a try.
Hive
2 Players | 20 min | Ages 9+
Hive is an addictive, abstract strategy game for 2 players, all about bugs! The aim of the game is to surround your opponent’s Queen without letting yours befall the same fate. Think of it as bug chess, but much more dynamic and exciting.
Players take turns placing bugs, ensuring any new bug added touches another of theirs, but not their opponents. Once a bug is placed, they can then be moved, and each bug has its own unique way of moving. Some move three spaces at a time, others scuttle around the outside of the play space, and a few can climb over other pieces. Once you manage to surround the other player’s Queen (which must be placed within 4 turns), you win!
Hive doesn’t use a board, making for a dynamic gameplay experience and allowing for easy transport (it takes up next to no space!). Hive is engaging, strategic, and has three fantastic expansions. It’s a perfect game for a cozy night in.
Wingspan: Asia Expansion
1-2 Players | 40-70 min | Ages 10+
Not only is the Asia Expansion a beautiful addition to base Wingspan, it can also be played as a stand-alone game for two people. This fantastic expansion introduces more beautiful art, up to two extra players (for a 4-6 player game), and has an exciting new duet mode - perfect for gaming with your significant other!
This mode introduces the duet board, giving a pair of players extra round goals. Each player starts with a special black or white token on each space of their main board. Whenever a bird is played, the associated token is moved to the duet board. Playing the most tokens, staying away from the edge of the board, and having a monopoly on water can all earn you extra points. Some token spots can even give you bonuses as well, such as extra eggs.
The Asia Expansion is the perfect addition to any board game shelf if you’re often gaming as a duo, and is even more flexible if you own the base game - play up to a party of six! If you want to spend your Valentine’s Day festivities with a gorgeous board game, Wingspan Asia is for you.
Star Crossed
2 Players | 120 min | Ages 16+
Star Crossed is a role-playing game about people who are desperately in love, but cannot act on their feelings. A Fire Elemental and a Tree Spirit, A Fringe Scientist and a Dangerous Alien, A Victorian Dandy and a Steampunk Time-traveler. It’ll never work.
Playing with a tower of wooden bricks, you’ll navigate scenes of intrigue and romance, pulling a stick from the stack and placing it on top whenever your character’s attraction grows. The more your affection builds, the more precarious the situation becomes. If the tower topples, your character acts on their feelings. Whether this spells disaster or triumph is up to you. If you reach the end of the game with your tower intact, you keep your feelings hidden. Perhaps moving on is the only option.
Star Crossed is a beautifully designed role-playing game with brilliant mechanics and fantastic storytelling features. Whether you’re new to role playing games and want to try something approachable, or you’ve been playing for years and want something unique and refreshing, this is one you’re bound to fall in love with.
*This game also requires a wooden tower to play, so be sure to pick one up here if you don't have one already!
Red Flags
3-10 Players | 30 min | Ages 17+
Red Flags is a party game about setting up and sabotaging dates. How well do you know your friends’ taste, and can you sell them on the night of romance you’ve planned for them?
Each round you’ll pick someone who’ll be looking for a date. Everyone else will strive to set them up with someone. From your hand of cards, pick two perks. These are positive traits belonging to your proposed match (e.g. ‘Best smelling person in the world’, ‘Superhero’, ‘You’ll never get sick while you date them’ etc.). Once everyone has revealed these traits, each player puts a Red Flag on the date to their left. This is a bad trait that will dissuade your single friend (e.g. ‘Repeats your jokes but louder’, ‘Has scissor hands’, ‘Tries to stab you with a fork immediately’ etc.). Players then pick which date to go on and whoever set it up gets a point. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.
Red Flags is lots of fun, endlessly funny, and a great way to warm up a party. If you’re having a friend’s night this Valentine’s, I highly recommend picking this one up (brought to you by my own very well-loved copy of Red Flags).
Fog of Love
2 Players | 60-120 min | Ages 17+
Fog of Love is a unique mix of board game and role playing, where you embody a couple navigating the difficulties of a relationship. Will they be your one true love or will it all end in heartbreak?
In Fog of Love, you’ll each play one of the two characters in your couple. Drawn cards will give you traits and goals that will influence the type of relationship your character wants and how they’re likely to react to different situations. Together you’ll play through a series of scenes; some sweet, some devastating. You’ll each choose how your character reacts to a situation and you’ll earn points if your answers align. Over the course of the game you’ll track the dimensions of your characters personalities and how deeply in love you are, all of which determines how your relationship pans out.
This game features unique and rich game mechanics while still allowing for creative character work and role play. You can choose to run a cute, heartwarming romance, or something full of challenges and heartache. Whether you want smooth sailing or rough seas, Fog of Love is the ultimate game for Valentine’s Day.
Verdant
1-5 Players | 30-45 min | Ages 10+
In Verdant you’ll be working to create the nicest interior space you can, pairing rooms, items, and most importantly, plants! Provide plenty of light, design coordinated rooms, and earn as many points as you can.
At the start of your turn, you’ll pick a token and one of two adjacent cards. This card will either be a plant or a room. Over the game you’ll place these cards in a checkerboard pattern, alternating between room and plant, and try to coordinate them so rooms provide the best environments for their adjacent plants. Place tokens to gain additional effects, earn leaves by how suited the plant is to their space, and create a variety of matching or mismatching room/item combinations, all to earn points. Whoever has the most points by the end, wins!
Verdant is a relaxing and charming puzzle game, with a variety of win paths and beautiful theming. If you’re looking for something lowkey and plenty of fun without being super competitive, Verdant is a great option, and can even be played solo!
Land vs. Sea
2-4 Players | 40 min | Ages 14+
In Land vs. Sea, players will build a map through a series of tile placements, utilising beautifully rendered, double sided tiles. Play as the Sea and create reefs, lakes, and whirlpools; or the Land, and make islands, mountains, and volcanoes.
On your turn, you’ll place a tile from your hand of two, choosing which of the sides you want to use. You can only place tiles against matching edges, land to land or sea to sea. Some tiles will allow you to play again or take a tile from your opponent. Once your tiles are placed, if you completed a landmass or body of water, you earn points! Whoever completed the area gets a number of points equal to however many crosses are in the space. Whoever the area belongs to, Land or Sea, gets points according to however many tiles compose it.
Land vs. Sea also has three optional ways of scoring, and has variant rules for 3 or 4 players as well. It’s easy to learn, has a variety of possible strategies, and is perfect if you’re looking for a good puzzle to solve.
You've made it to the end of the article! If you're truly still stuck on ideas, we've got a Valentine's Day Collection page just for you.
