Best Portable Board Games for Travel and Game Nights

If you’re looking for some great choices for your next game night – or options to take along on that long road trip – you’ll want to find the best portable board games. They should have compact sizes and minimal small pieces to lose. We’ve considered these needs and come up with our pick of the top 10 most portable board games. Hopefully you’ll find a few that fit your needs.

Introduction to Travel Games

Travel games are an excellent way to pass the time while on-the-go, whether you’re on a plane, train, or car ride. They’re perfect for families, couples, or solo travelers looking for a fun and engaging way to spend their downtime. Travel games come in all shapes and sizes, from compact card games to small box board games that can be easily stowed away in a backpack or purse. These games are designed to be lightweight and portable, making them ideal for any adventure. Whether you prefer strategic board games or quick card games, there’s a travel game out there that will keep you entertained and make your journey more enjoyable.

Best Portable Board Games

Trash Pandas

Age: 8+ (Community 6+) Players: 2-4 Time: 15-20 minutes

Despite their reputation as Trash Pandas, there is still something very cute about raccoons. If you and your friends have a soft spot for this mammal then you will love this game. You play as raccoons knocking over trash bins to find food and shiny objects to claim. A large part of the game involves keeping a balance between staying safe with the objects you have and risking the loss of stuff so that you might get more.

The game ends once the last card is drawn, signifying that the neighborhood no longer has more trash bins left to attack. Once the game ends you compare stashes with your friends. Whoever has the majority of a specific type of card will get more points. The game’s rules are easy to learn and the game only lasting up to 20 minutes, so you and your friends can play several rounds in an evening to see which among you is the best raccoon.

Happy Little Dinosaurs

Age: 8+ Players: 2-4 Time: 30-60 minutes

Sometimes the end of the world can’t be avoided but it can be fun and come with cute art. Happy Little Dinosaurs is a game that has you and your friends competing to see who can avoid disaster the longest. Each turn of the game has you flipping a disaster card to see what awful thing happens next. The disasters can be natural, predatory, or emotional. Each player then gets a chance to respond to the disaster and hopefully avoid something bad happening.

Each game of Happy Little Dinosaurs runs between 30 to 60 minutes and up to four people can play. It has rules easy enough that younger players can also enjoy this game. If you and your friends enjoy the game you can find expansions that add more types of cards and even expand the game to allow six players.

Azul Mini

Age: 8+ Players: 2-4 Time: 30-45 minutes

Azul Mini is a classic tile placing game that is presented in a new smaller and easy-to-travel edition. You and your friend compete to get the highest score by both claiming and rearranging the tiles on your board. Extra points are possible by achieving things like collecting sets of the same color tiles or creating certain patterns. It’s important to pay attention to what the other players are doing so that the tiles you pick not only help you but slow down the other players.

Each game of Azul Mini runs about 30-45 minutes. One of the great things about this new edition of the game is the easy-to-use built-in score trackers and plastic trays with indentions that make sure your tiles stay in place. So if you find yourself with a lot of time waiting and fancy having a fun tile game while on a flight or long car drive then you will have a lot of fun with this version of Azul Mini.

Hive Pocket

Age: 9+ (Community 8+) Players: 2 Time: 20 minutes

Firmly on the list of portable board games built around easy to follow rules, Hive Pocket is a unique strategy game that doesn’t require a board and instead can be played anywhere there’s a flat surface. This strategy game has 11 unique pieces for each player, each of which resembles a type of creature that has a unique way of moving during the game.

This game requires no setup and starts when the first piece is laid down. Each piece put down begins to form a pattern that is the playing area for the game — in effect the game pieces become the board. The goal of the game is to surround and capture your opponent’s queen while protecting yours from being captured. This game can be played by two players and only lasts for twenty minutes.

If you end up loving this game several expansions extend the playable pieces and strategies you can use.

Confusing Lands

Age: 12+ (Community 8+) Players: 1-2 Time: 10 minutes

Confusing Lands is a two-player card game that lets you and a friend create your own floating landscape. This new landscape can be made up of rivers, mountains, and animal life.

On every turn, you place cards that have a variety of symbols and a variety of ways to score points. After each player has put down eight cards you calculate the points and the player with the most points wins. There are 18 unique ways to win points and with the nature of card games, this allows for a wide variety in what happens from game to game.

Confusing Lands only takes about ten minutes to play. This quick play time allows you and a friend to easily play several games in one sitting. This game also contains rules for a single-player variant for those who enjoy solitary games while trying to top their previous best scores.

The Lord of The Rings – The Fellowship of The Ring Trick-Taking Game

Age: 10+ Players: 1-4 Time: 20 minutes

For fans of the Lord of the Rings, books, or movies, any excuse is a good one to revisit Middle Earth. And The Lord of the Rings the Fellowship of the Ring Trick-Taking Game is a perfect game for just that! This cooperative trick-taking game allows you to progress through the first book of the Lord of the Rings and experience the journey from the Shire up to the breaking of the Fellowship.

This game is a narrative adventure which means that the natural flow of the game allows you to explore the story via meeting characters and accomplishing quests.  Part of what brings the world to life is its beautiful stained-glass style art. Characters and events from the story are illustrated and bring the world to life.

This game comes with multiple game modes that allow for replayability and approaching the various events of the story in different ways. You and three friends can play the game with each session lasting around twenty minutes.

Gullible

Age: 14+ (Community 12+) Players: 2-10 Time: 15-25

This portable board game is a silly, hilarious, and delightfully enjoyable choice: Gullible. The game also goes by Pigeon Pigeon. In the game, players (anywhere from 2 to 10) must use their bluffing skills mixed with some strategy to see who can come up with the most amazing – and believable, somehow – lies of all. And, in the mix, you’ll find some incredibly bizarre true stories, too.

