Hardest Two-Player Turn-Based Strategy Board Games to Master
It takes 5 minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. It might not be as well known in the Western world as the other games on this list, but it is far and above in its own realm of complexity and depth. Most people think chess is the king of board games, but Go has been around much longer and is more widespread. At one point, it was considered a game of chance because the true depth of this wonderful and beautiful game couldn't be comprehended.
I have heard it said, Five minutes to learn, a lifetime to master. I suspect it's more apt to say, Five minutes to learn, a lifetime to become able. This game seems so complex and nuanced that I sometimes question the possibility of mastery.
With more possibilities in a single game than atoms in the universe, I believe chess is the hardest game ever. Go-playing computers have not reached the elite level of play because no serious work is being done on the game. Checkers has already been solved by computers.
There have been thousands of books written on how to be a great chess player, and even today, we are still discovering new aspects of strategy and tactical play that those before us never thought of. This is truly a very hard board game to "master."
This is far more complex than chess, as pieces that are captured return to the game. Also, most pieces promote to completely different units.
Shogi is mathematically proven to be the most complex chess-like game in the world.
A simple board game to understand. How to master it? Don't be the first to attack.
A very geometrically linear yet abstract board game.
If you consume too many pieces, you lose. If you fail to race for the corners, you lose. Simple as that. Your opponents won't let you get the corners no matter what, so deal with it.
Love it! I've played since I was a child and have only lost three times in five decades.
I learned this from a computer and I loved it, but it does not get as close to chess.
Xiangqi is very similar to the Western world's version of chess, with a few but noticeable differences. This is one that deserves to be third on this list.
Tactical-style gameplay. Each piece has weird movements and its own set of rules for offense, making it hard.
Much more difficult than chess. It's very hard to defend your pieces due to the wide variety of offenses.
A strategy game like chess but with vastly more pieces, and worst of all, they are all cloaked until they attack! Which one is the bomb? Which one is the spy? How am I supposed to find the flag?!
You gotta have a good memory, be good with strategies, and you're set.
It's a board game. It takes a long time to complete (even with two players). The reliance on luck makes it especially hard.
A challenging game, yet really fun and addicting.
You gotta take advantage of probability.
A very fun and interesting strategy game.
Easy to learn, with just the right amount of luck, but the better player will almost always win.
You can learn the rules in 5 minutes, but it takes years to master. It has very simple rules that create very challenging games. Its rules are so easy that even a 4-year-old could learn them. It was made to show that humans can still dominate computers. Arimaa has more possible moves in a game than chess. For example, chess has 1 followed by 123 zeros possible games, while Arimaa has 1 followed by 402 zeros. If every possible game was an atom, we would need six universes for every game of Arimaa.
If you thought chess is complicated, try Bughouse.
Bughouse is chess with a twist. Not only do you have to think about the pieces on the board, but you can also place more pieces onto the board.
Bughouse is played on two boards with four players, 2 vs. 2. When you capture a piece, you give it to your teammate, and they can place it on their board.
Way too hard. There are a lot of ways you can get killed.
It is really easy to learn how to play, but good luck winning. I can tell you I have never won a game of this. It's one of the easiest games to learn, but it kicks in when you start to actually play.