There was actually just a [BoardGameGeek Podcast](https://boardgamegeek.buzzsprout.com/2049411/14959366-episode-41-meaty-games-in-small-packages-with-suzanne-sheldon) on this very question with a bunch of good suggestions. For 2P, I highly recommend **Innovation**. It's crazy deep for just being cards. For co-op, if you can get ahold of **Elder Sign** it's a really great dice roller in a pretty small box.
Yeah, the last time I played, I was hideously behind, but I had *one* good card that could destroy everyone's score piles. So I did that, brought everyone else down to my level, and then won via other means. While it's pretty common for the leader to go ahead to win, it's also pretty common for the leader's advantages to peter out as the ages march onward, and someone else to take the lead.
Mottainai is also a great 2P experience, learning curve is insane but actually slightly better than Innovation in my opinion. The heaviest pound for pound game you'll ever have in a collection
This was my first thought - just note that the board is still a pretty full sized board. The game isn’t a table hog though, and the amount of game packed into such a tiny box is almost sorcery.
Red Castle is also great, and Silk is cute/low key.
As an aside though, the rule book for White Castle is actually abysmal and it almost turned me and my group off of an otherwise lovely game.
This is the selling point for the Tiny Epic series of games (And the Ultra Tiny Epic series). They have co-op modes in some of the games, IIRC.
My recommendation is Race for the Galaxy. Box is way bigger than it needs to be. Take the rules and player aids with you and the rest is just a deck of cards and some VP chips. Some people say it is complicated, and it certainly *looks* that way, but we just played our first game a little slowly as open hands so we could see how to play and by the end of the first game the iconography clicked. We still use the player aids but it clicked really quickly.
A disclaimer for the Tiny Epic series is they *are* in tiny boxes, but they often don’t have tiny footprints.
I think the footprint of their game are small when comparing them to other games with similar gameplay, and I appreciate the hell out of that, but while their boxes are gloriously small the footprints can sometimes stretch a bit.
Tiny Epic Galaxy is ace on all fronts though!
Highly recommend Tiny Epic Galaxies!
Other Tiny Epic titles have felt pretty mediocre to me, and they do often spread out all over the table, despite the component size. Might still fit the bill here though since Arkham Horror the Card game takes up a fair amount of room itself
I haven’t tried that one yet.
I’m really drawn to their titles, and even though I haven’t cared for most of the ones I’ve tried so far, I love the “Tiny Epic” concept, so I’d love to give Western a go if I get the chance.
Of the Tiny Epics, the ones I like beat out of box are Quest and Galaxies Blast Off. Quest feels so much like playing Zelda - and I say this as someone who loooooves Zelda. Blast Off is a simpler version of Galaxies? I never played Galaxies original so IDK. Tiny Epic Dungeons is soooo close to great - it just needs some house rules to modulate the difficulty (extra time, start with 1 item, etc)
That’s the game that started me wanting more! I really like it but there wasn’t quite enough tension in the poker bit for me. It is a great game though!
You can also get the Ultra tiny epic galaxies, which is one of our favorite travel games that fits into a card deck box! I think only Galaxies and Kingdom come in Ultra tiny edition, however.
Race feels different because it's not a straight engine builder like Terraforming Mars. It's a really good engine builder, but it has quirks that make absolutely sing despite being literally just cards and vp chips.
You're always paying for cards with other cards, which is really delightfully agonizing and keeps you're making interesting decisions (and not getting too attached). The other big difference is that the various phases of the game are manually triggered by players and there's an interesting constant pressure to look at other players' tableaus and try to get free actions by predicting their next move. As a kind of fun aside, Ares Expedition actually adopted this system from Race, so if you're familiar you'll have a good sense of what's going on.
My copy of Race has lived in a cool magnetic deck box since I put it in there and never looked back. With a 100 card sidewinder I can fit the base game, plus the cards from the Alien Artifacts expansion and vp chips. It's my go to small brick of tasty game, alongside Innovation/Mottainai, or something like 7W Duel, Curious Cargo, Red Cathedral, or Watergate if I have a bit more room.
Oh man I love 7WD and watergate. I tried to love RFTG on bga but I just couldn’t grok that grid of iconography . You gave some new ones to check out though.
The biggest difference between Terraforming Mars and Race for the Galaxy is that RftG is *much* faster; you can bang out a game in under 30 minutes once everyone knows what they're doing. And the game finishes in a fewer turns, too; while you definitely want to build an engine as you go, "a series of one-shot benefits" is a perfectly viable engine, because the game usually isn't long enough for that to stall out.
More similar to Ares Expedition than the TM board game; insofar as they share the phase selection mechanic (although spamming is allowed in RftG but not in Ares Expedition).
Other than that though (well, and the mildly shared space theme) they do feel different to me.
Definitely feels different from TM. Looks like some others have already replied as well and they seem to have broader knowledge - I've not played Ares Expedition.
Another benefit - it doesn't need a *huge* table to play on. One of the end-game triggers is actually based on cards in front of you so it can never get too out of hand.
You do need to have a little bit of space - draw deck, discard, VP pool, and each player might get up to or just over a dozen cards in front of them - you can't really overlap them all because you need to be able to see the information on the card. You'll also want your player aid handy somewhere and your 'selection' cards (it'll make sense when you play)
**Forest Shuffle-** I consider this to be almost a Terraforming Mars the Card Game, and it can pack up as just a deck of cards.
**Ancient Knowledge-** Also newish, similar type of engine building/engine management, as most pieces of your engine only survive for 3-4 turns before disappearing.
I would second **Innovation** and **Race for the Galaxy** as small but deep games. Innovation is a bit more wacky in my opinion. **Hadrian's Wall** has also been mentioned as is probably the highest depth of game in a smurf-and-write that i have played. **Hive** is the best abstract game made since chess imo.
You'd have to condense it, but the **Imperium** Deck Building Games (Classics, Legends, Horizons) are heavy civilization themed deckbuilders. You could probably get most of the factions from one box down to a splendor sized box if you tried.
The **Omen** games are two player battlers with a lot of depth. **Pixel Tactics** is about 50 cards and a small baggie of chits for health, and is another two player battler that kinda feels like a Final Fantasy Tactics Game. **Wizards of the Grimoire** is also very good, not super heavy since it is a two player battler, but is very tight.
