We love meeting friends and strangers online while playing some of our favorite cooperative video games. But why foster these digital relationships with people we rarely see or have never met while we let our closest relationship simmer away on a back burner? Instead of exiting the room via Xbox or switching off reality with Nintendo Switch, why not enjoy an engaging two-player board game with the one you love? Playing some of the best board games for two is like watering a plant to help it to flourish and bloom. Pus, bonding over board games is a fun way to spend quality time at home with a loved one.
How Games Help Release Oxytocin
Oxytocin is an important 'happy hormone' that helps soothe away stress, replacing it with a sense of warmth, calm, and even elation. Studies show that couples experiencing heightened oxytocin levels together enjoy a greater sense of bond, trust, and permanency in their relationship. Nicknamed the 'hugging hormone,' when the oxytocin flows, so does the love. According to studies, a couple enjoying one of a two-player board game experience a significant rise in the hormone oxytocin, showing that board games improve relationships. While there are some ... ahem, other couple's activities that raise oxytocin levels, board games are another fun way to bond and share an oxytocin release together.
Where Love Can Take You
Whether it’s Catan, Carcassonne, or Candy Land, an immersive board game played between two people is a great way to spark communication and interaction. While it’s fine to curl up with popcorn and binge-watch your favorite shows as a couple, it’s beneficial to turn off the screens and enjoy some play together. When you watch a movie or series together, talking is minimal. The best two-player board games invite open communication, conversation, and the fun of competition between a couple in a way that doesn’t happen over a flickering screen.
While real getaways can take up more time than you have available on a weekend, you can schedule a game board getaway in some classic game destinations. Find paradise at Park Place, or get a Clue-for-two in the Boddy Manor House. Just watch out for those infamous candlesticks wrench, dagger, and lead pipe.
How To Build Bonds
Just like Cleopatra and Mark Antony once bonded over a rousing game of Senet in ancient Egypt, playing a good board game together can give romancing couple something to have in common. You can find shared new interests, and discover each other's passions by finding fun new games to play as a couple. It can be hard to keep coming up with new date-night ideas. Try making your next date-night a game-night to keep things fresh and fun.
What To Keep In Case Of Emergency
Has your romance turned into routine? Shake things up a bit by shaking some dice. Without the distraction of our devices, hanging out over one of the best board games for two helps couples reconnect with the people they were before work, worries, household chores, and maybe even a couple of kids took up the bulk of their time. Learning again how your romantic partner’s mind works as you watch them strategize and work toward a goal can rekindle romantic feelings. Board games improve relationships and make people feel closer to their romantic partners in all kinds of unique ways.
Role Playing by Candlelight?
If you live in an area with frequent power outages or seasonal storms, keep some of the best board games stored with your flashlights and candles, and make gaming one of your favorite go-to activities during black-outs. It’s fun to spend a little time as Colonel Mustard and Miss Scarlet in the library. Add some s’mores made over candles while playing a game of Monogamy, or the Kama Sutra Board Game for Couples, and your chocolate and marshmallow won’t be the only things melting on the next stormy night!