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Best Competitive Local Games

Playing against other players is a popular style of play. It not only means that you have the satisfaction of beating someone if you win, but that their human tactics and approach is usually more nuanced and less predictable than a computer opponent.

Games that let you take on another player in the same room offer either shared-screen or split-screen multiplayer modes. Playing on the same system like that means you don't need a subscription to a multiplayer service (like Xbox Live, PlayStation Network or Nintendo Online) and only need one copy of the game. You will, obviously, need a controller for each player.

List Details

Genres: Action, Adventure, Battle, Brain Game, Collecting, Communication, Creative, Dexterity, Fighting, Narrative, Physically Active, Platform, Point-and-Click, Push-Your-Luck, Puzzle, Race, Rhythm, Role-Play, Roll-And-Write, Sequencing, Shooting, Simulation, Sports, Stealth, Strategy, Traversal and World Building
Era: 1935 - 2024
Total Games: 411
Total Likes: 4,805

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Release Date: 28/04/2017, updated in 2022

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a go-kart racing game where you race against Nintendo characters around different circuits, picking up power-ups, attacks and speed boosts. It is frantic and chaotic but still requires skills to do well.

Rocket League

Release Date: 28/08/2018

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Rocket League is a sports action game where you drive futuristic cars to score goals with an oversized football. It's a game that sounds ridiculous but is actually a huge amount of fun to play and requires a lot of expertise. What's not obvious from the...

It Takes Two

Release Date: 26/03/2021, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

It Takes Two is a running, jumping and exploring game that tells the story of a young girl, Rose, whose parents are divorcing. The girl creates two dolls to represent her parents, which unexpectedly traps the clashing couple in them. You and a friend...

TowerFall Ascension

Release Date: 25/06/2013, updated in 2017

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

TowerFall Ascension is a running, jumping and archery game where each player selects a pixelated knight and fights to eliminate opponents by shooting them with arrows or jumping on their heads. Play is about quick reactions and second-guessing what your...

Terraria

Release Date: 25/11/2013, updated in 2019

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, Amazon Fire, Android, Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PS4, Stadia, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On, Blocks, Day and Night, Persistant World, Pixels and Weather

Terraria looks like a 2D, lesser version of Minecraft. However, this is a game every bit as complex and creative as the better-known block-building game. To the world-crafting and survival, it adds hundreds of items to collect, characters to defeat and...

Halo

Halo (Series)

Release Date: 15/11/2001, updated in 2020

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Halo is the longstanding sci-fi shooting video game series that started when Halo: Combat Evolved launched alongside the Xbox in 2001. The franchise has featured on every Xbox platform since then, with Halo 5: Guardians serving as the latest entry in...

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Release Date: 05/04/2022

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Blocks and Cartoon

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga is the latest in a series of Star Wars-themed games where you run, jump, break and build worlds made of Lego. You work your way through all nine of the Star Wars films unlocking new locations and characters as you go...

Nintendo Land

Release Date: 30/11/2012

Out Now: Wii U

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and 3D Third-Person

Nintendo Land is a collection of Nintendo games that was created for the Nintendo Wii U launch. It uses the console’s tablet screen to create specific roles for different players. In Mario Chase, the hiding player uses the tablet controller screen...

Wii Sports

Release Date: 08/02/2006, updated in 2014

Out Now: Wii and Wii U

Skill Rating: 4+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Wii Sports, Wii Sports Resort and Wii Sports Club offer motion-controlled sports. Although these games are well known, the depth each of them offers is a best-kept secret. Games like bowling, tennis and boxing are easy to pick up but require...

Don't Starve

Release Date: 23/04/2013, updated in 2017

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Blocks, Day and Night, Hand-Made and Open World

Don't Starve is an open-world survival game where it’s the environment and enemies, rather than other players, that you have to work with. You need to find and develop food, weapons and shelter to survive. It’s enjoyable because it’s hard, so...

Boomerang Fu

Release Date: 13/08/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Cartoon

Boomerang Fu is a fighting game where you control small food-like characters. Using your boomerang the aim is to slice the other players with ranged or melee attacks. You can use a large range of power-ups such as explosive boomerangs, disguises and...

Drink More Glurp

Release Date: 06/08/2020

Out Now: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Drink More Glurp is a wacky sports game where you take turns to play athletic challenges. The twist is that you have to control your over-long arms with a separate joystick and your body is a wheel you can roll along on if you lift your arms right up...

That's You!

Release Date: 04/07/2017

Out Now: PS4

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

That's You! is a family quiz game played on the PlayStation using Android or iOS phones/tablets as controllers. The game displays a challenge on the main TV screen that each player tries to complete on the device in their hand.

Dobble

Release Date: 10/03/2011, updated in 2019

Skill Rating: 3+ year-olds

Components: Cards

Dobble (also called Spot It!) is a card game where you race other players to claim cards by spotting symbols. Each of the colourful cards has eight symbols, one of which always matches a symbol of another card. You race to spot the match, call it out...

Tricky Towers

Release Date: 05/07/2016, updated in 2017

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Tricky Towers is a battle puzzle that uses shapes but instead of creating lines, you must balance them in towers that mustn’t fall over. Real-world physics applies, along with wind and attacks from other players to make your stack topple. Up to four...

Carcassonne

Release Date: 27/06/2007

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: Bag, Figures, Placeables and Tokens

Carcassonne is a strategy game where you lay tiles to create a medieval landscape of farms, rivers and cities. Each new tile must match the roads, rivers, farms and cities of those around it. As you place it you can claim one of these elements that...

Chariot

Release Date: 30/09/2014, updated in 2018

Out Now: Apple TV, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Chariot is a cooperative running and jumping game where you work with another player to haul a wheeled Chariot to the end of each level. Pushing, pulling or dragging with ropes, you need to use the real physics of the game to solve puzzles and time...

Hidden in Plain Sight

Release Date: 16/07/2014, updated in 2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, Switch, Xbox 360 and Xbox One

Components: 2D Overhead and Pixels

Hidden in Plain Sight is a unique battle that requires keen observation rather than quick reflexes. Up to four players fight to protect or assassinate the king, catch a thief or race across the screen without being stopped. The twist is that you each...

Pico Park

Release Date: 28/04/2016, updated in 2021

Out Now: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

Pico Park is a collaborative puzzle game for up to 10 players where you traverse levels using one another to solve puzzles. It's a game about communication and physics as players work to position themselves to bridge a gap, use ropes to hang off ledges...

Ancestree

Release Date: 01/01/2017

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: Placeables, Score Board and Tokens

Ancestree is a collecting and sequencing game where you compete to build the strongest family tree. You select and link tiles, building your family person by person, scoring points for marriages, wealth and continuous generations. It is a strategic game...

Deep Sea Adventure

Release Date: 01/01/2014

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Dice and Placeables

Deep Sea Adventure is a pocket-sized strategy game where you dive into the sea to bring back treasure. It’s unusual because although you compete with other players for treasure you share the same limited air supply.

Kingdomino

Release Date: 01/03/2017

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: Figures and Placeables

Kingdomino is a kingdom-building game where you place domino tiles to match terrain types and score points. As you play, you build a territory in a grid that requires careful consideration of where dominoes are placed to maximise points. What makes this...

Spelunky 2

Release Date: 29/09/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Spelunky 2 is, like the classic Spelunky, a running and jumping game where you explore mysterious caves on the moon looking for your missing parents. On your journey, you will find unique environments, treasure, and people to join you as you delve...

Ice Cool

Ice Cool (Series)

Release Date: 30/05/2016

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: Board, Cards and Figures

Ice Cool, and the follow-up Ice Cool 2, is an action game where you flick plastic Penguins around cardboard school rooms to collect points and avoid the Catcher. Like a cross between Subbuteo and Cluedo, you slide, jump and barrel your penguin through...

Pikmin 4

Release Date: 21/07/2023

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Day and Night

Pikmin 4 is an action strategy game where you direct tiny, plant-like creatures to clean up the world and collect treasure. Different coloured Pikmins have different abilities, with several new types in this fourth game. The challenge is using the right...

Wavelength

Release Date: 01/01/2019

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: Cards and Tokens

Wavelength is a communication guessing game where you try and read your teammate's minds. Unlike other guessing games the answers aren't right or wrong but on a sliding scale that changes each round. There's a clever wheel that secretly deals with the...

