I just wrote up Clatter & Din based on my last comment regarding dominoes. It actually turns out to be a lot of fun, though it could make quite the mess if played on a high table over a hardwood floor.

What if you used dominos with a mechanic similar to the old "missile command" video game? The rules could be quite simple:

• two players start across the table from each other. One will be assigned as the "attacker", the other "defend".
• The attacker starts pulling tiles from a bag. They build chains of end to end dominos with matching ends and try to reach the defender's side of the table.
• The defender also draws tiles from the bag and can block the attacker's chains if either end of their tile matches the current end of a chain. The chain is then removed from the table.
• to win, the attacker must reach the other side of the table before all the tiles are used up.

Part of what makes tower defense so compelling is the hectic nature of the game itself. It might be most compatible with a card game, where one player draws cards and places them according to simple rules, while the other does the same to defend. The rules need to be simple, and both players should be just building continuously. If you try to take turns, it'll just slow the pace down.