• Also available from Walmart, $60

Riddles, brain teasers, and trivia: Wit's End will give you a mental workout. To move ahead on the board, you'll draw a card and attempt to answer a series of questions correctly. Each card has four categories: brain teasers, odd one out (i.e., picking out what doesn't belong), sequence (i.e., putting things in the right order), or a wild card category. With Wit's End, you may not get all of the questions right, but reviewers consistently noted that they learned something after each round. So if you're open to picking up some new knowledge during gameplay, this is the choice for you.

According to a reviewer: “This is a great, fun date night idea, with drinks in front of the fireplace. Great way to spend the evening.”

• Also available from Walmart, $45

This fast-paced word game is incredibly easy to learn, but it's still tons of fun. You draw a card, which will have a total of nine categories listed on it, like “things your mom was right about,” “hippie hobbies,” or “names of cities.” Then you roll the lettered die and have two minutes to think of an answer for each category that starts with the appointed letter — get your answers written down on a whiteboard in time and you'll get points.

According to a reviewer: “I love playing games, but my husband, not so much! We got the game and he agreed to play for a couple minutes! An hour later we both were laughing so hard we could barely write the answers down! He loves it because no matter what you write, the answer is correct as long as it starts with the correct letter! I love it because it really makes you think, so your answer is chosen as the best one! I can't wait until our family gets together to play this hilarious game!”

• Also available from Walmart, $40

In this strategy board game, you collect train cards to build railroad routes in early 20th-century USA, and your objective is to connect distant cities or even build a route that stretches across the country. But in order to build the longest railway, you'll have to elbow your partner out by blocking their progress, and trust me — things can get competitive (in a fun way). Although not necessary, you can use an Alexa-enabled device to help guide you through the game and add some cool sound effects while you're playing. This game is on its way to becoming a new classic and has garnered over 14,000 five-star ratings.

According to a reviewer: “Bought this for my husband as a Christmas gift. We love that we can play it with friends or just the two of us! It's a much quicker game and takes less concentrating with two people which make it great for an at-home date night with a bottle of wine :)”

Harkening back to the days of classic Hollywood noir cinema, St. Noire tasks you with solving a murder mystery and uncovering the killer before time runs out. And here's the really cool part: The game works in tandem with Alexa. The game features professional sound design and sound acting, and it will take you through a collection of soundscapes, like seedy dive bars and late-night diners. There are multiple storylines and endings, so you can keep solving mystery after mystery.

According to a reviewer: “So I bought this game for my girlfriend because I knew she was obsessed with Clue, but what I didn’t realize is that I would be signing up for a game-night every single time we hang out (oh well, you live and you learn). The good news is, I also like this game a lot and I am not really into board games. It involves a lot of logic and feels a bit like a puzzle with a timer. [...] I recommend for anyone that likes mystery games and recommend to anyone just to experience in general.”

• Also available from Walmart, $27 and GameStop, $20

This classic two-person board game makes a great choice for couples. With a 4.8-star overall rating on Amazon and more than 3,200 reviews, it’s a popular choice that mixes strategy with spatial reasoning. It’s similar to games like chess or checkers where you move around the board capturing the other player’s pieces. However, instead of removing them from the board, you flip the piece over and turn them into your color. The game is easy to learn yet also fun and challenging, according to customers.

Editor’s take: “I loved Othello growing up, and I bought it again recently to introduce it to my partner. It was just as fun as I remembered, and I enjoyed beating him the first few times we played (maybe a little too much), but he quickly got the hang of it and now the competition is tight on game night.” —Danielle Kraese

• Also available from Walmart, $42

Do you often find yourself wishing that winter would come again? This Game of Thrones version of Monopoly makes that wish come true, but with the added bonus of getting to play a classic board game. Choose from one of the six tokens that represent the great houses, and wheel and deal locations from the seven kingdoms while placing holdfasts and castles — instead of houses and hotels — on your properties. You'll totally dig the throne-shaped card holder, too.

According to a reviewer: “Super cool! Got this as a present for my girlfriend after we finished watching the series. We both love the game! It plays a little different from most versions of monopoly (only chance cards, some of them are a little too good) but it’s a nice change of pace. The game comes with great packaging too. Was skeptical of the cardboard coins but they seem pretty durable. All in all, if you love monopoly and GOT, or even if you just collect monopoly games, this is a must have!”

In this game of chance and strategy, you're the captain of a ship navigating a treacherous sea, replete with dangerous sea monsters lurking below the surface as well as competing sailors. Your objective is to be the last captain standing, and you can achieve that by rolling the dice and moving your ship to (what appears to be) the safest tile option possible. The artwork on this game board is outstanding, so this is a great choice for any design-savvy players.

According to a reviewer: “Wonderful game in which I got my wife hooked after only two games..... that alone makes it good since I can play it any weekend”

• Also available from Walmart, $17 and Nordstrom, $20

If you're looking for something you can pull out and play — without a lot of setup required — this simple trivia game is it. It comes with more than 400 questions you ought to know the answers to, like “Is starboard on the left or right side of a boat?” and “How do you say Japan in Japanese?” Unlike other trivia games, though, you don't accumulate points — you get points deducted for each wrong answer.

