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.
Radlands is great, but I question whether a random person on the street will be able to learn it and have a shot at winning?
The biggest hurdle is that someone played with you. If you got someone, the rest is easy. If you crash the weekly bingo night with a game you take Cabo with you. If you sneak into a magic tournament, you take Radlands.