Apples to Apples is silly and funny. I like it too.
When I play Dominion online (no shuffling), my games often last under 15 minutes. In my opinion, the rules are fairly simple for the base game without expansions, and it’s not that “heavy.” On a scale of 1 being “light” and 5 being “heavy”, the majority of voters at BoardGameGeek rated it only a 2. Nevertheless, strategies can get interesting in the right kingdom, particularly with the expansions. I especially enjoy building up long series of cards (engines) where you can draw through your full deck in one turn.
@Data10 you’d like playing with my son. He managed to do that the last game we played. I totally failed that round, I had 1 point to his 75+. Most was bad decisions on my part, but I also had the most rotten luck with my shuffles.
Thanks for the great suggestions. My in-laws were big on scrabble, but I don’t enjoy it all that much as I feel like most of the time you are waiting for someone to play their word. Nobody really talks, to avoid disturbing others and to figure out their own words, so not that much fun for me (even if I am winning!).
We played a lot of cards on vacation this summer, which was fun.
Besides Scrabble what are some good 2 player games? Most of my favorites take 3 players at least.
My S likes Hive which is a 2 person game. He also likes stratego. You can play Rumikub with 2. That’s one of my favorites because it’s a mix of strategy and luck and it doesn’t seem like one person tends to dominate. My D and I like Set but she’s so good at it I rarely win anymore.
We used to play a lot of hearts but we dubbed it the feel bad game and certain family members are so competitive that it’s really not much fun anymore.
I think you can play Bananagrams with 2 and that’s a lot of fun and fast moving.
We have “The Game About Wikipedia,” a board game that has entertained us through power outages and hotel room burnouts.
Just ordered Carcassonne, Snake Oil, and Scotland Yard as gifts based on recs here. Thanks for the thread OP!
For two person games, the Fang family likes Lost Cities, Forbidden Island, Pandemic, Roll For It, Can’t Stop, TransAmerica, Pinata. Pirateer is a favorite as well, but I think it’s out of print.
Cribbage Card game with a board that has pegs can be played by 2-4 people. It’s a numbers game and easy to learn, involving some luck and some skill. Euchre is another card game—best with 4 players.
We stopped playing Trivial Persuit at Thanksgiving as my MIL and BIL were too competitive. They would get angry if a team took too long to answer a question, or if they mispronounced an answer, one of them would tell the team their answer was not valid 
It came to the point no one wanted to play any more because of the two of them. Thanksgiving at my house is very casual and fun; playing the game was no longer fun.
We switched to the dice game Left, Center, Right and play for money; everyone starts with $3. The 3 year old can play as well as the 93 year and everyone has a blast. Winner takes all, so when we have 25 playing, the winner gets $75 
It is fun to watch everyone as you don’t know who is going to win until the very last spin.
My MIL demanded that were have multiple games going on at the same time everyone (meaning herself) had a beetle chance to win. I put my foot down and said one game only! My father won this year and gave the grandchildren his winnings; last year an 8 year old won and was so excited.
Sorry for all the typos/auto corrects above; typing on my phone while having my hair colored shows I do not multi task as well as I thought!
Agree with Left, Right, Center. Very fun with the money aspect and all ages can play.
@gouf78 one of my favorite two person games is Twixt. Great strategy game.
Don’t you need 3 for hearts? Where is the strategy if you know everything in the other player’s hand?
Playing card games
Taboo
Loaded Questions (Good to play with a group of people you know fairly well. You have to guess which person gave which answer. Would be fun in a dorm in December or later, once the kids know one another.)
You can play two handed hearts. You play two dummy hands so you don’t know what is in your opponents hand.
Yes, sorry for the confusion. We usually play hearts with 4 people. I put 2 thoughts in my reply, games good for 2 people then went on to respond to folks who were talking about games getting so competitive that they were no longer fun.
We had to stop playing trivial pursuit also because my Dad would just blurt out other people’s answers and then say “well everybody knows that” 8-|
@cellomom2 Maybe your dad should play with my MIL and BIL 
It is a shame we stopped playing as I looked forward to buying a new version of TP every few years. When we moved this spring, we gave away the 4-5 versions we had; hopefully some family is playing and enjoying.
This thread reminds me of stories I have heard about my husband when he was younger. If he was losing while playing a board game, he would “accidentally” knock the board off the table where the game could not continue! While he is not a big game lover, it seems he has outgrown that habit
Perudo (Liar’s Dice) can be played with two to six people of all ages. We have fun with it. Quixx and Settlers of Catan work well for two people.
I apparently knocked over boards when I was young. I have no memory of this.
My father played cribbage every day with my brother and beat him every day for years and years. Finally when my brother was 7 or 8 he finally beat him. There was much whooping and celebration. After we all left the house he played with my mother and they kept a running total for years.