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Games to Travel With

When traveling you’ll be away from your precious game library. But you can bring some with you if the games are small. Here are a few games that are good to travel with. (The dimensions are approximations)

Coup


Coup (6x4x1.5) is one of the most played games we have. Coup is a bluffing card game where you try to knock your opponents’ cards out and be the last person with cards to win the game. Get the Reformation expansion to add the ability to have teams as well as a new character, the Inquisitor.

Dungeon Roll


Dungeon Roll (6x6x4) is a press your luck game for 1 to 4 players where you try to get as many points as possible by delving into the dungeon and coming out of it alive and with items or experience. Pick your character card that will give you special abilities on your turn. On your turn, you roll dice that will be your delving party. A number of encounter dice are rolled depending on round. Dice in your party are used to defend against the encounter dice. You can press your luck and see if the dice remaining in your party can handle what’s next or you can return to town and collect your points. The total score after three delves is your final score.

For Sale Travel Edition


Going once! Going twice! Sold to the highest bidder! Bid and bluff your way to purchase the most valuable real estate for the lowest amount of money, then turn around and sell those houses (and shacks) for cold hard cash. Be the richest mogul at the end of the game to win this Stefan Dorra classic. Considered one of the finest bidding games of all time, For Sale (4x3x2) has a well-deserved following of fans. In this perfectly-crafted bidding game, players are forced to make a multitude of difficult decisions every minute…and that’s just in the first phase of the game!

Fuji Flush


In Fuji Flush (5x4x1), be the first player to get rid of all of your cards! Join forces with fellow players to beat the cards played by other players… or independently play the highest card to outdo all your opponents together, flushing their cards down the drain! Fuji Flush is a fast, fun, easy-to-learn card game for 3-8 players that will have both families and gamers shouting as their cards are sent down the drain!

FUSE


FUSE (9x7x2) is a real-time co-operative game that employs 25 dice and 76 cards. Each game is set to a ten minute timer, and players must work together in that ten minutes to defuse all of the bombs. Each bomb is represented by a card which needs a certain combination of dice in order to defuse it. A player will draw a number of dice equal to the number of players out of a bag and roll them. Players must then decide who will get which dice, but each player must take one and only one.

Hanabi


In Hanabi (5x4x1), players work together to launch a spectacular firework display. Trouble is, it’s dark out, so you can’t really see what you are working with! Each player holds their cards so that only the other players can see them. They must give each other vital information and remember all the information received. Then use the information to choose which cards to play. Helping each other play the right cards at the right time is the key to creating an unforgettable show and avoid being booed by the audience!

Harbour


Harbour (6x4x1.5 inches) is a rewarding worker placement game that has a small box and small footprint. Buy buildings with resources at the market where the price of resources is constantly shifting. Be the first to have four buildings to win the game.

Hero Realms


Hero Realms (6x4x2) is a deck-building game where you use gold to buy champion cards and action cards from the Market. These champions and actions can generate large amounts of gold, combat, or other powerful effects. You use combat to attack your opponent and their champions. When you reduce your opponent’s score (called health) to zero, you win!

Honshu


Honshu (7x5x2) is a map-building card game set in feudal Japan. Players are lords and ladies of noble houses seeking new lands and opportunities for fame and fortune. One game of Honshu lasts twelve rounds, and each round is divided into two phases. First, map cards are played in a trick, and the player who played the highest valued card gets to pick first from those cards played. Then the players use the map cards picked to expand their personal maps. Each player must expand their personal maps to maximize their scoring possibilities.

Lost Cities


In Lost Cities (8x8x2), who will discover the ancient civilizations? Two explorers embark on research journeys to remote corners of the world: the Himalayan mountains, the Central American rainforest, the Egyptian desert, a mysterious volcano, and the bottom of the sea. As the cards are played, the expedition routes take shape and the explorers earn points. The most daring adventurers make bets on the success of their expeditions. The explorer with the highest score after three rounds of expeditions wins.

