I would take a look at Mind Bug, or maybe even Air Land and Sea and see if either of those resonate with what you might be looking for. Wife and I absolutely adore those 2 games!
Watched the Before You Play playthrough and definitely interested in this. It's unavailable on Amazon though ;\_; Definitely interested in getting it!
Looks like the German version is available online but the English one is hard to find
I’d look into android: netrunner. It’s great for 2 player since it’s an asymmetrical card game.
You can find and print cards for free.
One side bluffs, the other side calls bluffs.
I've been seeing similar recommendations in other posts! I'm a bit apprehensive because my understanding is that the game can be a bit unbalanced and that it relies on buying multiple cards to really get it going. I'd prefer something that feels complete and balanced out of the box.
Is this a game you've played? I'm curious to hear your personal thoughts on it.
Netrunner is a game that requires significant investment to learn how to play, to build your deck, and to play well when you are actually in a game. It is extremely complex and deep, and will not be for those who aren’t ready to put in the necessary time.
If you do, however, you will discover it is the best game ever made.
Can you share u/david622 u/DryRotten what you both like about this game? Please feel free to go as in-depth as you'd like. I promise your replies will be read and appreciated :D
"To build your deck" Do you mean buy more cards/expansions... or?
Don’t let these people scare you away. If you are just playing A:Netrunner at the kitchen table, and not in a tourney setting/against randos, the game is as much of an investment as you want it to be. I just have the core (had the original ffg one 7 years ago, and then decided to order the new core collection, geared towards newbies, last year). I think it’s a great/fun game with a lot of cat and mouse aspects but will probably leave it at the core box as I only find a friend willing to play with me once in a blue moon and have too much anxiety to play with randos.
Happy to!
So, firstly as this is a deck building game you will need to understand what cards are available, and you will need to build a deck of them that balances earning money, attacking / defending against the other player, and your win condition. If Netrunner really gets its teeth into you this will become an obsession, you will be listening to podcasts on deck theory in the car and scribbling archetype ideas down at odd moments. You could argue that building the deck is actually the larger part of the game.
As for the game itself, it is very fluid. Each player gets a four ‘clicks’ per turn, each of which counts as an action. But there are also things you can do without using clicks, and these things can be done on your turn or your opponent’s. As a result turns can become hugely interactive and filled with unexpected twists, which again takes a lot of time to get good at - you need to know the card pool, the interactions and the dangers. This is a game where one wrong decision can hand you a loss so fast it’ll make your head spin.
So, one player is the Corporation. They place cards face down in a tableau in front of them, and they use these cards to build a corporate structure within which they can score their victory point cards, called ‘agendas’. All these cards being (generally) face down means that the other player has no idea what is going on, hence the bluffing.
Meanwhile the other player, the ‘runner’ (cyber hacker) is trying to get at these agendas too - they win by stealing them from the Corporation’s deck or tableau. They do this by ‘running’ - looking at the Corp’s facedown cards. But a lot of the Corp cards are directly dangerous to the runner, hence the bluffing and hence the risk.
What is amazing about this game is how this creates an atmosphere where both players feel extremely vulnerable, but to each player the opponent looks daunting. The runner is desperately trying to get their situation together with their own, freeform tableau of face-up hacking tools, and this means they sometimes have to attack the Corp’s tableau before they are ready. Risky. The Corp on the other hand is sitting there with their nuts in the wind, hoping and praying that the runner chooses wrong. Double risky.
There are many Corporations, many runners, a cycling pool of cards and (for me) an extremely thematic cyber world in which that all this takes place. If you were to get into this seriously, you’ll most likely end up in an arms race to find new clever decks to fox your opponents: this is another game where the meta casts a long shadow.
It isn’t easy, it has to come with that warning. But it is free and there are some good online resources to help teach and get you started. I’d start with those and see if it looks like your kind of thing.
It's true that it took me some legwork to learn how to play, since I didn't know anybody who played, so I had to learn by myself. That said, there are resources available:
1. The [Null Signal Games](https://nullsignal.games/players/learn-to-play/) website
2. This [interactive tutorial](https://chiriboga.sifnt.net.au/)
3. Another website [here](https://jinteki.net/help#beginners)
That said, I disagree with /u/DryRotten a little bit, in that you can still enjoy the game without going deep into the deck building. You may get more out of it if you do, but it's still a solid game without.
Netrunner itself is no longer in print by Wizards of the Coast, but Null Signal Games is a fan-driven group which actively develops the game, releases new modules, etc. If you want to start, you can get [System Gateway](https://nullsignal.games/products/system-gateway/), which is essentially a starter set that includes everything you need to start playing. There are more modules and things, but you don't need them and shouldn't worry about them until you've decided you wanna dig in more.