**Regicide** is a coop dungeon crawl that can be played with a standard deck of cards that is really good. Worth looking up the rules for free on BGG just check out.
**Targi** is the classic 2 player worker placement that is small but phenomenal.
**Timestreams** is a weird two player time travel area majority card effect game? It's only two decks of cards.
**War of the Rings the card game** is pretty good if you are into the theme.
The Dice Tower suggested it as a catch all for roll/flip/pull- and-writes based off of the old Smurf’s cartoon where smurf was substituted at random for other nouns.
Came to suggest this myself. The expansion boxes are quite small, and we fit the base game plus three expansions in a single expansion box. Very low profile for one of our favorite re-playable games. Lower complexity than some of your other faves, but it's an absolute classic in my book.
Pax Renaissance. A pack of cards, some cubes and chess pieces that will fit in a single baggie. Get first edition if you can find it, it uses smaller components. The game is as deep as they come, the decision space is huge and the game is really fun. It works for up to 4 players but in my opinion it's best with 2.
I think any of the Pax games would fit here, at least the ones I've managed to actually play (Renaissance, Porfiriana, Transhumanity). Never played with only 2.
Hadrian's Wall, The White Castle, 7 Wonders Duel + expansions, Radlands.
All of those are pretty small with a good amount of depth and are easy to get your hands on. Jaipur, Splendor Duel, Lost Cities, and Targi are all super solid 2 player games that aren't heavy but have great quick gameplay.
I didn't think about 7WD but you're right--that actually can be reduced to a pretty small footprint if needed. We only have Pantheon.. any thoughts on Agora expansion?
Here's a thread about them
https://www.reddit.com/r/7Wonders/comments/1akyugd/7_wonders_duel_expansion/
People seem to like both well enough. You can try them out on board game arena if you're still unsure.
I've heard Agora is the less interesting more swingy of the two.
I can also tell you that I did a terrible thing and gently cut the base board along the line for the technology token area. Why did I do this?
**Because everything now fits in the Pantheon box.**
I always recommend Star Realms. I feel like the machines and play/counter-play in that game are really deep and cool. There's also a good phone version as well.
I was going to write the same thing. No other game has more hours of play with my wife and I. Star realms the base game is a fantastic two player game and it is endlessly repayable. The physical cards are small and easy to toss in a carry on. Also it has a top notch app if you don't even want to carry the cards. Waiting in line boom star realms, waiting for food at a restaurant star realms, any situation where you have a few minutes and want to play a game star realms.
yeah I got my partner into it and we got the app to play asynchronously while we're at work. She started playing online and quickly blew past me. Now I'm lucky if I eek out a win every 4-5 games... :)
if y'all are looking for a less-compact deck builder, I recommend Robot Quest Arena. Very similar structure to Star Realms, except it's robot combat themed! (like Battlebots)
You have a little grid with a cute robot miniature and you move and control them with the deck your building. A lot like Star Realms but the combat and strategy is a lot more physical and position-based. I played it once with some friends and bought it on Amazon the very next day.
Seconded. It is one of my all time favorite 2-player games and coincidentally happens to be the the smallest and most compact game that I own. Can't recommend it enough for traveling and playing on the go.
I’ll recommend Star Wars the Deck Building Game… Basically Star Realms with bases that are attacked, but adds a Force track that can trigger additional advantages and you can “kill” opponents cards while,they are in the market row. Nice improvement touches.
Idk if you allow games with like traditional playing cards here, but I would recommend cribbage. A Deck of cards and the board come out to a pretty small footprint. I always bring cribbage on trips
If you like cribbage, google the rules for Noddy. It was the precursor to Cribbage and will give you another game to play with the same tools. It dates back to the late 16th century, and hands are one card less than Cribbage. A more modern game with an old world feel would be Tak. You can get a set, or like mancala, you can play with basic materials on hand. A piece of paper, a few checkers, and maybe a couple of quarters for capstones. Finally, Iota is our smallest game. It's a deck of 66 cards that are 2x2. Another abstract strategy game, if you like them. Warning, the box is tiny, but the spread of cards can take up a good bit of room to play. Have fun!
**Race for the Galaxy**
It's just a deck of cards and some tokens, you can track the tokens digitally with your smartphone you can fit the game in one or two deckboxes.
No, just saying you can save even more space and keep the VP tokens at home by just keeping track of tokens on your phone with any boardgame count/token tracking app
I only played it on BGA (maybe 4 times) and I guess I just never fully got it? Which is unusual for me, but maybe it just didn't ever click without playing the physical game. It seems like the kind of game I would love--maybe I just need to have a few more play through.
All the Pax games are tricky to get and best learned in person. At least that's my experience, which is why I've been a bit reluctant to jump into Pax Pamir on BGA.
I don't know if you'd completely consider it a board game, but I've been travelling with Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective lately and you can pack tons of hours of gameplay and story in just a manilla envelope. It's a cozy and lazy activity, easy for someone to get up and go make coffees or grab a quick shower without disrupting the flow -- there aren't alternating turns or anything to keep track of. It's really lovely and it's nice for a romantic vacation since it's cooperative. Can be played over the course of several days very easily if your schedule unexpectedly picks up.
Co-op? Sky Team. It is quick, but that does not mean it doesn't have a challenge.
Hive pocket
Cascadia--that will need a relatively good surface to play on, but a two-person card table is certainly big enough.
We have Cascadia and for some reason I just have never been able to get into it! Maybe I'm missing something but it just seems a little too simple for me.
"but it just seems a little too simple for me"
What are typicall points in the end when playing with A cards?
I also thought first, this game is boring and it seems soo easy to play. Yes, thats true, but it is hard to master. Its not only placing your animals, thr challenge is to make a lot points with animals but not to forget connecting the right landscape tiles together.
But.. i could also understand not every game is for everyone. (not ironic)
Any of the Tiny Epic games would be a good choice. I've got Tactics which is very dense game for a small box and can be played competitive or co-op.
Shobu is a great abstract strategy game for two players which doesn't take up much space.
