Now that spring break and vacation season is upon us, we thought it would be the perfect time to list our staff picks for travel games.
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| Pictured from left to right: Gloom, Jungle Speed, Zombie Dice, Love Letter (Batman edition), Catan Dice Game, Epic Tiny Defenders, Jaipur, Werewolves, Sushi go! |
While our Small Games shelves offer hundreds of choices for compact games, the games on this list are specially curated for minimal amount of set-up, space, and weight. Whether you're killing time at a bus station, airport, or train; large table space is almost always at a premium. They are also great games to play at your destination, should you lack the luggage space for bigger boxed boardgames.
None of these games will break the bank with most of them being under $20. So whether you're travelling with seasoned tabletop strategists or casuals, there's something on this list for everyone to enjoy.
Bonus: These games don't require batteries so you don't have to fight other airport patrons for the electrical outlets!
Zombie Dice
Goal: Be the first person to score 13 "brains" a.k.a. points.
Price: $11.95 CDN at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 2 and up
Demographic: All ages
Roughly the size of a can of pop, Zombie Dice is nice and compact for your carry-on or you can opt to get an even smaller container to use as a dice cup. The concept is simple and easy to learn for people of all ages which makes it great for a mixed group of travellers. My friend's grandma picked up the nuances of the game in less than 2 minutes.
Each turn you take 3 dice from the cup and roll them. A brain equals 1 point, the feet means you can reroll that die, and a shotgun ends your turn if you roll 3 of them. You can choose to end your turn whenever you want and bank the brains you've got, or you can keep rerolling another set of 3 (plus any feet/reroll dice) to push your luck.
The probability of rolling shotguns (get 3 on your turn and you lose any points you may have accumulated during that round) keeps everyone actively engaged. It's quite satisfying to see an opponent rack up a ton of brain points in one turn, only to get greedy with one more reroll and have RNG rear it's ugly head.
An average game of Zombie Dice is 10-20 minutes and you can always add up who has the most points should you need to cut the game short.
The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow
Goal: Kill off all the werewolves, or the werewolves kill off everyone else. Plus some roles have their own unique goal for winning the game.
Price: Starts at $10.95 CDN for the basic game, but there are other versions and expansions that change up the dynamics of the game.
Number of Players: 8 -18 people
Demographic: Age 10+
Easily described as Mafia except with werewolves and villagers, Werewolves is a bluffing game that's easy to learn after one round and will have you accusing your travelling companions of being a werewolf in no time. Every player is dealt a card that assigns them a role and different roles have special powers and goals for ending the game or making it more interesting.
This is the most compact game on the list and the tiny box is smaller than some smart phones! Since it does require a sizeable group of players it may be best for a large family trip, school groups, conferences, cruises and tour groups. It makes a great ice-breaker game so you can get to know your travel companions better.
A single game can take 20-30 minutes or more depending on the size of the group. If you want a quicker iteration of the game, definitely check out One Night Ultimate Werewolf where all the action and plotting happens in one night and all players are left to figure out who's who the next day.
Goal: Earn the most points from building settlements, roads, cities and hiring knights.
Price: $11.95 CDN at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 1-4
Demographic: Age 7+
The wildly popular Settlers of Catan in dice format! Instead of placing pieces on a board, players keep track of their settlements and roads on scoresheets. This version also includes a 1 player variant.
A Yahtzee like mechanic is used to gain resources. Players can choose to reroll their dice up to 2 times to try and get the resources they want.
It may take a game or 2 for new players to learn the game and pick-up on building strategies so this may be better suited for groups of people who are already familiar with Settlers of Catan and just want a portable version of it with less pieces to possibly lose in transit.
The game ends after 15 rounds or after 15-20 minutes.
Goal: Be the first person to get rid of all your cards
Price: $22.95 at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 2-8
Demographics: Age 6+
Jungle Speed is a game of quick visual recognition and fast reflexes. The simplicity of the game makes it easy for young children to pick-up and the gameplay is fast enough to keep older ones from being bored. It's no wonder that this is a popular purchase for families. You can forgo the box altogether and use the handy travel pouch that is included with the game.
