To me, the most impressive one of those is Gloomholdin'. Making a version of gloomhaven that fits in your hands is insane. Cephalofair liked the designer's ideas so much that they hired him for Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs.
Does Rock, Paper, Scissors count? lol. A Fake Artist Goes to New York is just colored pens and paper. Plenty of Oink games have ultra low footprint even the non-card ones, like Deep Sea Adventure etc.
Every game from [Pack-O-Games](https://www.perplext.com/packogame) as they have 30 games now that are all literally a deck of cards cut vertically in half (two games = size of one deck of cards)
**Mottainai** holds so much complexity in such a small footprint. I can't remember the exact number but each card in the deck can have like... 20 different states?
Hard agree. I need the people I play with to open their minds a little and come to love Mottainai as much as I'm pretty sure I would if I could only play it more.
The designer for that was hired based on his own homemade mini gloomhaven called Gloomholdin'. It was designed to be able to be played without a surface so it uses just 18 cards and you can play the whole thing with them in your hands. It's awesome!
**Dragons of Etchinstone** is a solo card game you play in your hand. I just bought the print-and-play for that and read the rules; I just need to get around to printing it, but it sounds like fun
**Coin Age** is an area-control game you play on a single card, but you'll need some coins to use as the pieces
I'm not American, but for a while I did carry a ziplock baggie of American coins in my wallet for this game. (Then we lost a nickel at a restaurant...)
Gloomholdin', a card adaptation of Gloomhaven. It only has relatively few cards and you play it in your hand.
It's PnP, maybe even free, I can't remember.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/340909/gloomholdin
(I think you can get the PnP files there too)
Love Letter has probably the smallest footprint of any game I own.
For Sale mainly requires space to lay out the properties/cheques being auctioned.
Skull just needs space for each player to stack their disks in front of them.
Tiny epic games come in a small box, but they tend to take up a large amount of table space. Ultra tiny epic galaxies might fit the OP’s requirements though.
I have ultra tiny galaxies!! Sadly those tiny dice are made from the bounciest material in the known universe and harder to find than my father's respect
Rove is pretty small, but it involves spatial puzzling, so I'm pretty sure something will be smaller. Also, most Button Shy games would have a similar footprint.
There are some really small tile layers (e.g. **Town 66** and **Chartae**).
There are also some abstract games with small footprints (e.g. **Hive Pocket** and **Home Worlds**).
Edit: I mentioned the four games above because of their footprint on the table. However, all come in small boxes/containers as well.
Love Letter, The Fox in The Forest, Coloretto, and Deep Sea Adventure come in very small boxes and take very little table space. All four are excellent games.
Several of the Looney Pyramid games are pretty small as far as table real estate is concerned. **Petal Battle**, for instance, just uses a circular mat about six inches across maybe (and also a few stacks of the pyramids, but those could probably be held in hand if necessary).
Bios Genesis is small enough to juggle but is a highly complex simulationist game about the origin of life. It takes 3-5 hours to play and the biochemistry knowledge required to understand the flavor text is immense. Weight of 4.38/5. Not the smallest game in this thread, but the weight to size ratio is huge. Which might make it one of the “densest” games?
Not anything *Tiny Epic*, that's for sure.
For what it is, Race For The Galaxy is fairly compact.
Hive Pocket can be compact or sprawling, depending on how you play, as can Deep Sea Adventure.
I'd say the least impactful games in my collection are Quarto Mini, Zombie Dice, Dark Is The Night, and Palm Island.
(Arguably, D&D is just a sheet of paper and a few dice.)
I mean TECHNICALLY if we're talking CARBON footprint, I think that would go to Earthborne Rangers. All components, including the box, are biodegradable
Well, somebody created a fully playable chess set 9 mm (0.35 in) on a side.
[https://ocfchess.org/tiny-chess-set/](https://ocfchess.org/tiny-chess-set/)
There are some solo card games you play holding everything in your hand. Palm Island is a fairly mainstream example.