Love Letter


Love Letter (4x3x1) is a small card game for 2 to 4 players that could easily be played in a couple minutes. There’s only 16 cards in the entire game. Players try to finish the game with the highest valued card. This game is all about deduction. The rules say to play until one player has won a number of times depending on the number of players, but you can just play as many rounds as you like.

Love Letter is so small that I carry it in my bag at all times. This game is a lot of fun and can be played with minimal space.

Pixel Tactics


Pixel Tactics (6x4x2) is a head-to-head card game that’s small on size and big on strategy. Build your unit from 25 different hero classes. Rally around a leader that will affect everyone’s capabilities, and go to war with your opponent in a fast-paced battle of strategies!

Poo


In Poo (5x4x1), each player takes on the role of a monkey. You fling poo and mess with each other until only one monkey is left standing. That monkey, of course, is the cleanest one. Each turn, every player gets to draw and play a card, usually either to fling poo at another player or to clean himself off. Out of turn, each player gets to play cards to defend himself or foil other players’ poo flinging.

Railways of the World Card Game


Railways of the World the Card Game (11x6x2) is a fast paced card game adaptation of the highly popular Railways of the World board game series. In Railways of the World the Card Game players use track cards and city cards to build a series of railroad routes and deliver goods. As the game progresses, player work to connect more cities, upgrade their engines for larger carrying capacity and deliver goods through a network of routes.

Roll for It!


In Roll for It! (5x4x1) players try to score 40 points by rolling dice and matching cards of specific point values. Each roll presents the player with new opportunities and fun decisions to make. The rules are simple – Roll’em, Match’em, Score’em! But look out! Other players may steal the card you’re shooting for… So hurry, pick up the dice and Roll For it!

Spyfall


Spyfall (8x8x2) is an easy-to-learn card game of bluffing, probing questions, clever answers, and suspicion. At the start of each round, players receive a secret card letting them know where they are – a casino, space station, pirate ship, circus,(30 unique locations!) – except that one player receives the Spy card instead of the location. The Spy doesn’t know where he is, but wins the round if he can figure it out before he blows his cover! The game is played over a series of rounds and points are awarded each round. After the last round, the player with the most points is the winner.

Star Realms


Star Realms (4x4x2) is a two player deckbuilding game (it includes a multiplayer variant as well) where players try to knock each other out with different kinds of ships, bases and outposts. In Star Realms, player buy cards from the common center row of cards that they will use on later turns. There are two kinds of ships you can buy including regular ships and bases. Regular ships are used for the turn that they are drawn. Bases remain in play until they are destroyed or scrapped (removed from the game). In addition, each card belongs to one of four different factions. If a player plays two cards of the same faction during their turn, there’s usually a bonus effect that is applied.

Sushi Go


Sushi Go (6x4x2) is a card drafting and set collection game for 2 to 5 players where players collect different kinds of sushi to have matching sets to score them more points. The game takes place over three rounds. Each player starts with a number of cards (dependent upon the number of players). Players pick one card and place it face down in front of them. After all players have done this, they reveal their cards and pass their remaining cards to the player to their left. Players continue doing this until there are no more cards. After cards run out, players count their score and move on to the next round.

The Grizzled


The Grizzled (6x6x2) is a cooperative game about survival in the trenches during the World War I where players win or lose together. A true challenge, intense and immersive, it’s also a tribute to our ancestors who have fallen in battle before us. This game is very challenging which makes you want to play it over and over.

The Resistance


Set in the near future, The Resistance (8x6x2) pits a small group of resistance fighters against a powerful and corrupt government. The resisance has launched a series of bold and daring missions to bring the government to its knees. Unfortunately spies have infiltrated the resistance ranks, ready to sabotage the carefully crafted plans. Even a single spy can take down a resistance mission team, choose your teams carefully or forever lose your chance for freedom.

The Resistance: Avalon


The Resistance: Avalon (8x6x2) pits the forces of Good and Evil in a battle to control the future of civilization. Arthur represents the future of Britain, a promise of prosperity and honor, yet hidden among his brave warriors are Mordred’s unscrupulous minions. These forces of evil are few in number but have knowledge of each other and remain hidden from all but one of Arthur’s servants. Merlin alone knows the agents of evil, but he must speak of this only in riddles. If his true identity is discovered, all will be lost.