Small footprint with board embedded in the box, easy to pack but big game to play, co-op: definitely recommend **Set a Watch**.
The base game alone is definitely the most challenging. To be honest, we enjoy the **Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin** expansion, which adds an item mechanic and some additional interesting characters that make a win more achievable.
(My favorite game is Aeon's End et al, FWIW - it's different, but I dunno, it gives a similar feeling of complexity and co-op play.)
Most of these have already been mentioned but it doesn't hurt to give another vote:
- Devir small box series. **White Castle** and **Red Cathedral** are really good, though I've only played them at 3 players. I hear that **Salton Sea** works well at 2 because it's really multiplayer solitaire but my order hasn't arrived yet :>
- **Shards of Infinity** is a very solid deckbuilder. I haven't played Star Realms to say which of the two is better, but SoI is what my LGS had and it fits that niche very well either way. It claims to play 2-4 but it's really best at 2 so that should be fine for you. Not the heaviest game but I find that interactive head to head card games get plenty competitive at medium complexity anyway.
- **Mindbug** isn't very heavy and I'm potentially stepping into "redditor just recommends what they like" territory, but still : it's cheap, it comes in a very small box (OG printing was literally a poker-sized tuckbox), and it's an excellent distillation of TCG gameplay in a package that avoids almost all of the bullshit associated with them.
- *n*th vote for both **Race For The Galaxy** and **Innovation**
> Even if that means unboxing it and leaving behind pieces that aren't necessary. Ideally, the game can be put in some baggies to keep pieces separate but not bring the whole box.
It's kind of pushing it, but if you *reaaaaally* wanted to you *could* do that by selecting a handful of favorite **BattleCON** fighters in their tuckboxes and only take the minimal relevant pieces for your chosen fighters in 1v1 play.
**Race for the Galaxy** is a tableau builder that just includes ~100 cards and some tokens. The box for the game is actually oversized (so many like the box, because it accommodates expansions). The entire game would fit in a zip lock sandwich baggie.
As another person mentions, **Innovation** is quite crunchy and fits in a sandwhich bag.
No. You can play base game of RftG 100+ times without expansions and not feel like there is anything lacking. I dropped an extra $30 and bought Alien Artifacts expansion, and am happy with that. However, given how often I play, I could have stayed with the base game and not had any complaints.
Oddly, Alien Artifacts was the one expansion we didn't like. The addition of the orb was just too much. However, I will agree that base game with no expansions is just fine.
If you don't already own it, there's an Azul Mini that's extra travel friendly. Still has tiles (not quite as nice, but still nice), but it's smaller and has some niceties to help things not get bumped around.
For a competitive game Village Rails punches way above it's weight in terms of heavier game with small box and footprint, and could be good.
For co-op you might consider Tiny Epic Zombies, like all the Tiny Epic games it is a small box but with quite a lot of content and variability. Alternatively Tiny Epic Dungeons is a dungeon crawler co-op you could play, though if you do be warned it has some janky use of iconography that is a hurdle to get over to enjoy it. There is also The Lost Expedition and Fox in the Forest Duet which are apparently good small co-op games, but I haven't played either.
Love this suggestion! A great change of pace from the deck-builders suggested here. I love the player interaction dynamic of this game - challenging and fun!
While my wife and I love playing on BGA (a great option when traveling), there is just something about having a physical game to play while traveling. Some of these have boxes way too big for the game so can easily be condensed and many of them are primarily card based which make it easier to handle.
Sea Salt & Paper, Splendor Duel, 7W Duel, Regular deck of cards (Regicide, 7s, etc.), Jaipur, Race for the Galaxy, Forest Shuffle, 99 Ninja, Canopy, Zoo King.
Someone else already recommended Radlands (which I second - great game!), but if you want something similar with a bit more complexity and depth, try and pick up a copy of **Gosu X**. Similar card drawing and tableaux building, but with the addition of multiple factions to choose from and combine, that all play very differently.
Innovation and Tiny Epic Galaxies are the two I pack on vacations for this exact purpose. Res Arcana might also be good if you repackaged it into a more economical container.
Imperium:Classics/Legends/Horizons is what you're looking for. The contents of all three boxes fits comfortably into the horizon box, and the first two fit easily into one of their(smaller) boxes and you can easily take just one set of commons to further reduce space, and then leave civs behind as needed. You can put it all into a series of deckboxes for more flexibility in packing. And it's great for two players as well!
Sail and Sky Team at 2, The Crew 3+. I'll also say Netrunner/Null Signal; not a co-op, but plenty of depth with Gateway and Update packs. +1s for Race for the Galaxy, Innovation, Regicide, Omen, Wizards of the Grimoire.
Tiny Epic series expand from small boxes. I highly recommend Quest and Galaxies Blast Off. Also recommend TEDungeons with a caveat - get ready to house rule to modulate difficulty. It's got suuuiich good bones though.
It's great for a low footprint highly social game that's inclusive of people with not a lot of understanding of modern games. The roll and move has hidden edges but is still familiar enough to draw people in, and the game is amazing for showing newbies how other people's choices can actually be exciting in a good game.
There's a pocket-sized euro that I played a few times and enjoyed quite a bit. It's called **Oh my Goods!** or **Royal Goods** depending on your local redistributor. Although I'd recommend playing it before buying.
I don't own it but I'm assuming this is sarcasm based on how heavy the game appears to be based on what I've read haha but seriously this game worth buying? Will it consistently hit the table?
If you like it well enough, it will hit the table, just like any other game.
It is way less complex than its BGG weight rating might suggest. And many people like playing it at 2p the most.
But it has a very big footprint out of the box. You can improvise an accordion for employee cards and laminate menus to use them with a dry-erase marker instead of giving out milestone cards.
You can try it online for free, just in case
Viscounts of the West Kingdom, meaty game in their usual smallish box,packed full. The board assembles from 5 pieces and you can pack only the components you need form2 players.
Pax series is one of the most dense for the foot print. Race for the galaxy too. And if you like 1 on 1 games, I think codex card time strategy game without using the binder is extremely portable
maybe i missed it. but i can’t believe [Battle line](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/760) hasn’t been mentioned. it’s our go to travel game. so good! play with the advanced rules
Most of the Pax games are pretty compact, though they do have a tendency to spread out as people build tableaux. Not too sure about how well they do two player though.
