The best games to play when bored with a friend are quick turn-based ones you can start in seconds: Tic-Tac-Toe, Four in a Row, Dots and Boxes, Hangman and Gomoku top the list. Below are 10 ideas sorted by how much time you have. Each one is free to play on a single phone, with no sign-up, no download, and no internet once you’ve visited the site once.
The quick list
| Game | Time per round | Rules take | Good when |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tic-Tac-Toe | Under 1 min | Seconds | You have one minute |
| Four in a Row | 3–10 min | 1 min | You want fast rematches |
| Hangman | 2–5 min | 1 min | One of you loves words |
| Dots and Boxes | 5–15 min | 1 min | You want a sneaky strategy game |
| Gomoku | 5–15 min | 1 min | Tic-Tac-Toe feels too easy |
| Reversi | 10–20 min | 2 min | You like comebacks |
| Mancala | 10–15 min | 5 min | You like counting ahead |
| Nine Men’s Morris | 10–20 min | 5 min | You want something new to you |
| Checkers | 15–30 min | 5 min | You both know it already |
| Yacht dice | 20–30 min | 5 min | You want luck in the mix |
Got one minute
1. Tic-Tac-Toe
Three in a row on a 3×3 grid. With perfect play, Tic-Tac-Toe always ends in a draw, so the real game is not losing. Play Tic-Tac-Toe as a best of five and alternate who goes first. Once you both stop making mistakes, move up to Gomoku.
Got five minutes
2. Four in a Row
Drop discs into a seven-column grid. The first to line up four across, down or diagonally wins. It’s fast, visual and easy to teach. Start in the center column, since it’s part of the most possible lines. Play Four in a Row.
3. Hangman
One player secretly enters a word and the other guesses letters before the drawing is finished. On a shared phone, the word goes in behind a pass screen so nobody peeks. If you’re both guessing, let the computer pick the word. Start with common vowels, then move to frequent consonants like R, S, T and N. Play Hangman.
4. Dots and Boxes
Take turns drawing a line between two neighboring dots. Close the fourth side of a box to claim it and take another turn. It looks harmless, but it hides real strategy: avoid drawing the third side of any box, and late in the game, watch for long chains of boxes that one player can sweep. Play Dots and Boxes on a small grid for a quick game.
Got 15 minutes
5. Gomoku
Five in a row on a 15×15 grid. Its name is Japanese, and it’s traditionally played with Go stones on a Go board. The first player has a clear advantage, so swap who starts each game. The key skill is making two threats at once, such as two open lines of three, because your opponent can only block one. Play Gomoku.
6. Reversi
Place a disc so that it traps a line of your opponent’s discs, then flip them all to your color. Because the board can change hands in a few moves, a game is never over until the end. Corners can never be flipped, so they’re worth fighting for. Play Reversi.
7. Mancala
Scoop up the seeds from one of your pits and sow them one at a time around the board. Ending in your own store earns another turn, and ending in an empty pit on your side captures the seeds across from it. It rewards anyone who counts a move or two ahead. Play Mancala.
8. Nine Men’s Morris
Nine Men’s Morris is an old game that many people have never tried. Players take turns placing nine pieces each on the board’s 24 points, then slide them along the lines. Make a line of three, called a mill, to remove one of your opponent’s pieces. When a player is down to three pieces, they can “fly” to any empty point. Play Nine Men’s Morris.
Got half an hour
9. Checkers
Everyone half-remembers the rules, so a game starts fast. On this site it follows American rules: captures are mandatory, and a piece that reaches the far row becomes a king. Brush up with the Checkers rules, then play Checkers.
10. Yacht dice
Roll five dice up to three times per turn, keep the ones you want, and score the result in one empty box on your scorecard. Luck keeps it light, but choosing which box to fill is where games are won. Yacht dice also works when you’re bored on your own: play solo and try to beat your own top score.
Bored and alone?
No friend around? Every game above has a computer opponent with Easy, Medium and Hard levels. Start on Easy to learn a game, then move up a level when you start winning. See every game you can play vs the computer.
Bored with no phone?
Four of these started on paper, so you can play them anywhere with a pen:
- Tic-Tac-Toe: draw a 3×3 grid.
- Dots and Boxes: draw a grid of dots, such as 5×5. Bigger grids make longer games.
- Hangman: draw a row of blanks for the word and a gallows, and agree up front how many wrong guesses are allowed.
- Gomoku: use graph paper, mark Xs and Os on the intersections, and play for five in a row.
Make a boring hour fly by
- Play a mini tournament. Best of three in Tic-Tac-Toe, then Four in a Row, then Dots and Boxes. The overall winner picks the next game.
- Swap who starts after every game. Going first is an edge in most of these games.
- Use undo honestly. It’s there for misclicks, not for taking back a blunder after you see the reply, unless you both agree.
- Pause anytime. The current game saves automatically on the device, so you can stop when your bus arrives and pick it up later.
Still bored? Try our list of fun games to play with friends, or browse every two-player game on the site.