Also, a lot of games have a lot of empty space in their box. I've been able to fit 6 games in the space of a Targi box, for example (great 2 player game that's deep but small, btw). I think I managed to put Targi, Tides of Time, Lost Cities, a Smash Up expansion (playable at 2 players), and a couple others in there.
I'd also recommend a 6 Nimmmt! or a Rage deck (has 6 suits numbered 0-15, suitable for a lot of modern card games). There are a whole bunch of games you can play with those decks and they take up no space at all. Also 6 Nimmmt! is a blast with 6+ players, in my opinion.
Also I'm a game designer, and I find myself bringing out a Rage deck pretty often to prototype new ideas. It's very versatile. Just did it again for a new idea yesterday.
6 Nimmmt: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/24313/games-playable-deck...
Rage: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/1907/games-playable-rage-...
Some smaller footprint but deeper games I'd recommend are Arboretum, Akrotiri, Kahuna, Targi, Bohnanza, Noir: Killer vs Assassin, Tichu (can be played with standard playing cards and 4 marked up jokers, or with the aforementioned Rage deck.. super deep partner game), Biblios, Armadora, 12 Days, R-Eco, Condottiere, For Sale (playable with 6 Nimmmt! and some tokens), The Game (playable with 6 Nimmmt! deck).
Condottiere is also a great small game!
Takes about 5 minutes to explain and plays in 30 min or so (After the first game). It has a nice mix of random/strategy, etc.
Edit: The box is way bigger than the contents, so a custom foam solution seems to be popular with some people.
Side note: I'm processing BoardGameGeek.com data, and one of the goals I've set is around finding a game similar to these two. My best candidate at the moment is "Potion Explosion".
I'm mostly in the same boat traveling a lot for work. On my last trip, me and several coworkers/co-travelers started playing a lot of chess together and are continuing to have a blast.
I've been wanting to try to get into it for a while and I finally just did it. Don't read a bunch of stuff and psych yourself out. Just play and realize you're going to lose. A lot. You're _supposed_ to lose since somebody has to and there is no luck. Just learn from your mistakes.
It is a perfect travel game, though. It has essentially infinite depth, very easy to learn the few rules, and there are countless sizes and prices. It also adapts exceptionally well to digital and asynchronous versions.
For example, our group has been sending moves back and forth with chess.com's site and app. It's like communicating without having to think of things to say. I feel like I know these people better just by playing against them.
EDIT: also, it's simple enough that you could easily create a makeshift set if you don't have one available.
EDIT2: I've also had some luck adapting some games to work with playing cards and other simple pieces. A lot of games come with little thematic goodies that aren't really necessary in order to play. You should still consider buying the game if you like it to support the creator, though.
And you'll find people to play with even when you don't speak a common language; I have very fond memories of playing all of the staff of a bar in Copacabana, Bolivia, until sunrise (just knowing the little Spanish(es) I had picked up in the 6 months before) :)
Also, Dominoes, though a good set is rather on the heavy side.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkerboard#Games_and_puzzles...
it is a complex game with a very simple ruleset (i.e. one-operation per turn, every turn is the same)
There is an ipad version which is better than the physical one (easier to learn since it only allows legal moves, automatically keeps score, automatically shuffles) Plus no clean-up.
If you don't have internet and are alone, you can play against an AI and still have a good time. If you have internet you can play 1v1 with ranked matchmaking opponents and continue to get better.
If you want to play in a group, you can play a local game passing around the ipad. I've played this way with a group of people who had never played the game before, everyone finished knowing not only the gameplay rules but with inferred nuances about strategy.
* Deep Sea Adventure — A tiny push-your-luck game that blends theme and mechanics perfectly, is easy to explain, and is a ton of fun without being too thinky. It also scales perfectly from 2 to 6 people. Expensive if you're just counting components, but the value of the game and the fun it brings makes it worthwhile.
* Celestia — Also push-your-luck style, but with a bit more production (and, oddly, cheaper than Deep Sea Adventure).
* Patchwork — A great little two-player game where you're making a quilt. That sounds silly, but it's like Tetris that's powering a small economical engine. Really fun.
* For Sale — Good for 3-6 players, a really simple little card game where you get properties in the first round and auction them off in the second. Plays in 15 minutes, fits in a small box. (I think they even make a travel version.)
* Santorini — the retail version is a big production, but if you get it, you could easily make a smaller version of it. Takes 30 seconds to learn and is hard to really master. Comes with a ton of God power cards that make a bunch of replayability.
* Smash Up — the base set comes with 8 factions. Each player takes two factions (of their choice, at random, etc.) and smashed them into a deck. You then compete against others to topple bases and score points. A lot of fun with the right crowd. I think they've released about 50 factions total so far, with 8 new ones released each year currently. All totally optional.
* Star Realms — great little two-player deck builder. It's space themed, if you want another theme, they have other versions that work similarly. It's just one deck of cards, plus expansions if you like it.
* Dixit — I love Dixit. I've never played it with anyone that didn't have fun. The box really spreads things out, and is mostly holding the scoring track, but you could replace that with something smaller easily. A deck of amazing art cards, a couple of voting tokens, and a way to keep score. Could fit into a sandwich bag if you create a smaller scoring system.
It's best played with a set of Icehouse pieces, which pack pretty small and can be used for a whole bunch of other games too. You don't need Icehouse pieces, though, you can also play Zendo with coins, matchsticks, etc.
But fundamentally it is an incredible game in whatever form you play.
1. Jaipur: 2 Players only, acquire different goods to trade in the market.
2. Coup: Multiplayer, lots of bluffing
3. Monopoly Deal: Simple, fast paced game (with little resemblance to Monopoly)
- Haggis (2-3)
- Dominion (2-4 players, box is nice but you can just have a stack of cards)
All the other suggestions are good, but it's nice to have flexibility with player size.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163967/tiny-epic-galaxie...
My wife and I play this at coffee shops on small tables with no problems.
It's a simple enough game to learn, but can become quite complex the more you get into it.
Highly recommended.
Most common play form is the Schieber where you play a 2 vs 2.
To reduce the "luck component" I'd recommend dropping the melds and the factor for the different trump.
"Paperback" is about the size of a small speaker, and is sort of but not really Scrabble as a deck builder.
"Captain Sonar" is regular size and utterly fantastic, but for best experience you really want 8 players; every player down is noticeable. It's cooperative / competitive and real-time.
Digital games (mobile or computer): Ticket to Ride, Star Realms, Jaipur, Splendor (I'd recommend the physical game but it is a bit too much air in the box to buy physically for a nomad), Patchwork.