travel game 2023

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The 27 Best Travel-sized Games of 2024

Our list has brainy word teasers, multiplayer party games, and everything in between.

Best Card Games

Best board games, best word games, best party games, best for little travelers.

• Tips for Buying

Frequently Asked Questions

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Travel + Leisure / Marcus Millan

Whether you’re in need of kid-friendly games for a long road trip or some cheeky party activities to break the ice with a new group of hostel friends, it’s always worth having a couple of tried-and-true games up your sleeve while on the road.

The following travel-sized games are the best options in our book. These compact card and board games are designed to take up minimal space in luggage, while still offering maximum fun during the inevitable downtime that comes with most adventures (think layovers, long hours on a train, or rainy evenings on vacation). Here are our top picks for all types of travelers.

Mattel Games World's Smallest UNO Card Game

Why We Love It: This teeny card game will fit into the smallest of handbags.

What to Consider: The ultra-compact size might not work for those with vision problems or arthritic hands.

Uno is one of those card games that everybody already knows how to play — and, if they don’t, it takes about ten seconds to learn. That makes this game an excellent addition when backpacking abroad or vacationing with family members of all ages. This option in particular stands out as it’s the “world’s smallest” version of the popular game. The tiny cards are less than three inches tall — that’s smaller than a credit card! – and can easily fit into handbags or luggage without adding any bulk, so you’ll always have an icebreaker at the ready.

The Details : 2-10 players | Ages 7+ | 0.79 x 1.97 x 2.99 inches

Monopoly Deal

Hasbro gaming monopoly deal card game.

Why We Love It: This rendition allows you to play your favorite board game sans tabletop. 

What to Consider: It can be a bit tricky to catch on at first as there’s a lot of fast-paced action.

Monopoly night at home with friends and family can take you through a serious spectrum of emotions, especially if it’s been dragging on for hours. Then there’s Monopoly Deal. The travel-friendly version of Monopoly is cards only and much faster paced than the traditional board game. You’ll still buy and sell property, collect rent, and pass go as you do in classic Monopoly, but the compact card game can be completed in as little as 15 minutes. It’s also easier to play while at the airport or on a long train journey.

The Details : 2-5 players | Ages 8+ | 15 minutes | 0.75 x 3.62 x 5.63 inches

Mattel Games Skip-bo Card Game

Why We Love It: This family-friendly game is both easy to learn and quick to play.

What to Consider: The cards are a bit flimsy and could be more wear-resistant.

Is it just us or will Skip-bo always evoke childhood memories? The classic number sequencing game was huge in elementary school but was also in major rotation on our grandmother’s kitchen table. Not much has changed since then: the fast-paced card game is just as fun and easy to pick up and play now. It’s also relatively small which makes it great for popping into your carry-on or handbag. Note that although this game is designed for those ages 7 and up, it’s a ton of fun for adults as well as kids.

The Details: 2-6 players | Ages 7+ | 0.98 x 8.46 x 6 inches

Wild Card Games Backpacker: The Ultimate Travel Game

Why We Love It: It helps improve your skills as a traveler while learning about the world.

What to Consider: The instructions are quite long and tedious.

If you’re looking for a travel-themed game (and who doesn’t love a good theme?), then you’ll want to consider checking out Backpacker. The quick-moving travel card game is designed to mimic what it’s like to be on the road and all the potential triumphs and roadblocks that come with traversing the globe. We love that this game comes with actual fun facts about each destination so you still learn about the world around you even while playing close to home. The colorful cards are also visually appealing thanks to the high-quality photography and drawings on each one.

The Details : 2-6 players | Ages 12+ | 5.1 x 0.8 x 3.7 inches

Rubberneckers Everyone's Favorite Travel Game

Why We Love It: This game was specifically designed to be played during a road trip.

What to Consider: It’s not as exciting to play in rural areas.

Road trips are, in theory, a nonstop adventure — but, in practice, they can be long and exhausting. Rubberneckers was designed to put the fun back into long drives. The card game is essentially a game of reverse I Spy with prompts like “credit card logo” and “more than three people in a vehicle” designed to get everyone in the car looking out the window to earn points and win the title of the ultimate rubbernecker. We also appreciate the simple and easy-to-read language so younger kids can participate just as easily as older passengers.

The Details: 2 or more players | Ages 8+ | 3.5 x 1.5 x 5.5 inches

Catan Studio Catan Board Game

Why We Love It: This modern classic is a fan favorite — and, although layered, it’s easy to teach to new players.

What to Consider: There are a fair bit of pieces to keep together while on the go.

Catan is one of those games that seems complicated at first glance, but once you get it, you get it. The strategy board game takes about an hour to play out, but can go for longer — so you’ll want to budget that time while traveling. It’s also important to keep in mind that, even though this is relatively compact and travel-friendly, it still comes with several small pieces so it’s better for playing at your hotel or Airbnb rather than on a train or at the airport.

The Details: 3-4 players | Ages 10+ | 60 minutes | 11.63 x 9.5 x 3 inches

MindWare Travel Qwirkle Game

Why We Love It: This game requires smart strategy but it’s very easy to pick up and run with.

What to Consider: Some of the colors are very similar and can be hard to decipher.

We love the travel-sized Qwirkle game: not only is it super easy to learn but it’s also relatively easy to play while on the go. We love that this option is intuitive for everyone and can easily become a go-to for families with younger kids. The colorful tiles and convenient carrying case make this one great for playing while in transit — but you’ll want to keep in mind that some of the colors (especially orange and red) are very similar and can be a bit tricky to tell apart if you’re not playing in great lighting.

The Details: 2-4 players | Ages 6+ | 30-60 minutes | 5.5 x 6 x 2 inches

Hasbro Gaming Guess Who? Grab and Go Game

Why We Love It: There are only a few pieces to this classic board game.

What to Consider: The plastic is a bit flimsy and will require careful handling.

We’ll always have a soft spot for Guess Who? considering we’ve been playing it pretty much forever. The beloved guessing game requires strategic and creative thinking, but makes a particularly good travel game because there are only a few pieces to keep track of which makes it great for playing on the go, especially on a train or plane, or even while waiting to depart. We also like that the Grab and Go size is super compact and can easily fit in a backpack or carry-on without taking up too much space.

The Details: 2 players | Ages 6+ | 1.89 x 6.26 x 9.25 inches

Sorry! Road Trip Series

Why We Love It: This tiny board game is easy to set up and play on road trips or even flights.

What to Consider: Its extremely compact size is not ideal for bumpy roads or those with arthritis.

Who said you can’t play a whole darn board game while in the car? The road trip edition of Sorry! is super simple to set up and play whether you’re in an airplane cabin or the back seat of a car. The little game is designed to fold out into a full playing board on the go and doubles as its own folding carrying case when all is said and done. We love how easy it is to put together and start playing — but keep in mind, the super tiny pieces might be tricky to play with on particularly bumpy roads. 

The Details : 2-4 players | Ages 6+ | 1.00 x 11.90 x 5.85 inches

Hasbro Gaming Travel Battleship

Why We Love It: This game is quiet and slow-paced which makes it great for playing on a plane or at the airport.

What to Consider: The numerous pieces to keep track of are somewhat inconvenient.

The Grab and Go version of Battleship is small enough to throw into your carry-on bag but large enough to engage in a comfortable game without having to squint or deal with too-small game pieces. The boards and pieces are relatively simplistic compared to the full-sized Battleship, but the idea is the same. We also like that this game is pretty slow-paced which makes it a great option for playing in more quiet spaces like on the airplane or while waiting in a lounge.

The Details : 2 players | Ages 7+ | 1.89 x 6.26 x 9.25 inches

FanVince Magnetic Folding Chess Set

Why We Love It: This sturdy, magnetic game board is perfect for playing on bumpy roads and through turbulence.

What to Consider: The individual pieces feel a little flimsy in hand.

You can’t go wrong with a classic magnetic folding chess board — it’s a travel-sized game staple, afterall. The magnetic design means you don’t have to worry about your pieces falling over while going over bumpy roads or through turbulence, which is a major plus. It’s also super convenient that the board folds into its own carrying case when not in use. Keep in mind that chess is also a very quiet game, so this is absolutely perfect for bringing on a flight with you.

The Details : 2 players | Ages 8+ | 20+ minutes | 9.45 x 9.45 x 0.69 inches

Bananagrams Duel: Ultimate 2 Player Travel Game

Why We Love It: This new take on classic Bananagrams is even more portable than the original.

What to Consider: It’s sort of a watered down version of the grid game.

Bananagrams has always been one of our favorite travel games — like a real banana, it comes with its own carrying case! — but Bananagrams Duel makes it even more travel-friendly. The quick-paced dueling edition is themed and the letter pieces are die-like rather than tile-like, so you won’t see that sprawling word grid from the original edition. But this just means the game requires way less table space to play so you can easily play this one on an airplane tray table without running out of room.

The Details : 2 or more players | Ages 7+ | 10 minutes | 1.18 x 4.72 x 6.69 inches

Winning Moves Games Scrabble To-go Board Game

Why We Love It: The tiny version of Scrabble has snap-in letters that stay in place.

What to Consider: The scaled-down board isn’t as comfortable to use.

Nothing can really compare to Scrabble when it comes to group-friendly word games, but bringing the full-sized board on the road just isn’t practical. That’s why we’re huge fans of the Scrabble To-go board. The compact size makes it easy to throw in your bag while the snap-in letters mean you won’t have to worry about them flying off if you hit a pothole on the road or turbulence in the air. We also love that this one comes with its own carrying case to protect the board and pieces while traveling.

The Details : 2-4 players | Ages 8+ | 30-60 minutes | 10.75 x 10.25 x 6.88 inches

Mad Libs on the Road World's Greatest Word Game

Why We Love It: It’s easy, hilarious, and super portable to play in transit.

What to Consider: The paperback game pages aren’t reusable.

Whether you’re seven years old or 37, Mad Libs will never not be laugh-out-loud funny. Mad Libs on the Road in particular makes for a great travel-friendly option. The silly fill-in-the-blank stories are all about traveling, road trips, and summertime adventures. It’s especially convenient that Mad Libs are about the size of a paperback novel, meaning they won’t take up any space in your luggage. All you need is a pen and a couple of grammar-focused friends and you have all the makings for hours of laughs in the car and beyond.

The Details: 1 player or more | Ages 8+ | 5.25 x 0.2 x 8.38 inches

Ransom Notes The Ridiculous Word Magnet Party Game

Why We Love It: This game combines somewhat crude humor with strategy.

What to Consider: It’s definitely on the raunchy side.

Think of Ransom Notes as a somewhat crude hybrid between those poetry fridge magnets and Cards Against Humanity. You’ll get a prompt and your goal is to create a phrase using only magnets that’ll make some kind of sense to the reader. This ends up being downright hilarious in most cases — and we give the game major bonus points for being magnetic. All the pieces stay firmly in place, making it much easier to use en route to your destination.

The Details : 3 players or more | Ages 17+ | 30-90 minutes | 5.25 x 4 x 4 inches

Hasbro Gaming Classic Boggle Word Search Game

Why We Love It: This word game can even be enjoyed by only one player.

What to Consider: The secure travel lid can be tough to get on and off.

Boggle is going to be a major win in the eyes of Spelling Bee or Wordle fans (so watch out if you’re playing against them). The basic word game requires fast spelling and deduction skills; all you have to do to win is write down as many words as possible from the assortment of letters on the dice to earn the number one spot. It’s a whole lot of fun and takes up minimal space while in transit, too.

The Details : 1 player or more | Ages 8+ | 2.01 x 4.29 x 4.29 inches

Brass Monkey Bin-go Get Some Drinks Bingo Book

Brass Monkey

Why We Love It: This is great for introverts and anyone who would rather observe a party a bit removed.

What to Consider: It might be awkward to whip this out in an actual bar or restaurant.

Bin-go Get Some Drinks makes any kind of night out even more interesting, especially if you’re someone who tends to observe human behavior in social settings. The somewhat snarky bingo card is packed with the weird things you’ll see in a bar (like witnessing an obvious first date or someone taking a photo of their drink for social media) and is the perfect way for people watchers to spend the night — especially if you find yourself alone in a new city and prefer to observe the crowd over fostering friends right away.

The Details: 1 player or more | Ages 21+ 

Cards Against Humanity Tiny Cards Against Humanity Game

Why We Love It: It’s a great icebreaker in a compact and cute format.

What to Consider: These cards are tiny and might be hard for some to read.

Cards Against Humanity provides instant fun, even at the most dull parties or awkward social events, since there’s just something about dirty words in absurd contexts. That’s why the miniaturized Tiny Cards Against Humanity is such a great game to keep in your back pocket while traveling, especially if you intend on staying in hostels. (Hey, you just never know when you’ll need to pull the ultimate icebreaker out of a pocket!)

The Details : 2 players or more | Ages 17+ | 30 minutes or more | 4.44 x 2.66 x 1.97 inches

All Things Equal, Inc. Loaded Questions On The Go Card Game

Why We Love It: This card game gets conversations going while still providing friendly competition.

What to Consider: There are only so many questions, so you’ll eventually run into duplicates.

All Things Equal: Loaded Questions is one of those card games that can lead to side tangents and deeper conversation if you let it — but it’s also a great way to see how well you know your friends' minds by guessing each other’s answers to given sets of questions. This game is super travel-friendly (all you need is a few pads of paper and pens) and it’s guaranteed to evoke some serious laughs and possible side conversations as well.

The Details : 4-6 players | Ages 8+ | 3.6 x 0.8 x 5.5 inches

Exploding Kittens Card Game

Why We Love It: This card game is fast, fun, and easy to learn.

What to Consider: The rules and concepts of the game are a bit basic.

Exploding Kittens garnered a lot of attention when it was first released and it’s easy to see why. The eye-catching title and cheeky illustrations make this game instantly intriguing. As it turns out, the game is a whole lot of fun for all age groups and it can be played in fifteen minutes or less which makes it a great option for waiting at your airport gate or sneaking a quick game in before heading out to dinner.

The Details : 2-5 players | Ages 7+ | 15 minutes | 4.41 x 6.38 x 1.5 inches

What Do You Meme? Shotgun!: The Card Game for Road Trips

Why We Love It: Everyone can play in the car — even the driver.

What to Consider: It’s not quite as funny as the original What Do You Meme?.

Shotgun! was conceptualized by the same folks who gave us What Do You Meme?, which means you can expect the same level of (somewhat) boundary-pushing humor. The road trip-focused card game doesn’t come with memes or visual cues, but instead uses the sights and sounds on the road as prompts. Card prompts like “first person to say which side the gas tank is on wins a point” and “first person who gets a wave from another car wins two points” will keep everyone in the car on their toes for the drive.

The Details: 2 players or more | Ages 12+ | 1-2 hours | 1.5 x 4.5 x 6.5 inches

Singing Machine Carpool Karaoke The Mic 2.0

Why We Love It: Who wouldn’t want to pretend they’re starring in an episode of Carpool Karaoke?

What to Consider: The Bluetooth setting could be higher quality.

The Carpool Karaoke Machine was designed to make road trips a whole lot more fun. The karaoke microphone pairs with your car’s Bluetooth in order to provide a surround sound experience for all passengers involved (whether that’s good or bad, we’re not sure). The microphone can also be used with your smartphone for DIY karaoke parties at your Airbnb or hotel room — you’ll just want to be mindful of the noise levels.

The Details : 1 player or more | 3.6 x 2.1 x 10.6 inches

Hasbro Gaming Connect 4

Why We Love It: This game is simple to pick up on.

What to Consider: There are a ton of little pieces involved.

We love Connect Four — it’s a classic for a reason! The simple game is great for little ones who are still practicing spatial recognition, but honestly, it’s just as fun for adults as well. The game is relatively small (it’s less than 12 inches in length) which is enough room for little fingers to easily use but still small enough to pop into a backpack. Keep in mind, though: there are a number of little coin-sized pieces that come with this game, and they can get messy in the car.

The Details : 2 players | Ages 6+ | 20 minutes | 1.6 x 10.51 x 10.984 inches

Winning Moves Games Pass the Pigs

Why We Love It: This cheeky game is all about tumbling — it was essentially made for turbulence.

What to Consider: The game might become repetitive in smaller groups.

Pass the Pigs is hilariously simple, but there’s something about it that is so much fun. The game includes two pig dice, a dice cup, and a pig scoring guide with a scorepad. The aim of the game is to get as many points as possible by rolling the pigs into different positions like the “snouter” or the “sider.” The best part is that this game was literally made to be thrown around so even if you’re dealing with turbulence you don’t have to worry about your pieces tumbling over.

The Details : 2-7 players | Ages 7+ | 1.75 x 4 x 8.5 inches

Briarpatch I Spy Travel Card Game

Why We Love It: This game is a quiet option to play on the plane.

What to Consider: The game is somewhat solitary; not the best for groups of kids.

The travel-sized version of the classic I Spy children’s book provides endless hours of concentration and focus. The stunning visuals are entertaining in and of themselves but having to hunt for the hidden images makes it even more enjoyable. We also like that it can be played solitary and offers something relatively quiet to play while on the airplane or in other spaces where gameplay banter might not be appropriate.

The Details : 1 player or more | Ages 4+ | 0.75 x 3.75 x 5.75 inches

Taco vs. Burrito LLC Taco vs. Burrito Card Game

Why We Love It: This game was created by a kid for other kids.

What to Consider: The instructions on some cards are a little confusing.

Cheeky graphic-focused card games have become pretty popular over the past few years, but we’re still major fans of Taco vs. Burrito. It’s worth noting that the colorful (and super successful) card game was created by a seven-year-old boy with other kids in mind, but it’s just as fun for adults. The basic gameplay is easy to learn and games can be played within 15 minutes — but the action cards are quick to spice things up and add a strategic layer to the game.

The Details : 2-4 players | Ages 6+ | 15 minutes | 7 x 5 x 2 inches

Tricky Riddles for Smart Kids: 333 Difficult But Fun Riddles And Brain Teasers For Kids And Families

Why We Love It: This pack of riddles creates conversation and fosters further curiosity.

What to Consider: There are only about 300 riddles, so the deck might eventually become repetitive.

Kids who love brain teasers will get a kick out of this colorful collection of riddles designed to stump and foster curiosity. The deck is small and easy to transport (it’s about the size of a novel), but it’s packed with hundreds of riddles for kids to work through. The only thing we don’t love is that, while the deck does include lots of options, kids who are keen to work through one after another may deplete them rather quickly.

The Details : 1 player or more | 8-12 | 6 x 0.3 x 9 inches

Tips for Buying Travel-sized Games

Factor in the needed space.

You’ll want to consider the space required for your chosen game(s) and decide how much luggage space you’re able to offer up. This is where miniature grab-and-go board games and card games will come in handy. Prioritizing card games and smaller games that don’t require a board means you can more easily play your games on the move. If you need a table or flat surface for your game, playing while seated at the terminal or on a train may not be practical.

Figure out the game time

You’ll want an idea of how much time a game takes before deciding to pack it. Card games tend to be faster-paced than board games, and most can be completed in 15-30 minutes. Board games and party games can last a lot longer, continuing for up to two hours in certain cases. This can be great for lazy days at the hotel or Airbnb, but might not be the most practical for passing time at the train station.

Consider player ages

Think of the ages of the players you anticipate sharing games with. If you’re planning a backpacking trip and plan to spend time playing games at your hostel, you’ll probably be safe with just about any card or board game. If you’re meeting up with your family for a vacation, you might want to choose games that are suitable for all ages. Note that some games can be altered to be more PG by removing certain cards or phrases, but it’s best to double-check to ensure everyone in your group can participate.

What games are ideal for traveling?

The right games for your travels will greatly depend on what kind of travel you’re doing (road trip games vary greatly from late-night adult-only games, for example). But, no matter what style of travel you’re up to, you’ll want to look for games that are small enough to easily fit in your luggage without being imposing. Opt for games that don’t have many loose pieces or take up too much space when in use. Card games are your best bet if you anticipate playing on the road frequently, but travel-sized board games can also work (especially if they come in a magnetic format).

Are there travel-sized board games?

Yes! There are plenty of travel-sized board games available and many come with their own carrying case or magnetic material that further simplifies the overall travel experience. You won’t find every single board game available in a travel size, but you’ll definitely be able to find the classics from Hasbro like Clue , Monopoly , and more .

Why Trust Travel + Leisure

For this article, Travel + Leisure contributor Kaitlyn McInnis used her experience as a travel writer and former lifestyle editor as well as her own research to curate a list of the best travel-sized games available.

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41 Best Travel Games 2024: Tried & Tested

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We always make sure we carry a couple of our best travel games with us no matter what trip we’re on. Because travel isn’t all about beautiful beaches and exciting adventure.

Sometimes we need a bit of downtime and relaxation. Other times we want to get the party started. And believe it or not there are plenty of situations where we even get pretty bored (think travel delays).

We’ve always loved playing games. So for us they’re the perfect way to pass away a few hours in an airport, entertain ourselves after a long day of exploring and even make new friends.

If you’re wondering which ones should make it into your backpack, we’ve put together a list of the best travel games on the market right now.

How We Chose the Best Travel Games

The main considerations we have for choosing a game to take on the road are the game’s size, weight and portability. All of these mini travel games tick those boxes.

But most of all, to be considered one of the best travel games, they have to be awesome fun to play!

This list is broken down into helpful categories depending on what you’re looking for. It covers the best travel board games, the best travel card games, the best dice games, and the best car games for adults.

Some are self contained mini travel games. Others require a standard deck of cards. But many just need some willing players with a bit of imagination who are up for a laugh.

Our Top 5 Best Travel Games

After being taught Dobble by our young nephew, we absolutely fell in love with it!

Okay, so this one is technically a kids card game. But once you play it you’ll understand why it’s also one of the best travel games for adults.

Basic premise

Everyone has played snap as a child and Dobble takes its basic premise and elevates it to a.whole.nother.level. It’s like “snap” on steroids.

There are five different travel card games within Dobble, all of them as simple as it gets. Every card has 8 pictures on it, each with one symbol in common with every other card.

Players all go at the same time to try and spot the matching symbols and either accumulate or pass cards on to opponents depending on which game you’re playing.

You can have up to 8 players involved at a time, but it’s also one of the best travel games for 2 adults. Dobble is a good one to break down language barriers as well because it’s so simple to get.

What makes it awesome

Dobble gets pretty raucous. Shouting, snatching and even hand slapping are all unavoidable as you get swept up in the excitement. Undoubtedly one of the best mini travel games available.

Players: 2-8

Expect: rip roaring fun

Game Time: 10 minutes

Size & Weight: 2.1 x 2 x 1.2 inches, 7.4 ounces

Rules: Read here

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2. Monopoly Deal

The traditional Monopoly isn’t really a practical game to carry with you when you travel. And let’s be honest, no one actually enjoys it do they.

Come on, strip away the nostalgia and you’re left with a pretty ridiculous, never ending snorefest that could be renamed Monotony (I’m prepared for the backlash).

But the clever guys at Hasbro have reimagined one of the most iconic board games ever made as a wicked card game.

Basic premise:

It retains the fun bits of traditional Monopoly so you still play as a real estate tycoon trying to collect sets of properties.

You still have to come up with a kickass strategy, treading the line between boosting your bank balance and building your empire. And you can still go from kingpin to down and out in one swift turn of fate.

But that’s where the similarities end.

Collect property cards to complete sets and money cards to build your fortune while swapping and stealing your way to glory.

Monopoly Deal is one of the best travel card games out there. It’s fast paced, exciting and we’ve met people of various nationalities who love playing it all over the world.

Players: 2-5

Expect: rapid gameplay

Game Time: 15 minutes

Size & Weight: 0.8 x 3.6 x 5.6 inches, 4 ounces

Monopoly Deal

Alternatively known as Skull and Roses, it’s like a picture version of poker played with beautifully designed components. After one game you’ll be hooked, we guarantee it.

Each player has three circular cards with a rose on and one with a skull as well as an individual double sided game board.

Players take it in turns to place a card of their choice on the game card face down, this continues until one player decides to make a challenge.

They do that by making a guess at how many roses they can flip before hitting a skull. If you get it correct then you turn your game board over and you have to turn your game board twice to win.

You have to kid and calculate your way to victory in this straightforward game of bluff. It involves a mixture of skill, memory and luck.

This is one of the best travel games adults everywhere will enjoy playing on their adventures.

Players: 3-6

Game Time: 30 minutes

Size & Weight: 2.1 x 5.2 x 5.2 inches, 1.01 pounds

4. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

This simple game is bound to get your tongue in a twist and the party started. Anyone can play, but it hurts to win.

Cards are distributed evenly among all of the players, face down without anyone looking at them. There are 5 different cards, taco, cat, goat, cheese, and pizza – hence the game´s name.

The first player takes the first card from the top of their deck, turns it over while saying “taco”. The next player follows suit but says “cat”, the third player does the same but says “goat” and so on.

Play continues like this until the card laid matches what the person playing it says. At which point everyone tries to avoid being the last person to slap their hand down on it.

If you´re too slow your hand will end up on top of the pile of everyone else´s hands. This means you must take all of the cards underneath and put them into your deck.

But there’s a twist – the deck contains three special cards. If you pull a gorilla, you must beat your chest before slapping the pile. If you draw a groundhog card you need to tap the tabletop with both hands before slapping the pile. And if you get a narwhal you need to make a horn above your head with your hands before slapping the pile.

Any mess ups or mistakes result in the player taking the pile, so no flinching or pretending or even pausing. The winner is the first person to get rid of all their cards and then win another round with no cards in their deck.

If the name itself doesn´t make you smile then you´re dead inside. This is the simplest of games but will keep you entertained for hours. Or until your knuckles are raw from them being repeatedly slapped. This could get rowdy.

Players: 3-8

Size & Weight: 3.5 x 2.5 x 1 inches, 3.52 ounces

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

5. Bananagrams

Calling all wordsmiths – if you’re a fan of Scrabble or any similar word games then you’ll enjoy Bananagrams. It also comes in a cute banana shaped carry pouch perfect for chucking in your luggage. One of the most convenient mini travel games.

144 tiles with different letters (called the bunch) on are placed face down on the playing surface. Each player selects the same number of tiles, the exact number varies depending on how many player there are. They are placed face down in front of the respective players. There are still some remaining in the bunch.

Once everyone has their tiles, anyone can shout “split” and the game begins. Players must then turn all their tiles face up. The aim is to get rid of all your tiles by creating words, but they must all interlink like a crossword. There are no turns, each player works as quickly as possible on their own grid.

If a player uses up all their letters, they take a new letter from the bunch and shout “peel”. This means that everyone else playing must also take a tile.

If a player wants to swap a bad tile then they can return it to the bunch by shouting “dump”. However, in exchange they have to pick up 3 tiles.

Players can’t win until there are less tiles in the bunch than players. Once this happens, the first player to use up all their tiles and shout “bananagrams” wins. That’s providing all their words are legit. If there are bad spellings then they’re crowned the “rotten banana” instead.

This game is easy to learn, quick to play, and highly addictive. You don’t need to know long words, you just have to be able to string words together. It’s fun in small or large groups.

Players: 2+

Game Time: 5 minutes

Size & Weight: 9 x 3 x 3 inches, 4.8 ounces

Bananagrams

Top Tip – Want to make your travel board games even more portable? Remove the pieces from their box and put them in a smaller container like this snaplock box . Then separate different components using mini ziplocks to keep everything neat and tidy.

Best Travel Board Games

Pass the Pigs

This is a classic version of the old dice game “pigs” that uses actual miniature model pigs instead of dice. It all packs down into a small plastic case making it one of the best games for travel.

Players take it in turns to throw the pigs like dice. They then gain or lose points depending on how they land. Positions include pig-themed names like “Pig Out”, “Trotter”, and “Snouter”. Each combination means a different thing and can see players making big gains or huge losses.

A turn lasts until a player decides to stop and cash in. That’s unless they completely wipe out their current or total score before doing so. If they stop in time to accumulate a score on their turn then it’s added to their total score. The game then progresses to the next player and the first player to reach 100 points wins.

The element of luck keeps it tense as players have to decide when to stick or twist. Yet there’s still enough strategy and skill involved to make a difference. Big highs and massive lows can see you going from hero to zero and back again in quick succession.

Players: 2-4

Size & Weight: 1.8 x 4 x 8.5 inches, 0.32 ounces

Quickly becoming a classic, Codenames is an awesome game of teamwork and strategy. You need to get on the same wavelength as your teammate(s) to have any chance of cracking the puzzle. Prepare for laughs, frustration, and jubilation in equal measures.

The idea of codenames is to be the first team to get in contact with all of their secret agents. Players separate into two teams before each selecting a spymaster. The rival spymasters sit on the same side of the table, opposite their respective accomplices/field operatives. 25 codenames are then randomly selected from the deck and laid out in a 5×5 grid.

A “key” card is then chosen which reveals to the spymasters which of the agents in the grid belong to each side. In among the agents are also a number of innocent bystanders. Plus there’s an assassin who you want to avoid at all costs.

Spymasters work to enable their team to identify their own secret agents. They do this by providing them with one word clues and a number. The clues can link numerous agent’s codenames, while the number tells the team how many are linked.

For example, if the spymaster says “bottle, 3”, the team knows there are 3 agents with names in some way related to the word bottle. Operatives then make guesses as to which secret agents the spymaster is trying to direct them to.

Selecting the wrong one can have bad consequences, and if you hit the assassin that’s game over. The wins team to identify all of their secret agents first.

While it may sound complicated, when you’re playing it’s really simple and easy to follow. At heart it’s a word association game and the spy aspect just adds to the fun. Seeing the random ways that players’ minds connect words can be hilarious meaning the game is fun even when you’re not doing well.

Players: 2-8 (competitive 4-8)

Expect: tense strategy

Size & Weight: 2.8 x 6.3 x 9 inches, 1.25 pounds

Secret Hitler

Best with larger groups (the closer to 10 the funnier), Secret Hitler is a game of deceit, infiltration and conspiracy. Get your poker face on because you’re going to need to lie through your teeth to win.

Players are secretly divided into two teams of fascists and liberals, while one player gets cast as Hitler himself. Liberals have the advantage of a majority, however, they don’t know anyone else’s allegiances. The fascists on the other hand know who the other fascists are as well as who Hitler is. Hitler meanwhile begins without knowing who his allies or enemies are.

Everyone is trying to advance their agenda and gain power whether fascist or liberal. The way to do this is by winning elections and passing legislation.

To do this you have to gain allies and use them to win votes. However, because everyone is trying to gain power it can be hard to figure out who is who. Also everyone is going to lie to make other players believe they’re a liberal.

The game is won by the Liberals if they enact five liberal policies or manage to kill Hitler. The fascists win by enacting six fascist policies, or if Hitler gets elected Chancellor after three fascist policies have been enacted.

Secret Hitler is all about skullduggery and convincing people that you’re telling the truth. Never has lying to your friends and family been so much fun, and it will make you see them in a new light. It quickly gets pretty loud and boisterous so be prepared for a lively game.

Players: 5-10

Game Time: 45 minutes

Size & Weight: 14.9 x 5.8 x 2 inches, 1.9 pounds

Connect 4 Grab and Go

Connect 4 Grab and Go is exactly the same as the classic Connect 4 game, just smaller. This means it’s the perfect size to take on your travels. One of the best travel games for couples of pairs of travellers.

Each player starts with 21 checkers, one player takes red, the other yellow. You then take it in turns to place a checker into the playing grid.

The aim is to get four of your checkers lined up in a row. This can be diagonally, vertically, or horizontally.

But while you’re trying to connect your four checkers, so is your opponent. They’re also going to be blocking your attempts at the same time.

It’s simple to learn and quick to play but can also be played with some strategy. It does require a bit of concentration but is a great game to relax and unwind with that anyone can play. It was also (falsely) rumoured to have been invented by David Bowie! As if his legacy isn’t amazing enough.

Size & Weight: 1.9 x 6.3 x 9.2 inches, 7.2 ounces

Catan is nothing short of a modern day classic board game. It’s loved by everyone from families to Silicon Valley execs and for this reason makes one of the best travel games. Wherever in the world you crack the Catan box out, you’re likely to find a fellow fan.

Each player is a settler looking to establish their own outposts from scratch on the mythical island of Catan. The island is represented by the game board which is made up of 19 individual hexagons. These can be placed in virtually infinite combinations meaning you could play with a new board each time. Each hexagon has a corresponding number places on it.

Players take turns to roll two di on their turn, and the number rolled allows the corresponding hexagon to produce resources. These can be either brick, wool, ore, grain, or lumber.

Collecting these resources in certain combinations allows players to build up their settlements. You can also trade with other players if they have something you need. And watch out for the robber who stops production on the hexagon he’s on.

The aim of Catan is to get 10 victory points and you collect these mainly by building settlements or cities. There are also bonus points awarded for various other achievements like longest road or biggest army.

Catan is a game of strategy, cooperation, and skill, but you still need the roll of the dice to go your way. It’s also the original “gamers game” and helped kick off the whole board game phenomenon we have today.

Players: 3-4

Game Time: 60 minutes

Size & Weight: 11.6 x 9.5 x 3 inches, 2 pounds

Combine the best elements of poker, bingo, add a board and throw in a large dose of strategy. The result is Sequence, a classic game that’s a whole lotta fun. While there is a travel version, we’d recommend the standard version instead. Though it’s far smaller, the travel edition is a limited abridged version that’s nowhere near as good.

Players get dealt a set number of cards each, this changes depending on how many people are playing. The board has an assortment of cards printed on it. As the name suggests, the aim of the game is to create a sequence of 5 connected cards.

You do this by selecting a card from your hand on your turn and placing a marker over the corresponding card on the game board. If you get 5 connected markers then you win the game.

There’s a lot of strategy involved because you can’t simply concentrate on your own hand. You need to pay attention to your opponents and try to figure out where they are going in order to stop them. It’s simple to pick up and exciting to play.

Players: 2-12

Size & Weight: 10 x 8 x 2 inches, 1.79 pounds

Qwirkle Travel

Described as a cross between dominoes and scrabble, Qwirkle is a super simple game of pure strategy. Anyone can play, but not everyone can play well.

The game of Qwirkle consists of 108 individual tiles. Each has one of 6 different shapes printed on it in one of 6 different colours. To start each player randomly chooses 6 tiles from the tile bag.

Players must then take it in turns to lay connecting tiles in rows and columns. In order to do so you must make runs of either the same shape or the same colour with the tiles in your hands. If it´s a run of shapes, only one of each colour can appear in each row. If it´s a run of colours, only one of each shape can appear in each row.