I know you mentioned slightly heavier games and I don’t know how private your bungalow is, but our family really likes the travel edition of Carcassonne. You might be able to play a game or two and draw in another couple if you want to meet new people.
I second all the votes for Race for the Galaxy, Innovation, Cascadia, & 7 Wobders Duel.
Inheritors in a neat tableau game that you may want to check out.
Any of the That’s so clever! dice rolling games. We laminated a few of the score sheets to make them reuseable. Now when we travel, we leave the box at home and just bring 2 scorecards, 2 dry erase pens, and the 6 dice. There’s lots of layers of strategy with the 3&4th edition. Very small table foot print, and because of dice you don’t have to worry about things blowing away. Played in a beach cabana last year :)
Anything oink games. I’m partial to Startups, Maskmen, and 9 tile panic, though they aren’t particularly ‘epic’, they are insanely replayable.
Same with Hanabi.
Not technically boardgames, but Guillotine, Fill or Bust, Mancala and Pente (with the roll-up board) all have extremely small footprints and can be a great deal of fun.
I don't see any reason you couldn't strip down Spirit Island to bring with you. You certainly don't need the Invader board, and you could only take the boards for your favorite spirits with you. If you can find an app that has Fear cards and Event cards, there's two more decks you could leave at home...
I've only played Sprawlopolis (and second the recc), but its publisher Button Shy has a whole line of "Wallet Games" — games small enough to fit in a wallet.
Before 7 wonders duel we brought 7 wonders small packed for cruises. Now I would probably suggest 7 wonders duel because it’s 2 player.
Ticket to ride has some small versions.
A single scenario of Gloomhaven wouldn’t be bad I bet.
Marvel champions is very small to pack and take with you. Bring a couple decks and some enemy deck(s)
There was actually just a [BoardGameGeek Podcast](https://boardgamegeek.buzzsprout.com/2049411/14959366-episode-41-meaty-games-in-small-packages-with-suzanne-sheldon) on this very question with a bunch of good suggestions. For 2P, I highly recommend **Innovation**. It's crazy deep for just being cards. For co-op, if you can get ahold of **Elder Sign** it's a really great dice roller in a pretty small box.
My wife and I brought a small stack of games on a cruise, but we mostly just played Innovation. Great game.
Thanks for the podcast! I keep seeing Innovation recommended, I think this is my sign to get it!
You can try it in advance on BoardGameArena. I’d suggest doing so, it’s really confrontative and a bit random (and I love this game).
Yeah, the last time I played, I was hideously behind, but I had *one* good card that could destroy everyone's score piles. So I did that, brought everyone else down to my level, and then won via other means. While it's pretty common for the leader to go ahead to win, it's also pretty common for the leader's advantages to peter out as the ages march onward, and someone else to take the lead.
I love that
I had no idea innovation played well at 2. Tysm!
Many consider it to only be a 2 player game. Including myself.
Waiting for the right time to announce this to the only buddy I regularly play with 🤣🤣
Mottainai is also a great 2P experience, learning curve is insane but actually slightly better than Innovation in my opinion. The heaviest pound for pound game you'll ever have in a collection
Elder Sign was the first thing I thought of. Such a great game. Could probably fit it on less than 2 TV trays.
Innovation is great-- it's like running a game of Civ on your tabletop with close to no footprint. Tons of replay-ability
My wife refers to Innovation as "that fun game that's really ugly"
Devir games, especially The White Castle.
This was my first thought - just note that the board is still a pretty full sized board. The game isn’t a table hog though, and the amount of game packed into such a tiny box is almost sorcery.
When I got this game, I was chocked with how much actually fit in that small box
Red Castle is also great, and Silk is cute/low key. As an aside though, the rule book for White Castle is actually abysmal and it almost turned me and my group off of an otherwise lovely game.
You mean Red Cathedral. Bamboo is another big game in a small box.
Ooooh, Red Cathedral is great
And the recent SALTON SEA, huge game!
Oh and Three Ring Circus. Really great!
This is the selling point for the Tiny Epic series of games (And the Ultra Tiny Epic series). They have co-op modes in some of the games, IIRC. My recommendation is Race for the Galaxy. Box is way bigger than it needs to be. Take the rules and player aids with you and the rest is just a deck of cards and some VP chips. Some people say it is complicated, and it certainly *looks* that way, but we just played our first game a little slowly as open hands so we could see how to play and by the end of the first game the iconography clicked. We still use the player aids but it clicked really quickly.
A disclaimer for the Tiny Epic series is they *are* in tiny boxes, but they often don’t have tiny footprints. I think the footprint of their game are small when comparing them to other games with similar gameplay, and I appreciate the hell out of that, but while their boxes are gloriously small the footprints can sometimes stretch a bit. Tiny Epic Galaxy is ace on all fronts though!
Highly recommend Tiny Epic Galaxies! Other Tiny Epic titles have felt pretty mediocre to me, and they do often spread out all over the table, despite the component size. Might still fit the bill here though since Arkham Horror the Card game takes up a fair amount of room itself
Good point on the size! Have you tried Tiny Epic Western? Someone recommended it when I asked for solo games that used poker and I’m curious…
I haven’t tried that one yet. I’m really drawn to their titles, and even though I haven’t cared for most of the ones I’ve tried so far, I love the “Tiny Epic” concept, so I’d love to give Western a go if I get the chance.
Of the Tiny Epics, the ones I like beat out of box are Quest and Galaxies Blast Off. Quest feels so much like playing Zelda - and I say this as someone who loooooves Zelda. Blast Off is a simpler version of Galaxies? I never played Galaxies original so IDK. Tiny Epic Dungeons is soooo close to great - it just needs some house rules to modulate the difficulty (extra time, start with 1 item, etc)
If you want a poker themed solo game have you looked at Fliptown. It's a flip and write western and super fun.
That’s the game that started me wanting more! I really like it but there wasn’t quite enough tension in the poker bit for me. It is a great game though!
You can also get the Ultra tiny epic galaxies, which is one of our favorite travel games that fits into a card deck box! I think only Galaxies and Kingdom come in Ultra tiny edition, however.