13 Minutes


13 Minutes (6x4x2) is a card-driven micro game with tough decisions. Playing either President Kennedy or Khrushchev, your aim is to exit the Cuban Missile Crisis as the most powerful superpower. During the game you will play five Strategy cards that you use to place Influence cubes on battlegrounds to score majorities, or to manipulate battlegrounds. Played cards turn into new battlegrounds so the world map is ever changing. Be careful, because each decision is important and you may trigger global nuclear war.

Tides of Madness


Set in the Lovecraft Cthulhu Mythos, Tides of Madness (6x4x2) is a two player card drafting and set collection game that plays in 20 minutes. Players try to collect cards that help them gain victory points. Matching suit cards give bonuses. Cards with Cthulhu tentacles give players madness tokens which can help or it can kill them if they have too much. The game is played over three rounds and the player with the most points wins.

Tides of Time


Set in the Lovecraft Cthulhu Mythos, Tides of Madness (6x4x2) is a two player card drafting and set collection game that plays in 20 minutes. Players try to collect cards that help them gain victory points. Matching suit cards give bonuses. Cards with Cthulhu tentacles give players madness tokens which can help or it can kill them if they have too much. The game is played over three rounds and the player with the most points wins.

Travel Carcassonne


Now you can take Carcassonne everywhere you go with Travel Carcassonne (8x8x2). The scoring track is printed on the cloth carrying sack, which has room for all the tiles and followers. Of course, all components are a bit downsized to make it more convenient to carry along, but the game is the same great game that won the Spiel des Jahres award in 2001! This game is actually a bit smaller because you can just bring the components in the bag.

Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms


Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms (4x3x1) is a 4x game that’s the size of a regular deck of cards. Ultra Tiny Epic Kingdoms is the same as Tiny Epic Kingdoms except it doesn’t include the exploration mini-expansion. In Ultra-Tiny Epic Kingdoms, you rule! You will be exploring lands and factions, expanding kingdoms, exploiting opportunities, and exterminating all those who question your rule…but so will everyone else! This game is so small that I actually put the entire box in a hard plastic CCG deck protector for extra protection.

Welcome to the Dungeon


Welcome to the Dungeon (6x4x2) is a game for 2-4 players that involves bluffing where you goad your fellow players into thinking they can survive in the dungeon or fool them into thinking it’s too hard while going into the dungeon yourself. On your turn you can either pass or draw a monster card. If you draw a monster card, you can either put that monster into the dungeon or keep the monster and remove a piece of equipment from the character who will be going into the dungeon. The last player to pass must go into the dungeon and try to survive all of the placed monsters with the equipment that’s left on the character.
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Economic Games

Caylus


To strengthen the borders of the Kingdom of France, King Philip the Fair decided to have a new castle built. For the time being, Caylus is but a humble village, but soon, workers and craftsmen will be flocking by the cartload, attracted by the great prospects. Around the building site, a city is slowly rising up. The players embody master builders. By building the King’s castle and developing the city around it, they earn prestige points and gain the King’s favor. When the castle is finished, the player who has earned the most prestige wins the game.

Concordia


2,000 years ago, the Roman Empire ruled the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. With peace at the borders, harmony inside the provinces, uniform law, and a common currency, the economy thrived and gave rise to mighty Roman dynasties as they expanded throughout the numerous cities. Guide one of these dynasties and send colonists to the remote realms of the Empire; develop your trade network; and appease the ancient gods for their favor – all to gain the chance to emerge victorious!

Harbour


Dockmaster Schlibble and Constable O’Brady cordially invite you to visit their bustling Harbour town. The denizens of this town are always wheeling and dealing!

collect and trade resources as you visit the various buildings of Harbour, and cash them in to buy your way into the town. Whoever has the most points worth of buildings when the game ends, wins!

Imperial


Europe in the age of imperialism. Internationally operating investors aim for the highest political influence in Europe. By giving credits they gain influence over the six imperial nations Great Britain, Germany, Russia, Austria-Hungary, Italy and France. These nations desperately need money to build up their economy and to buy troops and fleets. With their growing power in Europe, they collect more taxes and pay their rising interests to their investors.

