Im familiar enough with board games to know that I’m asking a lot here. My goal is to have a game that I can carry around with me, walk up to people I meet in public, and ask them to play.
The most obvious path here I thought of would be some type of game played with a standard deck of cards. While I’m not opposed to this, I fear the randomness that comes with that might not be what I’m looking for. I want the game to be strategic with minimal luck but simple enough that a first time player could reasonably win against someone experienced.
Something like Hive comes to mind, as it has the pocket variation and seems like it could be easy enough to teach, but I have yet to play it so I fear it might be daunting to newcomers in ways similar to chess.
Thank you in advance for any and all answers, and if you would like further clarification I’d be happy to elaborate!
Radlands. 2-player tower defence game. Minimal space required. Tight gameplay. I have the retail edition without the maps.
Cabo. Up to 5 players. Anyone can play it. From primary school kids to granny. Remember your cards and try to swap to get the lowest score.
Go might be a good option. It uses a simple square grid or checker board, and only has one kind of piece per player. The rules are super simple. Play time depends on the players’ skill and the size of the board.
Also good is Pente, which uses the same pieces and board as 19x19 Go. It also has simple rules and is easy to learn.
Checkers is an option. I haven’t played it enough to know how strategic it gets.
All of these are easiest to port if you have a board that rolls instead of folding.
Quatro or Quoridor. You can get a 3D printed travel version.
Trying to squid games people OP?
in Hive, there is no way a new player can challenge somebody who already knows the game + the movements of the insects confuses new players
do you know Set, it’s not a strategy game but that’s why somebody who’s playing for the first time can challenge a more experienced player. No luck either.
I’ve recently discovered Ninjan ☞ https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/425254/ninjan basics are from rock paper scissors (so everybody is familiar with the dynamics) It adds another level to this base
Give “Love Letter” a try.
Reasonable options might be Cat Lady or Cascadia, maybe Codenames Duet and Welcome To.
I also second Splendor and Star Realms.
If you’re into dice games Quizz or Yahtzee could work.
Both are pretty portable. Quizz comes with its own box, and Yahtzee technically just needs five die (and probably some paper or a phone for scoring).
My goal is to have a game that I can carry around with me, walk up to people I meet in public, and ask them to play.
Is it just about portability or do you also need a small playing area?
I want the game to be strategic with minimal luck but simple enough that a first time player could reasonably win against someone experienced.
Those goals are at odds. If there’s minimal luck, there’s little room for the new player to win in a strategic game.
That being said:
- Azul can be quite portable (if you dump the box), but needs some playing space. It’s vicious with two players, the more experienced player will usually win, but the rules are simple enough for a first time player to at least understand what happens.
- Onitama is chess-like, with simple rules and some randomization that prevents the need to memorize start sequences and the like.
- Arboretum is a tight battle with two players. You constantly need to worry which cards to play in order to gain points, which cards to keep in order to even be eligible for scoring and which useless cards not to drop, because they might be useful for your opponent.
- Kahuna is a bit older, with simple rules but some strategy.
- The Fox in the Forest is a two player trick taking game I found rather enjoyable (and I don’t even like trick taking games).
There’s an Azul Mini which would be more portable.
Scopa - easy to learn, hard to master. Quick, fun. And if you come across an Italian they’ll likely already know how to play. Added bonus, some of the decks are gorgeous.
Our portable goto is Star Realms, but other card-based games will work. Dominion comes to mind except for the deck size!
Star Relams is a great choice! Basically a deck builder where each player is building their deck throughout the game. There are factions, and economy, and expansions to extend the variability.
Dominion is also good, but you’d need to decide on the deck to use ahead of time (Dominion has multiple decks you can build for normal play, so most games only use a fraction of all the cards).
Hive Pocket is fairly easy to learn, maybe strangers would be down to play. I would also recommend a magnetic set of backgammon or maybe mancala.
If space isn’t limited, I really like Knarr. It’s pretty short and easy to learn, but it does basically require a decently sized table.
“Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza” is a card game that’s purely reaction based, and is very similar to “war” which you may have played with a standard deck of cards in grade school, but there are a few special cards to mix things up a little bit.
Since it’s reaction-based, it’s not very luck based and it’s not very strategic (edit: oops you asked for strategy, my bad … disregard?). After a round, everyone knows what the cards look like, so experience counts for very little as well.
And it’s surprisingly fun. We laugh a lot. Pro tip: remove wedding rings.
You need a flat surface to play on.
Splendor. If taken out of the box, it can be stored in a much smaller box. It is very easy to learn and a lot of fun for 2-4 players.
Also there’s Splendour Duel which is specifically for 2 players
I have never played it, but have heard it is not as good as splendor.
Splendor Duel is more complicated to teach but has more agonizing decisions (lots of times when you can make a good move that also enables good moves for your opponent or you take a bad move and deny your opponent opportunities).
For some people both of those are positive changes, but I think both are negative.
I personally prefer it, feels like it has way more options especially for 2 players
I feel the same
Actually plays a lot better, imo
You might like the Pack O Game series, very small and portable. Hue would be a good one to check out but the rest are good too:
