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The first thing they teach you at spy school is not to turn up to a fancy dinner with a ninety-liter rucksack full of board games. One, it’ll ruin the cut of your dinner jacket, and two, it’ll blow your cover as the sophisticated-but-approachable ambassador of a newly-independent Balkan microrepublic. Apparently, most diplomats don’t arrive at society events visibly buckling under the weight of multiple game boxes.
So how, then, are you supposed to establish an easy rapport with the Defence Secretary of a hostile nation such that they casually disclose the number and location of their country’s radar facilities? Well, I’m no spy, but I imagine the second thing they teach you at spy school is a list of seven superb games that happen to fit in a pocket or handbag. Games so impossibly svelte, so impishly petite, they might have been designed by intelligence services for the express purpose of stashing discreetly about one’s person.
And look, if, in your civilian life, you want something you can take on camping trips or long train journeys, that you can break out at the bar or back at your hotel, something quick and slick but good, then maybe just this once it’s worth leaking the full list. These games are not just fits-in-your-suitcase small, but ultra-portable – sure to impress friends and wealthy foreign intelligence assets.
Love Letter
Japanese designer Seiji Kanai’s 2012 card game is an astonishing blend of minimalist elegance and juicy themes. With a deck of just sixteen cards, it does more than titles twenty times its size. 2-4 players compete to get their tender declarations of love into the hands of the princess. Each turn, you’ll draw a card, then choose one of the two cards in your hand to play. Each card has a special power, letting you do things like swap your remaining card with another player, or guess their card, potentially knocking them out of the round.
It’s very simple, but the tension, and the potential for deduction, make it feel like far more than the sum of its parts. I’ve rarely laughed so much playing a card game. The second edition adds a couple more cards and expands the maximum player count to six, without wrecking the formula.
Wonder Tales
I could have picked any of a dozen titles from small publisher Button Shy, who produce charming eighteen-card games in wafer-thin vinyl wallets, but Wonder Tales has proven itself over play after play as a game that’s easy to teach, fun, and packed with character – literally.
Each card depicts a fairy tale character – Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, the Wicked Witch – and two players take turns laying them in a grid formation on the table. You score points for placing them next to someone they like – Hansel wants to be next to Gretel, for example – and take penalties if, for example, your Little Pig ends up next to the Big Bad Wolf. Making each card double-sided is a genius piece of design, and the spatial puzzle is – like a child lured into a hungry witch’s cottage – simple yet deliciously crunchy.
Bang! The Dice Game
The original Bang! came out over twenty-five years ago. It’s a card-based Wild West shoot-out with a hidden role twist. Aside from the sheriff, everyone’s identity is a secret. Only you know if you are a loyal deputy or an outlaw. The outlaws want to kill the sheriff. The sheriff and deputies want to kill the outlaws. Oh, and one player – the ‘renegade’ – not only wants to be the last one standing but has to kill the sheriff last.
Bang! The Dice Game compresses the more complex original into a quick ‘n dirty push-your-luck melee. Chuck some dice, shoot someone, hope they’re not on your side, pass the turn. Each player has a unique power, you can heal yourself or others with beer, and while it loses some of the original’s tactical depth, it’s easier to pick up and play, and all the components fit in a pocket-sized deck box.
Sea Salt & Paper
This unassuming little title borrows from the classic Korean card game Go-Stop, yet feels as fresh as sea spray and is sure to leave you salty. Each turn, you’re going to draw a card, either from the deck or from one of the two face-up discard piles. You’re looking to collect sets or play pairs for their special bonus powers. Fish let you draw an extra card, crabs let you dive into a discard pile to retrieve a card long-buried, and sharks and swimmers let you pluck a card straight of your opponent’s sweaty, helpless grasp.
The origami artwork is gorgeous, but the winning wrinkle is how, when you reach seven points, you can stop the round immediately on your turn, or offer your opponents one more turn each, in return for a big bonus if you still outscore them. A tiny, delightfully gritty pearl.
Tinderblox
There are plenty of mint-tin-sized games whose modest dimensions are matched by their appeal. Not so with Alley Kat Games’ two compact dexterity-based titles, Tinderblox and Kittin. I’ve picked Tinderblox partly because of its cozy camping theme, but also because it just edges into the lead as my favorite.
Build a campfire out of little wooden blocks using a tiny pair of tweezers. That’s the entire teach right there. Cards tell you what orientation to place your logs in. It’s sort of a cross between reverse tiny Jenga and Operation. If you prefer something a little more frantic, Kittin sees you racing to stack kittens in various colors and poses. Both games are fast and mildly sadistic, offering plenty of amusement for spectators.
Builder’s High
The oddest, most artisanal fish on this list, Builder’s High – published by Hobby Japan – sees players racing to complete public building projects, claim contracts, and, finally, get rid of the cards in their hand. Each building you construct grants you new abilities, like discounts on future buildings, or drawing you more cards.
Builder’s High is full of interesting wrinkles like not letting you overpay when you construct buildings. Since the money comes in awkward denominations – twos, fives, and tens – you’ve got to be strategic in how you spend it. The winner is the first player to complete one of the contracts revealed at the start of the game, then empty their hand of cards, in practice a mad scramble of trying to sink money into building projects. The artwork isn’t exactly Louvre-worthy, but there’s an astonishing breadth of game here for a box that fits in your pocket.
For The Queen
What if you fancy a spot of Dungeons & Dragons while you’re hiking through the wilderness, but without the hassle of lugging dice, player sheets, rulebooks, and a fully-charged laptop? For The Queen has you covered. This improbably-streamlined roleplay experience casts you all as characters in a nameless queen’s entourage, protecting her as she heads out on a dangerous journey to broker peace.
A deck of cards provides you with probing, often spicy, questions, such as ‘How does the Queen remind you of her status while on the journey?’ and ‘What brings out the Queen’s cruelty?’ Your characters and their backstories grow organically from your answers. It shouldn’t work as well as it does, though the exquisite, diverse artwork helps. If you want a zero-prep, GM-less, portable roleplaying experience suitable for veterans and beginners alike, you can’t go wrong with this.
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