In recent years, tabletop gaming has become a much more popular pastime. Sometimes it’s nice to get a break from the screens and sit down with friends to battle it out or work together to solve a mystery. With so many board games continuing to get released and many being based on TV shows like Avatar: The Last Airbender and video games, such as Stardew Valley, there truly seems to be something for everyone.
However, it can sometimes be hard to find the time to sit down and play a game, let alone get a group together at the same time. These are games that can be set up and finished quickly, and are small enough to pack into a rucksack and be taken anywhere be it on holiday, road trips, or even to a cafe to play with friends.
10 Railroad Ink
Railroad Ink is a multiplayer puzzle game for 2-6 players, with the goal of connecting as many exits on your board as possible. It comes in two versions: Deep Blue containing rivers and lakes, and Blazing Red for lava and meteors.
Each round a set of dice is rolled determining the road and railway routes available to players. You then draw these onto your erasable boards to create transport lines and connect as many exits as possible in the most optimal fashion.
9 Sushi Go!
Sushi Go! Is a quick card game for 2-5 players that sees you trying to obtain the best combination of sushi dishes for your meal. Its card drafting mechanism means that after selecting one card to play, everyone passes their hand to the left. This means you never truly know which cards are in play and what’s going to be scoring you points.
The artwork is ridiculously cute and the simple mechanics means it’s great to introduce to new and old players alike. Each game is three rounds and lasts around 20 minutes, just don’t forget to save room for pudding at the end.
8 Barenpark
Take on building your own bear park in this adorable game for 2-4 players. You need to manage your park and decide where to build your food kiosks, toilet facilities, and most importantly - your bear enclosures.
The park is created by combining polyomino tiles onto a grid, scoring points by correctly fitting in oddly shaped bear enclosures and outdoor areas, and fully completing your construction areas. It does contain Koalas which aren’t bears—but they’re so cute it gets away with it.
7 Love Letter
Love Letter sees you aiming to become the Princess’s confidant by gaining her trust enlisting friends, allies, and family within the court. A game for 2-6 players, you need to eliminate your friends through guesswork and scheming, utilising each of your character’s special skills to avoid detection and be the last one standing.
Each round lasts mere minutes and earns the winner a token, with the overall winner being the person with a set number of tokens at the end. The game also handily packs away into a very dignified little velvet drawstring bag. The Princess would expect nothing less.
6 Skull
Skull is a minimalistic and artistic delight, and the quintessential bluffing game. This is not a game of luck, but one of deceiving your friends and taking risks.
The 3-6 players must each place a face-down card with either a flower or a skull. Then each player, in turn, adds one more card until someone feels brave enough to call how many cards they can flip without hitting a skull. Players then enter a bidding war until the highest bidder must flip the cards. If successful they win, but if they hit a skull they lose and forfeit a card.
5 Parks
Parks is a game celebrating the beauty of trekking the US National Parks, featuring gorgeous artwork and adorable meeples. It’s an engine builder with a laid-back attitude for 1-5 players looking to explore the majesty of nature.
Players take on the role of hikers walking different trails and aiming to collect the best memories from their visit. It’s a cute family game that can be over in a matter of 30 minutes but can easily be played again and again.
4 Codenames
Codenames is a party, puzzle-solving card game. You play in two teams of 4-8 players with each team electing a leader. Then 25 cards will be laid out with different words, with only the leaders knowing which words belong to their team. The leader gives their team a one-word clue and denotes how many cards link to this word for them to guess. The first team with all their team’s cards is the winner - but accidentally pick the one black card and your team automatically loses.
Codenames has gained popularity and now comes in an assortment of types such as Disney, Marvel, Pictures, and Harry Potter.
3 Coup
In Coup, your aim is to be the last player with influence. A small brutal card game for 2-6 players, you need to bluff, bribe, and manipulate your way to the top and force all other players into exile.
You start with two coins and two character cards face-down in front of you, each with its own set of unique powers. You can use these cards to take money, rob other players, block foreign aid, assassinate, block assassinations, or change cards. You can use your wealth to launch a coup against an opponent, forcing them to lose a card. The last player with a face-down character card wins.
2 Unstable Unicorns
In Unstable Unicorns, your job is to fill your stable with an adorable yet brutal unicorn army and destroy all your friends. Cute right?
A game for 2-8 players, you each start with a baby unicorn and in turn add cards to your hand to place in your stable. You can add basic or magical unicorns, some of which possess special powers that affect you or your opponents. You can also use upgrade cards to boost your stable or downgrade cards to destroy someone else’s. At any point, you can also refuse a player’s action using a NEIGH card (Get it? Neigh?) The first person with a full stable wins.
1 Splendor
Splendor is a non-complex, quick game for 2-4 players. You play Renaissance merchants buying gem mines, transportation, and ships to acquire prestige and visits from nobility.
On your turn, you may collect gems (or hoard them from other players), buy a card, or reserve a card to play later. You’ll want to juggle all these actions in order to gain the most amount of wealth and prestige shown in the top left of the cards to win the game before your opponents do.
