Critique-al Hit: Gaming on the Go!
The holidays are upon us and for many of us that means spending time with friends and family. Getting to said friends and family often requires travel and for groups who love to game with their loved ones, traveling with games can be a challenge. This week’s critique-all hits are all about how to game on the go!
For folks looking to travel and still game, you can never go wrong with traditional magnetic travel or peg games. These are widely available and there are tons of options from magnetic chess to peg versions of tic-tac-toe. But if you are looking for something different, I have some fun suggestions.
There are many dice games out there that travel pretty easily. Gelatinous by Steve Jackson James travels incredibly well. The entire game fits into a small velvet bag and consists of a few coasters and 35 d6 dice. If you can count to 6, you can play Gelatinous so it is a great game that most of the family can play together.
Another excellent dice-based option is Doodle Dice from JAX Games. It’s recommended for ages 6 and up so it’s a game the whole family can play. You roll six d6 dice that are printed with six different shapes with the goal of creating doodles to match cards laid out on the table. It’s a silly and fast-paced game that is quick to pick up and can be comfortably played by up to six people.
Card games is another genre that travels well. One that’s fun for the whole family is Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. The whole goal of the game is to rid yourself of your entire hand of cards. Every player places a card from their hand face up on the pile while repeating the next word in the cadence Taco/Cat/Goat/Cheese/Pizza. If the word spoken, matches the flipped card everyone must race to slap the pile. The last person to slap must take the entire pile into their hand. The ultimate goal is to be the first to get rid of all your cards.
Unstable Unicorns is another delightful card game that is always a hit. It’s a strategic game with the goal of being the first to collect 7 unicorns into your stable. There are multiple expansions to the core game including one that is very NSFW so you can play a multitude of ways. Do beware that it can get to UNO levels of competition so be sure you play with folks who are good sports. The game is a ton of fun to play but very much not for children. That being said, they recently released a kids’ version of the game that even has an available coloring book.
If you end up traveling and don’t have folks to game with, there are some great solo-play options on the market that travel incredibly well. Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs is one option that quite literally shrinks the massive 22 lb game of Gloomhaven to a roughly 11 cm x 7 cm x 7.5 cm (4.25” x 2.75” x 3”) box. Buttons & Bug has all the robust strategy-based combat people have come to know and love about Gloomhaven in a compact size that even includes six micro miniatures you can paint or play with as is. You can play a full game in about 20 minutes and the entire game can fit on an average airplane tray table.
Another great pair of solo games are Demonship & Pitlord from the Malev Microverse line of games at Black Site Studios. Each game comes in a compact box with resin minis, rules, maps, and the cards needed to play the games. If just paper maps aren’t your thing, each game has an optional set of MDF and/or 3D printed terrain that tucks neatly into their own laser-cut MDF box. Both games can easily be played on an airplane tray table so you don’t need a lot of space to have a lot of fun.
Honorable mentions for this list are the larger board games that come with incredible organization. Arch Ravels, which was mentioned in the last Critique-al Hit, has a tray system that fits together so well that short of flipping the box over and shaking it, will keep the game nice and neat in its packaging. Flamecraft is also good about its organization. Lords of Waterdeep is another incredibly well-organized game that will appeal to fans of D&D.
Traveling with games doesn’t need to be difficult. Pick up a few that sound fun for you and yours and try them out. You’re going to find out just how easy and fun traveling with your games can be.
If you have a suggestion to add for games that travel well, please drop us a comment below!
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