You can lay as many tiles as you´re able to on your go, so long as they´re all connected in a straight line. Alternatively you can use your go to swap your tiles with new ones from the bag. At the end of each turn you take enough tiles to make your hand back up to 6.

Scores are awarded after each turn depending on how many tiles have been laid and how many columns they fall into. Bonus points are given for completing full lines of 6 tiles. The game ends when one player has used all their tiles and there aren´t any more in the bag to draw.

This game is unbelievably easy to understand and get going. However, as soon as you begin, you start to realise there´s some deceptively deep strategy that can be employed. The satisfaction from building big scores can be addictive

Size & Weight: 10.5 x 10.5 x 2.7 inches, 2.45 pounds

Be transported to the time of the European Renaissance as you become a merchant aiming to amass a huge fortune.

In Splendor players compete to build the biggest and most prestigious jewellery business in Europe. To do this you need to collect raw gems which you can then use to fund the building of mines.

But you then need to create ways to transport the gems, pay jewellers to cut and polish them, and also buy shops where you can sell them. Develop your cards, collect the gem chips, and watch your wealth soar. With wealth you can then attract nobles who provide you with the prestige – and points – to win the game.

This game is easy to understand and yet the more you play the more you start to discover the intricacies. While it’s very strategic the game play is still extremely quick with only 4 basic options for each player per turn.

Size & Weight: 8.5 x 2.4 x 10.8 inches, 2.41 pounds

Best Card Games for Travel

Top trumps wonders of the world.

Top Trumps is ancient, simple, and yet resoundingly good fun. There are endless versions of it from Star Wars to Harry Potter. But this Wonders of the World one is on topic when it comes to the best travel games.

All the cards in the pack are dealt out to the players face down. Players then pick up their cards, holding them so they can only see the top card. The first player picks a category from their card and reads it out along with the value next to it. All the other players take turns to read out the same value on their card.

The player with the highest value wins, gets to take all of the cards that were read out and places them at the bottom of their pile. Play carries on until one player has all the cards.

This version of the classic game Top Trumps is conveniently travel themed. Not only will you have great fun out trumping everyone, you’ll also learn a few facts that might help you win a pub quiz one day.

Game Time: 2 minutes

Size & Weight: 3.5 x 0.8 x 5.5 inches, 4 ounces

Ever wanted to design your own ginormous fireworks show? No? Me either. Regardless, this game will probably change your mind.

Hanabi is a cooperative game, which if you’re new to board games could be something novel for you. It means you work with the other players instead of competing against them to achieve a common objective. This objective is to rescue a mahoosive fireworks display that’s about to go terribly wrong.

Each player is dealt 4 or 5 cards depending on how many people are taking part. The cards come in 5 colors with a number from 1-5 on them. Players need to order them correctly in their colors from 1-5.

While this sounds simple, there’s an added complication. Players can’t look at their own cards! Instead they must display them in their hand so only the other players can see them.

Hanabi is unique and imaginative and more than likely like nothing you’ve ever played before. Plus the fact that it’s a cooperative game means there are no losers or winners as such. So it’s perfect for those who get a little too competitive to play normal games with new friends.

Expect: cooperative challenge

Size & Weight: 7 x 4.2 x 2 inches, 5.4 ounces

Exploding Kittens

Players try to avoid being an exploding kitten in this wonderfully bizarre quickfire card game. At the same time you can affect the game depending on what cards you play, putting your fellow gamers in trouble.

Each player starts the game with 4 action cards and a diffuse card. The remainder of the deck is placed face down in the middle of the table and players take turns to draw cards from it.

If someone draws an exploding kitten, they’re out of the game. Unless they’re holding a diffuse card which allows them to diffuse the bomb and carry on. They can also put the exploding kitten card back into the deck anywhere they want.

Action cards are played before players draw from the deck and allow them to do various different things. These range from stealing cards from other players to getting a sneak peek at the top 3 cards in the deck.

This game is unbelievably easy to pick up. You explode, you lose, you manage to be the last person unexploded you win. The action cards are self explanatory and the quick gameplay keeps things moving quickly. Difficult not to fall in love with the cool illustrations and whacky cards with names like “hairy potato cat”.

Size & Weight: 11.2 x 16.2 x 3.8 inches, 6.4 ounces

What do You Meme?

Memes are a normal part of everyday life now and this game makes players into meme generators. Even if you’re not funny IRL, you’ll feel like a comedian playing What do You Meme.

Each player gets dealt 10 meme cards which have humorous captions printed on them. The pile of photographs gets placed in the middle. Each round the picker gets to draw a photo card and place it in the holder. It’s then down to the other players to choose from their captions which one they think matches it to make the best meme.

Once payers have chosen all the cards are put in a pile and read out by the picker. They then get to choose the winner of the round for the funniest meme created. The winner gets to keep the photo card, play continues until one player has a pre decided number of photo cards.

This game is strictly X-rated and just the written captions themselves are hilarious. But when paired with the right photo they will have every player in stitches. This game is a laugh a minute so your cheeks are guaranteed to ache by the end.

Players: 3-20

Expect: adult laughs

Game Time: 30-90 minutes

Size & Weight: 6.5 x 4.5 x 3 inches, 1.85 pounds

What Do You Meme?

Unstable Unicorns

Love unicorns? Love strategy? This is the game for you. Funded by a huge $1.8 million kickstarter campaign, Unstable Unicorns has got a cult following of enthusiasts.

Your single aim is to build up a complete army of unicorns in order to win. But to do this you can’t play nice. You’ll need to betray your fellow players, destroy their armies and crush their dreams.

Players start with a single baby unicorn and 5 action cards. Each turn consists of four set phases where you lay cards to build your stable of unicorns, stop other people from playing, upgrade your stable, downgrade other people’s, and create general mayhem.

The winner gets the brilliant title of “Righteous Ruler of All Things Magical” and ultimate bragging rights.

Unicorns! Need I say more? Ok, Ok, the gameplay is unpredictable, the cards are hilarious and despite the cute unicorn theme, this game is about pure destruction. It gets better with every play so you’ll never get bored.

Size & Weight: 5.8 x 4 x 2 inches, 12 ounces

Forbidden Island

If you’ve ever fancied an Indiana Jones style adventure but wold prefer to do it from the confines of your armchair, Forbidden Islands is the one for you.

Each player is an adventurer with a different skill, from a pilot to an engineer. Together they must rescue 4 hidden treasures from Forbidden Island. However, the island itself is rapidly sinking meaning you have to work quickly.

Each character’s card has instructions on the back for what to do on your turn which makes it super simple to follow. Every turn allows a player to do up to three actions, and each go sees the water levels on one part of the island rising.

As the water levels rise, so does the tension and finding the treasure and getting off the island becomes more urgent. Cooperation and problem solving skills need to be employed in abundance.

Forbidden Island looks great with beautifully made components. The cooperative aspect means you play with your fellow gamers instead of against them which is refreshing. The pace of the game picks up as you play making the fun build and build and the consequences of your plays more significant. Thanks to the changing board, the game is different every time.

Size & Weight: 6.5 x 8.8 x 2.8 inches, 1.4 pounds

Like a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, the idea of Sushi Go is to build yourself a delicious plate of sushi. Don’t forget the wasabi, and definitely don’t skip pudding!

The cards get dealt out at the start of the game, the amount depending on the number of players. The round starts with each player looking at their hand and choosing one card they want to play. Once everyone has chosen, all players reveal the card they picked by placing it ace up in front of them.

Players then pass the remainder of their hand to the player on their left. They then choose one card to keep from their new hand. Play continues like this until no one has any cards left in their hand which signals the end of the round.

At this stage the played cards are added up with each one worth different points. You can also do combinations and boost scores by adding additional extras to your sushi like wasabi.  There are three rounds per game and the player with the highest score wins.

This game is as addictive as great sushi and will definitely leave you hungry for more. It’s fast paced, engaging, and fun to play. Beware though, if you’re a sushi lover you’ll definitely be craving your favourite sushi roll after playing.

Size & Weight: 4.2 x 5.8 x 1.5 inches, 8.5 ounces

Mille Bornes

A classic racing card game that sees players compete against each other to win a long distance race. You need to avoid accidents, top up your gas, and try to trip your opponents up to secure victory.

Players are racing to be the first driver to reach 1000 miles. Along the way there are obstacles that will slow you down and maybe even bring you to a complete standstill.

Each player begins with 6 cards being dealt to them. The remainder of the pack going into the middle to form the draw pile. When it’s your turn you take a card from the draw pile before playing a card into your, or someone else’s, driving zone.

These will act to speed you up or slow your opponents down. Actions range from things like flat tyres to running out of gas. Evade the hazards and keep on track while tripping up your rivals to win.

Games go at breakneck speed in this rapid fire card game. It’s easy to learn, simple and quick to play, and can be played individually or in competing teams.

Size & Weight: 4.7 x 1.5 x 4.7 inches, 8 ounces

A game that requires strategy, skill, and a touch of luck, Jaipur is all about buying low and selling high.

You and your fellow player are the two most powerful traders in Jaipur. But to secure an invite to the Maharajah’s court as his official trader you need to become undisputed top dog. To do this you must out trade your opponent.

Each player begins the game with 5 cards in their hand, between them are three camels and two merchandise cards. On their turn players can perform one action – either take take cards or sell cards.

To get what you really want you generally have to sacrifice something that your opponent really wants. This means you have to weigh up what’s going to provide you with most value in the long run.

Jaipur is quick, exciting, and is constantly throwing up little twists and turns. You can often see a player’s personality in how they play – greedily gathering commodities, slowly but steadily accumulating their rupees, or simply throwing caution to the wind.

Size & Weight: 3.8 x 1.5 x 7.8 inches, 7 ounces

These Cards Will Get You Drunk

If you enjoy a tipple and like laughing then These Cards Will Get You Drunk is for you.

Players take it in turns to draw a card from the pile and read out the instructions written on it. These will almost always result in one or more person being required to drink.

The longer it goes on and the more cut everyone gets the dinner the game becomes. Prepare for a messy night.

Zero strategy involved, zero skill required, this is a straight up party game where everyone’s a loser. It can help to break down inhibitions and get a group going making it a brilliant travel card games.

Players: 3+

Game Time: n/a

Size & Weight: 3.6 x 2.6 x 1.2 inches, 5.6 ounces

Grandpa Beck’s Cover Your Assets

Cover Your Assets is a race to be the first player to become a millionaire. But forget about playing fair, you’re going to do it by any means possible.

Each player is trying to be the first to accumulate a million dollar fortune. Sure you can save and collect and invest. But it’s much more fun to steal and cheat and screw your competitors over on your way to the top.

But watch out because your assets are also liable to be nabbed at any time. Fortunately you can also steal from other players to climb that greasy pole.

Build your fortune by stacking pairs of asset cards crisscrossed on top of each other. These can be anything from family jewels to fancy cars. And watch your back as your fellow players will have their eyes on your stacks too.

You can go from winning to losing in just a few hands and vice versa. This means that it really ain’t over til it’s over and keeps all players on their toes for the whole game. Cover Your Assets can be an emotional rollercoaster of extreme highs and rapid lows.

Players: 4-6

Size & Weight: 2.2 x 1.6 x 0.4 inches, 9.6 ounces

Cover Your Assets

Cards Against Humanity

This game definitely puts the “adult” in the best travel games for adults. Trust us, it’s strictly top shelf.

It’s a card game where the dealer reads aloud a phrase card they’ve picked at random. It has one or two words missing from the sentence written on it and the other players have to complete the sentence by choosing the best from a selection of options in their ten card hand.

The winner is chosen by the dealer so it’s wise to consider their sense of humour and just how easily offended they are. Some of the cards are best described as depraved.

Probably the least politically correct card game ever invented. You’re either gonna love it or be horrendously offended by Cards Against Humanity. Many of the jokes are pretty close to the bone and will get even the most hardened deviants wincing.

Players: 4-20

Size & Weight: 7 x 4.1 x 2.7 inches, 2.25 pounds

UNO has been around for almost 50 years but it never gets tired.

There are 108 cards in an UNO deck and while most have a number and a colour on them, some are wildcards or “pick up” cards.

The basic idea is to get rid of your cards before anyone else, as players take it in turn to put down or pick up cards that correspond with the colour or number that’s on top of the game pile.

There are missed goes, penalties and a whole lot of strategy that can affect your ability to win, and don’t forget to shout “UNO” when you’re one card away from the win or you’ll be blocked from finishing.

Frenetic, colourful and full of unexpected laughs, you can easily lose hours to its thrills. It’s  simple to pick up but hard to put down, easily making it another of the best travel games for adults.

Players: 2-10

Size & Weight: 6.2 x 1.3 x 5.2 inches, 6.61 pounds

Five Crowns

If you´re a fan of Rummy then you´ll love Five Crowns. It´s based on the same premise but takes it to another level by adding an extra suit and a roving wild card.

The object of Five Crowns is to have the lowest score after all 11 rounds are played. To do this you´re going to need to create books and runs of cards. There are also wild cards which change each hand depending on how many cards are dealt i.e 3 cards dealt means 3 is the wildcard.

Play starts with one player picking up from either the deck or the discard pile. After assessing their hand they then discarding one card they don´t want. Players take it in turns to do this until one or more players forms a full hand of runs or books.

Any cards in a player´s hand that aren´t part of a run or book are then added up to produce a score at the end of each round. Remember, you need the lowest score to win, so high scores are bad!

This game is really easy to pick up and play, rounds go quickly, but there is still a good amount of strategy you can employ. The further down the rounds you are the higher the stakes meaning even if you lose a few at the beginning you can easily be right back in it with just a couple towards the end.

Players: 1-7

Size & Weight: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1 inches, 6.4 ounces

Best Card Games for Travel With a Standard Deck

We never go anywhere without a deck of standard cards in our bag but we found out the hard way that normal ones don’t tend to stand up to the rigours of travel.

Avoid that mistake by getting a deck that comes with a protective case instead of a flimsy card box. And go one better by opting for some that won’t get ruined if they get wet around the pool or on a sticky bar table.

This set of Hoyle Waterproof Clear Playing Cards are ideal and designed to withstand anything you throw at them.

Inbetween, Outbetween

This can be played for money or chips but we´ve only ever really played it as a drinking game. It´s lightning fast and while there can be a little bit of skill involved, it´s largely down to chance.

The game is played in turns with each player being dealt a pair of cards face up with a gap in between them. That player then has to guess whether the next card drawn will be numerically within those two cards.

To do this a player says either “inbetween” or “outbetween” and then the third card is drawn. If they guess correct then their turn is over and play moves to the next player. If they guess incorrectly they have to drink. If the card drawn matches either of the cards already on the table they must drink twice.

Most people aren´t advanced enough at probability to turn the game in their favour. This means that if you´re playing it as a drinking game there tends to be quite a lot of drinking going on by everyone. This sees it get pretty raucous pretty quickly.

Players: 4+

Size & Weight: n/a

Chase the Ace

What’s more fun than watching everyone else around the table drop out on your way to glory? Royally royally screwing your play mates over as you do it.

The aim of Chase the Ace is to avoid having the lowest card at the end of each round. Play starts with the dealer dealing out a single card face down to each player including themselves.

The first player to the dealer´s left starts and can look at their card before deciding whether to swap or stick. If they choose to swap, they do so with the card of the player to the left of them.

If any player has a king they can turn this over and it prevents the player to their right from swapping with them. Once play returns to the dealer, everyone turns their cards face up.

The dealer is not allowed to swap. However, if they choose not to stick they can pick any card from the deck to try and get a higher card.

The person with the lowest card loses a life, Kings are high and Aces are low. If multiple people have the same low card they all lose. For the next round, the role of the dealer rotates to the player on the left of the previous dealer.

Generally players start off with three chips and lose one for each round they lose. The winner is the last remaining person to have any chips.

This is a great game for large groups of people. It can be played as a drinking game instead of with chips with the loser(s) drinking after every round. This is a fantastic party starter and because there are only two options per play, rounds go extremely quickly.

Calling blaggers everywhere. Convince people the hands you´re throwing down are what you say they are to literally bullshit your way to the win.

The dealer deals out the entire deck to the players, and don’t worry if they’re not evenly distributed. Some players may end up with more cards than others but it doesn’t matter for Bullshit.

The object of the game is to get rid of all your cards. Players take it in turns to discard 1 or more cards face down into a central pile. This happens in a descending sequence changing each turn. So player 1 must put down aces, moving to kings for the next player, then queens and so on.

At the same time as laying them down, players must declare the number of cards they are discarding. And this is where the fun starts. Players can lie about what they´re putting down. In fact players have to lie about what they´re putting down.

Because the cards have to go in sequence, often you have to claim to have cards you don’t in order to play. If anyone suspects foul play they can call you out by saying “bullshit”.

At this point the player being challenged must reveal their cards. If they’re telling the truth, the challenger picks up the entire deck. If they’re lying then it’s them who gets the big hand.

First player to get rid of all their cards wins.

You have free licence to lie your face off. The more audacious you are with your untruths the more funny t gets. Until you have to pick up a massive stack that is.

Crazy Eights

Eights are good and help you get rid of the rest of your hand. Which is what you need to do to be crowned winner.

Players are each dealt 5 cards unless there are only 2 players in which case they each get 7. The rest of the cards are laced face down as the draw deck. The aim is to be the first player to get rid of all your cards.

To start the dealer turns over one card from the remaining deck. Each turn consists of a player discarding one of their cards. However, it must match the preceding card in either suit or number.

For example if someone plays a 6 of clubs then the next player must play another 6 or a different club. If that’s not possible then they have to pick up from the draw pile.

The exception to this is if you’re holding an 8 which can be played on anything. Hence the name Crazy Eights. Anyone playing an 8 also gets to name what suit the next player must play.

Easy to pick up and simple to explain, Crazy Eights can also be modified to add more strategy and difficulty. For example, some variants include “special cards” that produce different actions. For example, in some versions a Queen skips a go and an ace reverses the direction of play.

Back in the day an “old maid” was a woman who had been left unmarried for so long it was unlikely to ever happen. Despite the somewhat sexist connotations, this game relies on everyone aiming to avoid the fate of being left holding the last card.

The dealer adds a single joker to the deck before dealing out the entire pack. Players then sort through their hands to identify any pairs they’re holding. These are placed face up on the table.

The player to the left of the dealer must then select a card from the dealer’s hand to put into their oen. This carries on with the player to their left and so on.

As soon as any player has a pair that must be put face up on the table with the rest of the pairs.

The game ends when one player is left holding the joker or “Old Maid”. Naturally they’re the loser.

That sinking feeling when you pick the old maid out of your neighbour’s hand is devastating. But it’s quickly eclipsed by the elation when the next player along plucks it from your fingers.

Best Dice Games

LCR Left Center Right

There´s no strategy in LCR and it´s impossible to forget the rules – the dice dictate what you do each turn. It´s fast, great fun, and sees your excitement build and fall rapidly. Brilliant entertainment for largegroups.

LCR is a game made up of just chips and dice. Unlike normal dice, in LCR they have different symbols or letters on each side that require players to do various things with their chips. A dot means you keep a chip. L means you pass one to your left. R means you pass one to your right. C means you put one in the centre pot.

Each player starts the game with 3 chips and the first player rolls the three dice. They then distribute their chips according to what the dice say. Players only roll the number of dice that corresponds to the number of chips they have, up to a maximum of 3.

So as the game continues you may be rolling 1, 2, or 3 dice depending on how you fare. Each round sees you accumulate and lose chips in rapid succession. Play continues until all of the chips but one are in the centre pot, and the person with the remaining chip is the winner.

This game is one of pure chance meaning anyone can play and it´s a great party starter, particularly with lots of people. Even when you think you´re down and out your neighbour can be forced into giving you a lifeline getting you right back in it. Play for money instead of chips and you´ll have even more invested, even if it’s just a few bucks.

Game Time: 20 minutes

Size & Weight: 4.5 x 3.5 x 1.5 inches, 3.2 ounces

This entertaining dice game is one of pure chance and can be great for large groups of people. While it can be played with standard dice, this handy travel pack comes with scoring sheets and a portable carry box.

Farkle is a supremely simple game made up of just a cup and 6 dice. Players take it in turns to roll the dice on their go. On the first roll of a turn you must roll all 6 and there´s a minimum number of points you must score to be allowed to keep them, usually 350.

Only certain dice and combinations will score you points, and if you don´t manage to bag any points that´s called a Farkle. Hitting a Farkle also ends your turn immediately and loses you any points you have already banked for that go.

Each turn can consist of one or more rolls of the dice. Players can bank scores before each further roll by leaving those dice on the table and only rolling the remainder.

The idea is to get the highest score overall, but first one player must get to a predetermined number of points. This forces sudden death and gives everyone just one more go and a final shot at winning.

There are numerous different variations of the rules so it´s important to nail down which one you´re playing before the game begins.

While it´s largely a game of chance, Farkle also pushes you to try your luck by continuing to roll in order to secure higher scores. Sometimes you´ll play safe, others you´ll be forced to gamble to score big. The higher the stakes the more exciting it gets.

Size & Weight: 4.2 x 3.6 x 3.1 inches, 5.6 ounces

This classic word game is quick, simple, and uniquely can be played on its own. It comes in a ready made plastic travel case making it one of the most suitable mini travel games.

Shake the dice up in the box and make sure they’re all settled in their grid. Next lift the lid off and turn the sand timer over to start. Players must then write down as many words of 3 or more letters as they can spot. Letters can be “chained” in virtually any direction so long as they’re touching.

Words that more than one player have don’t count, you only score for unique ones. Points are allocated depending on how long they are with longer words gaining exponentially bigger scores. The player with the highest score wins.

Because you can chain letters in weird orders it’s easy to spot different ones to other players. The game is frantic with each round lasting just a few minutes. There’s no limit on how many players can play, but it can also be played solo by trying to beat your own high score.

Players: 1+

Game Time: 3 minutes

Size & Weight: 2 x 4.3 x 4.3 inches, 7 ounces

Every roll counts for every player in this unique and engaging fast paced dice game.

Play is based around the coloured scoring cards in Qwixx. They have 4 rows in each colour numbered from either 2-12 or 12-2.

A turn consists of a player rolling all of the dice, 4 colored and 2 white. On each turn players are able to make two scores, one by adding the two white dice, the other by adding one white dice with one colour of their choice.

This number then gets crossed off in the corresponding box on the score-sheet with the white one counting as any colour you like. But once you’ve crossed a number off you’re not allowed to cross anything else in that line off that lies to the left of it.

The game continues until players can physically no longer go or they lock 2 lines. this is done by crossing off 6 numbers in the same line as well as the number furthest to the right.

Scores are then added up according to the score-sheet and the player with the highest score wins.

No one gets bored waiting around for other players to go. There’s zero downtime so everyone stays fully immersed in the game at all times. It’s also exciting and fun to play with lots of twists and turns along the way.

Size & Weight: 5.2 x 3.8 x 1.2 inches, 5.9 ounces

Best Car Games for Adults on a Road Trip

The famous name game.

Into your celebrities? Get ready to name drop like never before in this fast paced word association game.

The first player starts by saying a famous name that everyone would know. The next player has to think of another famous person whose name begins with the first letter of the last name.

If the first name has the same starting letter as the surname for example Marilyn Monroe, play switches direction.

If a player can´t think of a name, takes too long, or drops a name no one knows, they lose and have to do a forfeit.

Play has to go quickly so there are inevitably a lot of forfeits, the worse the better. The random names that people say can also be hilarious. Expect plenty of blasts from the past and Z-list celebs to crop up.

Just a Minute

If you´re the chatty type then this game could be right up your street. But can you keep on topic for a full minute?

Someone (not the driver) sets a timer on their phone for a minute and becomes the chair. The first player then has those 60 seconds to speak on a subject chosen randomly by the chair.

They have to do this without “hesitation, repetition or deviation” and the rest of the passengers are judges. If they think the speaker is taking too long, going off topic, or has repeated a word, they are able to challenge. The timer stops as soon as this happens.

If a challenge is deemed correct by the chair, they receive a point and also take over the subject for the remainder of the time. If it´s not correct then the original speaker continues.

Being the person to be speaking at the end of a minute is rewarded with a point. If a player manages to speak for the entire minute they´re rewarded with a bonus point.

This game sounds super easy but it´s unbelievably hard! Speaking for a full minute without breaking the rules is virtually impossible. But the ways that people attempt to win are hilarious and the arguments over challenges can get pretty involved.

Three Stories

Are you a great liar or do you possess a terrible poker face? Well it doesn´t matter too much in this game, it´s all about coming up with fake stories that are less believable than the truth. The more you can fool your fellow players the better chance of winning you have.

Players take in in turns to say three stories or “facts” about themselves that the other players don´t know. However, only one of them should be true.

The other players have to try and figure out which one is the true story and which two are lies. To get this they each get to ask two follow up questions.

Each player to guess right gets a point and the first to a predetermined number of points is the winner.

This is a great way to get to know your fellow road trippers a whole lot better. And regardless of how well you know them, you´ll learn some pretty surprising stuff. This game gets funny quickly and will have the whole car in stitches.

I Know Them

Fancy yourself as a bit of a story teller? This is a great game that involves some serious imagination as you build a story about someone you´ve never met or seen before in your life.

One player selects a passenger in a car that you pass and makes sure everyone gets a good look. Then they begin by “I know them…” and starting to tell a story about them.

Each player takes it in turns to make up something funny or interesting to add. Start with the basics like name, age, and occupation, then work up to the good stuff.

The more outrageous the backstory you construct the better. And if you pass them again on the road you won´t be able to resist laughing.

There are no losers or winners, just a journey into the bizarre and twisted minds of your fellow road trippers. This can go on for as long as you´re all entertained, and when you get bored simply switch target.

The Wave Game

This game takes nerves of steel, a bit of luck, and plenty of persistence. It´s time to get social on your road trip!

Players take it in turns to wave at the the occupants of each car they pass. If someone in the car waves back then they carry on, each wave back receives a point.

Bonus points are received for extra reactions. A smile is a bonus point. If someone flips you the bird you get 5 points. And if every passenger in the car waves back you get 10 bonus points.

A player´s turn is over when no one waves back. It then moves onto the next player´s turn. The winner is the person with the most points after everyone has gone. Play as many rounds as you dare.

Other people´s reactions can range from happy to play along to thoroughly pissed off. You´ll have great fun playing and may even brighten up someone else´s drive along the way.

Those are our picks for the best travel games for adults, but have you got an alternative game that you think would be perfect for stuffing in the backpack? What travel board games do you always carry with you on the road? Drop us a comment below and let us know!

Looking for more awesome gear to take on your travels? Check out these posts to find out what we recommend:

• The Best Water Bottle With Filter for Travel 2019
• Best Packing Cubes for Backpacking 2019
• The Best Towel for Travel 2019
• Best Rainy Season Clothes For Backpackers

Pin Me For Later…

***This post was originally published in February 2017 but has been completely revamped and extended to provide you with the most up to date and accurate information.***

Travel lover, professional writer and football (soccer) obsessive, James loves nothing more than getting outside and exploring little known corners of the globe. He’s also very partial to a drop of Guinness.

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Wow, I thought I knew a lot of games to play on the road. Really love Exploding Kittens and Cards Against Humanity. Have you tried PIT? That is one of our favorite games. Great list guys!

Hey Mike, yeah we’re big fans of those two as well but we have actually never played PIT!! We’ll have to get it on order and test it out to see if it needs to be added to the list 🙂

Hi Jamie and Sarah, I just googled games to take on holiday and your website came top of the list! i thought I recognized the name. Have got a couple of tips for games to take to Turkey in a couple of weeks.

Debbie Smith (Charlie’s mum)

Hi Debbie, Hope you’re well, it’s been a while! It’s always funny when people we know stumble across our site – glad you found it useful. Turkey sounds great, hope you get amazing weather and have a brilliant time. Enjoy! Take care, Jamie x

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Hi, we’re James & Sarah

Full time backpackers turned vanlifers.

We’re here to provide you with valuable travel tips, kickass destination guides & serious vanlife inspiration to help you get your travel adventures off the ground!

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27 Best Travel Games for everyone

Board games are a great way to spend meaningful time with family and friends, especially when traveling. We’ve assembled a list of the 27 Best Travel Games for 2023 and beyond including several new travel games, fun travel games for kids, travel-sized games, travel games for teens, the best travel games for adults, and some throwbacks to the classic games to play when traveling. Prepare to have fun!

The Definitive List of the Best Travel Games (updated for 2023)

In this guide to the best games for travel, we’ve selected a variety of games that make for good fun when traveling. Games are grouped into different categories including:

Best New Travel Games

Best travel games for kids.

• Travel Games for Teens

Best Travel Games for Adults

• Best Travel Games

Travel Size Games

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions from other affiliate programs as applicable. Click here to read our privacy & disclosure page .

What makes a good travel game?

There are a lot of games out there, but what is a good travel game? This requires a little more thought and is somewhat subjective, but there are a few things we can probably all agree that a top travel game should have:

• It should be fun! If the game isn’t fun, why play?
• It should be portable! No sense in bringing the Jenga game with you because it doesn’t travel well, right? Imagine playing Jenga on an airplane. Nope!
• It should be for multiple players (no solo games here). Sure, solo travelers need to have fun too, but for our list of great travel games, we’ve focused on games that are at least 2-player travel games and up.

This top list of games to play when traveling is based on these 3 important criteria, and yes, what’s fun to us, may not be fun to you…but that’s ok: you just aren’t as fun as us. Just Kidding.. .

Summary of the Games for Travel

We’ve summarized our list of the greatest games for traveling for you, below. Following this list readers will find an explanation and discussion of each game’s merits, why it’s a good game for travel and where to buy it. Happy gaming, everyone!

Coup (The Dystopian Universe)

• Monopoly Deal [All the good and none of the bad from Monopoly]
• Exploding Kittens [Fan Favorite!]

Travel Blurt

• Our Moments

Bananagrams

• What do you meme? [Good for Teens!]

Kids against Maturity

Unstable unicorns, pun intended, awkward family photos.

• Cards Against Humanity [Best Travel Game for Adults!]
• Catch Phrase Uncensored

Disturbed Friends

• Uno [The Classic Travel Game!]

Apples to Apples

• Tile-Lock Travel Scrabble

Travel Catan

• Travel sized Cribbage
• Travel Chess board

Travel Checkers

Plus a bonus game at the end!

In this section, we highlight 3 new travel games that folks are finding quite fun and enjoyable.

This spy-themed new travel game pits players against each other in a race to identify and make contact with spies using only their codenames and color-based clues. Be sure to avoid the assassin. The bigger the teams the better!

• Players : 2 teams of 4+ work best
• Why this game is fun : Enough strategy to really challenge players but fun enough to get lots of laughs.

Heads up game!

This new travel game takes a page out of Ellen’s popular game show. Players take turns guessing the words strapped to their heads based on clues from their teammates.

• Players : 2-6
• Why this game is fun : Clues can only be done in sounds…no words or gestures!

As the head of an Italian city-state try to outlast your competitors by gaining influence and clouts. It’s all about greed as you rise to power in this newly released travel game.

• Why this game is fun : “Manipulate, bluff and bribe” your way to power, the game says. How can that not be fun!?

In this section, we highlight the best travel games for kids, specifically younger kids ages 5-13. In the following section, we highlight some travel games designed for teens.

This travel game is best suited for younger travelers, but it’s easy, fun, and can be played just about anywhere. Comes with a handy tin making portability a breeze.

• Ages : 7-11 years (although we’ve played it with kids as young as 5 with no issues)
• Players : 2-8
• Why this game is fun : Simple, easy game, easy to learn, and great for kids who are usually better than the adults at this game!

Kids love this game and most adults do too (even if they don’t admit it). This game is exactly what you think it is: ask players to name random words to complete a story and then read it back to everyone while trying not to snort your soda through your nose.

• Ages : 8+ (but 5+ works too)
• Players : Any, but 2-4 works best.
• Why this game is fun : Silly words? What could go wrong? Nothing! This game brings out some hilarity and is a perfect game for a road trip or flight.

Monopoly Deal

In what is arguably the most clever take on this classic game, Monopoly Deal takes a game that’s probably too long, to begin with, and simplifies it into a 15-minute game that still retains the fun and thematic elements that make Monopoly a good game.

Pro Tip: Buy 3 packs of cards, combine them all and play super Monopoly Deal…game goes on a little longer, but it makes it even more fun!

• Players : 2-5
• Why this game is fun : This game is truly one of the best new travel games created in recent history. It makes Monopoly a much more casual experience. And the ability to steal sets from another place adds an element of zaniness that keeps the family laughing.

Exploding Kittens

With a name like Exploding Kittens, this game is either going to be horrible or amazing. Fortunately, it’s the latter. This wildly popular game has blown up (see what I did there) in popularity and it makes for a fun addition to your next trip.

• Players : from 2 all the way up to 10 players (but 5 is best)
• Why this game is fun : “It’s like UNO, except there are goats, magical enchiladas and kittens that can kill you.” – CNN

A great travel game for kids that also teaches them along the way. Hold up. Yeah, this is a pretty sweet game and perfect for traveling with kiddos. The premise of this game is simple. Someone reads out clues and people blurt out answers. Keep score on the magnetic scoreboard and let the fun begin.

• Players : 3-4
• Why this game is fun : The quick associations that kids make when they blurt things out is kinda funny!

OUR MOMENTS Kids Edition

Put the cell phones away and really get to know your kids by asking thought-provoking questions. Create listening, bonding, and teaching opportunities with your kids and really get to know them. Perfect conversation starters for long trips.

• Players : One-one-one is best (Parent w/ Kid), but you can play with a few kids at a time.
• Why this game is fun : You really get to know your kids and it’s fun to see where they are at with different ideas and concepts.

If Scrabble and a crossword puzzle had a baby, its cousin would be Bananagrams. This is a fun game though and we are big fans of any game featuring wordplay. Perfect for travel. Cooped up in a hotel? Banangram it.

• Players : 1-8
• Why this game is fun : Easy to learn and kids will have a hoot playing!

Best Travel Games for Teens

Teens are a hard bunch to please. Want to get them off TikTok for a while? It’s going to be harder than you think but here’s a few of the best travel games for teens that might just be right up their alley. Don’t worry, you are still going to have to deal with sarcasm. Can’t help you there!

What do you Meme?