Because the six imperial nations are under changing influence of different investors, strategic alliances and conflicts arise between them. Sometimes this leads even to war!

Imperial Settlers


Romans, Barbarians, Egyptians and Japanese have all moved there to expand the boundaries of their empires. They build new buildings to strengthen their economy, they found mines and fields to gather resources, and they build barracks and training grounds to train soldiers. Soon after they discover that this land is far to small for everybody, then the war begins…

Imperial Settlers is a card game that lets players lead one of the four factions and build empires by placing buildings, then sending workers to those buildings to acquire new resources and abilities.

Istanbul


Hustle and bustle in the bazaar district of Istanbul: merchants and their assistants are hurrying through the narrow alleys attempting to be more successful than their competitors. Good organization is key: wheelbarrows have to be filled with goods at the warehouses and then swiftly transported by the assistants to the various destinations. The goal of the merchants is to be the first to collect a certain amount of rubies.

La Granja


In La Granja, players control small farms by the Alpich pond near the village of Esporles on Mallorca. During the course of the game, the players try to steadily expand their farms into the mighty country estate La Granja. They also seek to deliver goods to the village. Here, speed is everything.

La Granja is a fascinating game that requires careful planning. Successful players must learn to cope with the imponderability of the dice and cards as well.

Le Havre: The Inland Port


Only fools look for calm at the famous inland port of Le Havre. This industrious port is where you will try to amass a fortune with your warehouse and numerous buildings. Uwe Rosenberg’s new two-player game combines the classic flavor of Le Havre and the brilliant production wheel from Ora & Labora.

Mombasa


Mombasa is a tense Euro-style strategy game set in 18th century Africa, where great wealth and fortune await players through multiple paths to victory. The game features a unique rotating-display hand-mechanism that drives game play.

Trading goods reaped from your plantations, you acquire shares of companies based in Mombasa, Saint-Louis, Cape Town and Cairo. However, the value of a company is only as good as its sphere of influence. So expanding into new territories is vital if you want your investments to pay off.

Nations


Nations is an intense historical board game for 1 to 5 players that takes 90-180 minutes to play. Players control the fate of nations from their humble start in prehistoric times until the beginning of World War I. The nations constantly compete against each other and must balance immediate needs, long-term growth, threats, and opportunities.

Ponzi Scheme


Based on the textbook example of financial scams, “Ponzi Scheme” is the term used to describe the technique Charles Ponzi employed in 1919 to operate one of the most notorious financial frauds in history.

In the game Ponzi Scheme, players are scammers trying to trick investors into funding fraudulent investments with the promise of extremely high returns. you need elaborate trading skills to keep your operaton afloat as long as possible, and as time goes on the dividends you need to pay every turn will only pile higher and higher! When someone declares bankruptcy, the remaining fraudsters who forged the biggest shell corporation wins the game!

Power Grid


Players mark pre-existing routes between cities for connection, and then vie against other players to purchase the powerplants that you use to supply the power. However, as plants are purchased, newer more efficient plants become available so you’re potentially allowing others to access to superior equipment merely by purchasing at all. Additionally, players must acquire the raw materials, like coal, oil, garbage, or uranium, to power said plants(except for the highly valuable ’renewable energy’ wind/solar plants), making it a constant struggle to upgrade your plants for maximum efficiency while still retaining enough wealth to quickly expand your network to get the cheapest routes.

Puerto Rico


Prospector, captain, mayor, trader, settler, craftsman, or builder? Which roles will you play in the new world? Will you own the most prosperous plantations? Will you build the most valuable buildings? You have but one goal: achieve the greatest prosperity and highest respect! This is shown by the player who earns the most victory points. He will win the game!

Race for the Galaxy


In Race for the Galaxy, players build galactic civilizations by game cards that represent worlds or technical and social developments. The player who best manages his cards, phase and bonus selections, and card powers to build the greatest space empire, wins.