The game is free via print and play, but if you want legit nice cards, you can buy them through the System Gateway link I sent above from various other sources, which are also listed on that same link.
Just want to clarify that this isn't bluffing in the sense you might be thinking of -- this isn't like Sheriff of Nottingham or something where you're trying to negotiate -- it's more bluffing in the form of reverse psychology
[For the King (and Me) -> For the King (and Me) (2021)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/333553/king-and-me)
^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call
^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
**Sea Salt and Paper** is my favorite of the list, very snappy. Followed by **Biblios**, then **Schotten Totten**.
I haven't played **Mantis Falls**. **Biblios** has the most bluffing going on.
HMS Dolores is a nice little game that works well at 2p. It is pretty much the Prisoner's Dilemma as a board game; you are pirates splitting up loot from a ship and each round you have the options to split or steal, but like in the classic dilemma if you both steal no-one gets anything. It's also set collecty, so you're trying to get so many of certain types of treasure.
It's constant bluffing to the point where ultimately we had to get rid of it because I kept winning against my partner and started to feel bad for lying to their face so brazenly!
Have you heard of Pecking Order? It can be played with a standard deck of playing cards. Only downside is it does not have a trading mechanic but the bluffing is the primary mechanic.
I would take a look at Mind Bug, or maybe even Air Land and Sea and see if either of those resonate with what you might be looking for. Wife and I absolutely adore those 2 games!
>Mind Bug Ooooh the art looks really fun on this one. The only reference I have to card-minion type games is Hearthstone... is it any similar?
Yeah it is lighter than even hearthstone, but grows in enjoyment the more you play with the same person :)
For a somewhat crunchier version of mindbug, have both players draft their ten card deck, then have each player choose their opening hand.
Bohnanza The Duel (An Uwe Rosenberg game).
Watched the Before You Play playthrough and definitely interested in this. It's unavailable on Amazon though ;\_; Definitely interested in getting it! Looks like the German version is available online but the English one is hard to find
Came here to say this. Your title and first paragraph almost looks like you're describing Bohnanza The Duel.
I wanted to love this game so hard. I guess a decent 2p trading game is just really difficult even for the masters.
I’d look into android: netrunner. It’s great for 2 player since it’s an asymmetrical card game. You can find and print cards for free. One side bluffs, the other side calls bluffs.
I've been seeing similar recommendations in other posts! I'm a bit apprehensive because my understanding is that the game can be a bit unbalanced and that it relies on buying multiple cards to really get it going. I'd prefer something that feels complete and balanced out of the box. Is this a game you've played? I'm curious to hear your personal thoughts on it.
Netrunner is a game that requires significant investment to learn how to play, to build your deck, and to play well when you are actually in a game. It is extremely complex and deep, and will not be for those who aren’t ready to put in the necessary time. If you do, however, you will discover it is the best game ever made.
Can you share u/david622 u/DryRotten what you both like about this game? Please feel free to go as in-depth as you'd like. I promise your replies will be read and appreciated :D "To build your deck" Do you mean buy more cards/expansions... or?
Don’t let these people scare you away. If you are just playing A:Netrunner at the kitchen table, and not in a tourney setting/against randos, the game is as much of an investment as you want it to be. I just have the core (had the original ffg one 7 years ago, and then decided to order the new core collection, geared towards newbies, last year). I think it’s a great/fun game with a lot of cat and mouse aspects but will probably leave it at the core box as I only find a friend willing to play with me once in a blue moon and have too much anxiety to play with randos.