To be clear, this game is for the more mature teens. It features some mature words and themes. It also features hilarity. Buy the game for your teen and then don’t play it with them. It’s a win-win all around.

• Ages : 17+ (older teens); also good game for adult travelers
• Players : 3+
• Why this game is fun : It is memes, man. And memes are probably the greatest part of the Internet!

If you like mildly inappropriate humor (silly fart jokes, etc) this game is perfect. You know, the stuff that kids actually laugh at when you aren’t around. This game is fun for older children through younger teen years.

• Ages : 8+ (but it’s best for younger teens…12-14ish.)
• Players : 4+
• Why this game is fun : The warning on the box states, “This game is not suitable for over-protective, humorless, hover-parents.” Haha…I’m in.

I am so confused. Why are there unicorns? And why are they are unstable? Should I be worried? You may not get it, but your teens will. This fun travel game for teens is an easy sell. Just buy the game and leave them alone.

• Why this game is fun : Because you get to build a Unicorn Army! Duh!

Dad Jokes make our teens roll their eyes, but I have a theory. I think they secretly enjoy them. You can prove that theory with Pun Intended which has its players guessing puns and scoring points.

• Players : 2 minimum (but 4 is a better minimum to start with for the most fun)
• Why this game is fun : This game is super punny. Too soon?

Every photo with a teenager is awkward. At least we can acknowledge that. This particular iteration of the game ties funny, embarrassing photos of random people with movie lines. Players must think on their feet and match the caption with the pic.

• Players : 4-8
• Why this game is fun : Because funny pictures of old people is funny. Oh, wait, are we going to be in a game someday?? Sigh…

It’s time for the grown-ups to play! Grab your wine glass and pick one of these best travel games for adults and get ready. Pro tip: if you use Zoom, Facetime, or Hangouts and you each have your own copy of the game you can still play many of these games even if you are not in the same room together.

Cards against Humanity

The grown-up version of Apples to Apples. Be prepared to be offended on multiple levels. Also, be prepared to laugh your butt off. Perfect for a grown-up vacation or road trip with a fellow couple who’s also got a dark sense of humor. It’s our opinion that this is one of the best travel board games for adults.

• Ages : Adults
• Players : at least 4, but 6-8 is the sweet spot
• Why this game is fun : Dark humor is the best!

Bullshit Game

The bluffing game: how good is your poker face? If you suspect your fellow player hit the bullshit button.

• Players : 4-6
• Why this game is fun : Hitting a button that announces bullshit is great. Plus you could use it in other parts of your life like when your kids start BS’ng you…just saying.

Catchphrase uncensored!

This game stresses people out! Grab it, guess it, and pass it the heck on to the next person. This version, however, has some adult themes…uncensored. Awesome.

• Why this game is fun : Uncensored stress? What could go wrong?

This is the worst game ever made. It literally says that in their marketing. 250 disturbing questions…what could possibly go wrong!?!

• Players : Up to 10
• Why this game is fun : The best humor is found in offense and this game has a bundle of it.

Best Travel Board Games – the rest including some old favorites

What would we do without the classics? Those tried and true games we played growing up. Maybe it was in a hotel on your Texas road trip, or at the airport gate as you waited to board the plane for your trip to Hawaii. These travel games are the go-to travel games that are always fun for all ages, all the time.

How many times have you seen a family huddled around an airport gate waiting for a flight and playing Uno? Probably a lot because Uno is the perfect travel game for kids, families, adults, teens, etc. It’s simple, portable, easy to learn, easy to play, and just enough fun to not bore the hardcore gamers.

• Ages : 12+ (but honestly this is like 6 and up)
• Why this game is fun : Draw 4 baby!

This is a classic family game that travels pretty well too. It’s easy for most ages to play and can help teach the young ones some strategy and math along the way.

• Players : 2+
• Why this game is fun : Math, dice, luck, strategy, etc.

This classic game is a family-friendly travel game that is easy to learn, easy to play, and a bushel of fun. Take it on the road with you and let the good times roll.

• Why this game is fun : The fun is really in figuring out what the picker is likely to pick based on what you know about them NOT what the right answer to the prompt is.

Ever played a game of magnetic chess on a chessboard so small it fits in your back pocket? Travel size games are a hugely popular niche and we’ve highlighted a few of them here for you. These games include magnetic travel games, compact board games, small board games for travel, and more.

Travel Scrabble – your pieces won’t be a mess when you travel!

Bring this fun game on the road with you without having to worry about losing tiles. This travel Scrabble set includes magnetic tiles and easily fits into your carry-on.

• Ages : 8+ (but 10+ is better as they have a much deeper grasp of vocabulary).
• Players : 2
• Why this game is fun : Scabble is always fun. Who doesn’t like impressing your friends and family with your vast knowledge of big words (and small words too!)?

Before there was Age of Empires there was Catan. The world-building and resource-hoarding board game is possibly the best travel game ever created. Here it is in all its glory but in the perfect travel size format.

• Players : 2-4
• Why this game is fun : Trade, build, settle! The Catan slogan says it all. This is a longer game, but definitely, a strategic thought-provoking game and perfect for travel.

Travel Sized Cribbage Game

Cribbage is one of the most fun games you can play and if you choose to play cuthroat style it’s even more fun. Use this travel-sized cribbage game to feed your cribbage habit.

• Why this game is fun : It’s cribbage! A classic game for math-inclined card experts. Strategy, math, and fun.

Travel Chess

This portable travel chess set is the perfect thinking game for your next trip. A tried and true game, chess is always a great game for slightly older kids and up.

• Why this game is fun : A thinking game!

Here is your classic checkers game, in travel-sized format. Comes with magnetic checkers that are perfect for using during a trip. Magnetic travel games are a throwback to a different era too. Cheap, yet fun, they help us reminisce about a different time in our lives. This set, however, isn’t too bad.

• Why this game is fun : It’s checkers! Who doesn’t love this fun game?

Last but not least…a deck of cards is arguably the best game for traveling because you can take it anywhere with you!

Some people suggest there’s an infinite number of games you can play with a deck of cards . Perhaps that’s true, perhaps not, but with a deck of cards, your travel game options are pretty close to unlimited. Here are 40 games to play with a deck of cards while traveling .

More Games to Play while Traveling (including in a car)

If board games are not your cup of team, here are a few more fun games to play while traveling that don’t involve boards. Remember the alphabet game? Here are a few other ideas with links on how to play:

• Name the Most – Pick a category (say fast food companies) and challenge someone: “I can name 9 fast food companies” Then see if you can beat that score. See the full rules here .
• The Alphabet Game – You know how to play this game…which is why it’s probably one of the top travel games of all time. We’ve all played it and it’s fun…for a while anyway.
• I Spy – A fun game to play in a car or on an airplane that can eat up some time!

What’s your favorite road trip game? Drop us a comment or tweet us!

Affiliate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. I may also earn commissions from other affiliate programs as applicable.

Jeremy Ballou is the editor of the CBoardingGroup.com and a long-time writer in both the travel and tech industry. Most days he's in thinking about travel or writing about it.

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I am gonna play a few of them. I just love to travel. I kinda get bore, so I hope these games add some spice to my free time.

wow! I love playing a game while traveling and its relive our stress .

https://www.expresscouriercars.co.uk/

I love playing games while travelling. it makes travel enjoyable and fun. thanks for suggesting these fantastic games.

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Home » Gear » best travel games

Best Travel Games – Entertainment on the Go

Travel inherently means downtime. There’s waiting for transport to depart, the relocating bit, and a myriad of other periods of time when you can’t do much more than wait. How do you fill this time? You could impatiently look at your watch, stare into space, read a book – or enjoy your time by playing a travel game!

There are a whole host of travel games out there, and whatever your tastes you’re sure to find one that meets your needs! Whether you’re looking for the top travel size games for adults or maybe something for the kids, we’ve got it all covered.

Want to find out then? Simple – read on!

Quick Answer: The Best Travel Games

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• Best pick travel game – Bananagrams
• Best travel board game – Travel Monopoly
• Best travel card game – Exploding Kittens
• Best travel games for adults – Cards Against Humanity
• Best travel game for couples – The Date Game That’s Actually Fun
• Best travel games for flights – Boggle
• Best travel games for road trips – Battleship Grab & Go
• Best travel games for families – Dobble
• Best travel game for kids – Pass the Pigs
• Best travel game for pre-schoolers – Buckle Toy Bizzy
• Best travel game for 2 people – Connect 4 Grab & Go
• Best travel game for groups – Farkle

Bananagrams

• > Lightweight
• > Needs just 2 players

Travel Monopoly

• > Self-adhesive board
• > Up to six players

Exploding Kittens

• > Easy to understand rules
• > Small to pack

Cards Against Humanity

• > Strictly for adults
• > 4-20 players

The Date Game That’s Actually Fun

• > Includes all you need to play
• > Best played as a couple

• > All the parts kept in a carry case
• > Can be played for just 3 minutes

Battleship Grab & Go

• > No need to pass tokens between players
• > Travel friendly

• > Game for almost all ages
• > Metal carry tin

Pass the Pigs

• > Doesn’t require adult supervision
• > Simple to understand

Buckle Toy Bizzy

• > Specifically designed for pre-school children
• > Educational

Connect 4 Grab & Go

• > Easy to set up

• > Perfect for large groups
• > Games can be varied in length

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Bananagrams is a firm favorite for those in the know, is easy to set up and play anywhere, and adds little weight to your kid’s backpack . A word-based game, it consists of 144 Scrabble-like letter tiles, with some doled out to players and the rest left in a central ‘bunch’. The aim of the game is to use up all your tiles in creating interconnecting words – rather like a crossword grid. There are no turns to be taken, but each player working on their own grid as quickly as possible, making it a fast-paced and very addictive game. Requiring just two players, it’s also possible to play with anyone from reading age upwards.

• Lightweight
• Needs just 2 players
• From reading age upwards
• Tiles could get lost
• Can’t be played alone
• Not for pre-schoolers

Is Bananagrams for me?

If you’re looking for a travel game that’s going to keep you entertained without needing a large amount of baggage space, Bananagrams could be for you! Scrabble fans and lovers of word games will definitely enjoy games, which at a minimum of five minutes in length, can be played at almost any time!

Our team swear by Bananagrams for their trips as they find it to be super fun, engaging, educational and most importantly, it weighs hardly anything and takes up no room at all in their bags. They also love how simple the game is to play and pick up too.

Travel Monopoly plays in exactly the same way as standard Monopoly, and the world’s favorite board game needs very little introduction! The small board folds in half so that the entire game takes up not much more space than a paperback book, and doesn’t weigh much more either (just 300g in fact), while a ‘self-adhesive’ board ensure counters don’t fall about the place at the first elbow nudge or spot of turbulence on an aircraft. With enough miniature versions of the traditional player pieces to make this a six-player game (with a minimum of two), it’s ideal for families, while the average game time of 45 minutes makes it a great distraction for airport waits.

• Self-adhesive board
• Up to six players
• Playing time of around 45 minutes
• Minimum 2 players
• Small cards/pieces could get lost
• Age range of 8+

Is Travel Monopoly for me?

Long waits and long journeys don’t need to feel like purgatory with Travel Monopoly in hand. Its 45-minute average playing time will see the time pass all the quicker, while the self-adhesive board helps the counters stay in place however bumpy the journey might be!

Our team are split on whether Monopoly is a good idea on a trip or not! They love the mini set up which plays pretty much the same as the bigger version and packs down pretty light. Some of them just wonder if it might cause a mid-flight emergency landing if things kick off!

Adored by those who have played it, Exploding Kittens is as whimsical as its name might suggest. A rapid-fire card game, the aim is to avoid picking an exploding kitten from the stack of face-down cards, while action cards add to the peril by giving sneak peeks and mixing up the pack in various ways. No bigger than a pack of playing cards (out of the box), Exploding Kittens is perhaps one of the easiest games to take traveling. It’s suitable for 2-5 players of more or less any age, with each individual game lasting around 15 minutes.

• Quick to play
• Easy to understand rules
• Small to pack
• Family-friendly
• Not for single players
• Maximum 5 players
• Cards could get lost
• Games last 15 minutes

Is Exploding Kittens for me?

A quick action family-friendly card game if ever there was one, Exploding Kittens so wonderfully bizarre, kids will love it, while the easy-to-understand rules mean even grandma and granddad can get involved! Small and lightweight too, this is an easy travel game to slip into a pocket for those times you need a little entertainment.

Exploding Kittens is a big hit amongst the team and they love how fun and easy to play it is. The game is also super light and portable meaning it can fit into pretty much any backpack without adding any extra weight. They also like how the playing area for the game is really compact too meaning you could play it on train or plane trays.

Certainly not a travel game for the kiddos, Cards Against Humanity at its best is rude, offensive, and potentially libellous too. So how’s it work? It’s simple really. The dealer reads out an incomplete phrase, which each player tries to complete in turn using words found on cards they’ve been dealt in a hand. It’s the dealer who decides the winner of each round, meaning the winner can be the most outrageous, most poetical, or most polite. A game for up to 20 players, it soon develops a party atmosphere! It’s one of the best adult travel games for sure.

• Strictly for adults
• Simple rules
• 4-20 players
• Easy to pack
• Requires a minimum 4 players
• Not for the easily offended!
• Not for public areas either!
• Game time of around 45 minutes

Is Cards Against Humanity for me?

Definitely not if you’re under 18 or easily offended, but taking that into account, Cards Against Humanity is what could be defined as a right-rollicking travel game, made all the better by the fact you can get up to 20 people playing at the same time.

Our team loves Cards Against Humanity and rate it as one of their best travel games for adults. The game is perfect for getting out at the hostel and breaking the ice. The only drawback is that the game is a little heavier compared to some of the others on the list. But it’s probably the most fun!

The premise of The Date Game That’s Actually Fun is pretty simple – the 330 questions are intended to test how well you know your partner! Though we can see how this could well lead to an argument or two, it’s also a great way of getting to know your other half better and passing the dead time of travel.

The Date Game That’s Actually Fun comes with everything you need to play the game on the move, with 2 dice and 75 prompt cards, across six different categories so you can really get to know your other half.

• Get to know your partner better
• Includes all you need to play
• Best played as a couple
• Number of questions limits playability
• Good for couples getting to know each other
• Compact and lightweight
• Could lead to arguments!

Is The Date Game That’s Actually Fun for me?

Certainly a travel game given its pocket size and weight, The Date Game That’s Actually Fun is a fun way for a couple to pass the time, or for hen/bachelorette groups, in particular, to get the party started. Hopefully, you know your partner well enough that it doesn’t lead to angry recriminations!

Our team felt this was also one of their favourite travel games for adults and kids alike with the addition of the different categories questions. They felt it was perfect for a bit of fun on the road especially when there is only the two of you.

The travel version of this word game is just as easy to play on an aircraft as the original is to play at home. Give the box a quick shake to mix up and settle the letter-inscribed dice within, open up the box, and turn over the sand timer. Each player must then create as many words as they can from the revealed letters, akin to a word search. Obscure words are best, since (infuriatingly) any word spotted by more than one player doesn’t count! But what’s great about this game is that you can play it for as little or as much time as you like (each round lasts just two minutes or so), and can even play alone!

• All the parts kept in a carry case
• Can be played for just 3 minutes
• Can be played with one player
• Infinite number of players
• Dice shaking could irritate other passengers
• Carry case lid isn’t hinged
• No note paper included

Is Boggle for me?

If you enjoy word searches or other travel games such as Bananagrams, you’re going to enjoy Boggle too! Ideal for a flight because of its compact size and simple gameplay, it also has an almost infinite number of letter combinations, that will keep you busy for hours!

Our team feel this is their best game for travel if the size is one of your main concerns. They love how compact and light the game is with all the parts also being super hard-wearing. They also love that the game itself takes up hardly any room in use and uses the box as its playing area.

Battleship Grab & Go

What makes Battleship Grab & Go so good for road trips? Well, it one of the few travel games that don’t require either a communal aspect (a deck of cards or bag of letter tiles) or the need to pass tokens between players. For anyone who doesn’t already know, this two-player (or two-team) game links guesswork with skill to track down the coordinates of each ship in the other player’s navy. The two playing trays are designed in such a way that pegs are firmly placed and can’t get shaken out of place whatever road obstacles you might come across!

• No ‘communal aspect’
• No need to pass tokens between players
• Travel-friendly
• Easy to play
• For two players/teams
• For ages 7+
• Pegs a little fiddly

Is Battleship Grab & Go for me?

Road trips mean plenty of time in the confines of a vehicle where it’s difficult to reach a communal pile of cards or letters, and can be hard to pass tokens between players too! Battleship Grab & Go has no need for these game aspects, and is specifically designed for use on the road!

Battleship is an absolute classic and our team loves it! Many of them have fond memories of playing it as kids. The team liked that this edition was made from durable materials and included two self-enclosed playing boards that keep all the pieces organised.

A card-based travel game aimed at children but still very playable by adults, there’s little to have to carry with Dobble, making it a great option for families who already have more than enough baggage with them! Essentially a version of ‘snap’ built for the twenty-first century, five different games can be played with the 55 card Dobble pack. The most basic sees players reveal one card at a time, in an attempt to match images between cards – each one has 8 different images of various sizes to make it extra tricky! The player with the most cards at the end of the pack wins!

• Game for almost all ages
• 2-8 players
• Metal carry tin
• Not suitable for pre-schoolers
• Cannot be played alone
• Game time of 10 minutes
• Won’t help teach literacy

Is Dobble for me?

This fun, fast, and sometimes raucous travel game can be played by anyone in the family old enough to be able to recognize different images (with another version available for younger children too). Educational and enjoyable to play, Dobble is a marvellous way of having fun as a family!

Our team are big fans of Dobble, especially for games nights in the hostel. They love that it comes in a metal box that keeps the cards safe when it’s thrown in their packs. The only thing they did say is that this game can get pretty energetic and rowdy, so maybe not ideal for enclosed spaces!

If you’re after a game that the kids can play on their own without the supervision or input of a tired-out adult, reach for Pass the Pigs! Based on the traditional game of ‘pigs’ that uses the roll of a pair of dice to determine points, this version sees kids drop small model pigs (that they’ll love in any case) onto the playing board, which is made up of several squares which can take or give points. The trick is knowing when to stop or play on (all down to luck of course), which keeps the game fresh and risky time after time!

• Doesn’t require adult supervision
• Simple to understand
• Very small to pack
• 2-4 players
• For reading age kids
• Game time of 30 minutes
• Pigs could get lost

Is Pass the Pigs for me?

The lack of a skill requirement means Pass the Pigs is suitable for a child of just about any age (although the board does include some writing). It’s also one of those games where you can leave them to it for a few minutes without supervision. It’s also small to pack and weighs very little, making it a good choice for traveling families!

The team felt this was a super fun game, especially for kids. They like that the pieces are made from durable and hard-wearing material and their box is strong enough to cope with the rigours of travel. They did feel it could get a bit tedious for the adults after a while though.

Specifically designed to be attractive to pre-schoolers, the upper side of the Buckle Toy Bizzle is decorated with a bright and cheerful face, while the underside has tabs for numbers 1 to 5 which lift up to reveal a series of stitched animals. Stretching out from this soft central section are 6 colorful child-friendly buckles of different sorts to help develop a pre-schoolers motor, cognitive, and problem-solving skills without even realizing it. A zip pocket gives a further reason why the child would love to have this around, while its 6 x 6 inch size and fabric construction makes it very easy to travel with, however far you’re heading.

• Specifically designed for pre-school children
• Brightly colored
• Educational
• Small in size
• For 1-4 years of age
• For one player
• No alternate games to play
• Small danger of catching skin in clips

Is Buckle Toy Bizzy for me?

Good, educational travel toys for pre-schoolers are difficult to come by, and let’s face it, if you intend on traveling you definitely need something to keep these young minds occupied! Brightly colored, and with little extras such as the hidden animals, Bizzy could be your child’s favorite for months to come.

The team felt this toy was super well made, which is essential when it comes to something designed for toddlers! The game is small and light enough to fit easily inside a backpack whilst offering a surprising amount of different colours, numbers, textures and noises to keep the little ones distracted! They also love that you can attach it to a backpack or the back of a seat too.

Connect 4 Grab & Go

Even if the name of Connect 4 doesn’t ring a bell right away, we suspect you’ll soon recognize its bright blue plastic frame and red and yellow counters. Connect 4 Grab & Go is the same as the original game, but smaller in size and with handy attached trays in which to place the counters. If you don’t immediately remember how to play, you’re simply trying to drop the counters into the frame in such a way that the result is a line of four consecutive counters of the same color – a little like an expanded version of noughts and crosses.

• Smaller version of a favourite
• Simple to play
• Easy to set up
• For just two players
• Counters can get lost
• Little variation in the game
• Playing time of 10 minutes

Is Connect 4 Grab & Go for me?

This simple, near vintage, travel game is easy to set up and perhaps even easier to play. With an average playing time of 10 minutes, it can be brought out even during short waits, while you’ll be surprised how addictive a game it can become!

Our team felt this was one of the best travel games for 2 adults or kids. This classic game is easy to get the hang of and offers hours of fun! The travel edition is super small and being plastic it’s both light and hard-wearing.

Finding a travel game suitable for a larger group would be difficult if it wasn’t for Farkle. Best described as the dice game Yahtzee built into a larger game, it can be played by an almost limitless number of players due to the fact each person takes turns shaking the six dice. With only specific dice combinations giving a player points nothing is guaranteed, while everything can be lost if you hit the Farkle combination. The winner is simply the person who reaches the winning points margin first – and as this can be as large or as small as you want, games can fit into whatever time you have free!

• Perfect for large groups
• Made in the UK
• Games can be varied in length
• Dice can get lost
• For ages 8+
• No skill required
• Dice quite small

Is Farkle for me?

If you’re looking for a game that can absorb almost any number of players (simply use more than one score sheet for larger groups – or draw your own) and doesn’t require skill or any complicated rules (we’re looking at you, Monopoly) Farkle is probably the game for you!

The team rate this game highly for travelling with it being so small and light. Another bonus for solo travellers or couples is that it works well with one or two people which is pretty rare, even rarer is that equally, you can play it with a big group. The team also feel the replayability is much bigger than many other games on the list.

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Reading the instructions and you might think Codenames is the most complicated travel game ever invented, but get stuck in and you’ll soon realize it’s not as difficult as it at first sounds! The aim of the game is to uncover all of each team’s secret agents, hidden within a field of possibles that includes ordinary bystanders and a very deadly assassin. But really, this is a game of word association, with clues given by a spymaster to their team linked in some way to the agents they are looking for. With so many combinations possible, you can play this game almost endlessly, with different combinations of team members making for very different results!

• Simple at heart
• Close to a traditional board game (without the board)
• Can be played almost endlessly
• Better with 4+ players

Is Codenames for me?

If you’re looking for a travel game that involves a little more skill and thought than the simple chance of something like Farkle, go for Codenames! This competitive and fun travel game will have you second-guessing every word given by your spymaster in the attempt to identify your undercover agents.

Codenames is one of my personal favourite games, I love how frustrating and fun it is anticipating your partners answer or trying to find a tenuous link between the cards! The game consists of just cards so it’s easy to take out of the box as we have and throw it in a sandwich bag for your travels. It lays flat and weight almost nothing. However, the game does need more room than a plane tray usually affords.

The traditional stylings of the box might not look much, but bear with us, for Catan is a big hit with everyone that plays it! Credited with igniting the recent craze for board games, Catan requires skill, strategy, and a little bit of cooperation between players too. The ultimate aim is to reach ten victory points and to do this each player begins building their own settlement through farming, trading, and other choices. Along the way, each player needs to watch out for the robber, who stops development of the settlements he’s landed on!

• Almost infinite playing board
• Suitable for all the family
• Games last around an hour
• Not simply luck
• Requires space for the board
• Just 3-4 players
• Lots of small parts

Is Catan for me?

Want something more than a travel game of chance and luck? Catan meets this need, with its requirement for careful consideration and strategy. It also emphasizes the need for cooperation, which is great for children and has an almost infinite playing board thanks to its jigsaw-like setup.

Catan is a classic and it’s one of my favourite games. The full-sized edition, whilst a surefire hit in the hostels, might just be a little on the large and heavy side unless you’re travelling in a car or campervan. However, there are smaller versions available where two players can play too.

Sequence Travel Edition

Made for travel, Sequence Travel Edition combines the basic premise of a number of games including Connect4 and poker into one large board-based travel game. The board has cleverly been placed within the lid of the plastic carry case of this travel edition and pegs that slot into holes replace the traditional chips used so that players don’t lose their place. Even the cards used in a miniature pack for travel, while the game itself is simple enough that children will be readily able to play. So what’s it all about? Fundamentally, it’s about connecting up a sequence of 5 cards in various ways that will keep your mind busy over and over again!

• Special travel edition
• Can be played by children
• Pegs can be a little fiddly
• Two-player version

Is Sequence Travel Edition for me?

Those who have played the full-sized version of Sequence might be a little unimpressed by the Travel Edition, however, for a game that will keep children and adults entertained for half an hour or more, we still rate Sequence Travel Edition as a fine travel game!

Our team felt this was a pretty fun little game that impressed them with its clever design where it was played inside its own plastic container. It meant it was compact and light and keeping all the various parts together wasn’t an issue. Most importantly, it could also be played easily on a plane, train or bus tray table.

Qwirkle Travel

The colorful playing pieces of Qwirkle Travel play rather like dominoes on steroids. The aim is to place connecting tiles next to each other, but instead of tiles comprising numbers, they are of various shapes and colors. An orange square can be placed next to a red square, which can be followed by a red circle, for instance. And to make it slightly more complicated, each color can only appear in a row once! The winner of each round is the player that has put down the most tiles, in the most rows, so some strategy is needed too.

• Travel version of the popular game
• Good for children and adults to play together
• One of the heavier games on our list
• For just 2-4 players
• Lots of small pieces to lose

Is Qwirkle Travel for me?

Easy to understand, but requiring enough strategy to keep players entertained, Qwirkle Travel is family fun at its very best. Though it can be a rapid-fire game, the thought required also means a game can last 45 minutes – an ideal length of time for many travel experiences.

Our team loves that this is one of those simple yet complex games where you can really get stuck in and engaged in the game. It really passes the time well on long trips with the level of concentration needed! They also feel that the bag and pieces are pretty robust too and like that it can be played with 2 people.

Top Trumps Wonders of the World

If you don’t already know how Top Trumps works, where have you been? Nothing to do with the 45 th president of the United States (that we know of), the Top Trumps deck of cards is divided among the players, who try and beat the other players by besting them on one of the card’s selected categories. What makes the Wonders of the World version particularly relevant to travel is its world theme, with plenty of intriguing facts to keep everyone paying attention while the game goes on. And that game goes on right up until the time when one player holds all the cards!

• Games can last as little as 2 minutes
• Easy to travel with
• Great for kids
• Travel themed
• Limited number of cards
• Best with 4 players

Is Top Trumps Wonders of the World for me?

A particularly good choice if you’re looking to drill some useful facts about the world into your children without them realizing it (such as the height of Mount Everest), Top Trumps Wonders of the World is also easy to travel with, and argument free – since all the facts are written down! Perfect!

Top Trumps has been a hit with me and my partner since we first met each other as teenagers! We’ve collected heaps of different versions but of course, as avid travellers, this version is a firm favourite. The game is simple, filled with interesting facts and fun to play. The cards take up hardly any room and the plastic case keeps them in good condition on the road.

Unstable Unicorns

The Exploding Kittens for the millennial age, Unstable Unicorns is as barmy a card-based game as they come! How does a player go about winning? By building up a powerful unicorn army of course! And you can’t do this without a little bit (alright, a lot) of friendly betrayal of the other players, seeing to the destruction of their own unicorn armies. With wonderfully vibrant imagery and an unpredictability no other travel game can match, Unstable Unicorns definitely belongs to the ‘once tried never forgotten’ list of travel games!

• Great design
• Ridiculously unpredictable
• Up to 8 can play
• 30-45 minutes playing time
• For ages 14+
• Higher price point
• Requires table space

Is Unstable Unicorns for me?

A great way to spend some quality time with your teens, or just a group of friends, Unstable Unicorns is like no other card-based game you will ever have come across. Quirky, cute, and evilly vicious in equal turn, up to 8 can play, with games lasting right up to 45 minutes.

Our team absolutely loves this game from the hilarious illustrations to the cunning gameplay, it’s got it all! It’s a huge hit at the hostel and really gets everyone interacting and having fun from the off. They also like that there are various different versions and expansion packs too so the game has huge replayability.

Mille Bornes

With a strapline of ‘the classic racing game,’ you can know a little of what to expect from this card-based travel game. A Monopoly for cars, players need to fill up on petrol, avoid accidents, and block the progress of other players to reach the end of the 1000-mile journey. Ironically perhaps, this is actually an incredibly fast-paced game, so pay attention! It’s also very easy to learn the rules, so you’ll be up to speed (pardon the pun) and playing before you know it!

• Travel version of a classic travel game
• Easy to understand
• Cards can be lost
• High price point

Is Mille Bornes for me?

Looking for an alternative to Monopoly? Mille Bornes fills that niche, without the need for a board. The resulting card-based game is a classic, particularly in its birthplace of France. Nothing gets classic status without reason, so why not splash out and try Mille Bornes for yourself?

Our team love the unique premise of this game and felt it offered something pretty different compared to most card games out there. The retro metal packaging was also great for travellers because it was still pretty light but made sure all the pieces stayed together and undamaged whilst in their backpacks.

Another classic travel game is Uno. Developed in the early 1970s, it is as fresh today as when it was first invented, which says a lot about the simple elegance of this card game. Using a specially printed pack of 108 cards, the majority of which comprise a color and number, the basic aim is to be the first player to shed all their cards through picking up and putting down cards based on what’s face up in a central pile. It’s a little more complex than that, with skips and wild cards among other features, and the need to shout ‘Uno!’ not when you’ve won, but when you have a single card left in your hand!

• A classic game
• 2-10 players
• 45 minute game time

Is Uno for me?

Uno rapidly becomes addictive, which is exactly what you should be looking for in a travel game when you have a lot of dead time to fill up without getting bored! Lightweight and easy to pack, and suitable for everyone from the age of seven upwards, your career as an Uno champion could start today!

Uno! What can we say, it’s a classic and a game all of our team needed no introduction to! I think we’ve all got a traumatic Uno story, ending up with a stack of cards just a few rounds after forgetting to shout “Uno”! But no one can deny the fun of this simple but tactical game that packs down super small and light.

An award-winning family strategy game, OK Play is durable, waterproof (being plastic), and a good size for travel, although the small counters might be troublesome for some families to keep hold of. Once you’ve chosen your particular color of tiles – held neatly on their own stack until they are needed – it’s simply a matter of placing down one tile at a time until one of the players manages to sneak in a row of five counters in the horizonal, vertical, or diagonal. Recommended for children from the age of 8 upwards, four different color stacks of counters make it suitable for 2-4 players.

• Award-winning
• Designed for travel
• Counters could get lost
• Requires a playing table
• For only 2-4 players
• Slightly awkward shape for packing

Is OK Play for me?

This counter game is so easy to play you won’t bore children with a long list of rules and regulations, yet at the same time is flexible enough to allow continued development of the skills and strategies required to make it a success as a player. Its durability and waterproof nature also help to make it an all-around good family travel game!

This game was new to most of our testers but they really loved how simple, fast-paced and addictive it was. They also felt when it came to travel games, this one was probably the most perfectly designed. It was super compact, so light and really hard to break!

Now, you  could spend a fat chunk of $$$ on the WRONG present for someone. Wrong size hiking boots, wrong fit backpack, wrong shape sleeping bag… As any adventurer will tell you, gear is a personal choice.

So give the adventurer in your life the gift of convenience: buy them an REI Co-op gift card!  REI is The Broke Backpacker’s retailer of choice for ALL things outdoors, and an REI gift card is the perfect present you can buy from them. And then you won’t have to keep the receipt. 😉

What makes a game the best travel game for you, your family, and your friends? Here are some helpful hints and tips to guide you!

Packability

You’re probably already struggling to fit everything you want to take into your baggage, particularly if traveling as a family, so you don’t want to be carrying around a travel game that is either large in size, or overly heavy. Thankfully, these days the manufacturers have caught the hint, producing dedicated travel versions of many popular games, with Monopoly one of them.

Are you looking for a travel game that will entertain just a couple of people, have a group of adults enthralled, keep children busy during dead time, or maybe one that’s suitable for families? We’ve highlighted the age range each game is aimed at in our reviews, to make this really obvious for you!

Number of players

There’s no point getting a travel game that’s at its best with six players if there are only ever going to be two or you! Likewise, don’t get a game for two if you know the average number of players is going to be greater than this. Follow these simple rules together with our reviews, and you’ll find the best travel game for you!

There is no perfect or exact science when it comes to testing out travel gear, but when it comes to picking the best travel games, we’ve got plenty of experience between us!

Whenever we test a piece of gear, one of our team takes it out for a spin and puts it through its paces. When it came to travel games things were no different in our eyes, we just added in a few extra details.

So, we looked initially at how well-made the game is and whether it would stand up to the rigours of being thrown into a backpack every day. Then we accessed things like weight, size, packability as well as ease of set up and most importantly, gameplay!

Finally, we also take into account how much each item costs – when it came to picking out the best games for traveling, we also weighted up whether we felt each one was worth the price. We judged the more expensive items more harshly than the cheaper games as we expected to get more for our money.

Still have some questions about the best games for travel? No problem! We’ve listed and answered the most commonly asked questions below. Here’s what people usually want to know:

What are the best travel games for long car-rides?

Battleship Grab & Go is a great option for long car rides or road trips. The two playing trays are designed in such a way that pegs are firmly placed and can’t get shaken out of place whatever road obstacles you might come across!

What is the best board travel game?

Travel Monopoly might cause one or the other family war, but it’s the best board game on the market.

What are the best games for families or a group of friends?

There are many great group travel games, but Farkle and Dobble are the best ones. They’re perfect for all ages and all types of travelling.

What is the easiest travel game?

Connect 4 Grab & Go is simple and fast to learn, however, it requires one or the other brain cells.

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Forget hours of boring waiting at train stations , airports, and on road trips with our selection of the best travel games! Whether it’s a classic like Uno or a new kid on the block such as Unstable Unicorns, or something for adults or kids (or both), we’ve got you covered with our review! Hopefully, you’ve found some good travel games for your next trip.

