The Ultimate Gamer’s Guide to Travelling
Jetting off this summer? Well, no matter how nice the destination is, you’ve still got to get there first. To help you pass the time, we’ve put together the perfect list of the best travel board games. So whether you’re cooped up in a car or packed into a plane, you’ll have a way to make those hours fly by.
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Monopoly Deal
Just like normal Monopoly, except there’s no board, no dice and no crushing sense of boredom.
We know that Monopoly doesn’t have the best reputation. After half an hour you already know who’s won, but you still have to wait another two hours for the pain to end. Well, thanks to Monopoly Deal, you’ll never have to go through that again. Players take turns to draw cards from a deck and race to be the first to collect three different set of properties. You can still scream “rent”, the Electric Company is finally worth something and you can fit it in your carry-on luggage. Perfection.
Accentuate
Why bother learning a whole new language when you can just practice funny accents instead?
If you’re on a trip to a new, exotic country then it’s only right that you try to speak their language. Failing that, Accentuate is the perfect game to help you sound like you’re at least making an effort. Try to get players to guess your fake accent as you read from a deck of random Quote Cards. It’ll probably make you sound like an idiot, but you’ll definitely have a lot of fun doing it.
Zeus on a Moose
How comfortable are you with screaming “MORGAN FREEMAN FIGHTING A DEMON” on a plane journey?
If you’re not familiar with Obama Llama, it’s a celebrity rhyming party game about acting out and describing all sorts of weird and wonderful rhymes for your team. This year, we’ve given it a teeny-tiny makeover to create Zeus on a Moose – it’s the same great game, just smaller, lighter and with a funny bearded guy on the box. Available exclusively in all the big Tesco shops.
Sushi Go
Whet your appetite for foreign food as you bury your opponents under a pile of adorable sushi.
Just like a portable, playable sushi carousel, this game will bring you nothing but joy. Sushi Go is a lightweight card-drafting game about building as many sets of sushi as you can. Collect chopsticks, stockpile sashimi or just screw opponents over by stealing their pudding. Each round lasts around ten minutes and the whole game fits into a cute little tin box.
Dobble
Similar to snap, but with purple dragons, orange cats and a lot more yelling.
One of the most popular travel games around, Dobble is pretty much a must-have for any trip of any kind. The rules are simple: be the first player to find the matching symbol between two cards, yell it out and add it to your pile. With 55 cards, 57 symbols and 5 different mini-games to try out, you could take a plane journey to Australia and back without getting bored of this game.
Love Letter
Spice up your travels with a little holiday romance, medieval-style.
Love Letter is a game about courtship and winning the heart of a fair princess, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s all laughs and smiles – each round is packed with deception, deduction and threats from all sides. The aim is to get your letter into the hands of the princess, all the while fending off the other suitors. You’ll have to rely on a bunch of different cards and techniques if you want to expose your opponents, knock them out of the game and get the girl.
Skull
Amazing game? Check. Beautiful illustrations? Check. Doubles as a set of drink coasters? Check.
Skull is like a game of poker, except that you don’t have to remember what all of the different combinations of cards mean. Each player gets three normal mats and one scary skull mat. Arrange them in whatever order you want, then start betting on how many mats you can turn over without uncovering a skull. To win, you’ll have to bluff, deceive and read your opponents as best you can. Or, failing that, you can just throw the rulebook out the window and play beer-mat flipping instead.
Pass the Pigs
Simple to understand, easy to carry around and vegan-friendly.
‘Snouters’, ‘Oinkers’ and ‘Leaning Jowlers’. These are just some of the official tricks mentioned in the Pass the Pigs rulebook. The game is simple – take it in turns to throw two tiny pigs into the air and score points depending on how they land. After each throw you can choose to bank your points or push your luck and try again. Not only is this one of the easiest games to pick-up, but it might finally give you something to do on those tiny fold-away tables on airplanes and train journeys.
Linkee Booster Pack
A pocket-sized pub quiz for the whole plane.
One of the best things about Linkee is that it’s a trivia game that’s designed for everyone. There’s no waiting for your turn, it can be played by up to 30 people and you don’t have to be a genius to play it (we’re looking at you Trivial Pursuit). Each round, everyone is asked four questions. The aim is to find out the answers, then work out the link between them. For example, if the answers were John, Paul, George and Ringo, the first person to shout out “LINKEE” and say “The Beatles” would win the round. It’s quick to play, easy to learn and very difficult to resist. Start yelling a few of these questions out and you’ll have the whole plane playing in no time.
Coup
Save up your pennies to bribe, deceive and (eventually) assassinate your friends.
All you need to play Coup is fifteen cards, a handful of coins and an unquenchable thirst for lying. To start, each player takes two cards. There are five different types of card in the game: Dukes, Assassins, Contessas, Ambassadors and Captains. Having a certain card lets you perform certain actions against other players, but here’s the tricky part – you can bluff about pretty much anything you want. The aim of the game is to kill everyone off and be the last player standing, but if it ends with everyone shouting “I’M THE ASSASSIN” then that’s good too. (Just watch out for airport security.)