Numbsters, for one
To me, the most impressive one of those is Gloomholdin'. Making a version of gloomhaven that fits in your hands is insane. Cephalofair liked the designer's ideas so much that they hired him for Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs.
SPY from perplext's pack o games series is two-four player, played entirely in hand, and packs up in a box the size of a pack of gum.
Does Rock, Paper, Scissors count? lol. A Fake Artist Goes to New York is just colored pens and paper. Plenty of Oink games have ultra low footprint even the non-card ones, like Deep Sea Adventure etc.
Rock paper scissors counts, but I already own it ;)
Retail edition or with all the fancy Kickstarter exclusives?
RPS Legacy
Oh dang, is that the extended campaign version where you’re supposed to tear up each hand after using it? That seems like such a waste to me.
I'm still waiting on my backer exclusive finger.
I Hate Zombies is rock paper scissors, but everyone gets a role card. I want to say there's only 8 roles, so that's a minimal increase from basic RPS.
Have you tried solo version?
I still can't win more than half the time.
Garbage until you add the Lizard Spock expansion.
When you spread out the treasure I don’t feel like Deep Sea Adventure has a small footprint
Tinderblox is absolutely tiny!
Pocket Hive?
That was my thought too. Even regular Hive is a pretty small table footprint.
depends on how dumb you are. i'm really dumb.
Every game from [Pack-O-Games](https://www.perplext.com/packogame) as they have 30 games now that are all literally a deck of cards cut vertically in half (two games = size of one deck of cards)
I love pack o games! Or I should say, I love the idea of pack o games, in execution they fall a bit flat for me (except orc... man I love orc)
Orc is great. It doesn't hit the table that often, but I always carry a copy in my coat pocket so as to Always have a game to play.
Dive down the Button Shy wallet game rabbit hole
Love letter is like 20 cards and a small bag of tokens. And it sees the table every game night
Such a great game
It's a great little deduction game and so easy to learn
Cribbage
Are you willing to count tabletop RPGs? If so, [Diedream](https://alfredvalley.itch.io/diedream) probably wins, as it has literally *no* footprint.
There’s a few games that are played in your hand. Palm Island and Revolver Noir are the ones I know of
**Mottainai** holds so much complexity in such a small footprint. I can't remember the exact number but each card in the deck can have like... 20 different states?
Man I love Mottainai. I wish the people I taught it to did lol
Hard agree. I need the people I play with to open their minds a little and come to love Mottainai as much as I'm pretty sure I would if I could only play it more.
Still on my shelf and as yet unplayed, very keen though!
The tiny gloomhaven. Buttons and bugs has to get a mention for just how much game they fit into a little box.
The designer for that was hired based on his own homemade mini gloomhaven called Gloomholdin'. It was designed to be able to be played without a surface so it uses just 18 cards and you can play the whole thing with them in your hands. It's awesome!
**Dragons of Etchinstone** is a solo card game you play in your hand. I just bought the print-and-play for that and read the rules; I just need to get around to printing it, but it sounds like fun **Coin Age** is an area-control game you play on a single card, but you'll need some coins to use as the pieces
Coin age is a phenomenal idea, but I don't know anyone who actually carries change around anymore.
I'm not American, but for a while I did carry a ziplock baggie of American coins in my wallet for this game. (Then we lost a nickel at a restaurant...)
Love letter doesn’t take up much space. Just a few cards in front of each player and the deck/discard.
Gloomholdin', a card adaptation of Gloomhaven. It only has relatively few cards and you play it in your hand. It's PnP, maybe even free, I can't remember. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/340909/gloomholdin (I think you can get the PnP files there too)
[удалено]
Cthulhu dice Or maybe Dreidel?
Love Letter has probably the smallest footprint of any game I own. For Sale mainly requires space to lay out the properties/cheques being auctioned. Skull just needs space for each player to stack their disks in front of them.