And for transparency’s sake, please know that some of the links in our content are affiliate links . That means that if you book your accommodation, buy your gear, or sort your insurance through our link, we earn a small commission (at no extra cost to you). That said, we only link to the gear we trust and never recommend services we don’t believe are up to scratch. Again, thank you!

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Thanks for this kind of blog about travel. I wonder if you tried to go on baguio cafes in the philippines?

Just an FYI…. Bananagrams can be played with one person. Bananagram solitaire is extremely popular and is a great way for school-age children to build their vocabulary.

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Home » The Hub » The Greatest Trending Travel Games for Adults

The Greatest Trending Travel Games for Adults

Table of Contents

The most popular travel games of the year.

Traveling is often an exhilarating experience, but even the most adventurous spirits can benefit from taking a break from constant exploration. This is where travel games come in handy, offering a fun and immersive way to engage with fellow travelers while providing opportunities for bonding and making memories. Board games and card games are popular choices, with the gaming industry experiencing a surge in popularity as more people recognize the benefits of these games in their everyday lives, including when they’re on the move.

The rising popularity of travel games is a testament to this , with thousands of copies sold around the world every day. This presents an exciting time for gaming enthusiasts and novices alike as the range of available travel games continues to expand. With this in mind, it’s time to showcase the top trending travel games for adults this year, following my previous blog post where I shared my ultimate list of portable board games . These games are guaranteed to make your next trip unforgettable.

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is a silly, fast-paced, pattern-recognition game that will have you saying the name so many times you’ll forget what it means. Players take turns laying down cards while calling out the corresponding animal or food item. The playing area for this fast-paced card game is relatively small, and the game is designed for 3 to 8 players. The game was designed and published by Dave Campbell and is distributed by Dolphin Hat Games. It’s easy to learn, but challenging to master and perfect for when you want to add some absurdity to your game night.  

• Travel Game Index

See How This Game Stacks Up

Portability

Gameplay time.

10-30 minutes

Ease of Play

Number of players, number of game pieces, left center right.

Roll the dice and pass the chips.  Left Center Right (LCR) is a simple, luck-based dice game that can be played with any number of players and the playing area required is relatively small. Players roll three dice and pass chips based on the roll, with the goal of being the last one with chips. The game was designed by George and Company and is published by George and Company LLC. Take my advice and don’t get too cocky or you might end up with empty pockets. 

10-20 minutes

24 playing chips; 3 dice

Five Crowns

Five Crowns is a rummy-style card game that adds a fifth suit of stars to the traditional deck. Players try to make sets and runs with their cards over eleven rounds, with the value of each card increasing each round. This game requires a playing area large enough to accommodate the layout of the cards. It is designed for 1 to 7 players (there is a solo variant included in the rules) and was created by Marsha Falco. It is published by Set Enterprises, Inc. and has won several awards, including the 1996 Mensa Select award. It’s a great choice for those who love a challenge. 

30-60 minutes

Mexican Train Dominoes

The goal of Mexican Train Dominoes is to be the first to play all your dominoes, with players starting their own “trains” and trying to block their opponents’ trains. This game requires a large playing area to accommodate the dominoes as they are played. It is designed for 2 to 8 players and was created by Roy and Katie Parsons. It is published by Puremco and has won several awards, including the 2012 Mensa Select award. 

91 dominoes tiles

SKYJO is a deceptively simple card game that involves strategy, memory and some luck. Players try to end the game with the lowest score by swapping cards, drawing new ones, and memorizing the positions of cards in play. This game requires a relatively small playing area and is designed for 2 to 8 players. The game was designed by Magilano and is published by Magilano GmbH. It has won several awards, including the 2019 Spielwarenmesse ToyAward in the Teenager and Adults category. But don’t be fooled by its cute illustrations, SKYJO is a game for serious players.. Kinda. 

Monopoly Deal

All the fun of the classic board game without the hours-long time commitment (sweet music to my ears). Players collect and play cards to build properties, charge rent, and sabotage (*cough* steal from *cough*) opponents, with the first player to collect three complete property sets winning. It requires a small playing area and is designed for 2 to 5 players. The game was designed by Philip Orbanes and is published by Hasbro. It has won several awards, including the 2011 Golden Geek Best Party Board Game award. It’s worth repeating that this version of Monopoly is the  perfect solution  for anyone who wants all the fun without the mind-numbing tedium of the original game. Give it a try. 

15-30 minutes

The Final Score

With a variety of options, you and your travel companions can enjoy hours of laughter and fun while strengthening your connections. Whether it’s a long flight or a relaxing break in the park, these games are perfect for creating memories and forging lasting friendships. So go ahead, make your travels a little brighter with these trending game picks. Don’t forget to share which games you decided to pack for your next adventure.  

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The 40 Best Small Board & Card Games [Travel & Space-Saving Versions]

Amar Hussain

Senior Content Contributor

775 Published Articles

Countries Visited: 63 U.S. States Visited: 9

Keri Stooksbury

Editor-in-Chief

32 Published Articles 3120 Edited Articles

Countries Visited: 45 U.S. States Visited: 28

1. Jax Sequence

2. scrabble deluxe travel edition, 3. connect 4 grab and go game — travel size, 4. take ‘n’ play anywhere — bingo, 5. quadpro magnetic travel checkers board  , 6. battleship grab and go game, 7. catan traveler, 8. monopoly grab and go game — travel size, 9. amazon exclusive pressman rummikub, 10. quadpro magnetic travel chess set, 11. yahtzee, 12. guess who board game  , 13. hasbro gaming jenga mini game , 14. blokus game, 15. smart zone games hive pocket, 16. take ‘n’ play anywhere — tic-tac-toe, 17. cinco linko, a strategy board game, 18. pressman mancala — real wood folding set, 19. sorry game, 20. pop-o-matic trouble grab and go game, 1. monopoly deal card game, 2. mattel games uno: classic tin box  , 3. taco vs. burrito — strategic card game created by a 7-year-old , 4. czech games codenames, 5. taco cat goat cheese pizza , 6. mattel games apples to apples party box, 7. family feud survey says card game, 8. magilano skyjo, 9. goat lords game, 10. kids against maturity , 11. punderdome: a card game for pun lovers, 12. playmonster 5 second rule game, 13. spot it, 14. unstable unicorns card game, 15. our moments kids: 100 thought-provoking conversation starters, 16. loaded questions on the go card game, 17. scattergories the card game, 18. oh fruck, 19. mattel games pictionary card game, 20. skip bo card game, final thoughts.

We may be compensated when you click on product links, such as credit cards, from one or more of our advertising partners. Terms apply to the offers below. See our Advertising Policy for more about our partners, how we make money, and our rating methodology. Opinions and recommendations are ours alone.

Taking part in a game of cards or breaking out a board game is a great way to pass the time both at home and away. Long journeys, travel delays, bad weather, and dark winter nights can all be improved with a bit of competitive fun between you and your travel companions.

Get your brain ticking as you devise strategies to beat your opponent, or celebrate your good fortune in games based on sheer chance and luck. If you are heading out on a trip, check out some of these awesome travel-friendly board games and card games to help make the most of your next adventure.

Note: We’ve included board and card game options for 2 people (or more), kids, and families!

The 20 Best Small Board Games

Players: 2 to 12

This fun and challenging game is perfect for families. Using a card from your hand and placing a chip on the corresponding space on the game board, the first player to achieve 5 in a row wins the game! Block your opponents or even remove their chips to make your sequence work out for you — but keep your eye out for the Jacks, as they can be wild!

Small enough to be portable, but offering huge amounts of fun both on the road and back at home, Jax Sequence is a game of strategy and luck that’s complete with a folding game board and travel-friendly pieces.

Players: 2 to 4

This classic word game comes in a finely crafted wooden case with a magnetic closure, making it perfect for game players on the go. With a raised letter tile grid, the board halves slide out easily to reveal a handy storage area underneath. Measuring just 9.8 x 9.2 x 1.2 inches when closed and 9.8 x 4.6 x 2.4 inches when open, this is an extremely compact version of one of the best-loved games of all time.

Beat your opponents by using the solid wood letters on your letter rack to make words with high scores. Classic and compact, this version is a winner wherever you are.

This simple but popular game has been scaled down into a convenient travel size, making it great for keeping you and your crew entertained on the move. Starting with 21 checkers each, you must outwit each other to be the first to get to 4 in a row. Block your opponent at every turn, and see if you can complete your connection before they block you.

This Grab and Go edition from the game experts at Hasbro has space to store the checkers in the columns and the trays fold up neatly for added portability.

For a modern and completely child-friendly twist on traditional bingo, this 6.75-inch square tin case holds everything young players need to enjoy a game of bingo on the go. Suitable for players from 4 years and up, the large magnetic playing pieces are easy for little hands to play with while big enough to not get lost.

Have your kids flick the spinner and place the magnetic markers on the corresponding animal as soon as they see it. When they get 5 in a row, it’s time to shout “bingo” and enjoy being the winner — until next time, of course.

Enjoy checkers anywhere in the world with this foldable plastic checkers set that’s durable yet lightweight. The 64-square board is complete with black and white magnetic pieces that can easily be moved around the board for the win. When you have finished the game, the same pieces can be stored away inside the checkerboard to keep them safe during transit.

Bottom Line: Perfect for bus, plane, or train journeys, camping trips, lunch breaks, and so much more, this compact, folding board game is easy to play and perfectly portable.

Sink your opponent’s battleship with this Grab and Go version of the ever-popular strategy game. Each of the portable game units opens upwards to block your opponent’s view while you track each other’s shots using the included red and white pegs. When you’re finished, fold them up again for easy storage.

With 2 carriers, destroyers, cruisers, submarines, and battleships included in this compact portable edition, you can get busy sinking battleships, even on the go.

With a space-saving box that unfolds to reveal the variable board, you and your fellow players can race each other to build your roads, cities, and settlements. This handy travel size edition of the popular Catan game can be set up in seconds, with 6 double-sided board pieces that can be assembled randomly to ensure that every game you play is completely different.

Designed with portability in mind, this handy travel edition even features cards that are held securely in holder trays and a hex-shaped dice shaker that can’t get dropped or lost as you play on the go.

Monopoly is one of the most popular and best-selling games in the world. This travel-size edition makes it more convenient for game fans on the go.

This set includes all of the classic properties, title deed cards, community chest cards, chance cards, get out of jail cards, houses, hotels, and the iconic Monopoly banknotes. There is still big fun to be had even with this smaller version.

Trade your way to success with this Grab and Go game that is perfect for budding capitalists of all ages.

This ever-popular tile-based game combines the very best elements of mahjong and rummy to produce a perfectly portable game of skill that is suitable for up to 4 players at a time. With a canvas bag for easy storage, each player starts with the same number of tiles and tries to put as many down into groups or runs as possible.

Fast-paced and easy to play, this game is not only a great way to pass the time, but it also helps to reinforce basic STEM skills, including sequencing, pattern recognition, and planning, making it a great choice for both older children and adults.

For chess lovers everywhere, this foldable plastic chess set allows you to practice your strategic skills on the go. The traditional 64-square playing field comes with all of the traditional chess pieces that glide effortlessly across the board when the time is right.

Perfect for playing at home or school, in transit, or virtually anywhere else you can think of, this compact chess set is designed to keep the pieces safe inside the case. You will have your opponent’s king in checkmate in no time.

The classic dice game Yahtzee takes a travel-sized twist in this portable version of an old favorite. You and your opponent get 13 rolls of the dice to find the best combinations of numbers to achieve different scores. Whether you decide to hustle for a full house or risk it all for a Yahtzee roll, you must fill in an empty box at the end of each turn.

Bottom Line: This game comes complete with 5 dice and a shaker that doubles up as easy and convenient storage for your tiles, making it a great choice for easy entertainment on the go.

This much-loved, classic 1980s guessing game is back, and this time it’s portable. While your opponent picks a mystery card, you must ask enough questions to be able to eliminate the sea of faces in front of you until you find their hidden identity. Is your opponent wearing a hat? Do they have blue eyes? A beard? Ask away until you can “Guess Who” they really are.

With 2 travel-size game units, 48 character cards, and built-in face frames for easy viewing, your kids will have hours of fun getting to guess each other’s new personas.

This pocket-size version of the popular balancing game offers gigantic amounts of fun. With 18 mini hardwood blocks, this portable classic takes skill and patience to ensure that you are the last person standing.

Simply stack the blocks as high as you can without causing the tower to crash to win the game. Compact enough to carry with you, this is a great game for sleepovers, camping, and travel.

This fun strategy game is perfect for the whole family to play both at home and away. The rules take less than a minute to learn, and you’ll quickly battle against each other for the win.

Each player takes turns to place their 21 pieces on the board, making sure that each piece touches another piece of the same color, but only at the corners. Protect your territory by strategically blocking your opponents at every turn to win the game.

Made from sturdy, wipeable materials, this game can easily be taken with you in its box to keep you amused on the go.

This highly addictive strategy game can be played on any flat surface. Complete with a travel bag, you and your opponent can break open the 22 pieces to form the patterns that become the playing surface. The object of the game is to surround your opponent’s queen while keeping your wits about you to ensure that they don’t do the same to you.

The first player to surround the queen wins in this bug-tastic travel game.

This super chunky edition of the timeless strategy game is perfect for playing tic-tac-toe on the go. The 6.75-inch tin is compact enough for carrying with you on long journeys, and the tin will keep everything safely stored when not in use. The magnetic board keeps your pieces in place and this compact version is complete with 6 magnets, 10 red markers, 10 blue markers, and a die.

Switch up your gameplay from pen and paper with this easy-to-use magnetic travel game.

This travel-size tile game is easy to learn and super fun to play, either back at home or on the move. Simply choose a color, grab your stack, and start laying down the tiles until someone achieves a line of 5 either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Completely designed for travel, the game comes in durable, waterproof travel-size stacks that can easily be clipped onto your bag.

Ready to play on any surface, Cinco Linko is the winner of multiple awards and a great little game for kids.

This simple but exciting game is one of the world’s oldest and best-loved strategy games. Players take turns to collect special stones and count them out 1 at a time into the pockets on the board. Drop a stone into an empty pocket and capture all the stones in the opposite pocket for the win.

Requiring plenty of skill and strategic planning, this game also helps to reinforce STEM skills for younger players. The wooden box folds up flat for easy gaming on the go.

Remember your manners as you beat your opponents in this classic game of sweet revenge! As each player picks 1 or 2 cards, get 1 of your 4 pawns out of the starting area and off around the game board. This super fun game calls on strategy, chance, and luck to see you or your opponents chase, race, bump, slide, and score your way around the board to be the first to get all 4 pawns to home base.

An updated version of the original Sorry! game, this is fun for the whole family on long journeys, campouts, picnics, sleepovers, and all kinds of adventures.

This compact and incredibly portable game is a reduced-size version of the Trouble game — small in stature but big on fun.

The all-in-1 game board is perfect for sleepovers, long journeys, camping trips, and much more and can be played by up to 4 players at a time. Complete with the famous Pop-O-Matic die roller and cover and 16 pegs, you can try and beat your opponent by being the first to get all your pegs across the finish line.

Bottom Line: Easy to play and full of excitement, this is a great game to play with the whole family both at home and away.

The 20 Best Small Card Games

Players: 2 to 5

This ultra-portable way to play the classic property-trading game will keep you entertained both at home and away. Be the first to collect 3 full property sets of different colors using the cards, and you’ll be the winner. Pick up extra properties along the way, charge your opponents rent, or even steal their cards when they slip up to show your ruthless side and become the next Monopoly property tycoon.

This card version of the world-famous and much-loved board game is perfect for playing on long journeys, sleepovers, camping trips, vacations, and virtually anywhere else, too.

Players: 2 to 10

This classic family card game is easy to learn and a ball to play. UNO has a huge following all over the world and is compact enough to take anywhere with you. Race against your opponents to rid yourself of your hand as you match cards on the deck by either color or number.

Take advantage of special cards such as skips, reverses, draw 2s, and even color-changing wild cards to increase your chances of standing victorious.

Perfect for the whole family to play, don’t forget to shout “UNO!” when you are down to your last card in this wild and noisy card game.

Created by a child and funded via Kickstarter, this crazy, fun strategic food fight is a smash hit with both adults and children alike.

If you and your opponents like card games and enjoy dreaming up weird food combos, this is just the game for you. Use the cards dealt to start making your crazy sandwich combinations, or switch up the game with action cards to gain the extra ingredients you need to win.

Don’t forget to keep a lookout for the health inspector or order envy that can spoil your meal, ruin your appetite, and eventually lose you the game.

Players: 2 to 8

This spy game sees teams compete to discover who can make contact with all of their agents first. Using 1-word clues, you and your teammates must try to guess the words of your team color while avoiding those that belong to the other team. Get your spy skills switched on and work together in this lively discussion game that can be played in groups.

Watch out for the double agents, though, as well as the assassin who is out to get you. Whether you win or lose, it’s still great fun to figure out all of the clues in this portable card game for older children and adults.

Players: 3 to 8

Perfect for hand-slapping fun wherever you are headed, this unique take on traditional snap-type card games is great fun for the whole family. Each player places a card from their hand face-up in a pile, while simply saying “taco/cat/goat/cheese/pizza” in player sequence. The magic is made when the card matches the mantra and players race to be the first to rid themselves of all their cards.

Bottom Line: For extra fun, throw a gorilla, narwhal, and groundhog into the mix in this travel-sized, super-fun, and addictive social card game.

Players: 4 to 8

This hilarious game is perfect for party play while away, and just as much fun at home, too. The aim of the game is to win the most rounds by playing a “red apple” card from your hand to best match that round’s communal “green apple” card, as chosen by that round’s judging player.

With 441 red apple cards and 63 green apple cards, there are plenty of crazy combinations to be found. As a former Mensa International “Mensa Select” game winner in 1999, and the “Party Game of the Year” in the same year, this is a great game that remains as popular as ever.

Players: 3 or more

If you love the game show, you will really enjoy this Family Feud Survey Says card game. Play alongside your friends or family as you work to find the top answers to a variety of topics. Download the Gamestar+ app and you can incorporate sound effects from the show into your game.

The pack includes 49 jumbo survey cards, 3 red strike cards, and 1 host cover card and are perfect for playing at parties, on vacation, or even at home.

All you need is a bit of space in front of you to enjoy this strategic card game. With 12 hidden cards and 2 faced up, each player takes a turn to take the top card from the discard or draw pile. Exchange 1 card from your 12 card display until your or your fellow player has only open cards. When the round ends, it’s time to add your cards for scoring, with the lowest number for the win.

Portable and easy to play, this addictive card game is perfect for playing around a table, on the floor, or anywhere you are all together on the move.

Players: 2 to 6

This fabulously fun card game features thieves, monsters, magic bombs, and lots, and lots of goats. Become the most successful Goat Lord by gathering the biggest goat herd simply by stacking pairs of goat cards in front of you and stealing your opponent’s goats right from under their nose.

Use your skill to attack other players, or hold your nerve as you keep your cards close to your chest. Whatever your strategy, this is a great party game for goat lovers of all ages.

Great fun is guaranteed and lots of laughter, too, as you strive to become Lord of the Goats with this crazy travel card game.

Players: 2 or more

Using the tried and tested fill-in-the-blank game method, Kids Against Maturity is a more family-friendly version of the more adult games usually found in this genre. While each player gets 10 white cards, they can make hysterical answers by turning over the blue cards to finish the sentence. Whoever manages to make the funniest answer will be declared the winner.

Bottom Line: Perfect for keeping the kids amused on the go, this multi-award-winning card game can be played virtually anywhere and is always guaranteed to bring smiles.

From the creators of the well-renowned game show, this travel version of Punderdome is part game, part conversation starter, and a whole lot of fun. The goal of the game is to make the worst bad pun jokes by drawing cards from the deck and reading the prompt to the rest of the players. The player who can create the most groan-worthy pun from the 2 prompts wins the round and the prompt cards.

Make your way to winning 10 pairs of cards to enjoy a glorious, fun-fueled victory over your opponents in this perfectly portable travel game for pun lovers everywhere.

This fast-paced and fun, travel-sized card game is perfect for players on the go. Simply pick a card, read out the topic, and set the timer. With just 5 seconds to go, you must name 3 things that fit in with the given topic before the timer runs out. It’s super easy to get tongue-tied when playing against the clock, so just say what comes to mind, no matter how ridiculous it might sound.

With a twisted timer that makes a fun zoooop sound when flipped over and balls that slide down to note the 5-second mark, it can be easy to get distracted. Try to stay focused and enjoy laugh-out-loud fun with this fast-moving card game.

This award-winning visual perception game will test your observational skills and help to hone your reflexes. With a sharp eye and a quick hand, you will need to find the single match between the symbol and the 2 cards, usually resulting in frenzied fun as you try to spot it fast.

To ensure even more fun on the go, this edition offers a combination of 5 different ways to play. Everything comes neatly packed away in a handy grab ‘n’ go tin.

Build yourself a unicorn army as the unicorns are your friends now! This strategic card game is great fun to play both at home and away. With over 20 magical unicorns to collect, you need to build your army as quickly as possible before getting destroyed by one of your so-called friends.

With twists and turns along the way that can lead to total destruction and utter madness, you need to outwit your opponents to be crowned The Righteous Ruler of All Things Magical.

Taking a slightly different approach to traditional card games, this innovative set of questions has been designed to lead to thought-provoking conversations with your child. Perfect for passing the time on long journeys, family bonding on vacation, or even just to help understand your child a little bit better, this is a card game that helps to build relationships.

In a fun game-style format, the cards ask a wide variety of leading questions that encourage children to talk about their thoughts and feelings without being pressured. Fun, upbeat, and simple — you can learn a lot from this game.

Rated one of the hottest card games by the likes of USA Today and Games Magazine, this simple but fun card game offers hours of family-friendly entertainment, both at home and away. With over 500 fun, personality-filled questions, can you be the first player to reach the WIN space by rolling high, matching players’ answers correctly on your turn, and writing the “favorite” answer on the starred space?

With no right or wrong answers, this is a great way to stay competitive while also getting to know a little bit more about your fellow players. Perfect for passing the time on long journeys or keeping away from the rain.

This fun and challenging game has been a family favorite since the 1980s, and this card game edition offers a twist on traditional gameplay. With 2 card decks, players need to name something beginning with the letter on the card in a certain situation to win the game. The player with the most cards at the end is the winner overall.

Easy to play wherever you are, this fun and fast-paced retro game will get your brain in gear as you try to beat your opponents.

If you feel too old for a game of Old Maid, but not quite ready for Texas Hold ‘Em, this crowdfunded game could be just right for you. By turning over the top 3 cards of the red deck, you and your fellow players discover the special rules that will disrupt your gameplay. If you can’t play a card, you’ll be the player that gets “frucked” as you get 1 card closer to losing the game.

Bottom Line: This is a raucous card game for more grown-up players that combines strategy with special rules.

Players: 2 teams

This clever travel game uses ready-made pictures instead of relying on the player’s artistic ability. In a cross between Pictionary and charades, you and your team will need to act out clues against the clock using nothing but the picture on the card. You can build scenes or use props, and the first team to guess the correct answers wins the point.

Crazy team fun comes standard in this fast-paced guessing game where silence is golden.

From the makers of UNO, this sequencing card game is great for playing while you’re on the move.

Use your skills to create stacks of sequentially numbered, ascending cards, until there are no more left to play. Break up a static situation with the Skip-Bo wild cards that can be played as any number, and put your strategic thinking cap on to help smash your opponents and win the game.

Brightly colored and easy to play, the winner is the first player to deplete all of his or her Skip-Bo stockpiles. Then you can shuffle, deal, and start from the beginning again.

Put down your devices and enjoy some good old-fashioned family fun with compact, travel-size board games or card games next time you hit the road. Long journeys will fly by, and bad weather will never spoil your fun. From traditional card games to fast-paced, super-fun board games, there is something to suit players of all ages.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the most popular board games right now.

Some of the best-selling and reviewed board games on Amazon are Connect 4, Sequence, Battleship, Sorry!, Monopoly, Checkers, and Uno.

What are the most popular board games ever sold?

While it can be challenging to get exact sales figures for board games that are sold, it is generally agreed that classic board games such as Scrabble, Monopoly, Chess, and Clue are the most popular board games of all time.

Do people still buy board games?

People still buy board games, and they are as popular as they ever were. For example, in the toys and games category of Amazon’s bestseller list, 5 out of the top 25 are board or card games.

What is the best card game for travel?

One of the best-selling card games on Amazon is UNO, where you race against your opponents to rid yourself of your hand as you match cards on the deck by either color or number. UNO is compact enough to take anywhere with you and can be a wild and noisy card game as you shout “UNO!” to win.

What is the best board game for young children?

Guess Who is a popular travel board game that is suitable for children ages 6+. With 2 travel-size game units, 48 character cards, and built-in face frames for easy viewing, kids will have hours of fun getting to guess each other’s new personas.

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About Amar Hussain

Amar is an avid traveler and tester of products. He has spent the last 13 years traveling all 7 continents and has put the products to the test on each of them. He has contributed to publications including Forbes, the Huffington Post, and more.

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If you have ever spent a night in a hostel you have inevitably been invited for a game of asshole. Or president. Or bullshit. What am I talking about? Travel games of course! You can find them in all different names and shapes: some are played with cards, some with dice, and some just by exchanging words. Oh and don’t forget the drinking games! I’ve decided to bundle these travel games for adults into one article.

My friends Joost and Samuel enjoying a travel game called Bananagrams

Most of these games are fairly easy to explain to anyone, which is, of course, an important criterion for the international crowds you usually find around hostels. It’s not even just hostels where these backpacker games are played either: in night trains, long-distance buses, forest huts, Couchsurfing, or Airbnb accommodations, anywhere with a bit of flat surface (for the card games, dice games, and board games) and a group of fun-loving people. It’s the ultimate icebreaker and you’ll soon end up chatting away post-game with your newly-made friends.

There are countless games with countless names, some are even known by different names in different parts of the world. I’ve committed to creating an ever-expanding list of these road trip games, so feel free to leave a comment with your favorite game that I haven’t mentioned yet.

49 TRAVEL GAMES FOR ADULTS

Board games for adults, 1. bananagrams, 2. thirty seconds, 3. the settlers of catan, 4. guesstures, card games for adults, 6. ligretto, 7. bullshit / cheat / i doubt it / bluff / bs / liar, 8. the great dalmuti, 9. cribbage.

10. Chinese poker

11. Solitaire / Patience

13. skip bo, 15. egyptian rat screw, 17. cards against humanity, 18. shithead / palace / karma / china hand / ten-two slide, 19. go fish, 20. exploding kittens, 21. koehandel / cow trade / horse trade, 22. crazy eights, 24. top trumps, 28. travelin’, 29. codenames duet, dice games for adults.

30. Liar’s Dice

31. Rory’s Story Cubes

32. Yahtzee

33. regenwormen / pickomino, road trip games for adults.

34. Guess the song

36. Truth or Dare

37. the guessing capital game, 38. never pass a sample, 39. pizza ftw, 40. zitchdog, drinking games for adults, 42. monkey monkey, 44. king’s cup.

47. Assholes / President / Scumbag

48. Mayer / Mia / Meier

50. Add your game

Bananagrams – the board game

How can you win Bananagrams?

To be played with wine for best results. The trick is speed, you need to be really quick about forming words. Also, it helps if you can avoid the letters Q, Z, J and X.

What makes Bananagrams fun?

It’s portable, easy to learn, and play is fast. Once the game is over you can argue about whether the words put down by other players are real words. It’s even more fun if you don’t happen to be carrying a dictionary.

What is your best memory playing Bananagrams on your travels?

Slipping an invented word past my fellow players – they were all American and I managed to convince them that it was a very conventional word in British English.

30 Seconds board game

How can you win Thirty Seconds?

You can win 30 Seconds by getting as many answers as possible right in 30 seconds. One player must guess a word based on their teammate’s explanation. The main thing here is that the explanation may not contain the actual word or part of the word.

Of course, you can buy the game, but it’s more fun to make one yourself! For example (when there are 4 players – 2 teams): every player writes ten names of – for example – celebrities down on 10 pieces of paper. Then you collect all the pieces of paper in a bowl. Each round the team draws a card and then has 30 seconds to describe the name on the paper as quickly as they can. When the bowl is empty, the team that has the most pieces of paper wins the game.

What makes Thirty Seconds fun?

It’s really funny because sometimes it’s really hard to explain a name and your teammates’ guesses do not make any sense.

What is your best memory playing Thirty Seconds on your travels?

We played this game over and over with two of my friends. In the end we got a bit obsessed and we became really good at in, so now nobody else wants to play it with us any more… Haha!

Settlers of Catan board game

How can you win The Settlers of Catan?

You win when you gain 10 points (13 in the extended version), which you get by building villages, towns, streets, or draw some of the magic cards in the pack.

What makes The Settlers of Catan fun?

Each time is different. It’s not a fixed board like e.g. the game ‘Risk’ uses. The board is made up of a number of tiles which you put together randomly for each game. Contrary to e.g. Risk, where after so many games you kind of know what you need to win, or what the favorable is, Catan is entirely different in each setup.

What is your best memory playing The Settlers of Catan on your travels?

Beach Agonda, India, with Dutch friends. One of them wasn’t particularly good at losing, and when his wife was about to beat him he’d suggest to smoke a joint. As soon as she did this, she lost all concentration and lost. It was very funny to watch.

Guesstures board game

How can you win Guesstures?

You win by simplifying the words to basic body movements. Anything too complicated can always trip up your guessers.

What makes Guesstures fun?

We love how ridiculous you look when playing the game. At the same time, anyone can play and it’s easy to learn.

What is your best memory playing Guesstures on your travels?

Whenever we go to a cabin with a group of friends, it’s always fun to bust it out!

Fun card games for adults

The Dobble travel card game

How can you win Dobble?

There are endless variations to this game, but in the most common one, you will have to get as many cards as possible by matching a symbol from your card to a symbol on the top card in the central pile. The player with the most cards at the end wins.

What makes Dobble fun?

It’s a nerve wrecking game because you’re playing against others to find the matching symbol. There is  always  a matching symbol but sometimes you are looking back and forth frantically between your card and the one in the middle just and it just seems like nothing matches… Then someone else finds one and it’s back to square one. You have to shout the symbol that matches which often leads to hilarious descriptions like “white condom ghost thing”.

What is your best memory playing Dobble on your travels?

I love that it comes in such a small package but has endless possibilities. There are different game modes, e.g. where you have to match other players’ symbols, where you want to get rid of all your cards, or exactly the opposite. It’ll keep you busy for hours… As long as you don’t get a heart attack that is 😉

Cards for playing Ligretto

How can you win Ligretto?

The aim of this travel game is to get rid of all your cards faster than all the other players by discarding them in the middle of the table.

What makes Ligretto fun?

It’s FAST! You’ll have to put cards down like a maniac and your strategy can change every second. It’s nice and compact, you only need a single deck of cards, and you don’t need much space to lay the cards out either. The rules are simple and it never gets old.

What is your best memory playing Ligretto on your travels?

A fun Couchsurfer living in Dol, a quiet village on the Hvar island in Croatia, introduced me and my girlfriend to this game. It was her favorite game and she showed us why (by beating us over and over). We played it for hours and hours and the relentless chant of victory, “Ligretto!”, still echoes in my ears.

How can you win Bullshit?

The object of the game is actually pretty simple – get rid of all your cards. However, in order to do that, you have to do a bit of bluffing – if someone calls your bluff (calls ‘bullshit’), you have to pick up all the cards lying on the table!

What makes Bullshit fun?

The risk! If you want to win, you inevitably have to do a little lying. The fun part is trying to con your friends, which when considering that this game is usually played whilst drinking, you become increasingly less good at!

What is your best memory playing Bullshit on your travels?

During our two year Latin American adventure, we played this game a lot. But one of the best memories has to be playing it on a cargo ship heading to the Corn Islands in Nicaragua. The boat was around a day late, litres of rum were drank and bullshit helped pass the hours.

The great Dalmuti card game

How can you win The Great Dalmuti?

You can win the Great Dalmuti by playing all your cards. Whoever finishes first becomes the Great Dalmuti, the next one the lesser Dalmuti. When you finish last you become the (lesser or big) slave. What makes it fun is that the roles change and the Dalmuties receive tax from the slaves. Also, everyone respects the Dalmuti (who, of course, sits on the best chair) and orders the slaves around (who not uncommonly don’t even get a chair to sit in).

What makes The Great Dalmuti fun?

So it becomes very competitive as people want to become the Dalmuti and punish the previous Dalmuti for his Behaviour.

What is your best memory playing The Great Dalmuti on your travels?

A vivid memory that comes to mind is when I used to play it in Thailand with my fiancé and parents-in-law on the front porch of our bungalow.

Cribbage card game

How can you win Cribbage?

It’s complicated… You need to be able to count cards and add. Because the game is “first to 121 points” you also need to play strategically.

What makes Cribbage fun?

There are loads of ways to score points, both in the play and in the hand, so you need to focus. If you leave points unclaimed your opponent can call “muggins” and claim your points.

What is your best memory playing Cribbage on your travels?

This is quite a complicated game to learn and it was my father who taught me to play on sailing trips as a kid. My best memory is sitting on deck with him playing and calling “muggins” when he’d missed something (possibly on purpose, who knows!)

10. Chinese Poker

How can you win chinese poker.

Get rid of all your cards.

What makes Chinese Poker fun?

It’s a combination of Yahtzee and Poker; what’s not to like? You can create a strategy before the game starts but you might have to rethink it when the game’s not going your way. Decisions, decisions!

What is your best memory playing Chinese Poker on your travels?

I saw a few Chinese people play the game in the “cattle-class” of a sleeper train; they were really passionate about it and it was a lot of fun to watch their strategies as they went along. Where better to learn Chinese poker that from actual Chinese people 🙂

How can you win Solitaire?

Since you’re typically playing this game alone, you’re always a winner! Actually, that is not true, you can still get stuck in the game and be forced to take a loss. Sounds depressing, doesn’t it? You win by stacking all the cards on the table onto each other in four equal piles, in order from low to high and sorted by suit.

What makes Solitaire fun?

It can cure boredom if you’re traveling alone. It can even be a pretty fun game as you’ll have to be creative sometimes to free yourself from a seemingly impossible-to-finish situation. More often, however, it’s a last resort when you’re stuck inside an airport on a 7-hour layover with no plugs to charge your drained electronic devices.