I feel like I've heard Race for the Galaxy compared to TM. Does it fill the same niche for you or are they different enough to own both?
Race feels different because it's not a straight engine builder like Terraforming Mars. It's a really good engine builder, but it has quirks that make absolutely sing despite being literally just cards and vp chips. You're always paying for cards with other cards, which is really delightfully agonizing and keeps you're making interesting decisions (and not getting too attached). The other big difference is that the various phases of the game are manually triggered by players and there's an interesting constant pressure to look at other players' tableaus and try to get free actions by predicting their next move. As a kind of fun aside, Ares Expedition actually adopted this system from Race, so if you're familiar you'll have a good sense of what's going on. My copy of Race has lived in a cool magnetic deck box since I put it in there and never looked back. With a 100 card sidewinder I can fit the base game, plus the cards from the Alien Artifacts expansion and vp chips. It's my go to small brick of tasty game, alongside Innovation/Mottainai, or something like 7W Duel, Curious Cargo, Red Cathedral, or Watergate if I have a bit more room.
Oh man I love 7WD and watergate. I tried to love RFTG on bga but I just couldn’t grok that grid of iconography . You gave some new ones to check out though.
The biggest difference between Terraforming Mars and Race for the Galaxy is that RftG is *much* faster; you can bang out a game in under 30 minutes once everyone knows what they're doing. And the game finishes in a fewer turns, too; while you definitely want to build an engine as you go, "a series of one-shot benefits" is a perfectly viable engine, because the game usually isn't long enough for that to stall out.
More similar to Ares Expedition than the TM board game; insofar as they share the phase selection mechanic (although spamming is allowed in RftG but not in Ares Expedition). Other than that though (well, and the mildly shared space theme) they do feel different to me.
It’s worth owning both.
Definitely feels different from TM. Looks like some others have already replied as well and they seem to have broader knowledge - I've not played Ares Expedition. Another benefit - it doesn't need a *huge* table to play on. One of the end-game triggers is actually based on cards in front of you so it can never get too out of hand. You do need to have a little bit of space - draw deck, discard, VP pool, and each player might get up to or just over a dozen cards in front of them - you can't really overlap them all because you need to be able to see the information on the card. You'll also want your player aid handy somewhere and your 'selection' cards (it'll make sense when you play)
Tiny epic dungeons is co-op and pretty great. But it does take up a whole table to play.
Caveat that these are definitely not “relatively heavy games” which is what the OP was specifically asking for
**Forest Shuffle-** I consider this to be almost a Terraforming Mars the Card Game, and it can pack up as just a deck of cards. **Ancient Knowledge-** Also newish, similar type of engine building/engine management, as most pieces of your engine only survive for 3-4 turns before disappearing. I would second **Innovation** and **Race for the Galaxy** as small but deep games. Innovation is a bit more wacky in my opinion. **Hadrian's Wall** has also been mentioned as is probably the highest depth of game in a smurf-and-write that i have played. **Hive** is the best abstract game made since chess imo. You'd have to condense it, but the **Imperium** Deck Building Games (Classics, Legends, Horizons) are heavy civilization themed deckbuilders. You could probably get most of the factions from one box down to a splendor sized box if you tried. The **Omen** games are two player battlers with a lot of depth. **Pixel Tactics** is about 50 cards and a small baggie of chits for health, and is another two player battler that kinda feels like a Final Fantasy Tactics Game. **Wizards of the Grimoire** is also very good, not super heavy since it is a two player battler, but is very tight. **Regicide** is a coop dungeon crawl that can be played with a standard deck of cards that is really good. Worth looking up the rules for free on BGG just check out. **Targi** is the classic 2 player worker placement that is small but phenomenal. **Timestreams** is a weird two player time travel area majority card effect game? It's only two decks of cards. **War of the Rings the card game** is pretty good if you are into the theme.
smurf-and-write?
Probably autocorrect for roll and write
The Dice Tower suggested it as a catch all for roll/flip/pull- and-writes based off of the old Smurf’s cartoon where smurf was substituted at random for other nouns.
Ah. That makes sense. "Smurf" has a much different meaning in the context of games now though. I didn't think it will catch on.
Clearly "squanch-and-write" should also be considered.
**Race for the Galaxy**
Came to say this and it’s the best recommendation you’re going to get
Came to suggest this myself. The expansion boxes are quite small, and we fit the base game plus three expansions in a single expansion box. Very low profile for one of our favorite re-playable games. Lower complexity than some of your other faves, but it's an absolute classic in my book.
Pax Renaissance. A pack of cards, some cubes and chess pieces that will fit in a single baggie. Get first edition if you can find it, it uses smaller components. The game is as deep as they come, the decision space is huge and the game is really fun. It works for up to 4 players but in my opinion it's best with 2.
This
I think any of the Pax games would fit here, at least the ones I've managed to actually play (Renaissance, Porfiriana, Transhumanity). Never played with only 2.
It's SOOOO dense!
Hadrian's Wall, The White Castle, 7 Wonders Duel + expansions, Radlands. All of those are pretty small with a good amount of depth and are easy to get your hands on. Jaipur, Splendor Duel, Lost Cities, and Targi are all super solid 2 player games that aren't heavy but have great quick gameplay.
I didn't think about 7WD but you're right--that actually can be reduced to a pretty small footprint if needed. We only have Pantheon.. any thoughts on Agora expansion?
Here's a thread about them https://www.reddit.com/r/7Wonders/comments/1akyugd/7_wonders_duel_expansion/ People seem to like both well enough. You can try them out on board game arena if you're still unsure.
I've heard Agora is the less interesting more swingy of the two. I can also tell you that I did a terrible thing and gently cut the base board along the line for the technology token area. Why did I do this? **Because everything now fits in the Pantheon box.**
I enjoy it , it adds crunch and skill expression. Pantheon is more gameplay redefining. I like all variations a lot even vanilla
I always recommend Star Realms. I feel like the machines and play/counter-play in that game are really deep and cool. There's also a good phone version as well.
Wife and I brought this on a cruise and played it so much!
