The Mayday Games Blog

My family and I travel a lot.

Being the board game fanatic I am, while packing, I'm always think about what games I can stuff in my bag. I like to have variety, so I'll bring a crunchy game, and social game and, a dexterity game. Here's my top 5 games to hit the road with. 

1. Star Realms - no travel list is complete without including one of the best deck builders of all times, Star Realms. Easy to teach but tough to master, this game has tons of strategy, great mechanics and has a perfect play time of about 15 minutes per game.  

2. Tiny Epic Kingdoms - Don't let the small box fool you, this 4x game has tons of meat in the box. I love this game because it feels like a big game box wrapped up in a tiny package. The box also comes with tons of races and maps so replay ability is high. There are also multiple paths to victory which makes each gameplay unique.

3. Good Cop Bad Cop - this is one of my go to games for parties and social situations. There's nothing better than accusing your friends of being Crooked. Plays fairly quickly and is picked up just as fast. Overworld games also has a pocket version of this game no bigger than a standard deck box. 

4. Garbage Day - nobody likes cleaning but everybody loves this game. A dexterity game about picking up trash and putting it into the garbage can. The goal is to keep piling trash on the can without having to take it out. The person that knocks over the overflowing trash then has to deal with the rubbish. This game is compact, takes up little real estate on the table, and gives your group that stand up and cheer feeling. Order Garbage Day by Mayday Games here.

5. Hocus - so your family likes card games but you like something a little heavier. Well Hocus, from Hyperperboly, hits both genres nicely. In this poker style game you build Texas hold'em style hands from multiple rows of "flop" cards. Unlike standard poker some cards have special powers and can be played to mess with other players and manipulate hands. 

All of the games I've mentioned are small box games, but don't think that for a game to travel well it needs to be a small box. Often I will travel with King Tokyo. It's a big box game that is good on the go. Just take out all the components and place them in individual zip loc bags, then put all of those bags into 1 large gallon bag. This technique is also very good for convention packing when you want to bring a ton of games and you have limited space. 

I also like to sleeve all my travel games and place them in deck boxes. This insures no cards get crushed in transit or spilled on at the table. Mayday Games has sleeves for every game you can think of and the quality is an industry standard. 

My final tip is a simple one that I don't think a lot of people think of. Rule books don't take up that much space but can still be a hassle. Take a photo of the rule book pages or download a pdf, that way you will have all the rules handy and not have to worry about digging around for the rule book. 

So next time you hit the road pack some games! 

What are your favorite travel games? Tell us in the comments below. 

Keep gaming

Mike H.