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That time of year has come again when couples across the country get even more sickeningly sweet and Cupid's arrow is flying from every direction. That’s right, Valentine’s Day is upon us. But with restaurants hiking their prices, and that’s only if you can book a table in the first place, why not stay in? Light some candles, pop a bottle of wine (or two), unwrap a box of chocolates and play a good old fashioned board game with the one you love. Here are eight games to share on a romantic night in.
Paris: La Cité de la Lumière
There is a reason why Paris is seen as the city of love. The wine, the music and the light that reflects off the cobbled streets in the night. All under the watchful eye of the Eiffel Tower. Well popping off for a Parisian getaway can be a little expensive so why not bring Paris to you. Paris: La Cité de la Lumière is a 2019 two player only game set in late 19th century Paris during the 1889 “Exposition Universelle,” or world’s fair, when public electricity was a hot topic. Electricity spread throughout the city, creating today’s beautiful nocturnal Parisian streets and your job is to build up the architecture to utilise these new streetlights.
It is a game of two halves. In the first phase you will have a choice of either picking a polyomino tile for the next phase, or laying down one of your cobblestone tiles. Laying cobblestones is important as you will only be able to place buildings on correct sections of colour. But getting the good buildings before your opponent takes them is also imperative. Once all the cobblestone tiles are played, the phase ends. Now you have two more choices on your turn. You can either place a building or you can activate one of the postcards around the outside of the board. These postcards will give you a special ability that only you can use. At the end of the game you score your buildings based on how many lamps are adjacent.
This is a very gentle game, even if it can offer a little tension it’s decision making. The usual “I wanted that postcard you swine” or “I needed that building” will fly around but even with the take-that nature of the game, it is impossible not to be completely seduced by the beautiful design. The colours are so intoxicating and the fact that the box itself is the board on which you play is just so satisfying. Save the cost of the Eurostar and let yourself get lost in your loved one’s eyes as you snatch that prime piece from right under their nose!
Viticulture - Andre Stern
When we’re talking about a romantic night in, it’s hard to go wrong with a board game that’s all about wine. A hit since it was first published in 2013, Viticulture is a worker placement game where your goal is to oversee the whole lifecycle of wine making, from securing land, to planting and harvesting grapes, to crushing them and turning them into wine, to finally fulfilling wine orders. You’ll also be able to build certain structures in your vineyard to speed up or streamline your business and get help from visitors who give you some truly game changing booms – perhaps by, for instance, making things cheaper or immediately giving you victory points.
It can be played by 1 to 6 players, though things can get a bit chaotic and cutthroat at higher player counts. At 2 players however, it’s unlikely the pace will spike and force you to fumble after someone who shot up towards the finish line, so you will have more of a chance to enjoy the atmosphere of the game and perhaps the variety of wines you can make, which are white, red, blush and sparkling. The latter is a long game accomplishment, and I’ve hardly ever seen any player make a bottle when they’re all rushing to win. Another thing worth mentioning is the expansions released for Viticulture are lauded by the community. Many people consider
Tuscany one of the best game board expansions of all time and, if you think a co-op game aligns better with the mood of a romantic night, Viticulture World introduces just that. Playing while enjoying a bottle of wine is not mandatory, but encouraged.
Zombicide - David Ireland
It’s Valentine's night and what could be more romantic than taking on a mission for survival against the Zombie Hordes with your loved one?... I didn’t think you would have a better answer that trumps a game of Zombicide. For anyone who hasn’t heard of this game before. Zombicide Sees players in a co-op game create a team of 6 survivors to complete a mission in a post zombie apocalypse world. My wife and I have regularly played games using 3 characters each on an assignment for survival. That is also what this game is, survival! The zombies do not stop coming and there is no saving the day, you start the mission, get the job done and you escape. During the mission, survivors start off with a very basic set of kit and minimal skills. All characters do have a unique set of abilities, so team combinations can be quite crucial in the attributes brought to the fight. As the mission progresses, survivors have the opportunity to find better equipment, and as they kill Zombies, gain adrenaline points that result in them gaining new skills and abilities to better enable them to continue the fight.
The drawback to killing zombies will mean the threat level increases, resulting in more and more zombies coming into play on the Zombie phases. You start off in a blue tier, progressing up to yellow, orange and finally red. So, you need these improvements. So why not pick the game up to play with a loved one this Valentine's day. Going hand in hand into a fight for survival with no doubt many opportunities to save your loved one from the incoming Zombie hordes. Or just enjoy each other’s company and the satisfaction of acquiring some quality weapons to blow away dozens of the pesky undead.
Obsession - Sophie Jones
When it comes to a romantic night in, nothing beats a game of Obsession. Set against the backdrop of Victorian England this game is reminiscent of a Jane Austen novel. It also feels like you are living in the world of Downtown Abbey as you schmooze guests and entertain at dinner parties. The goal of the game is to win the affection of one of the wealthy Fairchilds. You do this over a series of rounds. Each round you’ll host an event which will gain you reputation. However, to host an event you must have the staff, the guests, and the estate. All of which aren’t easy to come by as you build everything up from scratch. It’s a great mix of deck building and worker placement.
However, this game does include a luck element. This is because you have to rely on estate rooms being drawn from a bag and added to the marketplace. With each draw, you don’t know if your opponent will get lucky as an opulent tile reduces in price. Furthermore, as you draw guest cards from a shuffled deck, you have no idea how many American heiresses you’ll be unfortunate to get. Despite this randomness, you can make a bad situation good if you play your cards right… quite literally. The randomness also makes the game different each time as you can’t adopt a set gameplan. You have to adapt on the fly and try and purge gossipy guests when you can.