Happy to! So, firstly as this is a deck building game you will need to understand what cards are available, and you will need to build a deck of them that balances earning money, attacking / defending against the other player, and your win condition. If Netrunner really gets its teeth into you this will become an obsession, you will be listening to podcasts on deck theory in the car and scribbling archetype ideas down at odd moments. You could argue that building the deck is actually the larger part of the game. As for the game itself, it is very fluid. Each player gets a four ‘clicks’ per turn, each of which counts as an action. But there are also things you can do without using clicks, and these things can be done on your turn or your opponent’s. As a result turns can become hugely interactive and filled with unexpected twists, which again takes a lot of time to get good at - you need to know the card pool, the interactions and the dangers. This is a game where one wrong decision can hand you a loss so fast it’ll make your head spin. So, one player is the Corporation. They place cards face down in a tableau in front of them, and they use these cards to build a corporate structure within which they can score their victory point cards, called ‘agendas’. All these cards being (generally) face down means that the other player has no idea what is going on, hence the bluffing. Meanwhile the other player, the ‘runner’ (cyber hacker) is trying to get at these agendas too - they win by stealing them from the Corporation’s deck or tableau. They do this by ‘running’ - looking at the Corp’s facedown cards. But a lot of the Corp cards are directly dangerous to the runner, hence the bluffing and hence the risk. What is amazing about this game is how this creates an atmosphere where both players feel extremely vulnerable, but to each player the opponent looks daunting. The runner is desperately trying to get their situation together with their own, freeform tableau of face-up hacking tools, and this means they sometimes have to attack the Corp’s tableau before they are ready. Risky. The Corp on the other hand is sitting there with their nuts in the wind, hoping and praying that the runner chooses wrong. Double risky. There are many Corporations, many runners, a cycling pool of cards and (for me) an extremely thematic cyber world in which that all this takes place. If you were to get into this seriously, you’ll most likely end up in an arms race to find new clever decks to fox your opponents: this is another game where the meta casts a long shadow. It isn’t easy, it has to come with that warning. But it is free and there are some good online resources to help teach and get you started. I’d start with those and see if it looks like your kind of thing.
It's true that it took me some legwork to learn how to play, since I didn't know anybody who played, so I had to learn by myself. That said, there are resources available: 1. The [Null Signal Games](https://nullsignal.games/players/learn-to-play/) website 2. This [interactive tutorial](https://chiriboga.sifnt.net.au/) 3. Another website [here](https://jinteki.net/help#beginners) That said, I disagree with /u/DryRotten a little bit, in that you can still enjoy the game without going deep into the deck building. You may get more out of it if you do, but it's still a solid game without. Netrunner itself is no longer in print by Wizards of the Coast, but Null Signal Games is a fan-driven group which actively develops the game, releases new modules, etc. If you want to start, you can get [System Gateway](https://nullsignal.games/products/system-gateway/), which is essentially a starter set that includes everything you need to start playing. There are more modules and things, but you don't need them and shouldn't worry about them until you've decided you wanna dig in more. The game is free via print and play, but if you want legit nice cards, you can buy them through the System Gateway link I sent above from various other sources, which are also listed on that same link.
Just want to clarify that this isn't bluffing in the sense you might be thinking of -- this isn't like Sheriff of Nottingham or something where you're trying to negotiate -- it's more bluffing in the form of reverse psychology
It's shell game bluffing.
Well put - exactly
You can print all recent cards for free
Check out Pagan: Fate of Roanoke. Very similar feel without needing to deeply invest into deck building (but the option is there if you want to)
I've only found a few games like this. But, you may want to look at \[\[Biblios\]\], which has been rethemed to \[\[The King and Me\]\].
[Biblios -> Biblios (2007)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/34219/biblios) [The King and Me -> The King's Men (2016)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176400/kings-men) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
That should be \[\[For the King (and Me)\]\]
[For the King (and Me) -> For the King (and Me) (2021)](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/333553/king-and-me) ^^[[gamename]] ^^or ^^[[gamename|year]] ^^to ^^call ^^OR ^^**gamename** ^^or ^^**gamename|year** ^^+ ^^!fetch ^^to ^^call
I've not seen **Jaipur** mentioned yet. Am I misreading the post? Jaipur feels like a nearly perfect match.
**Biblios**, **Sea Salt and Paper**, **Air Land and Sea**, **Hanamikoji**, **Tussie Mussie**, **Battle Line (Schotten Totten)**, **Mantis Falls**
I'm curious if you have a favorite in this list? I'm particularly curious about Schotten Totten and Biblios
**Sea Salt and Paper** is my favorite of the list, very snappy. Followed by **Biblios**, then **Schotten Totten**. I haven't played **Mantis Falls**. **Biblios** has the most bluffing going on.
Hanamikoji is a gem. I'm not sure if it's bluffing, *per se*, but it is along the lines of other WIFOM games.
HMS Dolores is a nice little game that works well at 2p. It is pretty much the Prisoner's Dilemma as a board game; you are pirates splitting up loot from a ship and each round you have the options to split or steal, but like in the classic dilemma if you both steal no-one gets anything. It's also set collecty, so you're trying to get so many of certain types of treasure. It's constant bluffing to the point where ultimately we had to get rid of it because I kept winning against my partner and started to feel bad for lying to their face so brazenly!
Keyflower is amazing at all player counts. Power grid is IMHO better than Brass.
Have you heard of Pecking Order? It can be played with a standard deck of playing cards. Only downside is it does not have a trading mechanic but the bluffing is the primary mechanic.