Players are all dealt a hand of cards, and each round everyone simultaneously chooses a card to reveal. If there are matching cards, the players who revealed those cards must quickly grab the totem. If you are too slow at swiping the totem, then you must take both cards, the cards in the pot and the totem grabber's discard pile. The winner is whoever successfully manages to redistribute all the cards in their hand to other players or the pot.
Worried that this game can get violent? There's actually a penalty for players who get physical to obtain the totem (smacking the other player's arms away, clawing, crushing things etc.). It counts as a foul and the offending player must take all cards in play and the pot.
Games generally last between 10-15 minutes.
Goal: Have your characters suffer as much as possible before their death.
Price: $19.95 CDN at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 2-4 (expansions can add additional players)
Demographic: Age 10+
Sometimes the best source of entertainment comes from our imagination, and Gloom is a game that encourages players to get creative with their storytelling. The theme is quite macabre if the winning goal of the game is any indication so this may not be the most appropriate game for people who dislike dark humor. You have been warned!
Each player is in charge of characters in a family, and they play cards from their hand to make their wards' lives as depressing as possible i.e. "was mauled by a manatee". Players can also play cards to add positive uplifting effects to their opponents' characters such as "was the toast of the town".
The game ends when a player's entire family kicks the bucket. The innovative use of see through cards makes it easy to assess how many points each character is worth at the end of the game.
Gloom's fun is dependent on who you play with, and games can also run rather long if everyone's giving long-winded explanations as to why falling down the well lowered their character's self worth. Expect games to run an average of 40 minutes and up.
Gloom's fun is dependent on who you play with, and games can also run rather long if everyone's giving long-winded explanations as to why falling down the well lowered their character's self worth. Expect games to run an average of 40 minutes and up.
Goal: As a team, complete all 5 colours of fireworks and order them from 1-5.
Price: $9.95 CDN at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 2-5
Demographic: Age 8+
Hanabi is a fun cooperative game/social experiment in a tiny package. Players must call on their skills in memory, hand management, math, and deduction in order to collectively win the game. The team contributes cards from their hands to form all 5 fireworks by ordering the colour values from 1 to 5. Sound easy? Well the catch is you can't look at your own cards and depend on others to give you clues as to which cards you have.
It takes a few rounds for new players to get the hang of the rules and for the whole team to start making coordinated choices. The game makes information and time a commodity by limiting how many clues can be given, and the team must complete the fireworks before the final fuse goes out.
To prevent someone from simply telling a teamate "you have number 3 of the Green fireworks and it's the first card from the right in your hand", Hanabi stipulates how clues can be communicated. You must tell someone how many of either suit or colour someone has and which cards in their hand they are. You also can't tell someone they have zero of something.
Players should also keep in mind how many of each suit/colour is left in play because once something is in the discard pile it can't be brought back. It's very easy to self-sabotage and for example discard too many red 5's and end up not being able to finish by the time the 5's are required.
An average game of Hanabi is about 20-30 minutes long. Like many cooperative games the path to victory is narrow even with the best teamwork which is what makes this game so rewarding to beat.
To prevent someone from simply telling a teamate "you have number 3 of the Green fireworks and it's the first card from the right in your hand", Hanabi stipulates how clues can be communicated. You must tell someone how many of either suit or colour someone has and which cards in their hand they are. You also can't tell someone they have zero of something.
Players should also keep in mind how many of each suit/colour is left in play because once something is in the discard pile it can't be brought back. It's very easy to self-sabotage and for example discard too many red 5's and end up not being able to finish by the time the 5's are required.
An average game of Hanabi is about 20-30 minutes long. Like many cooperative games the path to victory is narrow even with the best teamwork which is what makes this game so rewarding to beat.
Goal: As a team, defeat the epic foe while defending the capital city.
Price: $22.95 at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 1-4
Demographic: Ages 8+
This cooperative game incorporates great fantasy elements and all the fun of a box twice it's size. It's great for people looking for something with more strategic depth than the other games on this list. The game provides variants for scaling the difficulty level that makes it enjoyable for multiple groups. There's even a solo player mode if you're travelling alone.