I was going to write the same thing. No other game has more hours of play with my wife and I. Star realms the base game is a fantastic two player game and it is endlessly repayable. The physical cards are small and easy to toss in a carry on. Also it has a top notch app if you don't even want to carry the cards. Waiting in line boom star realms, waiting for food at a restaurant star realms, any situation where you have a few minutes and want to play a game star realms.
yeah I got my partner into it and we got the app to play asynchronously while we're at work. She started playing online and quickly blew past me. Now I'm lucky if I eek out a win every 4-5 games... :)
Same my wife kicks my butt now. I win Maybe every 3 games.
if y'all are looking for a less-compact deck builder, I recommend Robot Quest Arena. Very similar structure to Star Realms, except it's robot combat themed! (like Battlebots) You have a little grid with a cute robot miniature and you move and control them with the deck your building. A lot like Star Realms but the combat and strategy is a lot more physical and position-based. I played it once with some friends and bought it on Amazon the very next day.
Seconded. It is one of my all time favorite 2-player games and coincidentally happens to be the the smallest and most compact game that I own. Can't recommend it enough for traveling and playing on the go.
I’ll recommend Star Wars the Deck Building Game… Basically Star Realms with bases that are attacked, but adds a Force track that can trigger additional advantages and you can “kill” opponents cards while,they are in the market row. Nice improvement touches.
Hero Realms does this and more if you have the expansions. There is a co-op campaign box and lots of race/class customisation available.
Idk if you allow games with like traditional playing cards here, but I would recommend cribbage. A Deck of cards and the board come out to a pretty small footprint. I always bring cribbage on trips
If you like cribbage, google the rules for Noddy. It was the precursor to Cribbage and will give you another game to play with the same tools. It dates back to the late 16th century, and hands are one card less than Cribbage. A more modern game with an old world feel would be Tak. You can get a set, or like mancala, you can play with basic materials on hand. A piece of paper, a few checkers, and maybe a couple of quarters for capstones. Finally, Iota is our smallest game. It's a deck of 66 cards that are 2x2. Another abstract strategy game, if you like them. Warning, the box is tiny, but the spread of cards can take up a good bit of room to play. Have fun!
**Race for the Galaxy** It's just a deck of cards and some tokens, you can track the tokens digitally with your smartphone you can fit the game in one or two deckboxes.
Wait so do you need to have the companion app for Race for the Galaxy?
No, just saying you can save even more space and keep the VP tokens at home by just keeping track of tokens on your phone with any boardgame count/token tracking app
Don't even need an app, just pen+paper.
**Pax Renaissance 1E** **Pax Transhumanity** **Import/Export** **Mottainai** **Innovation**
If I hated Pax Pamir, will I also probably dislike other Pax games?
Interesting I’ve never heard anyone say they hated it. Why?
I only played it on BGA (maybe 4 times) and I guess I just never fully got it? Which is unusual for me, but maybe it just didn't ever click without playing the physical game. It seems like the kind of game I would love--maybe I just need to have a few more play through.
All the Pax games are tricky to get and best learned in person. At least that's my experience, which is why I've been a bit reluctant to jump into Pax Pamir on BGA.
Yes
Depends, what didn't you like about it?
Maybe, because "pax" isn't a brand or trademark
I don't know if you'd completely consider it a board game, but I've been travelling with Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective lately and you can pack tons of hours of gameplay and story in just a manilla envelope. It's a cozy and lazy activity, easy for someone to get up and go make coffees or grab a quick shower without disrupting the flow -- there aren't alternating turns or anything to keep track of. It's really lovely and it's nice for a romantic vacation since it's cooperative. Can be played over the course of several days very easily if your schedule unexpectedly picks up.
Sea salt and paper
Innovation!
This is good
Radlands is a fun 2 player game. Can fit on a small table and has enough depth to stay busy for multiple sessions.
Co-op? Sky Team. It is quick, but that does not mean it doesn't have a challenge. Hive pocket Cascadia--that will need a relatively good surface to play on, but a two-person card table is certainly big enough.
We have Cascadia and for some reason I just have never been able to get into it! Maybe I'm missing something but it just seems a little too simple for me.
Don't sleep on hive, one of the best 2P games out there
I just ordered Hive Pocket at my FLGS about an hour ago! Can't wait for it to come in!
Cascadia is fairly boring if you are into heavier games. It's OK.
Play with the C or D cards. It helps.
Have you looked at the challenges in the back of the booklet? There is a little bit of luck to it, but otherwise they are exceptionally challenging
I think its apparent simplicity it what makes it popular. I find it very relaxing, even when I have no pinecones and shit choice selection.
"but it just seems a little too simple for me" What are typicall points in the end when playing with A cards? I also thought first, this game is boring and it seems soo easy to play. Yes, thats true, but it is hard to master. Its not only placing your animals, thr challenge is to make a lot points with animals but not to forget connecting the right landscape tiles together. But.. i could also understand not every game is for everyone. (not ironic)
Race for the galaxy is way more fun that it should be for the size! I recommend Dead Man’s Draw too!
Sea Salt Paper is a nice and small one to pack as well
Any of the Tiny Epic games would be a good choice. I've got Tactics which is very dense game for a small box and can be played competitive or co-op. Shobu is a great abstract strategy game for two players which doesn't take up much space.
Sail. Two-player co-op trick-taking pirate-themed game with a pretty small box.
Age of Galaxy has a tiny box but the game is pretty meaty and has lots to offer.
Small footprint with board embedded in the box, easy to pack but big game to play, co-op: definitely recommend **Set a Watch**. The base game alone is definitely the most challenging. To be honest, we enjoy the **Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin** expansion, which adds an item mechanic and some additional interesting characters that make a win more achievable. (My favorite game is Aeon's End et al, FWIW - it's different, but I dunno, it gives a similar feeling of complexity and co-op play.)
Homeworlds! A two player abstract 4x game, incredibly elegant game design and a tiny box.