I love roleplaying this game and bragging about how I took a Fairchild on a horse ride. Meanwhile, my partner will try to best my achievement by hosting a musical quartet in their house. In my opinion, Obsession works brilliantly with 2 players. The constant push and pull as you try to win the Fairchild’s hand in marriage is genius. This game is great for a romantic night in as it delivers a strategic experience rooted in love… well a love which will ultimately improve your political standing and keep you from financial ruin.
Jaipur – Andy Broomhead
What better way to spend Valentine’s Day as a couple vying to be crowned the top merchant in Rajasthan? OK, OK – it doesn’t immediately jump out at you as an inherently romantic game, and there may be others on this list that instinctively appeal to you, but go with me on this. There’s a neat bit of push and pull (not a euphemism) as you go through this two player hand management game.
Your turn consists either of drawing cards from the market (and exchanging them with cards from your own hand if you take more than one), or selling your mercantile wares to receive victory point tokens from the pool. Selling the cheaper goods from your bazaar can be done in any quantity, and after the first few items have been sold, the points can drop off quite quickly. The fancier goods (gold, diamonds and silver) must be sold in at least pairs so there’s some restriction on grabbing the more valuable points. There’s some obvious collection going on as selling goods in sets of 3s, 4s or 5s allows you to draw a blind bonus token as the reward for a bigger trade. Obviously you want to aim for the 5s, but your opponent will be sweeping up the precious goods at every opportunity meaning you’re more likely to grab the top bonuses for less sought after goods.
Whilst not ‘romantic’ by a more traditional definition, I think there’s something to be said for this puzzle that you’re both invested in, and the backdrop of precious metals, jewels and silks might be reminders of Valentine’s gifts as well.
The Fox in the Forest Duet - Craig Smith
Is there anything more romantic than a trick-taking game that asks players not to communicate with each other? I personally don’t think there is. My suggestion for a romantic game comes from a lived example. My partner and I went on a second date to Symonds Yat. He knew that I loved board games and I thought as he was someone who enjoyed video games and puzzles, he might like them too. As we sat down in a beer garden on the River Wye, I took my copy of The Fox in the Forest Duet out of my bag. I chose it for a number of reasons. Firstly, it’s cooperative – I didn’t want him to see my competitiveness too early. Secondly, it’s portable. It felt like the right sort of game you’d have with you at the pub. Finally, the artwork is stunning.
We read through the rules together and had our first play. We lost, just… but realised we’d played one of the rules incorrectly. We immediately set it back up and started again. We won, but I didn’t realise at that point where that moment would lead us to. Not only did we play it another four times that day, on various benches along the way, but we also then started to expand our collection of games. Now three years and probably about 150 games added to the collection later, The Fox in the Forest Duet still goes with us on every day trip, weekend away and holiday. The box and components are starting to show wear and tear from three years of play, but I hope it continues to be a part of our gaming repertoire for many more years to come.
Micro Macro Crime City
Solving crimes isn’t usually seen as the most romantic of activities but for my husband and I it has become a regular way to bond, either before work over a coffee or after work with a glass of wine. The Micro Macro Crime City series has become a bit of a phenomenon in recent years since the first one took away one of the most prestigious awards in board gaming. The concept is simple. You get a large black and white image of a fully populated city and a series of enveloped crimes to solve. Each one will give you a starting point and will ask you to explore the city for clues. For those of us who remember the 90s, it has a whiff of a monochromatic Where’s Wally with the image so packed with information it’s a challenge to wade through.
However, solving thefts and murders was never going to be easy. You really get from this game what you put in and the more fun you have in your roles as Crime City PD the more of a connection you will make. We stick it onto the wall and tend to do silly New York style accents and cross over each other, sticking post it notes like we are putting together a full crime board like you see in the movies. For us, romance is fun and often silly and working together on these bite size puzzles is a great way to diffuse the stresses of a normal work day…and a glass of wine helps too!
Fog of Love - Rachel Duchovny
What better way is there to spend Valentine’s Day with a loved one than starring in your own Rom-Com? How you might ask? Well by playing a game obviously! Fog of Love brings a little bit of role play to the table as you act out meeting your partner, falling in love and facing all kinds of challenges from the serious to the outright hilarious in order to see if you have what it takes to remain together or fail miserably in this game of love and break apart. Throughout the game you play scenes involving various scenarios where you can gain, or lose, satisfaction and personality points whilst developing your relationship towards that ultimate goal, your destiny! The destiny cards are used to give you a victory goal in which you need to achieve by the end of the game. Whilst these can be swapped in and out throughout, in the end, you have only one destiny to fulfil.
However, there isn’t really a win or lose ending… it’s all about the ride you were on together. Fog of love is really fun for the imaginative story telling couple. It’s also available in a version to suit you, so whilst my husband and I have the male – female game there is also a female – female or male – male version available. There’s plenty of expansions too so you can really change up your love stories, for example I’m a particular fan of paranormal romance. Single and bored on Valentine’s Day? Play this with a friend and see how your lives would pan out together. Whether playing with your loved one to see what the future may hold or having a giggle with a friend this game is sure to bring some fun to the table!
Whoever you choose to have a night in with this Valentine’s Day, get some wine, light some candles, put on some music (or atmospheric soundscapes) and set up a good board game to kick it off. Romance really is on the cards.
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