What is your best memory playing Solitaire on your travels?

Since I’ve played this game quite a few times on my solo travels, every time you finish a game there is this little sparkle of joy inside your brain, and you mentally picture all the cards bouncing around and fireworks being set off like in the Windows version. Or at least I did.

How can you win Toepen?

This Dutch game is all about battles. You can win a battle, but that doesn’t mean you’ve won the game (similarly to war.. or a couple getting divorced). The first to 15 points (or 25, if you want to play for longer) loses, making the other players the winners (but really, it’s the person with the least “penalty-points” that is the happiest).

What makes Toepen fun?

The game involves some simple but entertaining mind-games. “Why the hell did he/she toep?” is a common question that gets raised often during the game. Does the player have great cards and is therefore confident that they are going to win, or are they simply bluffing? This is easily our favorite go-to game on the road.

What is your best memory playing Toepen on your travels?

We’ve played this game about a hundred times on every (long-distance) bicycle that we did together. It’s an easy game to explain to others and gets strategic when you’re playing with people that have played it before. A memory that comes to mind: Steven was with Joost in Denmark where they were playing Toepen with a Danish girl (she called it “Poopen”). She Toeped (“Pooped”) at the most random moments, leaving Steven and Joost completely clueless of her strategy.

Skip bo card game

How can you win Skip Bo?

The classic way: you need to be the first to get rid of your cards.

What makes Skip Bo fun?

It is easy to learn, and while it’s a strategic game it’s still possible to win when you’ve just learned the rules.

What is your best memory playing Skip Bo on your travels?

I have so many memories playing this with Couchsurfers at home, but my best memory while travelling would be on a train in China where we shared a sleeper with an Argentinian couple. We played into the small hours of the morning, learning about each other and our journeys.

Fluxx card game

How can you win Fluxx?

Let’s start with the rules of Fluxx: there are no rules. Yup. Every time you put a card down the rules change, which also sometimes means you’ll have to your flip your strategy 180 degrees. You have to collect cards and you’ve won when you have accomplished the objectives that are on the table at that moment before someone else changes them.

What makes Fluxx fun?

It’s a very random game, so if you like your games structured then you might want to try another one. That said, it’s that actual chaotic element of the game that makes it fun. You’re constantly checking if you can annoy or block your opponents with the current rulesets, and sometimes it’s even possible that someone has won without him/her knowing!

What is your best memory playing Fluxx on your travels?

I haven’t played this game on any travels yet, but I would love to hear from someone that has! Leave a comment .

Egyptian rat screw card game

How can you win Egyptian Rat Screw?

The object of the game is to be the person with all the cards at the end of the game. This means the game can take a very long time.

What makes Egyptian Rat Screw fun?

Once you and other players learn how to play the game moves very fast from player to player. The intensity heightens with the speed of the game. The most fun part about this game is when you get two cards that are the same flipped one on top of the other. The first person to slap those cards wins the deck. This also means that people who are “out” of cards can slap their way back in.

What is your best memory playing Egyptian Rat Screw on your travels?

I learned this game in a summer camp when I was very young. When I studied abroad in Australia I taught all my new friends how to play it. We would spend hours just passing the time away with this game. No drinks involved!

How can you win Rummy?

Individual games are won by the first person who “goes out” or discards every card in their hand. Along the way, they rack up points by putting down three of a kind and straights of the same suit. Your points get tallied up per game and in our case, a full game runs to 500 points and can last 1-2 hours.

What makes Rummy fun?

Rummy is fun because it’s so basic and it’s almost akin to baseball; a game to 500 is never over until the person reaches that point total. The game has so many intricacies and quirky rules that make it fun all by itself. Enter a couple of people who are married or just friends, and it can get crazier by the hand.

What is your best memory playing Rummy on your travels?

We’ve played everywhere when traveling, and I try my best to not swear out loud when losing badly. Unfortunately, I failed when riding a boat to Jeju Island in Korea and earned quite a few stares my way. That was a cue for me to go outside and get some fresh air.

Cards against humanity card game

How can you win Cards Against Humanity?

You need to make the other people vote for your answer to a ridiculous question.

What makes Cards Against Humanity fun?

It is all about reading other people and figuring out what kind of answer this person would like, some might like dirty jokes, other logical answers etc. Oh, and the game is free… you can download it from CardsAgainstHumanity.com (or you can buy it via the link below if you don’t want to print the cards yourself).

What is your best memory playing Cards Against Humanity on your travels?

I was introduced to it while Couchsurfing in Zürich and one girl got the question “How did I lose my virginity?”. My answer was “Through an AK47” which is what she choose and that kind of became the joke of the evening. The game gave us so many laughs and very fun atmosphere. Great way to get to know new people!

How can you win Shithead?

This game isn’t about being the winner, it’s about not being the loser aka the “shithead”. If you’re the last person in the game you will have the endearing title of shithead bestowed upon you until you can redeem yourself in the next game.

What makes Shithead fun?

At the end, there’s always an element of chance involved and it’s always fun to watch someone who thinks they’re about the win fall from grace. Also having an excuse to call strangers you’ve just met shitheads is never a bad thing.

What is your best memory playing Shithead on your travels?

Teaching the game to some travellers at a hostel in Bosnia and watching them spend the next few days engrossed in matches.

How can you win Go Fish?

You can win Go Fish by being the player that collected the most sets of 4 from the pack of cards (e.g. all the 3s, all the kings etc).

What makes Go Fish fun?

It isn’t a game that requires too much thought and isn’t difficult so long as you have a good memory. It is also great to see the look on your friend or relatives’ face when you steal the majority of a set from them which they were hoarding!

What is your best memory playing Go Fish on your travels?

My best memory of playing this game is when I used to play it as a teenager with a friend I made in the apartments in Fuerteventura. At the time I loved all things fish related and I had a novelty set of cards in the shape of fish. We used to play it whenever we had a moment before dinner after going to the beach or swimming in the pool.

Exploding kittens card game

How do you win Exploding Kittens?

You can win Exploding Kittens by becoming the only player who isn’t blown up by a Kitten. Yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds. You basically just draw a card each turn hoping not to draw an exploding kitten card. If you do you are out of the game. Unless you can defuse the exploding kitten in which case the card goes back into the deck. All the other card you draw and can play are used to somehow avoid the exploding kittens.

What makes Exploding Kittens fun?

One of the reasons is the pure ridiculousness of the concept which is also the genius of the game. I mean, who doesn’t like kitten or explosions or laser pens. Next is that it is very easy to play and mostly luck based with just a very small hint of strategy. Its just easy and ridiculous which is what you want when playing games with people you’ve just met.

What is your best memory playing Exploding Kittens on your travels?

I personally haven’t played this while traveling yet as it has only been out for a few months (at time of writing) and I haven’t had the opportunity. But the fact that it is so easy, portable and fun should prove to be a winning combo in any setting.

Koehandel, a popular Dutch card game

How do you win Koehandel?

The Dutch game Koehandel has two phases, in phase one players take turns pulling an animal card from a pile and auctioning it off to the other players. Each player should try to get the animals for the lowest price possible. As the game progresses, more money is distributed among the players which means the animals get more expensive. The key to winning during this phase is to correctly adjust your theoretical pricing to the increasing money supply.

During phase two, players bid for each other’s animals in a blind auction. This means that both players put an undisclosed amount of money on the table and whoever bids highest will win the other player’s animal, while the money is also being exchanged. During this phase, the key to winning is to get inside the other player’s mind and correctly predict how much he or she will bid. Then you bid a little bit more so that you win the animal cheaply.

What makes Koehandel fun?

Koehandel is really fun because of the unpredictable nature of the game. In every action you take, you have to consider what your opponent will most likely do, based on what he or she thinks that you will do. There is a lot of game theory involved, which makes the game very dynamic and interesting, it never becomes dull even when you play it with the same people over and over again as players adjust their strategies based on observations from past games.

What is your best memory playing Koehandel on your travels?

A few years back I rented a house in Florianopolis, Brazil. I intentionally rented a house with a few spare rooms so that I could have friends over to visit. During my three month stay, I introduced this relatively unknown game to all my friends and they all loved it! They still talk about how much fun it was.

How do you win Crazy Eights?

You win a hand by being the player to get rid of all your cards. Any player left holding cards adds the sum of the cards to add their total. Although there are different variations on the rules, I usually play with the first player who gets to a total of 108 is the loser.

What makes Crazy Eights fun?

It’s fast-paced and frustrating at the same time. Plus it’s super easy to learn.

What is your best memory playing Crazy Eights on your travels?

Playing for hours on end with a Kiwi couple on the roof of a hostel in Istanbul. There had been a pretty major earthquake nearby so the city was basically shut down as many feared another quake in the days following. It was a great way to pass the time and bring some levity to a pretty serious situation.

How can you win Kemps?

You play in teams of 2 people, and the objective to get 4-of-a-kind (e.g. four 8’s or four Kings) amongst your team. Once you (think) your teammate has a 4-of-a-kind, you can yell “Kemps!”. If you indeed have a 4-of-a-kind, your team scores a point. Otherwise, you lose a point (but the game keeps going). You can even take it up a notch and get a double-kemp when both you and your teammate have a 4-of-a-kind. After winning x number of points, the game is won. There is an awesome move too: you can yell “counter Kemps!” when you think one of your opponents has 4-of-a-kind, and their teammate hasn’t called it yet.

What makes Kemps fun?

There aren’t that many cards games that are played in a team, which makes this one unique. The fun element also comes from the way you can signal your team member. You are allowed to talk during the game, which means you can signal to your teammate (who sits opposite of you) that you are saving a certain value of the card (e.g. Queens). Obviously, it is supposed to be a secret signal, as the others will easily figure it out and block your strategy.

What is your best memory playing Kemps on your travels?

I played this game at my home in Tokyo with my couchsurfer guests, amongst which was Victor. The others were from France (me), the USA and Israel. Soon we were coming up with ridiculous signals to let the other team member know what you were saving up. We would say “Do you have a red banana?”, which would stand for e.g. Jacks. Figuring out each other’s codes and even faking other people’s codes made the game very entertaining.

Top trumps Star Wars edition

How can you win Top Trumps?

Top Trumps is a really unique British game and a favorite with kids. Each pack of Top Trumps is based on a theme (animals, volcanoes, superheroes etc..) and each card in the pack contains five categories with numerical values, that you can use to ‘trump’ your opponent. The aim of the game and the way that you win is to get all your opponents’ cards (or the most number of cards in an allotted time).

What makes Top Trumps fun?

It’s a really fun game to play as a family and even young kids can enjoy it. There is also such a huge range of themes that you can upgrade to a new pack and game, which helps to keep things interesting. Depending on the ages of kids playing, it can be fast (or very slow!).

What is your best memory playing Top Trumps on your travels?

We play Top Trumps all the time with the kids. When we’re out to eat, waiting at an airport, at home… it really is a winner for families. One of my favourite memories is playing Harry Potter Top Trumps on an early morning ferry from Galiano Island to Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

Uno, perhaps the most popular card game

How can you win Uno?

The winner of a single game of Uno is the first player to get rid of all of the cards in his/her hand. If you want to make the game more exciting, however, you can play over a longer period of time, creating an Uno tournament, adding up points as you go. Each card is worth a certain number of points, and to win you are aiming for as few points as possible. This is fun because it sees the gameplay change and become more tactical.

What makes Uno fun?

Uno is fun because there is always that chance of forgetting to announce you are on your last card and paying the price. It can be a tactical game and often when played in a group of friends you will find that a certain amount of ganging up and revenge play occurs. I also couldn’t believe just how many people we met, of differing nationalities that knew how to play Uno and loved it.

What is your best memory playing Uno on your travels?

My friend and I met up with a french lady who I worked with and her sister whilst doing a road trip of Western Australia. Our nightly entertainment consisted of huddling around our camping table, wrapped in blankets, supping goon (cask wine) from camping mugs, whilst watching the sunset and playing Uno furiously. They still don’t believe I won 8 games in a row without cheating. Sorry girls but there was definitely no cheating involved!

How can you win Euchre?

The game is played with two teams of two players. Players hold five cards each out of a deck that uses only cards 9 to A, and the team that calls the suit that will be trump must secure at least three tricks to score a point. If you get all five tricks you get two points, and if al players call for trump and decide to “go alone” his teammate sits out and the one player goes against the other two on the opposing team. If the lone players win all five tricks, the team gets four points. First team to 11 wins.

What makes Euchre fun?

It takes a bit of skill, luck and taking chances, but it easy to learn quickly. We love that you can play several complete games within a couple hours, while laughing, holding a conversation and enjoying a few beers.

What is your best memory playing Euchre on your travels?

My wife Colleen and I played on opposite teams against another couple on a trip in Las Vegas. My best friend Matt and I who have played Euchre since we were young adults repeated beat the ladies — maybe three games in a row — and had built up a 10-0 lead in the fourth game when they came back to win 11-10. This turn of events, all against the backdrop of our earlier taunts and a few too many beers, left the guys humbled and the women rejoicing. It was hilarious.

Dixit board game

How can you win Dixit?

The storyteller (a different player on every turn) picks out one of six cards and describes it (without showing the card) to the other players. The other players then pick a card that they think best describes it, and place it on the table. The point scoring here is unique: if everybody or nobody guesses the correct card, the storyteller gets no points. Therefore it is key to give just the right clues so that a few players get it right, but not all. The first to 30 points wins.

What makes Dixit fun?

The cards themselves are quite funny, and the more creative people get with associating your story with the cards the funnier the game becomes.

What is your best memory playing Dixit on your travels?

I haven’t played this game on the road yet. Have you? Let us know in the comments !

Travlin’ card game

How can you win Travelin’?

The game is about traveling to new countries, so obviously, each country you visit gives you more points. When one player reaches 5 countries, they receive a bonus of 5 points and the game immediately ends. Count the points and like pretty much every game in existence, the person with the most points wins.

What makes Travelin’ fun?

For me as the game designer, the best part of Travelin’ is seeing the interaction between players. Having someone be so close to winning only to be stopped with a Border Control card is always fun. Or chaining together a huge combo to go from 3 countries to 5 and stealing the victory from another player – yeah, that’s a pretty awesome feeling too.

What is your best memory playing Travelin’ on your travels?

Hands down, my best memory of playing Travelin’ (and I’ve played a lot) are the countless games at the Midland Hostel in Bucharest. Because everyone there (staff, long term guests, friends of the hostel) became so good at the game, the matches we play there often turn into knock-down, drag-out slugfests. The best game of Travelin’ I’ve ever played was exactly one of those games and while us long-time players were were busy attacking each other, a person playing for the very first time was able to sneakily come from behind and take a well-earned win from the pros.

Codenames duet card game

How can you win Codenames duet?

Codemasters duet is a cooperative game, meaning that you are playing against the game, rather than against each other. The aim is to guess each other’s codewords within a certain amount of turns (more turns for beginners, less for more advanced players).

What makes Codenames duet fun?

You’ll spend your time finding singular words that connect 2 or more (random) words in front of you while factoring in that the connection might not be as obvious for the person in front of you. It’s a game of psychology, and it could therefore go hilariously wrong. You can’t speak while playing this game, only to say a word and how many words it is connected to, so it can be really frustrating watching your fellow “agent” struggle and choose a word that reveals an assassin, which means you both lose.

What is your best memory playing Codenames duet on your travels?

The good thing about this game is that you can transport it in just a few small bags. I have yet to play this game on my travels, however, I know that it’s a great game that requires little setup and can entertain for a good chunk of time. At home, I play this mostly with my wife, where I try to get into her brain and try to figure out which of my weird references and connections she would understand.

30. Liar’s dice

How can you win liar’s dice.

I win by experience. I’ve probably played for ten years so I’ve seen it all. You win by being unpredictable. You can win new friends and new language skills with the game also. I know the basic numbers in French thanks to this dice game.

What makes Liar’s dice fun?

The simplicity makes it fun. The excitement and the fact that every round is unique. It’s never the same game twice. Playing with someone who has a degree in math is also fun because you see their brains running in high gear.

What is your best memory playing Liar’s dice on your travels?

Best moment is a tie between looking for a runaway die on the floor of a sauna in the Finnish wilderness, naked with a bunch of naked girls, and playing the game for a whole day in the car with my friend Eric, while he was driving us from Vancouver to Fairbanks.

Rory’s story cubes dice game

31. Rory’s Story Cubes

How can you win rory’s story cubes.

The most creative story wins! No hardcore rules here. A winner would probably be chosen from the group you play it with.

What makes Rory’s Story Cubes fun?

It’s the ultimate game to train your imagination. Because of the different packs (for example a travel pack), you can create unlimited storylines. It’s also really fun to give some dice to other people so that you can create a story together in turns.

What is your best memory playing Rory’s Story Cubes on your travels?

Not yet tested, the game is pretty new. First results were hilarious though! Have you played this on the road and a have a great travel memory to share? Let me know in the comments .

Yahtzee, perhaps the most popular dice game

How can you win Yahtzee?

To be honest, luck plays a very important role in Yahtzee. But if you choose wisely after throwing your dices, you might have a better chance of winning. For example, I always wait before writing down my 1’s and 2’s. So if everything goes wrong and you don’t throw a full house or a four of a kind, you can always fill in your 1’s and 2’s and you don’t lose a lot of points.

What makes Yahtzee fun?

You can play it with 2 or more people. Winning depends mostly on luck and a bit on strategy, so everybody can join. It’s easy to pack so you can play it wherever you are; are you on a beach or in the middle of the jungle? Yahtzee is your game!

What is your best memory playing Yahtzee on your travels?

I played it a lot during my trip around the world, so it reminds me of traveling through Thailand but also backpacking through Australia and our roadtrip on the American west coast. From then on I have taken it with me every time I go away for a longer period.

Pickomino dice game

How can you win Regenwormen?

Simply put, you have to be lucky to win: this game is not about being the smartest or most strategic player. Really everyone can win, depending on how much you dare to gamble and how the dice will roll.

What makes Regenwormen fun?

The most fun part of the game is ‘stealing’ worms from other players to make it more difficult for them to win. You will see people from all over the world hesitate the first time they are able to steal the worms, but after that they will happily grab them from you with a big smile on their faces!

What is your best memory playing Regenwormen on your travels?

We played Regenwomen with the porters and guides during our Himalaya trek. The porters didn’t mingle with the tourists at first but this game helps to knock down the cast system. The result: they’ve beaten me several times.

34. Guess the Song

How to play guess the song.

Best played on road trips. Everyone in the car has an iPhone (or other music playing device of course) and chooses 5 songs. Their favorite song to dance to, favorite song to sing to, best song to pick someone up in the bar, their wedding song and then their funeral song. Mix up the order and everyone has to guess which is which!

How can you win Guess the Song?

Whoever can guess the correct the song the most amount of times wins!

What makes Guess the Song fun?

You get to hear new music, and learn more about your fellow travelers by listening to their favorite tunes! Author’s note: I’ve organized a few Couchsurfing events with a similar concept: everybody had to pass their music device to the person on their right. It was a great way to get to know other people well in a short time and a lot of fun!

What is your best memory playing Guess the Song on your travels?

Hmmm… I’d say the time when a passenger played Miley Cyrus – Party in the U.S.A. as their guilty pleasure song… and everyone knew the words! 10 People all singing as loud as we could! Lots of fun and a great memory!

How can you win I Spy?

This traditional kids’ game is so much fun when you’re on the road and is definitely for adults too! Go for the smaller objects and the hidden (but not too hidden) things. Oh and don’t cheat, so don’t pick moving things 😉

What makes I Spy fun?

It opens your eyes to all the beauty, small and big, around you.

What is your best memory playing I Spy on your travels?

This game is the best when you’re stuck in traffic in a bus in Asia, because there are always amazing colors and strange objects around!

How can you win Truth or Dare?

There is no winning or losing in this game, that is why it can go on and on and on! If a dare is too much for a person, he or she will get punished by revealing 2 truth. If a truth is too much for a person to reveal, he or she will have to carry out 2 dares to compensate it.

What makes Truth or Dare fun?

Those who join the game are pretty much open to doing every shameless dare and digging out the deepest secrets they keep. What makes this game fun is that you are testing out each others’ limits. Of course, to have the game continued safety without causing any hurt-feelings, we have to be sensitive to our friends’ conditions and situations. For example: do not try to ask about a recent break-up when the wound is still fresh.

What is your best memory playing Truth or Dare on your travels?

I will not forget the first time we played Truth of Dare in a Russian intercity train. We went all out on “Dares”, cat-walking down the narrow corridor filled with on-looking Russians, dancing at the front and asking snacks from people. At first, the Russians watched us with stern face but after a while they too started to enjoy the show.

How to play The Guessing Capital Game?

The concept is to name the capital of the country someone chooses. For example, I say Ethiopia and someone would need to guess the capital which is Addis Ababa.

What makes The Guessing Capital Game fun?

Many times someone will guess the wrong capital and it is fun when you start to decide what you win. You can play for big stakes like money where the first person to get a capital wrong wins all the money or even play just on who pays for something next, like dinner. A lot of people would be surprised the capitals of many countries.

What is your best memory playing The Guessing Capital Game on your travels?

This is actually a game that I lost. We were playing for $1 for each capital that we got right. Everyone would put in a dollar every time the right capital was given and the first person who lost they would lose all the money to the winner. The person stating the country. Eventually we got to big stakes and I ended up losing a full round trip ticket to Asia!

How can you win Never pass a sample?

This is perhaps the best travel game you’ll read about today. The rules are simple: as you walk around in the airport, you may never pass a free sample without grabbing it; chocolate, drinks, perfume- everything. You lose by being so pre-occupied with free samples that you miss your flight.

What makes Never pass a sample fun?

Free stuff!

What is your best memory playing Never pass a sample on your travels?

In Singapore around Xmas was especially fun. I walked around for about 6 hours and in the end, my belly ached from all the chocolates, I was pretty tipsy and I must have smelled like a prostitute because of all the perfume samples.

How can you win Pizza FTW?

The pizza game is pretty simple to play and does not need any equipment bar a couple of creative minds with some knowledge of popular culture. Each player takes a turn to name a title of film, book, or song replacing a word of choice with the word ‘pizza’ or adding the word ‘pizza’ for comedic value. For example­ ‘Saturday Night Pizza’ (instead of Saturday Night Fever!).

What makes Pizza FTW?

Everyone is a winner in Pizza FTW, it’s usually a giggle and it’s so simple some may say ‘it’s a pizza piss!’

What is your best memory playing Pizza FTW on your travels?

We’ve enjoyed passing time away whilst hiking, playing the pizza game. Feel free to Tweet or Facebook us some responses! Naturally ‘pizza’ can be any word you see fit.

How can you win Zitchdog?

Well, it’s pretty simple. It’s a fun game to play on a road trip. Whenever you see a dog you say “ZITCHDOG!”. Whoever spots the most dogs by the time your destination arrives is the winner.

What makes Zitchdog?

Well if everyone spots the dog at the same time and screams ZITCHDOG, it’s pretty hilarious. Or if the others don’t see a dog at all, you might have to stop and look to ensure the person is not cheating – haha.

What is your best memory playing Zitchdog on your travels?

I was playing ZitchDog with my hubby on our road trip to Agra. It was fun and then when we were about to reach our destination, we lost count totally. P.S. – This had nothing to do with the fact that we had a couple of beers.

41. Spoons / Ezelen

How can you win spoons.

You pass on a card to the person next to you (so you’ll get one too), then discard a card and pass it on again. You win by getting 4 of a kind.

What makes Spoons fun?

It’s slow at first, but later games pick up the pace and this is where it gets super fun. Once you have 4 of a kind (4 aces, 4 queens, 4 fives, whatever) then you pick up a spoon. The rest has to instantly pick up a spoon too. If you are last to pick up a spoon, you lose (and drink). It’s hilarious when one person is still playing when everyone else has stopped because they are so into the game! Then you all laugh, re-deal… and drink some more! No spoons available? This game can be played by putting your finger on the side of a table instead of picking up a spoon.

What is your best memory playing Spoons on your travels?

Not yet played while traveling. Have you played this on the road and a have a great travel memory to share? Let me know in the comments .

How do you win Monkey Monkey?

You win by not ending the game with a card that makes a pair with the “monkey card”!

What makes Monkey Monkey fun?

It’s a very easy game purely based on luck, so if you’re planning to get drunk quickly, this could be the game for you.

What is your best memory playing Monkey Monkey on your travels?

How can you win mexico.

This game has a lot of winners, but just one loser ;-). The player whose dice is first at one will lose the game and has to drink a shot (preferably vodka).

What makes Mexico fun?

It’s easy to play, everyone can join and the element of drinking a shot of liquor makes it really fun!

What is your best memory playing Mexico on your travels?

A friend of us lost this game 12 times on one evening, so he got really drunk. At one point he wasn’t even able to roll his die without it falling off the table, which meant you had a drink a shot regardless of the number rolled.

How do you win King’s Cup?

Aaah, the classic drinking game. There are different rules throughout the world. You start by putting all the cards face-down around a cup in the middle of the table. Then, each person picks up a card and the card’s value (not suit) determines what happens. At this game, much like with any other drinking game, nobody really “wins”. But if you do, you’re sober and everyone else is drunk. Does that sound fun to you? 😉

What makes King’s Cup fun?

You can call it fun, you can call it stupid, but one thing is certain: everybody gets out-of-their-heads drunk with this game.

What is your best memory playing King’s Cup on your travels?

How to play fives.

No need to have any objects, except for your hand. It’s possible to play with any number of players, but the math can get pretty hard with a large number of participants. For the sake of this explanation, we’ll say that there are 5 players. The “it” player has to come up with a number from 0 to 25 (since we have 5 players it has to be a multiple of 5).

Each player on the count of 3 shoots out their hand and shows either zero (fist) or 5 fingers. Let’s say the player came up with the number “10” and 2 of the 5 people had a fist and 3 people were showing 5 fingers. This would make a total of 15 which means nothing happens, and the game moves on with the next “it” player and the process described above repeats. The important part: if they guess correctly they must say (totally straight-faced) “Thank you very much for this lovely game of fives”.

What makes Fives fun?

It’s stupid hard because you get SO EXCITED that you guessed it correctly! But you can’t show emotion otherwise you’ll lose.

What is your best memory playing Fives on your travels?

I played this at a hostel in Costa Rica on Nebanaw Years Eve. It was a great night of eating homemade tortillas and drinking cheap rum.

How to play Sheep?

You sit around a circle, cover your teeth with your lips (like you’re mocking the old man that lives down the street) and say “SHEEP” to a person sitting next to you. They say “sheep” to the person next to them; it goes round and round. If you want to change the direction, you say “Sheep-pong!” and it changes direction. If you show your teeth, you lose/drink.

What makes Sheep fun?

Endless giggles when you try to say Sheep without opening your mouth.

What is your best memory playing Sheep on your travels?

We played this during a typhoon when we hardly had enough light and rain was pouring outside. We just couldn’t stop laughing.

47. Assholes / President / Scumbags

How do you win assholes.

This game is unique in that the game is never truly won. If you win a game, you will become the president/asshole/scumbag (depending on which version you play) and the game continues on. Other people get titles too, like vice-president, scum or vice-scum, which they keep for the next game. You simply stop playing when you get bored which is, you know, never.

What makes Assholes fun?

It’s really fun working your way up from being scum (last place) to the president (first place). If you’re the loser of the last game, you’ll have to switch your two best cards with the winner of the previous game, which makes it harder to win the round. It is still possible, however, and game by game you can improve your rank. There are many rules that can be added, such as that the president can order the loser of the previous game to get everyone a round of beer, making him/her the “beer bitch”.

What is your best memory playing Assholes on your travels?

How do you win mayer.

There are no winners in Mayer, just losers (who drink). You start with 6 lives, and the player that first loses all of their lives loses the game. This dice game is played with only two dice and a cup, so it’s easy to see why it fits excellently in the travel game category. The game contains a lot of bluffing, although that depends on the players of course.

What makes Mayer fun?

I like the game because it’s an easy icebreaker when you meet new people. It’s easy to learn and everybody can join in, and you can learn a lot about your fellow players while playing the game. I personally love it when you have to decide whether the person you are playing against is lying or telling the truth. I look for specific signs and when I call them out some people really have no poker face!

What is your best memory playing Mayer on your travels?

Victor’s flashback : I remember this game being played everywhere I looked in Copenhagen. Especially in cafés and bars, where it was a very normal thing to ask the bartender for a cup and two dice. It is a truly great way to kill some time and meet some (soon-to-be) friends.

How do you win Mexxen?

You can win Mexxen by having a really good stomach haha! There is no such thing as winners in this game, but the one who doesn’t feel sick after playing it is the one who ‘wins’. But you have to lose some to win eventually. So drinking some shots of alcohol is recommended.

What makes Mexxen fun?

You really have to think some things through, for instance, if you’re throwing the dice once or twice. And you can’t throw the dice on the ground because you will have to drink a shot and the game starts over. And of course, more shots means more dice on the floor and so on. The funniest thing is that there are always people who have a ridiculous amount of bad luck and therefore will get drunk very early on in the game.

What is your best memory playing Mexxen on your travels?

My best memory playing Mexxen on my travels is mostly the few hours after playing the game. The funniest thing is that a lot of friends are getting drunk and everybody is falling asleep at the most weird places: in the kitchen, under a tree and even under the table! The photos are the best memories, but you know how it works: what happens on the island…

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ADD YOUR FAVORITE TRAVEL GAME FOR ADULTS BY LEAVING A COMMENT BELOW

Victor Eekhof

Currently in: Amsterdam. Victor’s Travels is a travel blog curated by me, 30-something Dutch world explorer Victor Eekhof. This blog is all about traveling on your own terms and not following the masses . It’s for people who are happiest with a big backpack on their backs and a smaller one on their front; people who walk where others take a cab, or take a bus where others take a plane. I have visited 60+ countries on 7 continents , from Antarctica to North Korea and Venezuela to Russia and started this blog to share my tips and stories with fellow travellers just like you. Read my story »

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How on earth is Farkle not on this list? it’s a dice game that takes minutes to learn and fit’s in your pocket. (One of those old-school 35mm film canisters to be exact.) This is always in my bag and makes an appearance at every brewery we hit up. https://www.amazon.com/ROUTE-Pocket-Farkel-dice-game/dp/B01H67OC6M/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1B02QP2BHEROX&keywords=pocket+farkle&qid=1655128613&sprefix=pocket+farkle%2Caps%2C122&sr=8-3

Thank you for the nice list. I will definitely try out a few of those. I particularly like card games and board games.

Make & break card game.. newly launched in market.. but awesome fun making & breaking couples! My circle is right now addicted to this game

Haha, breaking couples sounds fun! 😀 Thanks for the suggestion!

One of my favorite adult road trip games is “Censored”.

Censored is a dirty phrase guessing game that simple and super fun. Give clues to get your friends (or roommates or relatives) to guess as many dirty adult themed secret phrases as possible in 90 seconds but no one (not the clue giver, not your guessing friends) is allowed to say the taboo words (if you catch them guess one, give them a heads up they are wrong by buzzing them with the buzzer)! Check out the app store of your choice!

Cool game! Thanks for the suggestion 🙂

Great article thanks. We are always on the lookout for new after-dinner games for our holidays, especially now our kids are grown up. A suggestion for you is Munchkin. A card only game so easy to pack. In a similar vein to Fluxx, the rules change often and there are many expansion decks to add variety.

Thanks a lot for the suggestion! I have heard of the game but I have never played it. I’ll make sure to add it to this article when I do! 🙂

Cheers, Victor

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• Travel Essentials & Accessories

8 Amazing Travel Games for 2024

Published: August 20, 2023

Modified: December 27, 2023

by Consuelo Oxendine

• Family Travel
• Plan Your Trip
• Travel Tips

Are you a travel enthusiast on the lookout for new and exciting ways to pass the time during your journeys? Look no further! In this article, we will delve into the world of travel games and highlight 8 amazing options that are set to take the travel scene by storm in 2023. These games are not only entertaining but also portable and perfect for keeping you engaged and entertained while exploring new destinations. Whether you are traveling solo or with a group, these travel games are bound to add an extra element of fun and excitement to your adventures. So, pack your bags and get ready for endless hours of enjoyment with these 8 amazing travel games for 2023.

Jump to Review

Connect 4 Grab and Go Game

This product has a rating of A. * What does this rating mean?

Overall Score : 8.5/10

The Connect 4 Grab and Go Game is a compact mobile version of the classic Connect 4 game. It features an all-in-one playing grid that makes storage easy, with 21 red and 21 yellow checkers. The checker trays fold up on the playing grid, providing convenience when you're done playing. This game is perfect for travel, as it is compact, lightweight, and easy to pack. However, some users have mentioned that the chip holder can be challenging and that the box may not be durable for long-term travel use. Overall, it is a well-made travel game that provides hours of entertainment for players of all ages.

Key Features

• Compact mobile version of the Connect 4 game
• All-in-one playing grid for easy storage
• Includes 21 red and 21 yellow checkers
• Checker trays fold up on the playing grid
• Perfect for travel

Specifications

• Color: Standard
• Dimensions: 1.89Lx9.25Wx6.26H
• Size: 1 Count (Pack of 1)
• Compact and portable
• Easy storage and setup
• Durable and well-made
• Suitable for travel
• Chips may slip out of the holder
• Box may not be durable for travel

The Connect 4 Grab and Go Game is a fantastic travel accessory for those who enjoy the classic Connect 4 game. Its compact size and easy storage make it ideal for on-the-go entertainment, whether you’re traveling by car, plane, or train. The durable construction ensures that this game will last through many trips and provide endless fun for players of all ages. However, the chip holder could be improved to prevent chips from slipping out, and a sturdier travel case would be a welcomed addition. Overall, this travel version of Connect 4 is a great addition to any travel accessories collection and is sure to provide hours of entertainment.

Bendon License Plate Games Magnetic Activity Tin

Overall Score : 8/10

The Bendon TS Shure License Plate Games Magnetic Activity Tin is a fun and educational travel game for children ages 3 and up. It includes an illustrated foam magnet sheet and comes in a convenient storage tin, making it perfect for on-the-go entertainment. With hours of multiplayer fun, this game is great for the whole family. The magnets are sturdy and hold well, ensuring they won't fall off during play. However, some customers have mentioned that the magnets could be stronger, especially when using them on walls. The tin could also be slightly bigger to accommodate the state magnets. Overall, this game is a great way to keep kids entertained during road trips and receives a score of 8 out of 10.