Players are placed into two teams — then they are asked bizarre questions like “What was the name of Jacques Chirac’s dog at the Paris town hall?” Teams take turns asking each other these bizarre questions, and as they ask them, they aim to trick each other by presenting three options as answers: the correct answer, and 2 bizarre options the player asking the questions makes up. Then, the opposing team must bet their chips on the answer they think is correct. Any chips bet on the right answers are kept by the team. Ultimately, whichever team turns out to be the most Gullible (i.e., loses all their chips) loses the game.

Cat Ladies of Maple Street

Age: 12+ (Community 8+) Players: 2-4 Time: 30-45 minutes

Even if you’re not quite there yet with a hoard of mewing fluffballs with claws sharp enough to eviscerate your soul while you ooh and ahh over their cuteness, you can still become one of the Cat Ladies of Maple Street! There are four quirky, competitive cat ladies to choose from, and as you play, you’ll work to build your deck by collecting cards from the in-game marketplace. And, of course, there’s one thing you really want with these cards: to gain more cats! And, of course, whoever succeeds in collecting the most fur-bound critters wins the game.

Two types of currency exist in the game: Coins and hearts. As gameplay rolls through, players must use their hand of cards to take actions, buy cards with their coins, or adopt the floofballs with their accumulated hearts – the only real currency for acquiring kitties! As players buy cards and cats, these are placed into the player’s discard piles for later use. And once the pile of 29 furballs has been depleted, the game ends and whichever of the Cat Ladies of Maple Street has, indeed, collected the most cats takes the prize. The game works for players aged 8 and up (according to the board game community) and allows 2 to 4 players to compete for the title over 30 to 45 minutes of hilarious fun.

Cathedral Magnetic Travel Edition

Age: 8+ 2 Players: Time: 20 minutes

Intended specifically for travel, Cathedral Magnetic Travel Edition is one of the most portable board games you could find. The use of magnets helps keep the playing pieces in place so you don’t lose them, which is always a huge concern when transporting games.

So, in the game of Cathedral, every player has a set number of pieces of a different color. These pieces are shaped like buildings and cover 1 to 5 square units on the board. The first player must take the single neutral Cathedral piece and place it onto the board, after which the other player places their building onto the board. This alternates between the two players, continuing until one player runs out of spaces and can no longer place pieces on the board. This occurs as players work to capture the territory surrounding areas occupied by their opponent or a neutral building. Captured pieces are removed from the board, much like what occurs in Chess, and the newly captured territory becomes off limits for the opponent. Whoever winds up with the fewest square units of pieces wins the game.

Sky Team

Age: 12+ (Community 10+) Players: 2 Time: 15 minutes

A fast-paced game taking only 15 minutes, Sky Team is an excellent cooperative game that packs up tight for travel or game nights. The game places 2 players in roles of the airplane cabin: One playing the pilot and the other playing the co-pilot. The 2 players must work together as a team to figure out how to land the plane at various airports around the world.

To land the plane, you must silently assign your dice to the correct spaces of the cockpit. This will balance the axis of your airplane, deploy the flaps, extend its landing gear, contact the control tower, control the plane’s speed, or even serve you a cup of coffee to help you concentrate in those critical moments. If you misjudge, though, your plane could tilt, stall, overshoot the airport, or worse – crash into another plane! And of course, if you do that, you lose the game. Each airport in the game offers its own unique challenges, with some easy and some dangerous landing zones.

Card Games for On-the-Go

Card games are an excellent choice for travel games because they’re often compact, lightweight, and easy to learn. Some popular card games for on-the-go include:

• Sushi Go!: This fast-paced card game has players picking and passing cards to collect sets of sushi dishes. It’s a fun game that’s easy to learn and perfect for quick play sessions.

• Ganz Schon Clever: A roll-and-write game where players try to score points by completing rows and columns on a score sheet. It’s a great little game that combines strategy with luck.

• Cockroach Poker: A bluffing game where players try to avoid getting four of the same critters. It’s a hilarious and engaging game that’s perfect for travel.

These card games are not only fun but also take up minimal space, making them ideal for travel. Whether you’re waiting at the airport or relaxing at your hotel, these games will keep you entertained.

What to Look for in a Travel Game

When looking for a travel game, there are several factors to consider. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Space: Look for games that are compact and won’t take up too much space in your luggage. Small box games or card games are ideal as they can be easily packed.

• Gameplay: Choose games that are easy to learn and can be played in a short amount of time. This ensures that you can enjoy a quick game session without needing a lot of setup or playtime.

• Adults Alike: Consider games that are fun for both kids and adults alike, so everyone can enjoy playing together. Games that appeal to a wide age range are perfect for family trips.

• Pretty Clever: Opt for games that are clever and strategic, but not too complex or overwhelming. Games that strike a balance between strategy and simplicity are often the most enjoyable.

By keeping these factors in mind, you can find the perfect travel game that will provide hours of fun and entertainment, no matter where your journey takes you.

Conclusion

You should be all set for your next board game-filled outing with this collection of the best portable board games. Be sure to mix and match the collection a bit, to keep things interesting, and meet the various needs of your outings. For fast-playing games, go with Sky Team, Trash Pandas, Hive Pocket, Confusing Lands,The Lord of The Rings – The Fellowship of The Ring Trick-Taking Game, Gullible, or Cathedral Magnetic Travel Edition. For longer games opt for Cat Ladies of Maple Street, Azul Mini, or Happy Little Dinosaurs. Happy gaming!

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