The great appeal of pocket-sized board games is the ability to take them anywhere. A family get-together, office lunch room, or group camping trip–just toss a game in your pocket or bag and everyone is sure to be entertained. The portability of these smaller games allows you to carry them around just in case the opportunity for play arises.
One of the really wonderful things about this hobby is the sheer variety of styles on offer. This quality extends to these tiny boxes. This list is comprised of 10 titles that offer a wide range of mechanisms and playstyles, all while containing those experiences into a modest package. Some may require cargo pants, but all of these offerings are modest in profile and easy to transport.
TL;DR: The Best Pocket-Sized Board Games
Art Robbery
This stylish wonder arrives courtesy of prolific designer Reiner Knizia. The pitch is enticing: in the aftermath of an art heist, players bicker and fight over splitting the loot. This conflict is resolved through card play. You alternate taking turns by playing a single card, with these cards mapping to loot tokens in the center of the table. By playing a card you snatch the corresponding token and place it in front of you. The twist is that you can steal a token from another player instead of taking it from the middle. The second twist is that some of the lower scoring tokens offer alibis. At the end of the game, the player with the fewest amount of alibis is eliminated from play, regardless of their final score. The result is an entertaining back and forth where you gank loot from others yet must balance high scoring options with those that offer protection.
Trio
Everyone is familiar with the classic board games Go Fish and Memory. Trio splices the two, asking players to flip over three cards of the same number. These cards are facedown on the table, but some are also spread among the hands of the players. When flipping a card from a player’s hand, however, you can only ask them to reveal their highest or lowest card. The goal is to claim three of these trios or just the set of sevens. It’s a simple thing, but it’s one that elicits little moments of drama where a player has flipped two of the same number and is trying to remember where the third card is. It features hand management and surprisingly clever play.
Love Letter
When Love Letter hit the market in 2012 it created quite the stir. This little 16-card game has players holding and playing only a single card on their turn. It’s maddeningly simple, but it works, capturing a degree of bluffing and risk management. Love Letter is fun and flexible, but it’s particularly noteworthy as it kicked off the microgame movement that spawned dozens and dozens of offspring. Most of those titles have long since faded, while Love Letter remains a clever and engaging experience. There are now a bevy of different versions of this game, including a Star Wars, Batman, and wedding-themed set. They all play similarly, so you can’t go wrong whichever you choose.
Radlands
Radlands is one of the best head-to-head card games in recent years. Each player draws from a shared deck of mutants, raiders, and weirdos, playing these fighters down into one of three lanes on their side of the table. Each lane corresponds to a base that must be protected. The goal is to vanquish your opponent’s defenders and destroy their bases. The magic is in the multi-use aspect of each card. Beyond using them for the characters depicted, they can also be discarded for a card-specific resource. Performing well requires strong tactical intuition and judicious play you’d use in all the best strategy board games. All of the interlocking abilities and effects collide to produce a swift-playing and tense battler.
Friday
This small box is unique in that it’s for solo board game play only. This card game is based on the story of Robinson Crusoe. You take on the role of his companion Friday, attempting to help Robinson survive and prepare him for the impending pirate attack. This is a deckbuilding game where you add cards to your deck during play. Each turn you confront a jungle hazard and then play fight cards from your hand in order to overcome the challenge. If you do, the hazard is then added to your deck and may be used in a later fight. You must pick your battles wisely, as you can’t win them all and must be careful in how you shape your deck for the big finale. This is a difficult game that offers a tremendous amount of play and strategic depth.
For Sale
For Sale crams the buying and selling of real estate into a brief yet satisfying 30 minutes. In the first phase of the game, players bid on a set of buildings by using a limited pool of personal currency. You must bid higher than all previous bids on each of your turns, or bow out of the round and claim the lowest value property available. Determining how long to hang in the auction depends on the value of the property on offer, as well as how stubborn your opponents are. The second portion of the game reverses the process with money cards worth various amounts flipped faceup in the middle of the table. Players secretly select a property they’ve purchased from their hand in an attempt to secure these monetary bids. You all reveal simultaneously and the money is split. It’s an exceedingly easy game to learn, but it’s one full of subtle play that relies on intuition. It’s paramount to squeeze every ounce of value out of your resources, and the player who manages their assets most judiciously will secure victory.
That’s Not a Hat
This is the type of game that is both maddening and hilarious. Each player is dealt a card that sits out in front of them faceup. Cards depict simple objects with black and white line art. These are common things such as a basketball, lava lamp, or a hat. Once play begins, players take turns flipping their card facedown and passing it to an adjacent player. Soon, all cards are hidden and players are trying to track which is which. When you pass a card to a neighbor, you claim what the object is. The receiver of the card may challenge your claim, creating a confrontation of memory. It’s simple but sparks moments of laughter as it’s surprisingly easy to lose track of what card sits in front of you. Eventually someone messes up and the game begins again. This is a wonderful design that consistently delivers joy.
Regicide
Regicide is a fully cooperative board game where players work together to overthrow the royal line and claim victory. Each of the 12 enemies must be dealt with one at a time. These bosses map to the face cards in a standard set of playing cards. They are shuffled together and one is revealed. Players then take turns placing a single card on the table to attack the enemy and deal damage. The value on the played card is the strength of the attack with the suit triggering a special power. There’s a fairly thoughtful decision point here in weighing the needed attack versus the desired effect that would most help the other players. It’s a fairly intuitive card game where hand management and timing is everything. The strongest trait is that it’s full of tension as the group is constantly on the brink of defeat. Often, it will appear hopeless until another player tosses out the exact card the group needs, allowing everyone to refill their hands and persist. Regicide is an intriguing experience with a distinct feel. It’s a wonderful little pocket game.
The Mind
The Mind is a special game. Players are dealt a hand from a deck of cards numbered 1 to 100, with a portion of the cards left out and unknown. Play then flows in real-time. The player with the lowest card in hand must play it on the table. Then the next lowest card must be played atop the previous, and so on. The enormous twist is that players cannot communicate. You can’t talk or nod or gesture. You can just look into each other’s eyes and try to divine the proper time to play your card. It sounds ridiculous, but I assure you, there is a game here. It’s about pausing and feeling out the situation, eventually playing the proper card when it feels like enough time has passed. If approached with the right attitude it can brush up against a metaphysical element, achieving a playstate with similar vibes to a Ouija board. This may not have universal appeal, but it’s a game that presents a singular vision that is capable of achieving transcendent entertainment.
Werewords
This small box is basically the classic 20 Questions with the inclusion of a traitor. One player receives a word they must get the group to guess, and everyone else is allowed to only throw out “yes or no” questions. At least one person in the group is a werewolf trying to trip up the villagers. They know the word before play begins and can attempt to mislead or stall the group. If everyone fails to figure out the correct word, however, they get to vote as a group to hang a player they suspect to be the werewolf. If they select the villain, the villagers win regardless of failing to land on the proper word. This strongly mimics the structure of social deduction games such as One Night Ultimate Werewolf and The Resistance: Avalon, but it allows for a more simple and streamlined process with a broadly enjoyable classic game at its core. It’s frankly surprising how effective this concoction is, but it manages to offer inspired play with all kinds of players and tastes. This is one of the most reliably fun pocket-sized games ever designed.