• INCLUDES: Illustrated foam magnet sheet
• STORAGE TIN: Tin case is perfect for travel and storage
• MULTIPLAYER: Hours of fun for the whole family
• TRAVEL FRIENDLY: A great travel game for two players
• IDEAL FOR: Children ages 3 and up
• Dimension: 0.75Lx7.00Wx9.00H
• Fun and educational
• Sturdy magnets that hold well
• Convenient storage tin for travel
• Great for road trips and long journeys
• Magnets could be stronger
• Tin could be slightly larger
• Some printing and cutting issues

The Bendon License Plate Games Magnetic Activity Tin is a fantastic travel companion for kids. It offers both entertainment and educational value, allowing children to learn while having fun. The sturdy magnets ensure a durable gameplay experience, although some improvements could be made in their strength. The compact tin case makes it easy to carry and store, perfect for long journeys. Despite some minor cons, this game is highly recommended for road trips and receives a score of 8 out of 10.

bravokids 2 Pack LCD Writing Tablet

The bravokids 2 Pack LCD Writing Tablet is a perfect accessory for kids on the go. With two writing tablets included, kids can learn and draw, while adults can use it to jot down ideas or leave messages. The tablet has a reusable 8.5-inch screen with no blue light or glare, ensuring no damage to children's eyesight. It is made of durable plastic with rounded corners, making it waterproof, anti-drop, and anti-shock. The tablet is lightweight and portable, making it ideal for travel. Plus, it's an eco-friendly option that saves paper and ink. With a built-in battery, it can be used around 100,000 times. This tablet is a great gift for kids of ages 3 to 8.

• 2 Pack for Sharing with a Lower Price
• No More Mess
• Easy to Use
• Lightweight and Portable
• Eco-friendly Toddler Toys for Boys Girls
• Color: Blue+Pink
• Dimension: 0.51Lx5.75Wx8.78H
• Size: 8.5 Inch
• Can be used for learning and drawing
• No blue light, radiation, or glare
• Durable, waterproof, and anti-drop
• Portable and lightweight for travel
• Eco-friendly alternative to paper and ink
• Delete button may wear off over time
• Screen could be brighter
• Flimsy and cheap construction

The bravokids 2 Pack LCD Writing Tablet is a convenient and fun accessory for kids. It provides a screen for learning and drawing without the mess of traditional paper. The tablet is durable, portable, and lightweight, making it perfect for travel. Its eco-friendly design saves paper and ink, and the built-in battery ensures long-lasting use. While there may be some minor drawbacks like the wear-off of the delete button and the screen brightness, overall, this tablet is a great gift for kids aged 3 to 8.

Trouble Grab & Go Game (Travel Size)

Overall Score : 8.2/10

The Hasbro Gaming Pop-O-Matic Trouble Grab & Go Game is a compact mobile version of the classic Trouble game. It's perfect for travel as it comes with a grab & go gameboard that makes storage easy. The game unit includes a Pop-O-Matic die roller and cover, along with 16 pegs, a label sheet, and instructions. The gameboard also has storage spaces for the pieces. The game is small and portable, allowing you to bring it anywhere for on-the-go entertainment. However, some users have mentioned that the spots on the gameboard where the pieces sit are not deep enough, leading to occasional piece loss during gameplay. Overall, it's a fun and compact game option for travel.

• Grab & Go game is a compact mobile version
• All-in-one gameboard makes storage easy
• Includes Pop-O-Matic die roller
• Includes game unit with Pop-O-Matic die roller and cover, 16 pegs, label sheet, and instructions
• Color: Original Version
• Dimension: 1.89Lx6.26Wx9.25H
• Comes with storage spaces for pieces
• Easy and quick setup
• Creative and effective piece packaging
• Spots for pieces not deep enough
• Some difficulty in popping the dice

The Hasbro Gaming Pop-O-Matic Trouble Grab & Go Game is a convenient travel size version of the classic Trouble game. It offers a compact and portable option for entertainment on the go. The all-in-one gameboard makes storage easy, and the game unit includes a Pop-O-Matic die roller for added excitement. While there are some drawbacks, such as the shallow spots for pieces and occasional difficulty in popping the dice, the overall experience is enjoyable. It’s a great choice for road trips, vacations, or any situation where you need a compact game for entertainment. Just be cautious not to lose any pieces during gameplay. Bring the fun of Trouble wherever you go with this travel-sized version!

Cats & Boxes Travel Game

Overall Score : 9/10

The SmartGames Cats & Boxes Travel Game is a compact and portable educational toy that offers 60 challenging puzzle games suitable for ages 7 to adult. This brain-teasing game helps build concentration, problem-solving abilities, and deduction skills. The set includes a game board with a lid, 5 cat figurines, 4 puzzle pieces, and a challenge booklet with 60 different challenges and solutions. Designed by SmartGames, a leader in multi-level logic family games, this award-winning game provides entertainment for all ages. The game dimensions are 9.45Lx1.77Wx6.69H, making it perfect for travel. With a high customer rating of 4.8/5, it has received positive reviews for its addictive and challenging gameplay.

• Compact size and portable travel case
• 60 challenges for concentration and problem-solving
• Suitable for ages 7 and up
• Includes game board, cats, puzzle pieces, and challenge booklet
• Award-winning game designed for all ages
• Dimension: 9.45Lx1.77Wx6.69H
• Small and portable design perfect for travel
• Addictive and challenging gameplay
• Appealing to cat lovers
• Helps build cognitive skills
• Durable game components
• Limited replay value after completing all puzzles
• Booklet could be made with more durable material

The SmartGames Cats & Boxes Travel Game is an excellent choice for individuals who enjoy brain-teasing puzzles. Its compact size and portable travel case make it a great companion for long journeys or entertainment on the go. The game not only provides hours of addictive fun, but also helps to improve concentration, problem-solving abilities, and spatial reasoning. The adorable cat-themed design adds to its appeal, making it an ideal gift for cat lovers. Although it may lack significant replay value once all the puzzles are completed, the game’s overall quality and positive customer reviews make it a worthwhile purchase.

Clue Card Game for Kids

The Clue Card Game is a twist on the classic mystery board game, designed specifically for kids ages 8 and up. Instead of moving around a game board, players use cards to solve the mystery. They ask other players questions to find out who committed the crime, with what weapon, and in which location. The game includes case file and evidence cards to help players investigate. It's a quick-paced game that can easily be taken with you when you travel. The Clue Card Game makes a great gift for birthdays, holidays, or as a stocking stuffer. It's a fun and engaging strategy game that will entertain kids for hours.

• Twist on the classic Clue board game
• Fast and fun gameplay for kids
• Includes case file and evidence cards
• Compact and portable travel game
• Great for kids ages 8 and up
• Dimension: 0.75Lx3.62Wx5.63H
• Fun and engaging gameplay
• Portable and travel-friendly
• Suitable for kids of various ages
• Confusing instructions for new players
• Setup takes a bit longer initially
• Limited number of players without combining decks

The Clue Card Game is a fantastic twist on the classic board game, offering a fun and fast-paced experience for kids. With its compact size and travel-friendly design, it’s the perfect game to take on your trips. The case file and evidence cards add an extra level of challenge and strategy, making each game unique. While the instructions may be a bit confusing for new players, once you understand the gameplay, it’s a blast. Whether you’re looking for a birthday gift, holiday present, or stocking stuffer, the Clue Card Game is sure to be a hit with kids ages 8 and up. Gather your young detectives and start solving mysteries today!

Trivial Pursuit Mini Packs Multipack

The Hasbro Gaming Trivial Pursuit Mini Packs Multipack is the ultimate trivia game for adults and teens. With 4 different game packs featuring trivia questions from the 80s, 90s, 2000s, and 2010s, you can test your knowledge of pop culture throughout the decades. These compact game packs are perfect for on-the-go entertainment, whether you're having a party, going on a road trip, or camping. Each pack includes 80 cards with a total of 240 engaging and fun questions. The rules are quick and easy, and it only takes 5 cards to win. Suitable for 2 or more players, this game is ideal for family gatherings or game nights with friends. Get ready to spark conversations, trigger memories, and have a blast with the Trivial Pursuit Mini Packs Multipack!

• 4 different game packs with trivia from 4 decades
• Compact and portable for parties, road trips, or camping
• Quick and easy rules; 5 cards to win
• 240 engaging and fun questions about each decade
• Suitable for adults and teens ages 16+
• Color: Multicolored
• Dimension: 3.38Lx3.75Wx4.75H
• Size: Medium
• Includes trivia from 4 different decades
• Compact and portable design for on-the-go fun
• Engaging and entertaining questions for all players
• Suitable for adults and teens of various ages
• No instructions included
• Trivia cards do not coordinate with the base game
• Does not come with a die to roll

The Hasbro Gaming Trivial Pursuit Mini Packs Multipack is a fantastic addition to any trivia lover’s collection. With a wide range of questions spanning four different decades, this game offers hours of entertainment and sparks nostalgic conversations. Its compact and portable design allows you to enjoy the game anywhere, making it perfect for parties, road trips, or camping adventures. Although it lacks instructions and coordination with the base game, the engaging questions and variety of topics make up for it. Whether you’re a seasoned trivia player or a beginner, this multipack is sure to keep you entertained and challenged. Get ready to test your knowledge and have a blast with the Trivial Pursuit Mini Packs Multipack!

UNO Card Game for Family Night

Overall Score : 9.2/10

The UNO Card Game is a classic family card game that is perfect for family nights, travel, and gifting to kids. It is easy to learn and provides hours of fun for 2-10 players. The objective is to deplete your hand by matching your cards with the current card shown on top of the deck. The game includes special action cards like Skips, Reverses, Draw Twos, and color-changing Wild cards to add strategy and excitement. When you're down to one card, yell "UNO!" to win. It is suitable for adults, teens, and kids 7 years old and up. The game comes in a collectible storage tin for easy carrying and organization. With durable cards and vibrant illustrations, the UNO Card Game is a must-have for family game nights and a great gift option for all ages.

• Classic family card game
• Match cards by color or number
• Special action cards included
• Suitable for adults, teens, and kids 7+
• Comes in a collectible storage tin
• Color: Multicolor
• Dimension: 1.96Lx5.90Wx6.69H
• Easy to learn and play
• Durable cards and vibrant illustrations
• Suitable for large gatherings or small family nights
• Comes in a collectible storage tin for easy carrying
• Fun and exciting with special action cards
• Tape on the tin upon arrival
• Sticky labels on the tin
• No protective covering for the tin

The UNO Card Game is a timeless favorite that brings endless fun to family gatherings and travel adventures. It’s easy to learn for players of all ages and offers enough strategy to keep older players engaged. The collectible storage tin adds convenience and protects the durable cards, while the special action cards add excitement to the game. Whether it’s a large gathering or a small family night, UNO is guaranteed to bring laughter and friendly competition. It’s a must-have for any game collection and makes a fantastic gift for both kids and adults. Get ready to shout “UNO!” and enjoy countless hours of fun!

Buyer's Guide: Travel Games

• Look for games that are specifically designed for travel. These games usually come in compact and portable sizes, making them easy to carry and store in your travel bag.
• Opt for games with magnetic pieces or cards that are securely enclosed. This way, you won't have to worry about losing pieces while on the move.
• Choose games that can be played solo or with multiple players, so you have the flexibility to play alone or involve fellow travelers.
• Games with adjustable difficulty levels are great, as they cater to different skill levels and ensure everyone can enjoy playing together.
• Look for games with quick and easy setups. This is especially important during travel when you want to start playing right away without spending too much time assembling the game board or reading complicated instructions.
• Avoid games with numerous small parts, as these can be easily misplaced or lost while on the go.
• Seek games that keep you engaged throughout the journey. Look for interactive elements, such as decision-making, problem-solving, and strategic gameplay.
• Games that encourage conversation and interaction with fellow travelers are a bonus. These games can help break the ice and create memorable moments during your trip.
• Consider the age group of the players when selecting travel games. Look for games that are suitable for all ages to ensure everyone can participate and have fun.
• If traveling with young children, look for games that enhance learning and skill development while being entertaining.
• Choose a mix of game types to keep things interesting. Include games that cater to different preferences, such as word games, trivia games, card games, puzzle games, or strategy games.
• Having a variety of games ensures there's something for everyone and prevents boredom during long journeys.
• Opt for games that are made of durable materials, especially if you plan to use them frequently during your travels.
• Look for games with sturdy components that can withstand the rigors of travel, including rough handling and varying environmental conditions.
• Consider how the game can be stored compactly. Look for games that come with storage solutions built into their design, such as foldable game boards or compact boxes that can be easily packed away.
• If you are traveling to a foreign country or among a diverse group of travelers, choose games that don't rely heavily on language. This ensures everyone can understand and play the game regardless of their language fluency.
• Select games that can be adapted to different travel situations. For example, choose games with shorter or longer gameplay options, depending on the duration of your journey.
• Games with flexible rules that can be modified to suit different settings or group sizes are also highly recommended.

Frequently Asked Questions about 8 Amazing Travel Games for 2023

Not at all! While travel games are ideal for long journeys, they can also be enjoyed during shorter trips, layovers, or even while waiting at the airport.

Absolutely! Many travel games are designed for solo play. They can be a great way to pass the time and challenge yourself even when you’re alone.

Yes, travel games are suitable for children as well. Look for games that are age-appropriate and provide engaging and educational experiences for young players.

Most travel games are suitable for airplane play, especially those that are compact and don’t require a large play area. However, it’s always a good idea to check with the airline regarding any restrictions on game playing during the flight.

Absolutely! Get creative and design your own travel game using simple materials like paper, cards, or small objects. It can be a fun and personalized way to entertain yourself and fellow travelers.

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The best 15+ travel games for your phone that work offline

January 3, 2023 by Karen Turner 4 Comments

As someone with limited data, I’m always astounded how few apps work well offline and without data. I’m often toying with a new phone app that I can play while on the road.  After far too many apps that I’ve burned through during a long bus ride, I’ve asked my fellow bloggers for their favorite travel game apps for iPhone and Android that work perfectly offline, so even if you’re on a long plane ride, you can still enjoy playing on your phone!  I’ve tried to focus this list on thought-provoking games for your phone that challenge your mind, rather than games that just keep you busy (as they’re addictive).

• Monument Valley

Don’t Starve

Plague inc..

• Leo’s Fortune
• Alto’s Adventure

Reigns: Her Majesty

Old man’s journey, the escapists.

• Life is Strange

Lumosity: Train of Thought

Hit the light.

It’s good to note that not all of these apps are free and I strongly recommend buying a power bank if you’ll be playing a lot of travel games during your trip on your phone.  Games can really kill your battery, especially when the screen is bright.

• 1.1 Monument Valley (and its sequels)
• 1.2 Device6
• 1.3 Don’t Starve
• 1.4 80 days
• 1.5 Plague Inc.
• 1.6 Crossword
• 1.7 Heads Up
• 1.8 Leo’s Fortune
• 1.9 Alto’s Adventure
• 1.10 Blackbar
• 1.11 Broken Age
• 1.12 Solitaired
• 1.13 Reigns: Her Majesty
• 1.14 Old Man’s Journey
• 1.15 The Escapists
• 1.16 Life Is Strange
• 1.17 Framed
• 1.18 Lumosity: Train of Thought
• 1.19 Hearts
• 1.20 Wordescapes
• 1.21 Solitaire Bliss
• 1.22 Hit the Light
• 1.23 Minesweeper
• 1.24 What’s your favorite travel game on your phone?

The best game apps for travel for iPhone and Android

Monument valley (and its sequels).

From the moment I discovered this game in House of Cards, I was addicted to this elegant game. Its beautiful Escher-like concept together with its clever puzzles make it a joy to play.  I’ve bought the sequels as well. It has the feel of a puzzle game without the strain of doing a puzzle.     (My husband is begging me for a turn!)

Buy for iPhone / Android

Device6 is a clever and unique game only for iPhones. For game lovers who are looking for different and mind-bending, try out this game. It integrates literature with fantasy and puzzles. We don’t want to ruin the surprise!

Buy for iPhone

If you are looking for something to keep you occupied during an 8-hour flight, look no further than “Don’t Starve”. In its essence, Don’t Starve is a wilderness survival game. Your character is dropped in an unfamiliar wasteland and your task is, quite simply, not to die.

Unlike most other games today, Don’t Starve doesn’t come with a tutorial which means it’s 100% up to you to figure out how to play this game. It is challenging and engaging. You need to be strategic and creative.

You’ll need to figure out how to feed yourself, how to defend yourself against enemies, and how to find shelter. If you die, you will have to start over from scratch and the world you find may be entirely different from the previous.

Challenge yourself and see how long you can survive. With my best efforts, I haven’t made it past 8 days yet! It may be a paid game, but it is worth every cent and works perfectly without an internet connection! Just be warned, it’s almost impossible to put down 😉  – Jacky

I love this choose-your-own adventure game where you try to help your character get around the world.  Along the way, your character will get into all sorts of trouble (of course). 

Maybe it’s my love of travel, but I have an intense love for the Victorian steampunk world full of delight, splendor, and laughs.  It’s fun to play this with a friend sitting next to you–and you’ll not want to put this game down.

Ever dream of destroying the human race?  Want to destroy the human race without being labeled a mass murderer?  Try Plague Inc.  Plague Inc. is a strategy game where you become a small microbe and get to infect people around the world.  The goal is to spread quickly and kill of the humans before they notice and decide to start creating a cure.

This game is a major time killer.  The standard game has four different microbes you can become at 4 difficulty levels. Each microbe has different characteristics.  The different levels can make the game easy or hard.  Each game is different and that’s not just due to the microbe or difficulty level. 

You have to evolve your microbe.  How you chose to affect the humans can vary.  Do you go for the quick kill or a long drawn-out illness?  Should you start your illness in a populated country or one of the more remote islands of the world?   I love that each game takes less than 30 minutes and I am always experimenting new ways to destroy the world.  – Jennifer

This free app with a reasonable subscription to the New York Times Crossword is so worth it if you’re into crosswords. The Saturday and Sunday crosswords are my favorite although they’re generally the hardest. It’s especially fun to do it with a loved one as you can debate on who has the correct answer to the clue!

Before a plane ride, just remember to hit download on all the crosswords that you want to be downloaded for the flight–and you should be entertained for hours.  (This is even easier to use on a tablet.)

Heads Up was the perfect game to play as a group or pair when time was moving slower than a sloth getting out of bed on a Sunday. The premise is simple: one person holds their phone to their forehead while the rest of the group try to describe or act out the word on the screen. When they guess correctly, the player tilts the phone to get a new word described. While there doesn’t always need to be a “winner”, of course the person with the most correct guesses does the best!

There’s plenty to enjoy about the game; it doesn’t require much prior knowledge, involves everyone in a group, you can play as little or as long as you like, and often any language differences can add an element of hilarity to the game.

As a game that doesn’t invite too much serious competitiveness or over-challenging tasks, it’s a great way to have a laugh with new and old friends. I have extremely fond memories of this game from my travels, I associate it with meeting new people from all sorts of cultures, making great memories, and learning a thing or two about my acting and describing skills! – Suzy

Leo’s Fortune

Guide a green fluffball with a mustache through progressively more difficult levels of cliffs, forests, gears, levers, deserts, and more. Leo tells you his sad story as you try and help him recover his gold. His expressive eyes and fluffiness are so well-animated, it makes flinging him up on a branch that much more rewarding.

The developers spent some money on the voiceover for this game, and it shows, I genuinely missed Leo when I finished it! You will want headphones for this one to get the full experience. Lovers of platformers will particularly enjoy this game. – Erin

Alto’s Adventure

I’ve played this one off and on for years, as it’s a classic side-scrolling jumping game and perfect for killing time in short bursts. Alto is a snowboarder, and you’re attempting to get as far as you can while avoiding rocks, reindeer, posts and other obstacles.

There’s the added fun of trying to incorporate flips and tricks, and board sliding bunting. You eventually unlock other skiers with different skills too. It’s beautifully animated, with a minimalistic aesthetic, as you’re seeing pretty much everything in silhouette. I find it fun for short periods, but I don’t have a particularly obsessive gaming personality. Some people play this for hours! -Erin

This short, but fun game is great for puzzle lovers who are looking for something different.  The game is about censorship in its various forms–and it requires that you use your sleuthing skills to figure out the story behind the actions.

Buy on Google Play Store / iTunes Store

I got sucked into this point-and-click puzzle game so quickly.  Despite the childish drawings that made me initially doubt if this was for adults, this story-based game with two different characters has an engaging plot line and interesting puzzles.

I found the story very beautiful and funny.  I didn’t want to stop playing this one, so consider buying this prior to a long international flight if you’re into puzzle games.

Buy for iPhone & Android

Solitaired stands out as an exceptional online platform for card game enthusiasts, offering a wide variety of solitaire games and related card games, all accessible directly from your web browser or through their Google Play app. The website features an intuitive user interface, making it easy for players to navigate through different games and find their preferred version of solitaire making it perfect for travel. Whether you’re on a long flight, train ride, or just waiting around, the app provides a fantastic way to pass the time and enjoy classic card and board game action.

Download for Android or visit their mobile-friendly desktop site

A Tinder-like decision-making game, Reigns: Her Majesty puts in the place of the Queen in the center of an imaginary royal court, with many decisions to make.

Some are hilarious, like how to put up with your annoying husband, and others are about how to rule your kingdom. You have to walk the line between antagonizing your subjects too much and inspiring too much love –– either extreme will get you killed!

The writing here is witty, funny, and barbed, poking fun at the ways women are caught between impossible choices. It won a BAFTA award for best game, and I’m not surprised. This one can be played in short bursts or you can sink into an hour-long binge, it’s that good. – Erin

Old Man’s Journey is a thoughtful puzzle game where an old man looks back on his life and his memories. It’s subtle, beautifully drawn, and with dynamics that I haven’t seen in many games before this.  I found the whole experience very calming, even when I was frustrated with not getting to the next level.

Break your pixellated character out of prison! This game has won several awards, and for good reason. Incorporating an old-school gaming aesthetic with a bit of crafting and the occasional round of whacking people over the head with makeshift weapons, this game is more complicated than it first appears.

There are several ways to break out of any given prison level –– from causing full-scale riots to digging tunnels to making disguises. It’s compelling enough to entertain you during a long boring train ride, but quick enough to make a short wait entertaining. -Erin

Get for iPhone or Android

Life Is Strange

Life is Strange is a choose-your-own adventure game that is closer to a movie that you get to direct yourself.  It’s emotionally gripping, cinematic, and with a poignant story.  It’s fairly long, so you’ll get a lot of use out of it for a low cost (think how much you’d pay for a movie).  My husband and I spent  days playing this game together.

Get for iPhone only at the moment.

Framed is an amazing concept of an app where you create and rearrange comic panels in an attempt to help your spy succeed.  The gameplay is a bit fast, but it’s a blast to play and you’ll lose track of time while playing Framed. 

The animation of Framed is hand drawn and the music just adds another piece.  I’d consider it the perfect travel game for a long wait at the airport–although you shouldn’t get too invested in it. 😉

Get for iPhone / Android

Lumosity is an app featuring a variety of games that reportedly train your brain to become more agile in different ways. The free version of the app serves up three games from a collection each day for your brain workout. You can play each game as often as you want during the day. I love most of the games I have played so far, but my favorite by far is Train of Thought.

Train of Thought i s Lumosity’s most popular brain game. It has reportedly been played over half-a-billion times since it was launched in 2013. I am not surprised at all…Train of Thought is both addictive and aggravating like the best games always are!

So, how does it work? The game features a screen with a bunch of train stations in different colors, with tracks connecting each station to a starting point. When you are ready, trains are released onto the track from the start point one by one, and the goal is to throw switches correctly and in time for each train to head into its home station. 

It sounds simple…but it gets progressively more difficult with each level. On a recent ten-hour flight to Europe, I spent every waking minute playing it (and I barely slept!), but I still could not crack my current level of 11.  – Dhara

Get for iPhone & Android

The objective of Hearts is to accumulate as few penalty points as possible throughout the game, with players striving to avoid taking tricks that contain any Hearts or the Queen of Spades. In this trick-taking game, strategic planning and careful consideration of each move are essential, as players attempt to navigate through the intricacies of each round to maintain a low score. For those on the move, the online version available at hearts.land offers a convenient and engaging way to enjoy this classic card game, making it a great travel companion for entertainment during journeys.

Visit their mobile-friendly desktop site

Wordescapes

Who doesn’t enjoy a word game?! I love Wordescapes because it keeps my mind working especially when I’m on a long flight or connection and the internet is not available. Or simply when I’m working and need a break.

The app works this way, you have box tables like the ones in Scrabble, and you will get a set of letters where you need to create words that fit on the number of boxes. If you create a word that is not needed in the table box, it will go as a bonus word.

Every level have 16 set of games, once you finish every level you get free coins. Coins can be used as a “hint” when you are stuck. This app is completely free and the words will be in English. – Mary  

Solitaire Bliss

Solitaire Bliss is a gaming platform offering a wide array of solitaire and related card games, catering to a diverse range of preferences with an easy to use interface and high-quality graphics. The site features a vast selection of game variations, customization options, tutorials, score tracking, and is optimized for mobile devices, making it a fantastic travel companion.

These features collectively ensure an engaging and convenient gaming experience, accessible anywhere, making Solitaire Bliss a top choice for solitaire enthusiasts on the go.

Download for Android & Iphone

This game is the millennial take on Breakout (Bueller?). This fun game with a sleek design is fun to better played offline as the ads are far less of a nuisance. That said, if you love to cheat, you can watch the ads for additional ways to break the lights. I’ve found it delightfully addictive and fun to play late at night due to the dark colors.

I need to add the honorable mention of Board Game Arena , which works only online. This free platform with premium options features 100+ favorite board games digitized. You need to be online and at the time of editing, the app is still in Beta mode (and is best on a tablet/laptop). Still, I absolutely loved playing King of Tokyo and Ticket to Ride against strangers on my last train ride.

Minesweeper

Minesweeper is a timeless puzzle game where players navigate a grid filled with hidden mines, using numerical clues to safely reveal empty spaces and flag the mines. The game requires logical thinking and a sharp eye, as one wrong click could trigger a mine and end the game. At Play Minesweeper , you can enjoy this classic game through a user-friendly interface, with varying levels of difficulty to suit different skill levels. Its quick and engaging gameplay makes Minesweeper an excellent choice for traveling, providing entertainment during long journeys or waits without needing a continuous internet connection.

What’s your favorite travel game on your phone?

About Karen Turner

New Yorker–born and raised. Currently living in the Hague, the Netherlands after stints in Paris and Amsterdam. Lover of travel, adventure, nature, city, dresses, and cats.

Reader Interactions

July 11, 2018 at 11:06 am

I recently found a new game that is totally addictive! It’s called MixedUp Max and is a magic squares type of game – you can select different pictures and different shuffle levels and then slide rows and columns to re-arrange back to the original picture! There’s a free version but I’m not a fan of ads so went for the paid for version, and best of all, it can be played without internet access so I’ve been using it on my plane and train trips!

September 22, 2018 at 10:59 am

Really like Pictoword. I play this everytime I travel. There are ads that give out coins but if you’re offline it disables the ads. No free coins, but no ads either: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pictoword-fun-new-word-games/id600674056?mt=8

June 14, 2023 at 12:18 am

Trivia 360 can be played without wifi

July 3, 2023 at 2:01 am

Hi! I just want you to know that I like your review. Even though most of then aee not free and some are unavailable in my play store (idk why), I just love it that you suggest more unconventional games Thank you !

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Best Time Travel Games 2023

Who doesn't like a bit of time travel? We've created the ultimate list of the best time travel games to play right now. Find your next game here!

While time travel is traditionally featured in works of science fiction, nowadays, you can find elements of this mysterious phenomenon in just about every genre of gaming. 

It’s typically depicted in one of two ways: a plot device where characters must go back in time to prevent something from happening, or a game mechanic in which players manipulate time to overcome challenges.

In this list, we’ll showcase  the top time travel games to enjoy in 2024 , such as games about traveling through time and the finest time travel games for computer.

We’ll be updating this list in the future with new titles, so make sure to check back and let us know if we missed any of your favorite games involving time travel!

Related: Best Space Games 2023 Best Story-Driven Games 2023 Best Point and Click Adventure Games 2023

Table of Contents Show

Platforms: Windows, PS5

A common trend in more recent games is characters getting stuck in perpetual time loops and having to figure out a way to escape.

One of the more recent titles to explore this trope is Deathloop , an immersive sim shooter about a talented hitman who finds himself trapped in time on a party island with rival assassins.

To end the loop, you’ll have to eliminate the eight targets responsible for your serious case of déjà vu while also navigating the island’s numerous threats.

It’s a clever approach to open-ended gameplay that builds upon previous Arkane games such as Dishonored and only benefits from looking like an acid trip from the ‘70s.

The Forgotten City

Platforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch

Initially conceived as a Skyrim mod , The Forgotten City would eventually become a standalone game spearheaded by lead developer and writer Nick Pearce.

Set during an alternate version of the Roman Empire, it sees you exploring a city subjected to the Golden Rule: a religious mandate where any sinful action causes the entire population to turn into permanent gold statues.

While inspecting the rule’s origins and which transgressions it applies to, you’re advised someone in the city intends to violate it, urging you to travel back in time to prevent them.

It’s an interesting take on time travel that also explores the existential relationship between humanity and its laws, namely what is truly considered right or wrong.

Platform: PS5

Returnal is a PlayStation-exclusive third-person shooter about an astronaut who lands on an alien planet searching for a mysterious signal when she suddenly finds herself trapped in a time loop.

This is a great justification for the game’s roguelike design, which sees the protagonist resurrected after each death as she traverses the planet’s foreign environments and battles a host of extraterrestrial foes.

The further you progress, the stranger and more unsettling Selene’s visions become as she finds herself increasingly entangled in an ever-changing world.

If you manage to make it to the end and break the loop, you’ll be faced with some startling revelations about the main character and the planet that make for great sci-fi storytelling.

Platforms: Windows, PS5, Xbox Series X/S

Although time travel generally involves going forward or backward in history, you can extend this further to account for multiple realities or planes of existence.

With this mindset, one could argue that the horror game The Medium uses time travel as a game mechanic, with the main character able to travel between the spirit world and the living world.

In a practical sense, this allows you to make changes in either world that affects the other, such as unlocking doors to progress, obtaining a key item to solve a puzzle, or warding off hostile enemies.

The story follows psychic Marianne as she’s mysteriously summoned to an abandoned hotel where she’ll have to use her powers to unravel its history and help free the spirits trapped within its grounds.

Reminiscence

Platform: Windows

Reminiscence is a story-driven, psychological horror game that has you warping, jumping, and rewinding time and space in order to save your family.

In it, you play as a man living in a world that’s about to collapse into anarchy who suddenly discovers their wife and kids have mysteriously disappeared.

While searching your home for clues, you stumble upon a watch that lets you travel between two eras: the post-apocalyptic present, and 1950s American suburbia.

By switching back and forth between both realities, you’re able to alter the state of certain objects to solve puzzles and advance the story.

Inspired by sci-fi classics like Back to the Future, No Time sees you stealing a suspiciously familiar time machine vehicle from a secret facility before setting off on a time-traveling adventure.

Unlike many games in the genre which center on heavily scripted missions, the game functions as a time travel simulator with both story and sandbox elements.

As a result, you’re free to explore any date throughout history from 0-2030 AD while making sure not to destroy the current timeline by interfering as little as possible and avoiding your younger self.

The game also features a day/night cycle, various job minigames and side quests, crafting, and a combat system for dealing with pesky Time Agents. 

Outer Wilds

Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

If you’re looking for an engaging and immersive time travel game about space exploration , look no further than Outer Wilds .

You take on the role of the newest recruit for Outer Wilds Ventures, a fledgling space program looking to expand its knowledge of the galaxy and its ancestors’ mysterious disappearance.

The narrative addresses various sci-fi clichés such as black holes, antimatter, and of course time travel, with your character confined in an everlasting 22-minute time loop.

This is complemented by a densely packed open world consisting of hand-crafted, explorable planets with interesting backstories and distinct hazards that can be tricky to navigate.

Twelve Minutes

Platforms: Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Twelve Minutes is an interactive thriller about a man having a romantic dinner with his wife when a mysterious man claiming to be a police detective shows up on his doorstep.

Things quickly escalate and eventually the man is killed, only to find himself transported to the beginning of the evening with his previous memories intact.

Confused and desperate, he sets out to break the time loop by searching the apartment for clues and interviewing each person involved.

While some of the game’s different endings get into weird, taboo territory, there are interesting puzzles and narrative threads to tug at that make the journey worthwhile, though we suggest following a guide.

Platforms: Windows, Mac

In the stealth puzzle adventure game Timelie , every second matters and can bring you one step closer to freedom or death.

The game has you taking on the role of a young woman with a special gift that lets her control the flow of time as if it were a media player, rewinding and fast-forwarding to gain new insights. 

Harnessing this power allows her to manipulate obstacles in her path and avoid detection from robot patrols preventing her from leaving.

The story is quite compelling and the time travel mechanics are explored in some truly fascinating ways that become more complex the further you go.

The Gardens Between

Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Linux, Mac, iOS

The Gardens Between is an indie puzzle game created by The Voxel Agents that has you manipulating time 20 abstract, narrative-driven levels.

The game is unique in that you don’t control the main characters directly but rather move them backward and forwards through time while altering the state of different objects to progress.

Each level reveals more about the relationship between the two main characters, Arian and Frendt, chronicling the evolution of their friendship leading up to a life-changing event.

While it’s a short-lived experience, clocking in around 2.5 hours, The Gardens Between tells a compelling story and explores time travel mechanics in some fun and interesting ways.

Timespinner

Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Linux, Mac

Inspired by ‘90s action-platformers, Timespinner is a story-driven Metroidvania about a magical timekeeper named Lunais who seeks out revenge after her family is murdered by an evil empire.

Her quest for justice brings her to a mysterious and hostile world where she’ll have no choice but to wield her time manipulation power to defend herself and rewrite history.

The game has you exploring beautiful, atmospheric pixel art environments while switching between the past and present as you defeat enemies and acquire new powers.

Mastering Lunais’ time-manipulating abilities open up new possibilities for combat, which is further complemented by familiars that can be trained to fight on your side.

Life Is Strange

Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Linux, Mac, iOS, Android

A standout adventure title from Dontnod Studios and published by Square Enix, Life is Strange follows 18-year old aspiring photographer Max Caulfield as she comes to terms with her newfound powers.