Mario Strikers Battle League

Release Date: 10/06/2022

Out Now: Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Mario Strikers Battle League Football is a sports action game and the latest in the Mario Strikers series. Like the previous games, it offers a five-on-five battle sport that combines football and ice hockey with...

Santorini

Release Date: 01/01/2003, updated in 2020

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Board, Cards and Placeables

Santorini is a strategy game where you place buildings on a Greek island in an effort to get your character to the top. This creates a chess-like three-dimensional competitive puzzle that changes as each player adds pieces to the village. It's unusual...

Splendor

Release Date: 01/01/2014

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Cards and Tokens

Splendor is a trading-up strategy game where you play a global trader during the European Renaissance. Nobles once content with large castles and fur robes, now seek dark sapphires and glittering diamonds. You must balance accruing currency or investing...

Thief Town

Release Date: 26/09/2014

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4 and Switch

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Thief Town is a stealth traversal game where you play in a crowd of identical characters. You must first work out which one you are and then spot the other human players to attack them. Get it wrong and all you do is reveal yourself.

Klask

Release Date: 01/01/2013

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: Board, Figures and Tokens

Klask is an action board game that combines aspects of table football and air hockey. Your aim is to use your under-the-table-magnet-controlled player to push the ball into the opponent's goal. The twist is that you lose points if you inadvertently push...

Lego 2K Drive

Release Date: 19/05/2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Blocks, Cartoon and Open World

Lego 2K Drive is an open-world racing game made out of Lego. There are races, as you'd expect, but you can also freely explore each of the worlds, collect parts and upgrade your cars. It stands out for updating the popular Lego destruction and...

Sushi Go!

Release Date: 01/09/2014

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: Cards

Sushi Go! is a sushi-themed card game where you collect combinations of cards to complete sushi dishes and score points. The different dishes require a varying number of cards and related scores based on the complexity of the recipe. But there's a...

Ticket To Ride

Ticket To Ride (Series)

Release Date: 01/01/2004, updated in 2020

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Board, Cards and Figures

Ticket to Ride is a railway-themed strategy board game where players compete to earn the most points by collecting cards, placing trains and completing journeys. It is an easy-to-learn game that can be gently competitive and has become a popular classic.

Colt Express

Release Date: 01/01/2014, updated in 2019

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Cards, Figures and Tokens

Colt Express is a traversal game where you move a bandit along an express train in the Old West to collect the most loot. Each player pre-selects moves, attacks and pick-ups that then play out together. Unusually, play becomes about planning, predicting...

Bang!

Release Date: 01/01/2002, updated in 2017

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: Cards and Tokens

Bang! is a card game set in the wild west where you take on different missions with a range of characters. You try and keep your target secret while building your weapon and defence cards. It's a game of bluffing where it's easier to shoot your...

JellyCar Worlds

Release Date: 10/12/2022

Out Now: Apple TV, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

JellyCar Worlds is a puzzle game about a car made of jelly traversing a squishy world. You use the physics properties of the car and the objects in the world to get from A to B. It's an action puzzle game that stands out for the joyous novelty of a...

Team 3

Release Date: 09/06/2019

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Cards

Team 3 is a cooperative puzzle game where three players work to build structures from Tetris-style pieces. The target build is on a card that only the Architect player can see, and this player can't speak. The Builder player can touch the pieces but...

Advance Wars

Advance Wars (Series)

Release Date: 10/09/2001, updated in 2023

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, DS, GBA, Switch, Wii and Wii U

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Advance Wars is a classic turn-based strategy game re-released as Advance Wars 1+2: Re-Boot Camp on Nintendo Switch. You take charge of an army in strategic, turn-based combat. With land, air, and naval units across the battlefield, you work to take...

Saboteur

Release Date: 01/01/2004

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: Cards

Saboteur is a path-laying strategy game where the cards are your resource in a team effort to get the dwarves to their gold. However, one player is a secret traitor who must try and foil the dwarves without them realising it. It is a game about working...

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Accessibility features:	Yes

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User-generated content:	No

Controls
Gamepad:
Mouse And Keyboard:
Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
Controller Vibration:
Sensitivity:

Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

Reading
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Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text High Contrast Text
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	Motion Sickness Friendly
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Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
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Online Communication Assistance:

Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

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Include compatible platforms:	Yes

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Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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