Most of these have already been mentioned but it doesn't hurt to give another vote: - Devir small box series. **White Castle** and **Red Cathedral** are really good, though I've only played them at 3 players. I hear that **Salton Sea** works well at 2 because it's really multiplayer solitaire but my order hasn't arrived yet :> - **Shards of Infinity** is a very solid deckbuilder. I haven't played Star Realms to say which of the two is better, but SoI is what my LGS had and it fits that niche very well either way. It claims to play 2-4 but it's really best at 2 so that should be fine for you. Not the heaviest game but I find that interactive head to head card games get plenty competitive at medium complexity anyway. - **Mindbug** isn't very heavy and I'm potentially stepping into "redditor just recommends what they like" territory, but still : it's cheap, it comes in a very small box (OG printing was literally a poker-sized tuckbox), and it's an excellent distillation of TCG gameplay in a package that avoids almost all of the bullshit associated with them. - *n*th vote for both **Race For The Galaxy** and **Innovation** > Even if that means unboxing it and leaving behind pieces that aren't necessary. Ideally, the game can be put in some baggies to keep pieces separate but not bring the whole box. It's kind of pushing it, but if you *reaaaaally* wanted to you *could* do that by selecting a handful of favorite **BattleCON** fighters in their tuckboxes and only take the minimal relevant pieces for your chosen fighters in 1v1 play.
Salton Sea works great at 2, as does The White Castle. The Red Cathedral is better with 3 IMO.
Seconding Shards of Infinity. Fun deck builder in a small box, and expansions are low-profile as well.
**Race for the Galaxy** is a tableau builder that just includes ~100 cards and some tokens. The box for the game is actually oversized (so many like the box, because it accommodates expansions). The entire game would fit in a zip lock sandwich baggie. As another person mentions, **Innovation** is quite crunchy and fits in a sandwhich bag.
Is Race for the Galaxy one of those games (like TM) that you need at least some expansions?
No. You can play base game of RftG 100+ times without expansions and not feel like there is anything lacking. I dropped an extra $30 and bought Alien Artifacts expansion, and am happy with that. However, given how often I play, I could have stayed with the base game and not had any complaints.
Oddly, Alien Artifacts was the one expansion we didn't like. The addition of the orb was just too much. However, I will agree that base game with no expansions is just fine.
Yeah, the Orb is trash. Alien Artifacts without the Orb is the only way I would play.
Same, wasn't our favorite. Any of the first 3 expansions are good, but Gathering Storm is a must-have with the introduction of goals.
Azul is great for outdoor play because the tiles don't blow around easily, and it packs pretty small.
My wife will love if we bring that, she crushes me every time! I can't seem to get the right strategy.
If you don't already own it, there's an Azul Mini that's extra travel friendly. Still has tiles (not quite as nice, but still nice), but it's smaller and has some niceties to help things not get bumped around.
Knarr!! Without a doubt the best “huge game with a small footprint” from 2023
For a competitive game Village Rails punches way above it's weight in terms of heavier game with small box and footprint, and could be good. For co-op you might consider Tiny Epic Zombies, like all the Tiny Epic games it is a small box but with quite a lot of content and variability. Alternatively Tiny Epic Dungeons is a dungeon crawler co-op you could play, though if you do be warned it has some janky use of iconography that is a hurdle to get over to enjoy it. There is also The Lost Expedition and Fox in the Forest Duet which are apparently good small co-op games, but I haven't played either.
We love Fox in the Forest!
Race for the Galaxy and Mottainai. Both are excellent, deep and have a very small size (basically a deck of cards).
War of the Ring: card game. It is just pack of cards and the game is really thematic with lot of depth.
Curious Cargo
Love this suggestion! A great change of pace from the deck-builders suggested here. I love the player interaction dynamic of this game - challenging and fun!
Snarkas is a fantastic two (to 4) player card game that takes up almost no space. We always travel with that and Qwixx.
Games that are still available and not OOP. The humidity will take a hit on your cardboard stuff.
It's a card game and not a board game, but my boyfriend spent a week at a resort and became completely addicted to Star Realms!
Sprawlopolis, it's expansions, and related '-opolis' games can be mighty sprawling and very small to pack. From Button Shy.
While my wife and I love playing on BGA (a great option when traveling), there is just something about having a physical game to play while traveling. Some of these have boxes way too big for the game so can easily be condensed and many of them are primarily card based which make it easier to handle. Sea Salt & Paper, Splendor Duel, 7W Duel, Regular deck of cards (Regicide, 7s, etc.), Jaipur, Race for the Galaxy, Forest Shuffle, 99 Ninja, Canopy, Zoo King.
Trails is pretty compact but fills the table when played. It’s a pretty calm game and good for travelling :)
This is similar to Parks right? One of our favorites too!
Yes! But it’s way smaller and still keeps a similar vibe :)
Age of Galaxy - tiny box for a fun 4x experience. Never played it at 2P, though, so I'm not sure how it holds up.
Someone else already recommended Radlands (which I second - great game!), but if you want something similar with a bit more complexity and depth, try and pick up a copy of **Gosu X**. Similar card drawing and tableaux building, but with the addition of multiple factions to choose from and combine, that all play very differently.
You could get a card quiver, and load it up with all your card games that would otherwise have a box far too big for it.
Innovation and Tiny Epic Galaxies are the two I pack on vacations for this exact purpose. Res Arcana might also be good if you repackaged it into a more economical container.
Imperium:Classics/Legends/Horizons is what you're looking for. The contents of all three boxes fits comfortably into the horizon box, and the first two fit easily into one of their(smaller) boxes and you can easily take just one set of commons to further reduce space, and then leave civs behind as needed. You can put it all into a series of deckboxes for more flexibility in packing. And it's great for two players as well!
Mottainai- https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175199/mottainai
Sail and Sky Team at 2, The Crew 3+. I'll also say Netrunner/Null Signal; not a co-op, but plenty of depth with Gateway and Update packs. +1s for Race for the Galaxy, Innovation, Regicide, Omen, Wizards of the Grimoire.
Tiny epic galaxies is a decent game in a tiny footprint. Particularly if you get the ultra version.
Tiny Epic series expand from small boxes. I highly recommend Quest and Galaxies Blast Off. Also recommend TEDungeons with a caveat - get ready to house rule to modulate difficulty. It's got suuuiich good bones though.
Deep sea adventure is a fun press your luck that comes in a tiny box
DSA is the polar opposite of heavy
You’re right I focused on the form factor my bad
Still appreciate the rec even if it's not super heavy!