Max has a supernatural ability that lets her move backward or forwards through time to alter the state of objects and their effect on the people around her.

Its applications vary depending on the scenario, allowing Max to mend relationships with her friends and family, solve bigger mysteries, and get revenge against the occasional bully.

Even if the gameplay aspect falls flat at times, the way time travel is introduced and incorporated into the structure of the story makes up for it.

Quantum Break

Platforms: Windows, Xbox One

Quantum Break is a cinematic action game from Remedy Games, best known for titles like Control and Alan Wake, and Max Payne.

In it, you take on the role of Jack Joyce, a man on a mission to prevent his timeline from ending by harnessing an array of unique time-based powers.

The story doubles as a live-action television series with certain events explained in further detail, which can require a bit more of a commitment than your average game.

With that said, Quantum Break is one of the best-looking time travel games in terms of graphical fidelity, boasting cool mind-bending camera tricks and special effects that still look great in 2024.

Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Mac

Superhot  sets itself apart from more traditional  FPS games  by introducing one clever mechanic: time only moves forward when you do.

This grants the player ample time to assess threats and determine the best course of action before setting it in motion with stylish shootouts and melee showdowns.

To ensure combat is always readable, the game employs a minimalist art style that does a great job at conveying info: enemies are always red, environments are white, and weapons are black.

While it’s best enjoyed in VR with full immersion, you’ll still have a lot of fun playing with a gamepad controller or just mouse and keyboard. 

Titanfall 2

Platforms: Windows, PS4, Xbox One

The follow-up to Respawn’s criminally underrated  first-person shooter  features refined gunplay and fluid movement with a touch of time travel.

During Titanfall 2 ’s campaign, your character obtains a special wrist-mounted device that lets them swap back and forth between the past and present.  

This is helpful for exploring deteriorating buildings, avoiding clusters of foes, and solving nature-based challenges as pilot Jack Cooper.

Combine this with exciting parkour-based platforming and an arsenal of satisfyingly powerful weaponry and it’s easy to see why Titanfall fans want to see the series return.

BioShock Infinite

Time travel in the BioShock series is presented as a plot device in which certain characters, namely Elizabeth and the Lutece twins, can create dimensional time-alternating portals called Tears.

To that point, the game’s take on parallel universes and how they affect the overarching story can be boiled down to a single quote: “There’s always a lighthouse, there’s always a man, there’s always a city.”

BioShock Infinite sees you venturing into a floating steampunk city called Columbia where citizens still cling to violent religious and racist beliefs.

In order to make sense of the series’ extensive timeline, consider playing through the first two games in the series or watching a recap video before starting Infinite. 

Platforms: Windows, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Linux, Mac

Our final recommendation is Braid , a beloved indie puzzle platformer that comes from the mind of The Witness designer Jonathan Blow.

In it, you take on the role of a man named Tim as he attempts to rescue a princess from an evil monster using time manipulation.

If that description didn’t make it obvious enough, the game’s story is meant to critique popular trends in modern video games but also features some excellent time travel puzzles.

Levels cover everything from rewinding and fast-forwarding time, altering the state of certain objects, using your character’s movement to determine the flow of time, and much more we don’t wish to spoil.

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Samuel is GamingScan's editor-in-chief. He describes himself as a dedicated gamer and programmer. He enjoys helping others discover the joys of gaming. Samuel closely follows the latest trends in the gaming industry in order to keep the visitors in the flow.

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• Best of the Year

The 50 best video games of 2023

2023’s best games embraced chaos, creativity, and a willingness to be weird

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For the first year in recent memory, scale did not necessitate tradition, and scope did not preclude getting weird. In 2023, nothing was sacred in video games, and so they felt more vibrant than ever.

Sure, some of the more “focused” games threw us for a pleasant loop: Dredge begins as a lonely fishing sim before transforming into something otherworldly, and Humanity morphed from a pensive art project into an all-out war. Dave the Diver , similarly, is not so much about being a diver as it is about running a sushi restaurant, or hunting for alien artifacts, or conversing with said aliens, or — you get the point. Whether you booted up your Steam Deck for a cross-country flight or hid your Switch off screen during that boring Zoom meeting, the game you returned to was rarely the one you left behind.

This amorphousness (I’m begging our copy editor to let this one slide, because what other “word” could adequately summarize the video games of 2023?) wasn’t consigned to the newcomers, though. Larian Studios, fresh off two years of early-access development and riding the reputation it had garnered from Divinity: Original Sin 2 , saw fit to release a role-playing game in which you can kill off nearly every main character the moment you meet them. Remedy Entertainment — let’s be honest, this group has always been strange — made a sequel that’s equal parts horrifying, hilarious, fun, and fabulous. And Nintendo? Well, Nintendo had another banner year. That’s no surprise. The real surprise? It finally let go, and let players toy with the digital molecules of its most revered series. More on this below.

As the year comes to a close, it’s intoxicating to see developers of all sizes, in every genre, with every tier of budget, mining the depths of interactive design, branching this way and that as they follow their respective veins of gold. They’re nowhere near the bottom of that particular expanse, of course — and that’s a heartening thought. —Mike Mahardy

How the Polygon top 50 list works

Over the past few weeks, the Polygon staff voted, championed, debated, and ultimately threw up its hands and marveled at the list of mammoths, curiosities, puzzle boxes, and black holes that is our top 50 games of 2023. Any video games that were released in 2023, received substantial updates in 2023, or achieved renewed cultural relevance in 2023 were eligible for this list. Last year, the cutoff for consideration was Nov. 30. (You’ll notice a certain Firaxis Games joint fairly high up our list.) This year, the cutoff was the same. Should we be thoroughly enamored with Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader or Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora , we’ll make sure they’re considered for next year’s top 50.

50. Mr. Sun’s Hatbox

Developer: Kenny Sun

Where to play: Nintendo Switch and Windows PC

Mr. Sun’s Hatbox is about a hat delivery person (or maybe it’s just a blob with legs?) that takes their job way too seriously. At the beginning of the game, a customer’s package gets stolen and whisked away to a nearby towering castle. Despite the client’s apathy toward a single missing hat, the delivery company, named Amazin, proceeds to set up an entire subterranean paramilitary operation beneath the poor customer’s home.

As its premise suggests, this pixelated 2D roguelite leans into the absurd. Part Metal Gear Solid 5 , part Spelunky , you undertake missions where you blast away enemies and kidnap them for your own operation, all while slapstick action unfolds. While on a mission, anything from a desk lamp to daggers is fair game for a weapon. In between fights, you expand your base, where you manage a staff of brainwashed blob-people. It’s fast, frenetic fun, and especially enjoyable to share with friends in co-op. —Ana Diaz

49. Lies of P

Developer: Neowiz Games

Where to play: Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X

Yes, Lies of P is a Dark Souls mixed with Pinocchio, and that’s a questionable elevator pitch from the outset.

In the years leading up to Lies of P , “Pinocchiosouls” was more of a running joke than anything — this profane idea that you can take any world and slap some Dark Souls into it to get people mildly interested. But once you’re in the game, eliminating bosses left and right with your sweet parry moves, you’ll quickly find yourself entirely unbothered by how strange Lies of P initially seemed. And you’ll start telling your partner things like “I have to go back to Geppetto to upgrade my puppet body” like it’s a perfectly normal task to assign yourself on a Tuesday afternoon.

It’s very rare for a Soulslike to ever feel like anything more than a knockoff — even when they’re decent fun, like The Surge . But the best compliment I can give Lies of P is that it feels like the genuine article, a FromSoftware game developed in an alternate dimension and somehow released in this one by mistake. But it wasn’t a mistake or luck that made Lies of P , and it wasn’t FromSoftware, either; it was a talented group of developers at Neowiz Games and Round8 Studio that took a tired genre, paired it with a bizarre IP, and knocked it out of the park. —Ryan Gilliam

Developer: Awaceb

Where to play: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC

Tchia is an open-world adventure game set in a fictional version of island nation New Caledonia — inspired by Awaceb’s co-founder’s childhood in the country.

Everything is filtered through the titular main character Tchia’s eyes, eyes with a special power that allows her to transform into any animals or objects in her environment. Birds, dolphins, a camera, or rocks… It’s all an option for Tchia.

The game, while clearly inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild , ends up standing on its own because of the innovative shapeshifting mechanics. Tchia isn’t as technically polished as a Nintendo title with hundreds of developers; Awaceb has a team of roughly a dozen. Still, it’s hard to innovate in such a ubiquitous genre, yet Awaceb has managed to do just that with Tchia , making it one of the best games so far this year. —Nicole Carpenter

47. Blasphemous 2

Developer: The Game Kitchen

Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X

Long gone are the days when the Metroidvania genre languished untouched for years on end. But despite an influx of entries in recent years, few have exhibited as much mastery as Blasphemous 2 . Building off of the strong roots of the first game, Blasphemous 2 continues to use Spanish Catholicism as a narrative and aesthetic touchpoint, telling a twisted religious tale that’s about as far from proselytizing as you can get.

After the success of the first game, the developers have focused on refining the combat, adding multiple weapons and bizarre, hidden customization options that allow you to take command of how your character rips this world to shreds. The last time I played a 2D Metroidvania with this much polish and charm, it was Hollow Knight . Blasphemous 2 might not reach those same heights, but it comes damn close. —Russ Frushtick

46. Party Animals

Developer: Recreate Games

Where to play: Windows PC and Xbox Series X

I do not know how Recreate Games managed to render some of the cutest animals I’ve ever seen. I also do not know how Recreate made me completely OK with picking up these cute animals and flinging them into black holes, poison clouds, or freezing tundras. The second the match starts in Party Animals , all those cute fluffy corgis, rabbits, kitties, and ducks become my enemies. I will beat them with a bat until they can’t wake up anymore, and I won’t think twice about it. Party Animals may have made me a monster? I don’t know.

The Gang Beasts -esque wiggly physics mixed with the cute characters makes for a perfect party game of fluffy fighting. — Julia Lee

45. The Talos Principle 2

Developer: Croteam

Where to play: PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X

Like its predecessor, The Talos Principle 2 tackles grand science fiction ideas, particularly about what it means to be human — a theme thoroughly explored in this installment of the series set in a post-human society of AI-powered robots that are carrying on human culture and civilization. Also like its predecessor, The Talos Principle 2 is replete with philosophical commentary and references to famous artists and thinkers. My favorite is a riff on Werner Herzog’s famous quote about birds: “The enormity of their flat brain. The enormity of their stupidity is just overwhelming.”

But if you’re like me, you’re playing the game because you’re an absolute freak for light refraction, gravity, and geospatial puzzles. There are so many puzzles in this game — there’s even a puzzle metagame, spread across the game’s gorgeous map — and they’re each excellent, teaching you new concepts before refracting them and forcing you to think differently. —Nicole Clark

44. Fading Afternoon

Developer: yeo

Where to play: Windows PC

Video games demand an account for your time. Some video games track the minutes and hours you’ve spent on screen. Others impose strict limits on how long you play, or how much you can do. But all video games constantly ask: How will you spend your time? Seiji Maruyama doesn’t know how much time he has left. Fresh out of prison, he’s not a young man anymore, but he doesn’t want the streets to know. So he returns to his life as a yakuza heavy, hoping to make his mark again.

Fading Afternoon ends when Seiji’s time runs out. Based on the choices you make, the consequences of which are initially obfuscated, this could be five minutes after the game begins, or it could be five hours. He has a bad cough and a pack of cigarettes, each a metaphor for the ticking clock inside of him. You could go to work, brawling on the streets. Or you can simply pass the time: Listen to a jazz band. Play video poker. Buy a home. Fall in love. You have the time, until you don’t. —Joshua Rivera

43. Suika Game

Developer: Aladdin X

Where to play: Nintendo Switch

I thank VTubers every day for many things, but I will kiss the feet of the anime avatars that introduced me to Suika Game . The engrossing 2048 -meets- Tetris -with-physics fruit drop game has become my go-to whenever I need to kill some time. Note that I am talking about the official Nintendo Switch version, not all of the horrific ad-plagued knockoffs that have flooded the App Store.

The thing that makes Suika so special, in addition to its cutesy gameplay, is its quality as a social game. The same way we sit around and talk about our NYT Connections , we sit around and talk about our fruitless (ha) attempts at getting double watermelons or breaking the 3,000 point threshold. It’s also a great game to watch: Nothing is funnier than seeing somebody’s Suika run go downhill in 30 seconds flat. (There’s a reason why the game has taken the streaming world by storm.) — JL

42. League of Legends Season 13

Developer: Riot Games

Where to play: Mac and Windows PC

League of Legends ’ 13th season is one of the game’s most balanced yet. Almost every champion has felt viable throughout the year — no small feat for a game with over 140 playable characters — and it’s led to great fun and variety on the solo queue ladder and in professional play, where an exciting Worlds just wrapped up.

But there’s another reason League had an outstanding 2023: Arena, a new game mode introduced during the game’s summer event . Arena is a 2v2v2v2 battle mode with fast-paced chaos, using League ’s roster of champions in a more approachable and containable setting (and with less rage-inducing teammates). The mode was removed after the conclusion of the summer event, but is reportedly returning soon. It can’t possibly come soon enough; I know how I’ll be spending a good chunk of my winter. —Pete Volk

41. Goodbye Volcano High

Developer: KO_OP

Goodbye Volcano High is a visual novel with rhythm game elements, and it takes place at the precipice of the end of the world. It’s centered on a group of teenage dinosaurs entering their senior year of high school, a perfect balance between high school dramatics and the grim future of Earth, as a meteor rockets toward the planet. Though the rhythm game elements can feel a bit finicky — and don’t seem to matter much, in terms of progressing the game — Goodbye Volcano High ’s music only adds to the dimensional, raw experience created by worker-owned studio KO_OP.

It’s rare to find a game that takes the teenage experience seriously, but Goodbye Volcano High does just that. It’s a time in your life where you feel so, so much. You can see that earnestness in the teenage experience where everything is a big, huge issue — sometimes to the point of cringe — tied up in that big, global issue of the meteor that’s looking to destroy everything. —N. Carpenter

40. World of Warcraft Classic

Developer: Blizzard Entertainment

Something very, very interesting started to happen in the retro version of WoW this year. While Blizzard has been content to march one half of the game’s community forward through its history of expansions, it’s started to come up with creative ways to keep the other half — the half that wants to stay in the game as it was at launch — engaged.

The first of these was Hardcore, a brilliant permadeath mode that instantly made this aging game both more dangerous and more social, resurrecting the spirit of its 2004 servers. The second, just launched, is the wild Season of Discovery , which remixes and restructures the original WoW experience — interpolating staggered level caps, shuffling class roles — in ways that might just change MMO design forever. WoW Classic is quietly, and paradoxically, where Blizzard is doing its most forward-thinking work right now. —Oli Welsh

39. Fire Emblem Engage

Developer: Intelligent Systems

Fire Emblem Engage was designed for a very specific kind of sicko: one not particularly interested in the origin stories of a horde of teenagers, or the politics of a bourgeoise academy, or what kind of tea a teacher prefers, but instead one obsessed with the endless minutiae of combat stats, weapon loadouts, and team composition. I know this because I am one such sicko.

If you’ve read any of my reviews or essays on Polygon , then you know I prefer strategy games that can get out of their own way. More precisely, I love when strategy developers can put their pens down, throw their hands up, and admit that the stories unfolding in the player’s head will almost always be more powerful than anything they could write. Fire Emblem Engage is one of the foremost proponents of this idea. It hurls an excess of characters, weapons, battle scenarios, and stat-boosting abilities at you, leaving the door open for you to observe character interactions on the battlefield and create the resulting fanfiction in your head. Its actual script is a quagmire of nonsensical JRPG tropes, and each cutscene is more skippable than the next. But if you’re looking for an excellent turn-based tactics game that gets out of the player’s way, you can do a whole lot worse than Fire Emblem Engage . —M. Mahardy

38. Pizza Tower

Developer: Tour De Pizza

Pizza Tower is a perfect object, and fully committed to its vision. You play as Peppino Spaghetti, a chef who must race up the pizza tower in order to defeat the existential threat posed by Pizzaface, an enormous floating pizza that also happens to be sentient. Super normal stuff. To get there, you platform through a series of levels, picking up speed as you zoom through enemies and obstacles. It’s easy to get into a flow state.

Pizza Tower also beautifully captures the essence of the Wario Land series. The game is delightful to look at, with an irreverent art style that’s referential to late-’90s and early-2000s cartoons, and absurd enemies and animations. Levels are also chock-full of secret rooms, passageways, and treasures, making it hard to put down and fun to replay. —N. Clark

37. Subpar Pool

Developer: grapefrukt games

Where to play: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows PC

You can play this delightful physics puzzler — best described as dynamic minigolf on a pool table — on Switch or Steam if you want, but it’s most at home on your phone. It’s an absolutely ideal mobile game: a reasonably priced paid app with no ads, in-app purchases, or subscription, playable in a spare three minutes. Pocket adorable, smiling pool balls on tables adorned with conveyor belts, portals, and moving pockets, while challenging yourself with a host of mix-and-match rulesets (balls that crack, split, or home in on you, a locked starting position, more balls, no guideline for bounces, etc.). Mobile gamers of taste will recognize the work of grapefrukt, aka Martin Jonasson, Swedish developer of such elegant classics as Holedown , Twofold Inc. , and Rymdkapsel . —OW

36. Amnesia: The Bunker

Where to play: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X

If only one developer could be said to have a master’s grasp on interactive horror, I’d have to tip my hat to Frictional Games. The Amnesia series has always been a thrill ride of terrifying chases and the quiet, a little too quiet, moments that build up tension between. Amnesia: The Bunker is no different. In fact, it’s one of Frictional’s best.

Set in a seemingly abandoned bunker that’s been sealed by explosions during World War I, your simple yet difficult task is to find an exit. This being a horror game, though, you also have to collect fuel for the bunker’s generator — a veritable beating heart — and scrutinize maps on safe room walls, before venturing into the titular structure’s labyrinthine bowels. Oh, also! There’s a monster hunting you. And it can ambush you from wall vents. And it’s attracted to even the slightest bit of sound. And whether you’re juicing your hand-cranked flashlight, triggering long-forgotten tripwires, or just opening a heavy door into yet another concrete-encased corridor, you’re going to have to make noise at some point. The Bunker is as potent in its terror as any horror video game out there. —M. Mahardy

35. Lil Gator Game

Developer: MegaWobble

In an unprecedented year for game releases, I understand why you’re surprised to see Lil Gator Game this high up on our list. But imagine how surprised I was to find myself, in a moment of introspection, realizing that it was one of my own favorite games in 2023. At the risk of diminishing its accomplishments, I’m going to make a comparison that should cut to the quick for interested parties: This is the most A Short Hike -alike that I’ve discovered yet, and I’ve been chasing that singular high for years. So if you have a lazy weekend afternoon and want to spend it playing — not gaming, but playing, in the joyous, unstructured sense of a day in the park — I can’t recommend this li’l game enough. —Chris Grant

34. Starfield

Developer: Bethesda Game Studios

Starfield had so much to prove, it’s easy to lose sight of what it accomplished: top-tier world-building, a fantastically customizable ship builder, and Bethesda’s most engaging combat to date. Galaxy-spanning faction quests give you plenty to do, but it’s the side quests that really make you feel like the captain in something Star Trek adjacent: generation ships and superhero hideouts and colonies of clones. There’s good sci-fi here for those willing to make the journey.

It’s true that the game oversold the idea of a galaxy with over 1,000 planets , a number that pales in comparison to the game’s most obvious competitor, No Man’s Sky . It’s a shame this became so much of the focus thanks to Bethesda’s marketing, because that same focus obscured the absolutely fascinating new game plus mode at the game’s heart. Consider this: No Man’s Sky is the game that realizes the universe’s infinite number of planets, while Starfield realizes the universe’s infinite number of possibilities. —Clayton Ashley

33. System Shock

Developer: Nightdive Studios

In a year of several stellar remakes and immersive sims, it wouldn’t have been surprising if System Shock showed its age of nearly 30 years. At least, it would have been understandable if the changes needed to update the game would leave it nigh unrecognizable. That’s why Nightdive Studios’ accomplish is so impressive: It updated the 1994 classic with a slick coat of modern paint while also preserving what made the game so thrilling in the first place.

The element where that’s most evident is in the game’s look, which captures all of the original System Shock ’s garish cyberpunk neons and frightening enemies in a style that appears like a modern high-fidelity game at a distance, but subtly transforms into retro pixel bitmaps on closer inspection. In much the same way, the gameplay feels surprisingly modern at a distance, but on closer inspection, you start to see how this proto-immersive sim is actually what inspired so much modern game design. You have to rely on your own curiosity, caution, and cunning to navigate the halls of Citadel Station and upgrade your hacker into a cybernetic death machine. It’s a game that expects a lot from the player (and a little save scumming), but the experience is just as rewarding as it was in 1994. —CA

32. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Developer: Respawn Entertainment

Is Star Wars Jedi: Survivor an Empire Strikes Back level of sequel? Well, no , but it manages to get extraordinarily close to being one of the best follow-ups in the entire Star Wars franchise.

The game improves upon Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in every conceivable way, with a more entertaining, action-oriented start and a ton of aerial movements and lightsaber stances that make you feel even more like a seasoned Jedi Knight. Quality-of-life improvements like fast travel make the game less frustrating to play, while the new locales packed with hidden collectibles and upgrades make exploration more rewarding.

But what makes Jedi: Survivor truly special isn’t this crude matter, but its luminous heart. You feel it in the memorable characters you meet on your galactic journey, be it the people you help or the friendships you forge and reconcile with. It’s in the classic, crowded cantina where you actually want to go check in with the barkeep. It’s in the tactile, reverent way you craft your lightsaber. And it’s in the kinetic set-pieces that remind you of the serials Star Wars was originally inspired by . At its best, you really can feel the Force around you. —CA

31. Connections

Developer: The New York Times

Where to play: Android, browser, and iOS

After the acquisition of viral hit Wordle , The New York Times’ Crossword ecosystem leveled up to full-fledged attention competitor — NYT is a media company with a gaming platform. And its staff of puzzle writers and editors are not stooping to mind-numbing mobile content to keep the expansion going. Connections , its latest title to pair well with morning coffee, is one of the year’s best games.

Connections offers you a grid of 16 words and a mission: Detect the common threads between four different sets of words without embarrassing yourself. The grouping logic ranges from simple (“animals”) to silly (“synonyms for farting”) to sneaky (“countries when the letter ‘A’ is added”). Gruff game show watchers who claim the puzzle is just a clone of BBC’s long-running Only Connect miss the personality within; Connections writer Wyna Liu brings a tremendous wit to each day’s puzzle, constructing thematic grids and throwing synonym curveballs. And like with Wordle , there’s a sense of accomplishment when you land all four sets — there’s no better start to a day than gloating to friends and family about how you completely nailed Connections . —Matt Patches

30. Hi-Fi Rush

Developer: Tango Gameworks

In Hi-Fi Rush , you play as Chai, a guy who must escape the factory of a villainous corporation. In a workplace accident, Chai’s iPod gets punched into his chest, making him sensitive to sound and staying on beat. What follows is a joyful action-rhythm game where you explore, climb, and fight to the beat of the music.

The game is a remarkably inviting take on a genre not exactly known for being accessible. But Hi-Fi Rush does away with hardcore precision in exchange for gameplay that always subtly nudges you back toward keeping in time. Failing to attack on a drum stroke doesn’t mean failing a fight; you just don’t get a combo multiplier. And the musical score never gets jarring as a punishment; punchy notes always play in time with the rhythm, even if you hit a button at the wrong time. The result is a game that evokes the thrill of feeling like you’re acing it and getting into a flow, no matter your skill level. —N. Clark

29. Monster Hunter Now

Developer: Niantic

Where to play: Android and iOS

While Niantic’s post- Pokémon Go track record hasn’t been the most consistent, Monster Hunter Now shows the company at its best, with a refined combat system, simple matchmaking, great monster variety, and extensive character upgrades. Granted, those upgrades are part of a monetization setup that gets a little heavy-handed, but if you’re patient, there’s plenty of game here for free. And unlike in some of Niantic’s other games, the real-world elements don’t feel tacked on, with a design that blends almost perfectly with the company’s map tech, allowing you to feel like you’re tracking monsters as you get outside and walk around. It all makes for a big step forward in fusing Niantic’s real-world tech approach with combat and exploration mechanics that can stand up on their own. —Matt Leone

28. Diablo 4

With Diablo 4 , Blizzard Entertainment set out to marry the frenetic action of Diablo 3, the deep RPG systems of Diablo 2, and the dark tone of the original game. It was an ambitious promise, to be sure, but four years and a whole pandemic after the studio announced the long-awaited sequel at BlizzCon 2019, it’s here, and it’s fantastic.

But Diablo 4 ’s marriage of tone, action, and role-playing isn’t what makes it so good. In addition to all of those other things, Diablo 4 is the best launch we’ve seen for a new “living game” in recent memory.

With the likes of Destiny , Anthem , and even Diablo 3 , it was clear from the start that there were some nuggets of potential. But being a fan meant slogging through mountains of frustration just to taste a morsel of what you’d hope those games would become. Playing these games early on was a kind of gamble.

Diablo 4 , however, is unlike any of those projects, because its systems were deep and nuanced from the start, enough to spend hundreds of hours growing your character. And there is already loads of content to support that kind of time investment. —RG

27. Hitman World of Assassination: Freelancer mode

Developer: IO Interactive

Hitman World of Assassination ’s Freelancer mode , which debuted in January and puts a roguelike twist on Agent 47’s globe-trotting murder-for-hire missions, isn’t for the faint of heart. It demands constant improvisation, to a degree that can challenge even veteran Hitman players. Repeated failures can make it feel more frustrating than fun.

But as every fan of roguelikes knows, these high-stakes experiences have the capacity to deliver a sense of exhilaration like nothing else. Pulling off multiple daring kills, hiding the evidence (or going out with a bang), and trying to make it out alive with all the gear you brought into the mission — it’s tense and thrilling, every time.

Every move you make could be your last one; all it takes to ruin a flawless run is a single ill-considered plan, just one seemingly minor slip-up. With the abyss of failure forever yawning beneath 47, playing Hitman Freelancer can feel like tiptoeing along the top of a barbed-wire fence. The exultation of safely making it to the final exfiltration point, having defeated a crime syndicate after completing a lengthy series of dangerous missions, is a high I’ll keep chasing again and again. —Samit Sarkar

Developer: Visai Games

I don’t love to cook. For me, it’s more a necessity than anything else. So it’s not often that a piece of media — or anything, really — leaves me with the feeling that I need to make something, to spend time in the kitchen reveling in the tedium of chopping and the sizzle of onions frying.

Venba elicited that urge, reminding me that food is not just something to keep me alive, but something to be cherished. Venba is a cooking game that focuses on an immigrant family that’s moved from India to Canada. Food transcends the story by way of simple cooking minigames as I move through the chapters of main character Venba’s life — moments that switch between painful and heartwarming. Venba packs as much heart in its one-hour playtime as games 30 times its size. —N. Carpenter

25. Viewfinder

Developer: Sad Owl Studios

Where to play: PlayStation 5 and Windows PC

At the heart of Viewfinder is a magic trick that never gets old: You take a photo of the environment and paste that perspective into the game world to create a bridge or reveal a needed trinket. The experience of seeing reality distorted by your hands so easily is nearly on the level of thinking with Portals for the first time. You’ll ponder a solution for minutes, sure it’s impossible and that the developers must have made a mistake, before you’re struck by a eureka moment like a lightning bolt.

The game’s lesson on perspective extends to its narrative, which, much like the photos you use to manipulate the world, contains multitudes. Though it’s told in fairly typical video game-y audio monologues that you uncover from the game’s trippy environments, the journey is powerful and topical. Just as differing perspectives can allow for unique solutions, they can also obscure truths that lead us to deny the reality that’s right in front of us. —CA

24. Humanity

Developer: tha

Humanity looks like a modern art project, recalls memories of early PlayStation oddity, and comes (in part) from the team behind game of the future Rez Infinite . But its most impressive feat is the way it gradually shifts genres, starting as a classic puzzle game, then taking on tower defense and shoot-’em-up traits as it evolves into an all-out war. Think Braveheart , with a shiba inu general leading a troop of faceless, brainless low-polygon figures against a group of angry, lightsaber-wielding, even lower-polygon foes. It’s the kind of design subtlety that stays in its lane yet builds on you, and before you realize it, ends very differently than it began. Much like humanity itself? — ML

23. Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo

Developer: Square Enix

Square Enix has plenty of mega-franchises to fill its time (and its coffers). This year, we have new entries for Octopath Traveler and Final Fantasy, along with new Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts games in the not-so-distant future. Dayenu !

And yet, the publisher can’t help itself from bombarding us with surprising, interesting, sometimes great, often good-enough experiments. In 2022, we got an English-language remake of lost gem Live A Live , the surprisingly enjoyable tactical RPG DioField Chronicle , a bonkers Final Fantasy spinoff featuring the musical stylings of Limp Bizkit, and a pair of oddball card games lathered in lore from gaming’s best weirdo. This year, we have the Avengers of rhythm games, Theatrhythm Final Bar Line , and Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo , an excellent riff on the visual novel penned by a beloved storyteller — whose best series has never appeared in the U.S.

What should you know about Paranormasight before you play? Well, ideally nothing. Why else would I be eating up my word count?

But if you insist: It’s a mystery — and a horror mystery at that. You travel to 1980s Japan, specifically the Tokyo neighborhood of Honjo, located not so far from the modern Tokyo Skytree. It’s hard to imagine that modern landmark ever towering alongside these streets, which are filled with shadows and lethal curses.

If you have even a passing interest in urban legends, spooky folklore, cults, and deadly rituals, or you’ve enjoyed series like Zero Escape and Danganronpa, Paranormasight is an easy recommendation. And if you just enjoy a good yarn and have access to basically any screen and $15, then you’re a perfect mark too. It runs as well on console and PC as it does on iOS and Android, so don’t fret about where you play, just do so and soon! Before Square Enix stops investing in all these oddities. —Chris Plante

22. Marvel’s Midnight Suns

Developer: Firaxis Games

[ Ed. note: Marvel’s Midnight Suns was released in 2022, but it just barely missed the cutoff for our best video games of 2022 list , so it’s eligible for our 2023 awards.]

I know what you’re thinking: Another licensed Marvel game? Come on, right? But hear me out. I played Marvel’s Avengers , too, and this isn’t that. It might seem like it’s going to be at first, because Midnight Suns makes the grave error of introducing Iron Man and Doctor Strange as its tutorial characters, and these two might just be the most irritating characters in the entire video game. (I have beaten the game, so I am allowed to make this call.) You must press on and give Midnight Suns time to win you over. Because it has so, so much more to offer than it may appear in its first few hours.

Picture the romance and humor of Fire Emblem: Three Houses , combined with the high-stakes tactical battles of XCOM 2 — that’s what Midnight Suns becomes in its mid-game and endgame. It’s a card-based strategy game, and each hero has their own customizable deck. I started off favoring Captain Marvel, Magik, and Blade, simply because their moves and hilarious dialogue kept me entertained, but I soon realized that every single character has something exciting or unexpected to bring to the battlefront. Over 100 hours later, I’ve leveled up every single character and played all the main story missions and an unknowable number of optional missions, and I’m still not sick of this combat… or the kooky cast of characters that grows all the time (shoutout to the Deadpool DLC ).

No matter how sick of Marvel you might be, give Midnight Suns the chance to win you over with its clever combat. And once you’ve gotten hooked, you might find yourself sticking around to chuckle at Wolverine attending Blade’s book club (yes, that’s a storyline in this game). It’s worth your time, and you can take that from me, a person who — again — spent over 100 hours on it. —Maddy Myers

21. Honkai: Star Rail

Developer: Hoyoverse

Where to play: Android, iOS, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC

I have been a... pretty die-hard Genshin Impact player since launch. I’ve rolled for every character, grinded out all of said characters, 100%-ed the exploration, completed every quest — did all the stuff that would burn anyone out. Honkai: Star Rail is Hoyoverse’s answer to the Genshin Impact burnout.

The slower-paced turn-based combat, the ability to auto-battle (if your teams are strong enough), and the smaller maps make it the perfect daily game for me to funnel my interest into without feeling exhausted. The characters are fun, flashy, and easy to latch onto. Should I main the sneaky but elegant Kafka, who uses damage-over-time skills to whittle her opponents away? Or should I use the brooding Blade, who unleashes huge attacks at the cost of his HP? Ah, I guess I’ll let my wallet decide — it is a gacha game, after all. — JL

20. Chants of Sennaar

Developer: Rundisc

Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One

In Chants of Sennaar you climb up a kind of Tower of Babel, and your job is to decipher the distinct language each group of people speaks, eventually aiming to translate fluidly from one language to another. You do so by matching pictographic symbols — the characters for each language — to images of the nouns, actions, and concepts in a large dictionary-style book.

It sounds complicated, but it’s wonderfully fun because the mechanics are so simple. You explore the isometric world — which is rendered in a gorgeous cel-shaded style — witnessing interactions between cultures and attempting to puzzle out the meaning of their written words. The game parcels out words for you to assign meaning to in little packets, to avoid overwhelming you. By the end, you’ll have translated numerous languages, and scaled your way to the top of the tower. Perhaps you’ll even change the tower itself. —N. Clark

19. Metroid Prime Remastered

Developer: Retro Studios

Few games from 2002 hold up as well as Metroid Prime , and the remastered version of the game — which was surprise-dropped during February’s Nintendo Direct — proves that Samus Aran’s first-person adventure is still worth experiencing, whether it’s for the first time or (in my case) the fourth.

Retro Studios’ take on one of sci-fi’s most famous intergalactic bounty hunters controversially took her out of the 2D puzzle-platformer realm that made her famous (although Metroid Fusion also came out in 2002 — a gift for the 2D Metroid purists — which may also be why Fusion joined Nintendo Switch Online’s catalog shortly after Prime Remastered was released). By placing the player inside Samus’ helmet, Metroid Prime recontextualized the bounty hunter’s relationship with the hostile planets around her.