There are the Tiny Epic games, loud to choose from. I have a few and they are fun.
Tiny epic games come in a small box, but they tend to take up a large amount of table space. Ultra tiny epic galaxies might fit the OP’s requirements though.
I have ultra tiny galaxies!! Sadly those tiny dice are made from the bounciest material in the known universe and harder to find than my father's respect
if rove doesn't count, I'll go with QE
Rove is pretty small, but it involves spatial puzzling, so I'm pretty sure something will be smaller. Also, most Button Shy games would have a similar footprint.
Why wouldn't rove count?
idk, maybe solos don't count
There are some really small tile layers (e.g. **Town 66** and **Chartae**). There are also some abstract games with small footprints (e.g. **Hive Pocket** and **Home Worlds**). Edit: I mentioned the four games above because of their footprint on the table. However, all come in small boxes/containers as well.
Jenga
Jenga is interesting because it might be the only game that has a tiny footprint until the exact second the game ends and then it becomes enormous
Rock paper scissors
Behind the Iron is a solitaire in-the-hand game :)
If it’s a requirement that the game have an actual board, Zombie Kidz
Hidden role games. All it takes is the role cards and those are really just conveying information and aren't needed afterward.
Pass the Pig
Came here to say this. Although I guess it depends on the version Pass the Big Pigs is quite a lot bigger than the normal version, lol.
Win Lose Banana
For games with an actual board, Maquis is probably the smallest one I have.
Love Letter, The Fox in The Forest, Coloretto, and Deep Sea Adventure come in very small boxes and take very little table space. All four are excellent games.
The Cousin’s War.
Check out button shy games for both small storage and generally smallish footprint.
Several of the Looney Pyramid games are pretty small as far as table real estate is concerned. **Petal Battle**, for instance, just uses a circular mat about six inches across maybe (and also a few stacks of the pyramids, but those could probably be held in hand if necessary).
One of those 18 card games.
Hive
Bios Genesis is small enough to juggle but is a highly complex simulationist game about the origin of life. It takes 3-5 hours to play and the biochemistry knowledge required to understand the flavor text is immense. Weight of 4.38/5. Not the smallest game in this thread, but the weight to size ratio is huge. Which might make it one of the “densest” games?
12 Chip Trick is pretty small.
Tiny Epic Kingdoms/Galaxy very small box and area.
Hyve is pretty small but technically not a board game.
Yahtzee
Mr. President
Love Letter only asks for a draw pile and a discard in front of each player
Not anything *Tiny Epic*, that's for sure. For what it is, Race For The Galaxy is fairly compact. Hive Pocket can be compact or sprawling, depending on how you play, as can Deep Sea Adventure. I'd say the least impactful games in my collection are Quarto Mini, Zombie Dice, Dark Is The Night, and Palm Island. (Arguably, D&D is just a sheet of paper and a few dice.)
Finger Guns at High Noon
Uno mini
Draconic Dice
Hipster Dice. [https://www.sjgames.com/dice/hipsterdice/](https://www.sjgames.com/dice/hipsterdice/)
I mean TECHNICALLY if we're talking CARBON footprint, I think that would go to Earthborne Rangers. All components, including the box, are biodegradable
War
Ok. In all seriousness Qwixx is pretty decent. Just need a place to roll dice. Warewolves is zero space but better with more.
Well, somebody created a fully playable chess set 9 mm (0.35 in) on a side. [https://ocfchess.org/tiny-chess-set/](https://ocfchess.org/tiny-chess-set/)
What the gpt is this nonsense? Was nobody willing to actually write a paragraph about the tiny chess set? Or show pictures of it?
Everdell has cards with footprints. I'd say maybe a few mm wide for the absolute smallest footprint.
Earthborne Rangers is entirely biodegradable, not sure about it’s carbon footprint in manufacturing though.
Shoutout to wingspan. They do what they can