According to a reviewer: “I ordered it so my partner and I could play some board games while at home to pass time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Glad I did. It's a great game, really fun. I realized that I do not know a whole lot and I've been surprised about how many things he does know. We enjoy it (even though he doesn't really like games)!”

With all the new options out there, it can be easy to overlook a tried-and-true game like Scrabble, which has been around since the 1930s. In this classic game, you form words on the board with your letter tiles — and score more points for placing tiles on premium squares and using tricky letters like “Q.” This deluxe edition kicks it up a notch with a wheeled game board and nonslip grips to keep the tiles in place. You can also check out the premium mahogany-finished version or this retro Scrabble edition based on the 1949 design.

According to a reviewer: “Honestly, I believe games like this help you keep your mind sharp. It really helps with word recall and memorization. Highly suggested for anyone. My girlfriend and I love playing scrabble on the weekends or in the evening.”

Chronology might sound intimidating if you’re not a history wiz, but reviewers have insisted that it’s a perfect game for couples regardless of how much you already know. To play, you and your partner will take turns reading a historical event card and trying to place it in your timeline. The first player to get 10 cards lined up correctly wins. “This game is so much fun!,” wrote one reviewer. “I suck at history and even I won this game a few times so give it a shot!”

According to a reviewer: “My husband and i love playing this game and learn something new every time. Its fun to also play with others, which we've done a few times, but the primary purpose was to play with 2 players without having to change or adapt the game rules.”

Yes, I am totally calling Twister a board game; it's just that, in this case, the game board is on the floor, and you and your significant other are the game pieces. It's a great way to work a little physical movement into game night, and you're almost guaranteed to laugh when you both fall over. Plus, this updated version has a few tweaks, like being asked to put your leg in the air or even bark like a dog in order to stay in the game. There's no time like the present to channel the sleepovers of your youth.

According to a reviewer: “It has all of the simplicity of the version we played as kids, but also a few additional twists that add laughs to the game. Rather than simple ‘left foot red’ movements only, some spots call for putting a foot or hand in the air, which sometimes adds imbalance. There is also an additional set of commands that combine activities, ‘put your left food on red and bark like a dog.’”

Share your dreams and talk about your life goals while rolling dice and moving pieces across a board. Better Me is a unique board game that combines self-improvement, relationship-building, and personal growth. There are five types of cards: heart, mind, body, people and tangibles. The goal is to be the first one to fulfill your dreams in all of the categories. Best of all, there’s a real-life accountability element as you and your partner write down your goals and make commitments to follow through on.

According to a reviewer: “This game inspires meaningful conversation and helps players to set small goals to improve different areas of their life. Good for a couple, family with older kids, or a group of close girlfriends.”

• Also available from Walmart, $14

Bond with your significant other while also carrying out secret spy missions. The “Duet” version of this popular word game allows the two of you to become a team, cooperating to figure out the identities of secret agents. As you play, you give each other one-word clues to get closer to completion. Although Codenames is technically a card game, it has a board game feel due to the way that everything is laid out in front of you in a big square.

According to a reviewer: “Super fun!! My boyfriend and I love this game already. If you’ve played classic Code Names this is very similar in that you are trying to have your partner guess all the words before you are out of turns. [...] It’s a fun bonding game for couples, and the lack of competition makes it a great game for couples who are too competitive against each other - haha!”

While it's not quite a board game, there's nothing like a few rounds of Jenga with your significant other to focus your concentration and have a few laughs. In case you're not familiar, you stack the wooden blocks to build a tower, then one by one, you take turns removing one piece at a time until the whole thing collapses. It definitely requires your full attention, but it won't require as much thinking as a game of strategy or trivia. And the tower eventually will topple, it still somehow always comes as a shock and provokes some healthy, cathartic laughter — probably why this game is such a popular pick at bars.

According to a reviewer: “Great quality and fun for the family! I actually painted each of the blocks as a gift for my boyfriend with conversation prompts on each one, but it's perfect as-is as well. Beautiful wood pieces”

Whether you and your partner love to travel or you just like geeking out on geography and culture, Passport to Culture is definitely the couples board game for you. The objective is to circle around the world, answering questions about language, food, culture, and politics. While the game can be played with up to six people, reviewers noted that it’s fun with just two people as well.

According to a reviewer: “My wife and I love this game! We learn something new every single time we play it. We usually end up setting aside a couple of the question cards to remind us to get online when we're done with the game and do a little research on a place, a food, a language, a building, a cultural norm, history, etc. We often spend time looking at maps, as well, to further help us understand relationships between places and people. I've recommended this game to several friends.”

• Also available from Walmart, $18

Sequence is another classic board game that still delivers, with a conceit that’s easy to pick up and fun to play with a partner (though it can also accommodate up to 12 players for a couples game night). Draw from a deck of cards and put one of your chips down on a corresponding space on the board. The goal is to get five chips in a row (either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) before your opponent. This decades-old game has racked up more than 28,000 fans on Amazon, with one reviewer describing it as “a bit of bingo and poker combined.”

Editor’s take: “This is a fast game to pick up (no complicated instructions) and it's great for two people, but it also scales easily to four since you can do teams. I love that it's a mixture of offense/defense so it keeps you on your toes. But, the vibe of it is pretty casual: You can still have great conversation throughout the gameplay.” —Kate Miller