Roll for the Galaxy


Roll for the Galaxy is a dice game of building space empires for 2-5 players. Your dice represent your populace, whom you direct to develop new technologies, settle worlds, and ship goods. The player who best manages his workers and builds the most prosperous empire wins!

This dice version of Race for the Galaxy takes players on a new journey through the Galaxy, but with the the feel of the original game.

Scythe


Scythe is a “4x” game, which means “eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate,” that’s set in an alternate-history 1920s. It is a time of farming and war, broken hearts and rusted gears, innovation and valor.

The ashes from the first Great War still darken the snow in 1920s Europa. The capitalistic city-state known simply as “The Factory,” which fueled the war with heavily armored mechs, has closed its doors, drawing the attention of several nearby countries. With characters from five factions converging onto a small but highly desired swath of land, who will gain fame and fortune by establishing their empire as the leader of Eastern Europa?

Terra Mystica


Terra Mystica is a strategy game with a simple game principle and very little luck involved: You govern one of 14 factions trying to transform the landscape on the game board in your favor in order to build your structures. On the one hand, proximity to other players limits your options for further expansion, on the other hand though, it provides some benefits during the game. This conflict is the source of Terra Mystica’s appeal.

The 14 artfully designed factions, each having unique special abilities, as well as the exchangeable bonus cards allow for a large number of possible game plays that constantly keep this game entertaining!

Terraforming Mars


In the 2400s, mankind is forced to terraform Mars. To do this, giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, initiate huge projects.

The goal is to raise the oxygen level and temperature and to create enough ocean coverage that the planet is habitable.

In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations. You earn prestige by contribution to the terraforming process and for advancing infrastructure in the solar system. Significant mmilestones will also help to determine who becomes the most dominant for ce on Mars.

Tesla vs. Edison: War of Currents


You control a start-up company in the early days of the U.S. electric industry. In the beginning you only have your lead inventor, some shares of preferred stock, and some money. Over the course of the game you will be hiring other famous technicians and business people to work for you. Each luminary in the game has their own unique ratings, and the inventors also have their own special abilities.

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar


The Maya were a highly developed civilization known for its unique art, complex architecture, sophisticated mathematics and advanced knowledge of the stars. At the heart of their society was a mysterious calendar – Tzolk’in. With a length of 260 days, it could predict the right time to plant seeds, the time to build monuments, the day a new baby would be born as well as the movement of the planets.

Harvest crops now, or wait for them to grow a little more for higher yield? All will be clear to see on the wheels of time.

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Cooperative Games

Board Game Night doesn’t have to end in someone flipping the table and rage quitting because someone was robbed in Catan for the 12th time in a row by the same person. There are a lot of cooperative games to choose from where everyone’s on the same team, or at least that’s the intent.

Here’s some cooperative games to consider:

Aeon’s End


Aeon’s End by Indie Boards and Cards is a 1 to 4 player cooperative deckbuilding game that has a number of innovative mechanisms, including a variable turn order system that simulates the chaos of an attack, and deck management rules that require careful planning with every discarded card.

Players will struggle to defend Gravehold from The Nameless and their hordes using unique abilities, powerful spells, and, most importantly of all, their collective wits.

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Small, Short and Easy to Play Games

Good things come in small packages.

This is true when it comes to board and card games. There are a lot of great games that come in small packages. Micro games have a number of benefits including:

  • They’re easier to carry around
  • Usually take up less space (tabletop and storage)
  • Cheaper than big-box games
  • Shorter play times
  • Usually have simpler rules so they’re easy to explain to new players
  • Coup


    The base game of Coup is a great game for 2-6 players. The goal of the game is to be the last player with a card or cards. Each player is dealt two cards. There are 3 copies of 5 different cards in the deck so you use deduction to determine what cards are in play. Players say what action they are going to take based on the card they supposedly have. Other players can challenge them if they don’t think the player has that card. Cards are eliminated if challenges are successful or by card effects. Bluffing is a huge part of Coup and makes it a lot of fun.

    I’m pretty sure I’ve played Coup more than any other game. It’s really easy to learn and is always fun to play.

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