Players pick one of the heroes to play as. Each hero has it's own unique abilities but all are easy to play and none are particularly overpowering. Everyone has a couple actions each turn to defend the capital plus surrounding regions and get loot for defeating monsters.
Players pick one of the heroes to play as. Each hero has it's own unique abilities but all are easy to play and none are particularly overpowering. Everyone has a couple actions each turn to defend the capital plus surrounding regions and get loot for defeating monsters.
There is a surprising amount of things to manage in a game this small, and players really do have to communicate and decide collectively what actions are best for the overall outcome of the game. Sometimes that means allowing a certain region to fall.
Turn order as well as enemy attacks each round are all randomized thanks to deck draw and that randomization only increases as the game progresses forcing everyone to be on their toes. The game ends when either your capital is destroyed by enemies, or when players get to the final boss and defeat the epic foe.
While Tiny Epic Defenders has several complex layers it's still light and straight forward enough to finish a game within 30 minutes.
Goal: Score the meal worth the most points cumulatively after 3 rounds.
Price: $12.95 at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 2-5
Demographic: Ages 6+ (or younger if they can do mental math and keep track of numbers)
The most adorably packaged game on this list is certainly Sushi Go! It is a card drafting game where players continually pick and pass cards until all cards are depleted. Certain cards are worth more points than others, and some even chain with others as a combo which can multiply your points if you're lucky enough to get all the cards in the set you need.
The small tin is perfect for travel. Be sure to pack some scraps of paper and a pencil on hand to help keep track of how many points each player earns at the end of the rounds. You can download a nice tin-sized score sheet here to complement the game.
The small tin is perfect for travel. Be sure to pack some scraps of paper and a pencil on hand to help keep track of how many points each player earns at the end of the rounds. You can download a nice tin-sized score sheet here to complement the game.
In terms of teaching people the game, it's simple enough in concept however remembering the combos and the mechanics of cards like wasabi or chopsticks can take a few rounds to get used to. Once everyone understands the scoring system though, Sushi Go! is an incredibly addicting game to play and that 2 hour layover will fly by in no time. A full game takes about 20 minutes.
Goal: Beat your opponent at running a successful business in the market of Jaipur and get an invite to the Majaraja's palace
Cost: $27.99 CDN at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 2 (it's possible to up the player count to 3-4 if you have a second deck)
Demographic: Ages 8+
This is a great 2 player game that's both strategically complex and fun. Merchants can either take cards from the market (the common pile available to both players) or sell the goods in their hand. The element of luck is thrown in as players won't quite know when the cards they need will show up in the market, or if collecting camels early on is a good decision (camels can not be sold but are worth a lot of points at the end).
Timely decision making is paramount as apart from collecting camels, players can only have 7 cards in their hand yet if you wait to collect more similar goods the set sells for more at the market. Choosing when to sell is also important as the first set of goods of each type sold are worth more than subsequent sets.
Jaipur ends when the demand for 3 types of goods is exhausted. Games can take anywhere between 20-30 minutes and it's simple enough for casual gamers to get the hang of after a round or 2. It's incredibly engaging and has a lot of replay value.
Goal: Be the player with the highest valued card at the end of the round, or last one standing.
Price: $8.95 and up at 401games.ca
Number of Players: 2-4
Demographic: Ages 8+
Love Letter is a fast paced card game of luck and deduction. Certain versions are available in a tiny travel pouch but the boxed version of the game is perfectly portable as well. It's a very simple game to teach to beginners and it's enjoyable for all ages. There are various versions with different themes and gameplay varies slightly between them. The Tempest (original) version is what will be covered from this point forward.
Each player starts off with 2 cards and chooses to play one during their turn and keep the other. Each card value has a different effect on the game and allows you to do actions such as look at another player's hand and eliminate them if their cards have a lower value, force someone to discard their hand, or make yourself immune to attack for one round etc.
Rounds can go by very quickly and end when someone is either the last person standing, or successfully holds on to the highest value card until the end. There is no limit on how many rounds are played but the game ends when one person wins 4 rounds.
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