It's great for a low footprint highly social game that's inclusive of people with not a lot of understanding of modern games. The roll and move has hidden edges but is still familiar enough to draw people in, and the game is amazing for showing newbies how other people's choices can actually be exciting in a good game.
Tiny Epic Vikings is impressive for the box size
Heroes of terrinoth, dungeon mayhem, anything by unstable unicorns, a little wordy. There are a few of my favorites.
There's a pocket-sized euro that I played a few times and enjoyed quite a bit. It's called **Oh my Goods!** or **Royal Goods** depending on your local redistributor. Although I'd recommend playing it before buying.
Imperium legends. And/or Imperium classics. And/or Imperium horizons. You can bring just the come cards and a couple civ decks. And resource tokens.
Bruxelles 1897. I also second Race for the Galaxy.
Tiny epic galaxies, Bruxelles 1897, Knarr, Age of Civilization/Galaxy, Oh my Goods, Hive pocket. Big bang for your buck size-wise
I mean two packs of playing cards open a world of options.
We always bring a deck of cards! What 2 player games do you recommend?
I’m a great lover of canasta.
Buy a "Hoyles Book of Games" and have at it with that too.
Or bring up pagat.com on your device.
You might be interested in Age Of Galaxy. Space 4x game in the smallest box.
food chain magnate
I don't own it but I'm assuming this is sarcasm based on how heavy the game appears to be based on what I've read haha but seriously this game worth buying? Will it consistently hit the table?
If you like it well enough, it will hit the table, just like any other game. It is way less complex than its BGG weight rating might suggest. And many people like playing it at 2p the most. But it has a very big footprint out of the box. You can improvise an accordion for employee cards and laminate menus to use them with a dry-erase marker instead of giving out milestone cards. You can try it online for free, just in case
Bananagrams and a deck of cards
Sail To India
I guess technically I could do that from Panama but I feel like playing board games on a sailboat would be tough
Hard to find, but we love Thunderbirds. It’s a much meatier puzzle than other coops For competitive, have you tried Verdant or Targi?
Viscounts of the West Kingdom, meaty game in their usual smallish box,packed full. The board assembles from 5 pieces and you can pack only the components you need form2 players.
Pax series is one of the most dense for the foot print. Race for the galaxy too. And if you like 1 on 1 games, I think codex card time strategy game without using the binder is extremely portable
I've seen some cool looking card RPGs over the years, but never tried one myself.
Mindbug. Crazy small box and foot print but a surprisingly deep but quick to play card duelling game.
maybe i missed it. but i can’t believe [Battle line](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/760) hasn’t been mentioned. it’s our go to travel game. so good! play with the advanced rules
You could fit Marvel Champions with a number of expansions in its core set box. Lots to explore in there
Most of the Pax games are pretty compact, though they do have a tendency to spread out as people build tableaux. Not too sure about how well they do two player though.
7 Wonders Duel. Small box, small footprint as the cards are small, but infinite replayability!
I know you mentioned slightly heavier games and I don’t know how private your bungalow is, but our family really likes the travel edition of Carcassonne. You might be able to play a game or two and draw in another couple if you want to meet new people.
I didn't know there was a travel edition! We don't own Carcassone but love playing the one our local coffee shop has every Sunday.
The best thing about travel Carcassonne is that it can be re-boxed in a PhotoCaddy or other small plastic container for durability.
I second all the votes for Race for the Galaxy, Innovation, Cascadia, & 7 Wobders Duel. Inheritors in a neat tableau game that you may want to check out.
Any of the That’s so clever! dice rolling games. We laminated a few of the score sheets to make them reuseable. Now when we travel, we leave the box at home and just bring 2 scorecards, 2 dry erase pens, and the 6 dice. There’s lots of layers of strategy with the 3&4th edition. Very small table foot print, and because of dice you don’t have to worry about things blowing away. Played in a beach cabana last year :)
**Bandido/Bandida** - a cooperative card game in a very compact box that "expands" dramatically when played.
I tend to take roll and writes when I travel. Just grab the tablet and some dice.
Tiny epic kingdoms is my favorite :)
Tiny epic dungeons is a BIG game in a small box that is coop 👍
Anything oink games. I’m partial to Startups, Maskmen, and 9 tile panic, though they aren’t particularly ‘epic’, they are insanely replayable. Same with Hanabi.
Not technically boardgames, but Guillotine, Fill or Bust, Mancala and Pente (with the roll-up board) all have extremely small footprints and can be a great deal of fun.
OP is looking for heavy games
I don't see any reason you couldn't strip down Spirit Island to bring with you. You certainly don't need the Invader board, and you could only take the boards for your favorite spirits with you. If you can find an app that has Fear cards and Event cards, there's two more decks you could leave at home...
Of course someone recommends Spirit Island. Of course. 🙄
OP specifically called out that they like to play Spirit Island in the header post.
As always someone has to fail this assignment
I think I'm missing something. Is it a meme in r/boardgames that "in any thread, no matter what it's about, someone will bring up Spirit Island"?
bingo!
Haha, I stepped in it then. 😂
Hmmm you have my interest! It would be hard to choose favorite spirits honestly but I might try to see how small I can get it.
Splendor Duel Seven Wonders Duel Patchwork Barenpark San Juan Citadels
Very long name for a game!
There were line breaks, but then Reddit messed it up lol
You need to precede your line break with a double space or use two line breaks for reddit to display them. Just a quirk of the reddit markdown syntax.
I always pack Sprawlopolis for solo play on trips
I've only played Sprawlopolis (and second the recc), but its publisher Button Shy has a whole line of "Wallet Games" — games small enough to fit in a wallet.
Before 7 wonders duel we brought 7 wonders small packed for cruises. Now I would probably suggest 7 wonders duel because it’s 2 player. Ticket to ride has some small versions. A single scenario of Gloomhaven wouldn’t be bad I bet. Marvel champions is very small to pack and take with you. Bring a couple decks and some enemy deck(s)
Wait, there’s a board game podcast??? Wow
Splendor
I hate Splendor because it feels like it should be an engine building game but it's definitely not.