As we donned Samus’ suit and explored strange planets, aggressive alien lifeforms could now get right in our faces, forcing us to dodge, strafe, and roll (in morph ball form, naturally) using all three dimensions. No longer would we sit back and watch as Samus dipped her toe into a pool of lava; in first-person, as molten fire spread over our visor, we’d really feel the pressure to find that Varia Suit upgrade. And perhaps most importantly, from behind Samus’ visor, we gained the ability to scan our enemies and environment, collecting and translating logs from the long-dead Chozo aliens who once inhabited these now-hostile places.

The world of Prime is harsh and unrelenting. (Save points will, at times, be quite far from one another.) But it’s worth buckling down and pushing through the pain points to discover this world’s secrets. —M. Myers

18. Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew

Developer: Mimimi Games

Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew may very well be the most bittersweet entry on this list. It is, for my money, one of the best games to be released in 2023. It is also the swan song of Mimimi Games, one of the most underappreciated studios making games throughout the last decade. Mimimi announced its planned closure only two weeks after releasing its final game. This makes The Cursed Crew its swan song. It is also the team’s magnum opus.

Set in a tropical world of zombie pirates, religious fanatics, and talking ships, The Cursed Crew sees you traveling freely across an archipelago as you revive your undead crew, deploy them on dioramic worlds constituting some of the finest level design in video games to date, and dispatching enemies with a mixture of tactical stealth and supernatural abilities. Taken at a distance, this mixture is undeniably niche. But seen up close, The Cursed Crew is as potent a creation as we’ve seen since 2016’s Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun or 2020’s Desperados 3 , which respectively established and cemented the studio’s brilliant design chops. I’ll miss Mimimi — but I can’t imagine a better farewell. — M. Mahardy

Developer: Black Salt Games

Dredge is a Lovecraftian horror experience masquerading as a simple fishing game.

The open ocean is filled with terrible creatures that can and will damage or destroy your boat. And each of the major islands you visit comes with its own evil sea beasts that must be dealt with if you want to progress the story or fish peacefully. Dredge ultimately tells a dark parable about loss, and how obsession can own you if you aren’t careful.

But what makes Dread so special — and one of the best games of 2023 — is that under its foreboding story and twisted environments is a fishing game that grows more complex with every outing, centered around an upgrade system that feels amazing to progress through. As the dangers around you grow, so too does your ship’s capabilities. And by adventuring into battles — metaphorical and otherwise — with the seas’ most dastardly critters, you’ll always come out on the other side with some upgrades that allow you to catch even better fish and build an even bigger boat.

By the time you’ve spent 10 or so hours with Dredge , you’ll feel like a commercial fisherman who just happened upon something bigger and more foreboding than they could have imagined — and that, perhaps, you’ve stared deep into some kind of black abyss, only to escape forever changed. —RG

16. Final Fantasy 16

Where to play: PlayStation 5

Final Fantasy 16 kicks ass. The newest mainline entry in the long, winding series takes you on a lavish, unadulterated Game of Thrones -esque adventure. You play as a broody Clive Rosfield, a young man whose life’s work is to protect his little brother, Joshua. The story begins when Clive’s life takes a turn for the worse and he vows to destroy the monster who ruined his and his family’s legacy.

Developed by Creative Business Unit III, Square Enix’s internal team behind the MMORPG Final Fantasy 14 , 16 leans into patchwork territories of fantasy genre fare. There is palace intrigue, a whole lot of sex, and endless war between nations. But the developers then sprinkle in Final Fantasy elements like mother crystals, dazzling kaiju fights between summons (known as Eikons in this iteration), and of course, Chocobos.

The quality of the story in this long and linear character-driven RPG waxes and wanes, but the action combat is among the best I’ve ever played. The gameplay grips you from the very beginning as Clive smoothly dashes, parries, and swings his giant sword and varied magic with a dazzling amount of style. The gameplay didn’t just help me stick with the game, but instead allowed my excitement to bubble over every time I took on a new mission. —Ana Diaz

15. Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty

Developer: CD Projekt Red

Like the best DLC, Phantom Liberty does as much to expand on the base game as it does to reframe it. Alongside the sweeping Patch 2.0 , which revamped Cyberpunk 2077 ’s role-playing progression systems , improved its enemy AI, and course-corrected a litany of other details, Phantom Liberty also adds a whole new district to the dystopian world of Night City, complete with its own spy-thriller storyline.

The resulting Cyberpunk 2077 is not an entirely different beast than the one that was released in 2020, but it is a more evolved one. It delivers on the promise of building a hacker-samurai in a neon-infused open world replete with futuristic heists, daunting choices, and striking characters. Phantom Liberty and Patch 2.0 may not completely erase the memory of CD Projekt’s initial botched release , but they come pretty damn close. Three years after we first set foot in V’s shoes, Cyberpunk 2077 has finally justified the hype. —M. Mahardy

14. Dead Space

Developer: Motive Studio

With The Last of Us on HBO and Resident Evil 4 back in the conversation, it’s already a banner year for survival horror. Motive Studio’s Dead Space remake is no exception. Following in the footsteps of Capcom’s aforementioned title, the original Dead Space brought the third-person-action focus of Resident Evil 4 ’s formula to a deteriorating ship in outer space. In the vein of Event Horizon , Sunshine , and Alien , Dead Space was a paragon for sci-fi horror in a confined and claustrophobic setting. Its remake has brought that same vision to gorgeous new life, bringing quality-of-life changes and underappreciated updates (it has made several previously useless weapons into viable tools in protagonist Isaac Clarke’s arsenal), making it hard to imagine ever going back to Visceral Games’ phenomenal original. —M. Mahardy

13. Octopath Traveler 2

Developers: Square Enix, Acquire

Where to play: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Windows PC

The first Octopath Traveler was one of those games that was as enjoyable to play as it was painful: enjoyable because so much of it kicked ass, but painful because so much of it dragged the positive aspects down. In other words, it stood on the precipice of excellence, but couldn’t quite cross the line.

Octopath Traveler 2 leaps across that boundary. In place of the original game’s repetitive level design, monotonous narrative structure, and sometimes awkward characterization, the sequel demonstrates an expert ability to challenge your expectations at every turn. Yes, your general goal is still to recruit eight playable characters (hence the name) and follow each of their separate plot threads to their respective conclusions, participating in turn-based battles and side quests along the way. But said plots vary greatly from character to character, and if you so choose, you can see a handful of characters through several major plot points before recruiting the whole gang. Octopath Traveler 2 finely toes the line between that comfort food-esque repetition of the best JRPGs, and the subversive nature of great genre storytelling . —M. Mahardy

12. Dave the Diver

Developer: Mintrocket

You could describe Dave the Diver as a fishing game and a restaurant management simulator, and that’d be correct. But that would also be underselling the game, and understating things quite a lot .

Diving into the mysterious Blue Hole, Dave spends the first two quarters of his day swimming deeper into the colorful abyss, discovering both sea life and a story that’s equally absurd and earnest. When you’re not picking up sea urchins or spearfishing sharks, Dave is assisting the rest of Dave the Diver ’s cast of characters — his sushi business partners, a community of seafolk, an anime-obsessed weapons expert, and a pair of dolphins. At night, Dave slings sushi and pours drinks at the restaurant, frantically running back and forth between clearing dishes, delivering sushi, and refilling the freshly ground wasabi. Between all that, Dave’s harvesting rice and vegetables on a farm, curating a hatchery, racing seahorses with mermaids, and taking down a suspicious group masquerading as environmental activists. Somehow, there’s even a well-done rhythm video game — starring one of those anime idols that the arms dealer loves — that makes perfect sense.

It really shouldn’t work ; I can’t imagine another game where all these disparate ideas coalesce so seamlessly. But Dave the Diver would feel less complete without any one of them. It makes for such a compelling loop, and a consistent advancement of the game’s story, that I kept finding myself in that “one more day” mindset, eager to jump back into the ocean for one more go. —N. Carpenter

11. Resident Evil 4 Remake

Developer: Capcom

Where to play: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Xbox Series X

It turns out, Capcom is good at remaking games.

The original Resident Evil remake all but set the bar for the format in 2002, with sleeker controls, more nuanced graphical details, and whole new areas to explore in the iconic Spencer Mansion. The Resident Evil 2 remake changed the entire perspective of its source material without sacrificing the focus on horror and survival. Resident Evil 3 ’s remake, as forgettable as it was, still brought the design conceits of the original game, warts and all, to a modern audience. And now we have Resident Evil 4 — a nd what a remake it is.

In this reimagined version of the 2005 action-survival-horror game, Capcom has managed to erase many of the blemishes on one of the most beloved games in the series, if not all time. The remake is full of new flourishes and extra details in each of its three sprawling areas, making it less of a remake and more of a dramatic reinterpretation. It has also managed to add even more survival elements to the original’s action-centric combat, without sacrificing the camp and cheese that have made it such an enduring presence throughout the years. A lesser game would have shrunk in the face of such intimidating source material , but the Resident Evil 4 remake achieved the balancing act in spades. —M. Mahardy

10. Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon

Developer: FromSoftware

Nothing else feels like Armored Core.

The giant robot you pilot heaves with the weight of a six-story building but flies into the sky as nimble as a hummingbird. You can skate along the ground, rocket into the air, and change directions in the blink of an eye. You are agile, resilient, deadly .

With your hands tightly gripping the controller, you can unload four different weapons at once, weapons you’ve picked out of an armory that could rival a small nation. You target, aim, and fire while moving faster than a fighter jet, dodging streams of missiles, arcs of gunfire, bazookas, and flames.

There have been many, many games in the franchise , but none have reached the heights of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. The levels have never had such ruined beauty, the enemies have never been as satisfying to fight, and the characters have never been more endearing. An ingenious new game plus mode packs the game’s story with surprises while you continue to build out your arsenal.

Perhaps the decades-long wait for a new Armored Core game is part of the reason , because the lessons FromSoftware learned creating and popularizing Dark Souls are evident here. Bosses now put you through dastardly skill checks in classic Soulsian fashion . Many of them tower over the landscape, making you, the pilot of a giant robot , feel small. These set-piece fights are some of the most thrilling moments you could play in a game this year. They certainly have some of the most memorable lines .

But Armored Core 6 doesn’t just get badass one-liners stuck in your head; its gameplay lingers, too. When you watch videos of it in motion, it simply makes you want to play it, to feel that movement, that motion, for yourself.

This isn’t just because the series’ energetic action is unique, but because you decide exactly how your robot feels: how quickly its missiles get a lock, how fast its generator recharges, how far you boost when you swing your laser sword. Swapping components around as you scrutinize competing weight and power requirements is an engaging puzzle all its own. You become intimately familiar with a screen-filling spreadsheet of stats because all of those numbers add up to something that feels real. Tactile. Earned .

Because nothing else feels like Armored Core. —CA

Developer: Don’t Nod

Boulderers, or rock climbers who don’t use safety gear but also don’t ascend very high, have a word for the routes they climb: problems. The idea is that, since you’re never that far from flat ground, completing your route is more a game of mind over matter. You don’t “finish” a problem. You “solve” it. Like a puzzle.

When it comes to rock climbing, Jusant just gets it in a way few other games — if any — have.

To be clear, Don’t Nod’s Jusant isn’t technically about bouldering. (A climbing game where you’re never more than 12 feet off the ground would have precisely zero stakes.) But it’s an apt conduit for the spirit of bouldering, in that every route you traverse is a problem to solve. By alternating triggers to dictate which hand goes on which handhold, you navigate these problems. Environmental hazards and a pesky stamina wheel make things progressively trickier. You’re always clear on your heading. (It’s up.) Figuring out how to get there is another matter.

Even in games that prominently feature it, climbing is often functional, at best — whether it’s Link refusing to acknowledge handholds are a thing or Nathan Drake snapping to ledges with a level of magnetism only thought possible at CERN.

Jusant is the first and only game I’ve played that gets it — that sees the inherent grace in the sport and portrays it on the screen, not as a means of getting somewhere, but as the reason to go there in the first place. —Ari Notis

8. Marvel’s Spider-Man 2

Developer: Insomniac Games

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 builds on the successes of the first game, both narratively and in its immensely satisfying gameplay. The game’s story takes a familiar Spider-Man narrative — that of friends turned foes — and adds new twists, building out compelling villains (and demanding ones ) in the process. The game also sheds its predecessor’s odious Spider-Cop bits in favor of establishing a deeper connection between the Spider-Mans and their city , giving the game room to breathe while further immersing you in its heroes’ worlds and struggles.

And then there’s the gameplay. For my money, there are few experiences more enjoyable in gaming than swinging around New York City with Spider-Man. It was fun in the early 2000s, and it’s still fun now. And with a bigger map to explore (and wings to fly, if you so choose to use them), there’s basically no limit to the fun you can get up to. The deployment of two protagonists is seamless — Peter and Miles play differently, bringing their own stories and desires to the table — and switching between them is effortless. It’s also the rare open-world game that doesn’t feel bloated with missions and side quests, instead leaving you wanting more Spider adventures. — PV

7. Street Fighter 6

After getting knocked down — by a self-inflicted punch, no less — with the feeble Street Fighter 5 , Capcom has hit the gym and returned stronger than before with Street Fighter 6 . We rightfully called its latest Street Fighter the “ultimate fighting game toolbox” in Polygon’s review; from a robust single-player mode to solid online modes to a cast of memorable new and returning World Warriors, Street Fighter 6 is Capcom at its most confident.

For newcomers and the lapsed Street Fighter fan wary of jumping into online play, Capcom delivered World Tour mode, a robust, single-player, RPG-lite beat-’em-up in the vein of Sega’s Yakuza games. In World Tour, players hit the streets of Metro City where, hilariously, everyone in town not only knows how to fight, but relishes impromptu fisticuffs with strangers. It’s a matter of local pride.

The streets of Metro City are part training grounds, part beginning of a silly, epic worldwide adventure where you learn the basics of Street Fighter 6 . Untethered from any serious game narrative canon, Street Fighter 6 lets players of all skill levels and stripes have fun in World Tour mode.

Street Fighter 6 ’s approachability extends to its innovative new control scheme, an addition called Modern Controls. While the six-button layout from the very first Street Fighter is still available, after multiple attempts at giving players a simplified control scheme, Capcom’s finally cracked it. Modern Controls are not only comparatively easy to grasp — they’re pretty viable competitively.

But it’s the finely honed one-on-one fighting mechanics, governed by a streamlined set of meters and flashy new moves, that give Street Fighter 6 its longevity. Thanks to a well-populated social space called the Battle Hub, and a rock-solid online infrastructure, there’s a robust community of other Street Fighter fans to battle against on a daily basis. Add a compelling new roster of characters led by classics like Ryu, Zangief, and Chun-Li, and dazzling newcomers Marisa, Manon, and Kimberly, and it’s clear why Street Fighter 6 is one of the best games of 2023, regardless of genre. —Michael McWhertor

Developer: Geometric Interactive

I think I’m still trying to wrap my head around Cocoon . On the surface, the game appears to have a relatively simple premise: You play as a buglike creature that picks up and places glowing orbs to solve puzzles. However, this is where Cocoon hides its brilliant twist. Each orb functions like a world unto itself, which you can explore, or from which you can extract a new power for your bug. As you collect orbs, you thread together puzzles that will have you weaving in and out of realms in a truly mind-bending experience.

Created by Geometric Interactive, a studio founded by developers who previously worked on Limbo and Inside , Cocoon ’s brain teasers unfold in a dark sci-fi world. The game goes light on a story that combines biological and mechanical philosophies alike. As you make your way through, you’ll hear the hum of engines and the moist squishy sounds of unknown creatures’ moving flesh.

Cocoon has one-off puzzles that are downright brilliant, but what makes it truly great is the sum of its parts. The pacing of each section feeds smoothly from one challenge to the next. Like the best puzzle games, Cocoon presents instances where an earlier brain teaser might serve as an unsaid tutorial that teaches you a step for a later, more complicated puzzle. Cocoon presents challenges, but it’s also just a joy to play. It is one of the most memorable puzzle games I’ve ever played. —AD

5. Pikmin 4

Developers: Nintendo EPD, Eighting

Pikmin 4 is like the perfect amalgamation of Pikmin games. There are fun mini-dungeon caverns, but they’re not filled with terrible bomb traps. There’s new types of Pikmin, but not at the cost of getting rid of the old ones. And there’s a dog now, and he helps corral the Pikmin and make operations run even more efficiently.

The entirety of the game is a whimsical joy to play. Even as I completed every Dandori Challenge (which actually got pretty damn hard!) and collected every item, it never became a drag or a grind. It actually might be impossible to be angry while playing this game. Hearing the little Pikmin hum as they carry a huge peach (that they call a “mock bottom”) across the map is enough to melt anyone’s heart. In fact, I was pretty sad when the game ended. I could command these little guys and my puppy friend to collect things forever.

All told, the game is beautiful, and, thanks to its quasi real-world setting, it makes me see my own world differently — there’s something special to be found everywhere, even in the tiniest corners. Maybe all my little trinkets go missing because a little guy needs it to return home. He can have it.

Even if you’ve never played a Pikmin game before, this game is good , and it’s the perfect place to start. (And then you can play all the rest of them, which have been conveniently ported to the Switch!) — JL

4. Super Mario Bros. Wonder

Developer: Nintendo EPD

When you activate Super Mario. Bros. Wonder ’s delightful whimsy — via the aptly named Wonder Flower — the game becomes more than a 2D platformer. Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a musical, a quiz show, a race, or a hidden object game. Pipes become inchworms, Piranha Plants burst into song, and Yoshi becomes a goddamn dragon. Wonder is the first side-scrolling 2D platformer in the Super Mario Bros. line since New Super Mario Bros. U in 2012, and it’s both a faithful rendition of the classic format and a complete reinvention of the series’ irresistible formula.

Each and every level in Super Mario Bros. Wonder finds some new way to delight and surprise. It’s constantly introducing new ideas, enemies, and wrinkles, only to pull back on them just when it’s on the verge of becoming rote. Like everything else in the Flower Kingdom, a few enemies shift and change in bizarre ways when the Wonder Flower is activated, like Hoppo, the bouncy, round hippo equivalent that grows in size to create chaos in one of Super Mario Bros. Wonder ’s many mesmerizing levels.

All of this weirdness, combined with Nintendo’s platforming expertise, makes Super Mario Bros. Wonder an entrancing romp alone, with friends, or with strangers online. This is the freshest Mario has felt in decades, and it bodes well for the iconic plumber’s 2D future. —N. Carpenter

3. Alan Wake 2

Developer: Remedy Entertainment

There’s a body in the forest with a hole in its chest. The forest, like the body, is also missing its heart, and a woman must find both. In each, there are pages. This is a story, broken into pieces, we learn. One that ended badly before. One that will likely end badly again. Will you still put it together?

Alan Wake 2 is full of words but few are in order. It is set in places of confused geography, full of people who don’t quite belong, in rooms that might be different each time you enter them. Alan Wake 2 is wrong, and you must make it right, if you can.

Remedy Entertainment’s assured masterpiece is less about stories and more about dreams — the way they can slip from frightening to absurd at a moment’s notice, about how we can get lost in them, learning from our experiences or succumbing to insecurities. How video games can mimic their shape, or lack thereof.

It is about repetition, and the way we find meaning in stories and people and places by returning to them over and over, wondering if we changed or they did.

In Alan Wake 2 , everyone’s story is happening at once, branching out in endless directions, and we might not know the genre until it’s too late. It’s a hypertext mystery, an ergodic game that molds itself to an audience raised online, though few computers are in sight. It’s a game for a world suspended in an endless second act — forever wars, live services, franchises, infinite scrolls — endlessly searching for a conclusion. —JR

2. Baldur’s Gate 3

Developer: Larian Studios

Baldur’s Gate 3 hit at the perfect moment. Despite the handful of truly great computer role-playing games that have been released since the early 2000s (Larian Studios itself made waves with its Divinity: Original Sin series in 2014 and 2017), the genre has largely remained a modern niche. But times have changed: Dungeons & Dragons has undergone something of a renaissance, thanks to actual-play series like Critical Role and Dimension 20. What’s more, Larian had two years of player feedback with which to build its new masterpiece. That masterpiece launched in August, and it garnered the kind of attention that catapults a game from niche interests to widespread acclaim.

Old CRPG fans finally came home, the Mass Effect generation has discovered a new kind of RPG to sink its teeth into, and D&D fans have found an exceptional digital version of their beloved tabletop game to play alone or with their party in co-op.

Like a good DM, Baldur’s Gate 3 teases out story beats that feel personal to you, cleverly luring you into experiences that seem like they wouldn’t make sense in anyone else’s campaign. Every act delivers quiet, memorable character moments and anxiety-inducing battles. All of these situations feel organic, allowing Baldur’s Gate 3 to replicate, perhaps as closely as a video game can, Dungeons & Dragons’ best feature: the intoxicating sense that anything could happen at any moment.

The best games this year told their stories in interesting ways, be it ignoring your superpowers to bike through your old neighborhood in Queens, a musical number, or fractured memories hidden in a puddle. But Baldur’s Gate 3 takes experimental storytelling to another level. Every choice and every new direction is a simple success, fail, or crit away. One roll of the dice after another can take you all the way from a crashed Nautiloid to the city of Baldur’s Gate itself.

In a year filled with beautiful stories and powerful moments, it’s the spinning whir of Baldur’s Gate 3 ’s d20 that defined video game storytelling in 2023. —RG

1. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Princess Zelda is missing. Ganondorf has returned, somehow, and he’s really hot. So an age-old hero in a green tunic has to step in. We all know the beats — how could you possibly make that into anything new?

Tears of the Kingdom definitely didn’t seem like it was poised to make that happen: a sequel to one of the most popular Zelda games ever made, originally conceived as DLC, and built on the same map. Yet, it is something else entirely. It’s not just that Breath of the Wild was a rough draft for Tears of the Kingdom — it’s that the entire Zelda series was a collection of stepping stones that led in winding, influential pathways to this wacky, wonderful, and thoroughly new world of Hyrule.

I mean, Ultrahand alone. Just absolutely slathering pieces of wood in what amounts to magical Gorilla Glue and watching in wonder as the game’s physics engine roars to life in response. I went into Tears of the Kingdom thinking I wouldn’t build much — I’d just follow the story and get through it; I left feeling like a genius engineer, building all manner of bizarre contraptions ( but mostly long bridges ) to sail through skies and trundle over mountaintops.

I still catch my breath remembering that first time diving deep into the darkness of the Depths — the amazement I felt upon discovering a whole other world underneath the one I knew, filled with skeleton horses and gloom-splattered Bokoblins.

And I remember when I realized where Princess Zelda really was… and then, many hours later, learning where she really was.

I never wanted to stop playing Tears of the Kingdom . I did stop, eventually — the year of 2023 in video games has spoiled us all with hearty meals and sweet desserts — but I never stopped thinking about it. Every now and then, I picked my Switch back up to seek out another Lightroot, or solve another shrine’s puzzle, until there were none left. And then I’d just wander, collecting ingredients, talking to Great Fairies, imagining the next adventure.

Tears of the Kingdom feels like someone holding my hands very close as they lean in to whisper, with eyes twinkling, “Can I tell you something?” The ride was wild; I laughed, I cried. And I can’t wait for the next time, when it’s completely different. — M. Myers

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After winning every major Game of the Year award in 2023, Baldur's Gate 3 is now cleaning up in 2024 too

Larian's hit RPG claimed five wins at the 2024 BAFTA awards, including Best Game.

We said in January that Baldur's Gate 3 had completed its Game of the Year sweep by claiming the top honor in the 2023 Steam Awards. What we did not anticipate is that it would continue kicking ass through 2024. Maybe we should have been a little more forward-thinking on that one, because Larian's D&D RPG just claimed the Best Game title, and four others, at the 2024 BAFTA Awards .

Baldur's Gate 3 beat out a slate of very impressive contenders for the win including Alan Wake 2, Dave the Diver, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Marvel's Spider-Man 2, and Super Mario Bros. Wonder. The trophy will sit nicely alongside earlier Game of the Year hardware taken home from The Game Awards, the Golden Joysticks, and the Steam Awards. It's a genuinely remarkable stretch of domination for a game I honestly thought might have a shot at doing business with oldster RPG players and fans of Larian's past work when it was announced in 2019. A gross underestimation, as it turns out.

Along with the Best Game title, Baldur's Gate 3 also took home wins for best music, narrative, performer in a supporting role—specifically, that went to Andrew Wincott for his portrayal of the charming devil Raphael —and the EE Players' Choice Award, the only BAFTA award voted on by players.

Larian boss Swen Vincke was somewhat more restrained in his acceptance speech than he was at GDC, when he pointedly blamed "greed" among game industry executives for " fucking this thing up for so long ." Instead, he took the more traditional awards show route of thanking family, friends, and everyone who worked on the game.

"There's really a truckload of partners who helped us make this game," he said. "We didn't do this on our own. I once counted, I came to over 2,000 people that worked on Baldur's Gate 3, which is incredible, over six years." He also made a point of calling out the Baldur's Gate 3 actors, "who spent so much time in those suits."

Despite being a story-based RPG that came out more than eight months ago, Baldur's Gate 3 remains one of the most popular games on Steam: There are at this moment more than 77,000 people playing it, good enough for the 12th spot on Steam's Most Played chart . 

And despite that monstrous, runaway success, Larian has officially and emphatically said its time with the famed RPG series is over: It will continue to support Baldur's Gate 3 (and a new hotfix actually just dropped yesterday) but Vincke said in March that the studio will not be making any DLC or sequels .

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Larian is finished with Baldur's Gate 3, but it may not be finished collecting awards: The game is nominated in multiple categories, including (of course) Game of the Year, in the 2024 Gayming Awards , which will take place in June. Will the midpoint of 2024 finally signal the end of Baldur's Gate 3's genuinely awesome demolition of its rivals? At this point I have to imagine that every other game studio on the planet is hoping so.

The full list of 2024 BAFTA Award winners is below.

🏆 Animation - Hi-Fi Rush 🏆 Artistic Achievement - Alan Wake 2 🏆 Audio Achievement - Alan Wake 2 🏆 Best Game - Baldur's Gate 3 🏆 British Game: - Viewfinder 🏆 Debut Game - Venba 🏆 Evolving Game - Cyberpunk 2077 🏆 Family - Super Mario Bros Wonder 🏆 Game Beyond Entertainment - Tchia 🏆 Game Design - Dave the Diver 🏆 Multiplayer - Super Mario Bros Wonder 🏆 Music - Baldur's Gate 3 🏆 Narrative - Baldur's Gate 3 🏆 New Intellectual Property - Viewfinder 🏆 Performer in a Leading Role - Nadji Peter (Miles Morales, Marvel's Spider-Man 2 ) 🏆 Performer in a Supporting Role - Andrew Wincott (Raphael, Baldur's Gate 3 ) 🏆 Technical Achievement - The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 🏆 EE Players' Choice Award – Baldur's Gate 3

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Considered doomed 6 years ago, Fallout 76 is attracting record player numbers thanks to the TV series

German government wants games like Baldur's Gate 3 to 'also go on to be developed in Germany'

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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Adding One of 2023's Best Games on April 25

Following a previous leak, it's been confirmed that one of 2023's best games is coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on April 25.

• Star Wars Jedi: Survivor joins Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on April 25.
• Xbox Game Pass Ultimate continues to offer valuable benefits for gamers, including day one access to highly anticipated titles.
• Subscribers can enjoy a variety of new games this week.

As was previously leaked, the critically-acclaimed 2023 action-adventure game Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is coming to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on Thursday, April 25. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate features a number of exclusive perks to help justify its higher cost compared to the other Game Pass tiers, with one of the big selling points being its access to the EA Play library of games.

By signing up for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, subscribers are able to access everything that the other Game Pass tiers have, plus everything that's part of EA Play. This means that Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can enjoy free trials for the newest EA games , as well as play any titles that are added to its library. EA doesn't release its brand-new games on EA Play on the day of their release, but the games tend to join the service within a year.

Xbox Game Pass Adds 3 Games for Core Members and Day One Launch Title

So is the case with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor , which originally released on April 28 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X. It's been confirmed that the game will be joining the EA Play lineup on Thursday, April 25, which means it will be available to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers on that day across PC and Xbox Series X. PlayStation gamers will also be able to play Star Wars Jedi: Survivor through EA Play on that day, but the service isn't bundled with PS Plus, and so it requires a separate subscription on that platform.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is Adding Star Wars Jedi: Survivor

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor earned higher review scores than its predecessor, Fallen Order , and is generally considered one of the best games that will be released in 2023. If 2023 wasn't so stacked with landmark releases, it's likely that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor would have earned more year-end award recognition than it ultimately did. In any case, being able to play the entire game through a subscription is an absolute steal, and Game Pass Ultimate subscribers should be sure to jump on the opportunity come April 25.

This week is a big one for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in general. Since Game Pass Ultimate subscribers get access to all the regular Game Pass games as well, that means that they have multiple day one games to check out, including Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes and, joining Star Wars Jedi: Survivor on April 25, the Soulslike game Another Crab's Treasure . Xbox Game Pass has been on a hot streak for years now, and it doesn't look like the momentum is slowing down any time soon.

Western Carolina University

Baseball 4/22/2024 11:00:00 PM Daniel Hooker, Associate Athletics Director for Media Relations

Baseball Travels to Rocky Top, Faces Third-Ranked Tennessee

Catamounts face first nationally-ranked opponent of the 2023-24 season.

• Western Carolina enters the week 7-5 in games played in April that includes four victories away from Cullowhee – midweek road wins at Big South foes Gardner-Webb (6-4) and Presbyterian (9-5) with a pair of neutral field victories (7-3 and 10-5) over Akron at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio;
• WCU is 5-5 over its last 10 games played;
• Senior Zach Ketterman repeated as the Southern Conference Baseball Player of the Week on Monday, the third honor of his WCU career … Ketterman led WCU last week with a .571 average including two home runs and eight RBI;
• Western Carolina is 16-1 when leading after both six and seven innings this season and is 16-0 when leading after eight innings … the Catamounts have just five victories when either trailing or standing tied after six frames, three wins after seven, and just two when tied or trailing after eight innings;
• WCU has hit 2-or-more home runs in 17 games this season, carrying an 11-6 record;
• Founded in 1921 and the fifth-oldest athletics conference in America, The Southern Conference gave rise to two of the nation's premier leagues – the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in 1932 and the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in 1953.
• WCU second-year head coach Alan Beck was at one time on staff in Knoxville under WCU alum and former Catamount baseball head coach Todd Raleigh … Beck previously served as the Director of Baseball Operations under Raleigh.

Players Mentioned

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#19 Kyle Harbison

#15 James Hinson

#14 Zach Ketterman

#26 Nate Stocum

#18 Spenser Hamblen

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Paris hotels getting cheaper before Olympic Games – with only half of rooms filled

W ith barely three months before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games begin, the slump in hotel rates predicted by The Independent has been confirmed.

The global sporting event begins in the French capital on 26 July and continues to 11 August.

Data from the hotel market analyst, Lighthouse, shows a continuous reduction in the nightly rate from an average of over €800 (£689) last September to below €500 (£431) currently.

In the last 30 days alone, rates for three-star properties during the Olympics have dropped by 9 per cent. Four-star hotels have fallen by 8 per cent in the same spell. But five-star luxury establishments are holding prices up slightly better, down by 6 per cent.

A spokesperson for Lighthouse said: “Current market occupancy rates continue to hover around 50 per cent, as they have done for some time.”

Last month The Independent revealed that top tourism officials in Paris expect hotel occupancy to be between 60 and 70 per cent during the Games.

In July 2023, the average occupancy was 91 per cent.

Christophe Decloux, director-general for tourism in the Paris Region, said: “We have 160,000 rooms in the Paris Region – which is more than London had in 2012. So we have what it takes to accommodate everybody.

“What we compare to is London in 2012 – where the the hotels in London were very expensive at the beginning and they had to bring down the prices.”

He said occupancy in the 2012 host city bounced back “as soon as the prices met the actual demand of the customer”.

One three-star property whose prices are being tracked by The Independent , the New Hotel St-Lazare, is currently pricing double rooms on the opening night of the Games for €213 (£184), about twice the usual rate – and the same as one month ago.

According to Lighthouse data, overall hotel rates in Paris during the Olympics are still 95 per cent higher than at the same time in 2024.

The most expensive date to stay during the Games is 4 August 2024, when a five-star hotel room is averaging €1,566 (£1,349).

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

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Miami Heat at Boston Celtics FREE NBA Playoffs live stream: Time, channel

• Updated: Apr. 21, 2024, 10:52 a.m. |
• Published: Apr. 21, 2024, 10:52 a.m.

Miami Heat guard Tyler Herro (14) defends against Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum (0) during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Sunday, Feb. 11, 2024, in Miami. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

• Dustin Hockensmith | [email protected]

The Miami Heat have an upset in mind as they travel to Boston on Sunday for Game 1 of their NBA Playoff series . The game is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET with TV coverage on ABC and streaming on-demand .

• Watch: Live streams of the Celtics-Heat game are available with offers from FuboTV (free trial) , DirecTV Stream (free trial) and SlingTV (free trial) .

The Celtics were the clear-cut top team in the Eastern Conference and on the short list of top NBA title contenders throughout the 2023-’24 season. Boston finished with an NBA-best 64-18 record and was dominant at TD Garden with a 37-4 home record, earning its place as a big 13.5-point favorite in Game 1 over the Heat.

Watch live streams of the Celtics-Heat game: FuboTV (free trial) | DirecTV Stream (free trial) | Sling (low intro rate)

A trio of Celtics finished the season averaging 20-plus points per game, led by stars Jayson Tatum (26.9 ppg) and Jaylen Brown (23.0 ppg) and center Kristaps Porzingis (20.1 ppg). The Celtics were in elite company in terms of both their scoring offense (120.6 ppg, 2nd in the NBA) and defense (109.2 ppg, 5th), which was the driving force behind their monster regular season.

The Heat limp into this one, likely without the services of postseason veteran Jimmy Butler but having won the East’s No. 8 seed with a 112-91 win over the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Play-In Tournament. Miami had the NBA’s third-best defense in the regular season and leaned on that effort against Chicago, holding the Bulls to 38 percent shooting in a blowout victory. Tyler Herro led all scorers with his 24 points, and Kevin Love chipped in 16 big points with 10-for-10 free throw shooting in that win over Chicago. Miami finished the regular season with a 46-36 record and had the second-best road record (24-17) in the Eastern Conference.

The Heat and Celtics are set for a 1 p.m. ET start on ABC. Live streams are available from FuboTV (free trial) , DirecTV Stream (free trial) and SlingTV (free trial) .

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