Top Ten Tiny or Pocket Sized Board & Card Games
Too many games these days are all about giant boxes and expansions and high price tags and a million miniatures etc. What about those great little games that are small enough to not only be cheap, but you can even carry one in your pocket on your travels maybe?
Don’t agree with my picks? Well how about the People’s Choice which will feature after my list. Please leave a like on the video and share on social media to show your appreciation!
Also quick note – the bottom bar in my #2 near the end says “Sequel and Expansion Coming in 2021!” (forgot that the lower third would cover that up! :P)
And I’m also going to admit that I might have forgotten about Innovation – I’m so used to playing it online and I have the big box set for it with the expansions that I forgot you can get it in a smaller box which I believe would have fit in my pocket. So I’ll talk about it on the podcast this Sunday so that it gets its fair share of the spotlight!
***************************************
Subscribe ►
Get an exclusive 5% discount from watching my channel at ZATU Games using the code:
“TBMZYT5”
***************************************
Related Content
Welcome To My Channel (Who I Am) ►
Top 10 Essential Expansions ►
Destinies Review ►
Top 10 Portal Games ►
***************************************
Who Am I?
One single batchelor from the UK talking about his passion for board games and the people who play them! I support small content creators, board game cafes and go against the status quo when it comes to the board game industry. I give my honest opinions without bias towards any publishers or designers and will not hold back if I don’t like a game.
The Broken Meeple is a variety channel that hosts all kinds of board game content from reviews to Top 10 lists to playthroughs to live stream collaborations with special guests (predominantly small channels who deserve more exposure).
I look forward to engaging with you, the community on my live streams or in the comments on my videos!
***************************************
Timestamps:
00:00 – Introduction & Restrictions for the List
01:59 – #10
04:02 – #9
06:07 – #8
07:47 – #7
09:55 – #6
11:52 – #5
14:51 – #4
17:29 – #3
19:36 – #2
23:01 – #1
26:24 – Honorable Mention and Peoples Choice Top Ten
#brokenmeeple #tiny #topten #pocket #boardgames #boardgame #lukehector #supportsmallcreators #boardgamegeek #game #tabletop #tabletopgames #bgg #boardgamer
***************************************
Useful Links
Become a Patreon ►
Facebook ►
Twitter ►
Instagram ►
Podcast ►
Ultra tiny epic galaxies, tin helm by grey gnome games, gate by grey gnome games, mint knight….ultra tiny epic kingdoms….micro dojo….Pnps escape of the dead, deep space d6….dungeon in a tin….
8:38 Didn't you take the cards out for Magic? So why would that count but not Point Salad? 30:17
Sorry if that sound accusatory, I just I think if something can be portable with minimal effort and no extra cost there's no reason to omit it from the list in general and both are valid picks rather than neither. The point of tiny games is portability at the end of the day, if it's able to achieve that then it's a relevant choice and forget packaging.
Keyforge is a good alternative if you don't mind the slight caveat of needing counters which could really be anything.
A pack of cards can fit in your pocket.A few can.
I recommend Age of Galaxy which scales very well from 1 to 4 players, at least if you include the 5 pnp solo scenarios.
0:52 — Very sharp coat!👌
Great video Luke! I should add Beasty Bar, Bahamas, Red 7, Virus, Silenze (Zombie City), Dungeon Riders, Bang and Fantasy Realms. Good job! Greetings from Spain!
Pocket pool is my favourite 🤪
Very interesting… thanks for your video and the time to bring these games to our attention 🙂
I'm a Hive Pocket enjoyer myself, great game with 10 seconds setup.
I only have to carry 1 small game to play hundreds…a deck of cards.
The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction, Pocket Mars and Pocket Sub. Tiny and Small Sized Board/Card Games. Even Air, Land and Sea. Infinity Gauntlet is fun when you are able to get all the Infinity Stones.
Oh, here in the us there is a point salad card game that is small and you can fit it into a coat pocket like on the coat you showed at the beginning.
Your EXs might not have been much for games but at least your current girlfriend does.
I think board and card games are good as it requires face to face interaction. Something that is lacking in today's world.
Point Salad is in a tiny box in most regions. I do wish publishers would avoid oversized boxes in North America. It is largely done for shelf attention and perceived value, but the smaller the box, the more games I can buy before I run out of space.
Point Salad in French from Giganic is a tiny metal box.
I want you to know I bought Valley of the Kings Afterlife strictly on this recommendation. what a great game for solo play (dummy player version)! This has quickly gone to the top of the list for games. Cannot wait to show it to my wife.
Only just discovered this video, but this is probably the biggest level of crossover I’ve had with any of your lists, as I own five of them. My top ten, in no particular order: Sticheln, Hanabi, Saboteur, Steam Donkey, Cockroach Poker, Hive Pocket, Mr Jack Pocket, Hey That’s My Fish, Onirim and Deep Sea Adventure.
Thank you for making this vid. I've been looking for small pocket games. Thanks to you, I found a few that have piqued my interest. Two of my favorite games are Chrononauts and Innovation. I just picked up The Crew, but haven't played it yet.
It probably don't fit in a pocket but. My favorite small games are: biblios and Jaipur.
I bought hanamikoji and was a great disappointment.
Everything you do in that game is utterly nonsense from beginning to the end.
Well. My experience.
Love watching your videos.
Hi Luke – I know you said this didn't make your list because it didn't fit your pocket, but it fits in my coat pocket = "Conspiracy" – I love this game and its art 🙂
Valley of the Kings is such an underrated gem. It's one of my favorites and plays best with two people. Such a good game.
Completely agree on Hanamikoji, great little strategy game
I'm also going to admit that I might have forgotten about Innovation – I'm so used to playing it online and I have the big box set for it with the expansions that I forgot you can get it in a smaller box which I believe would have fit in my pocket. So I'll talk about it on the podcast this Sunday so that it gets its fair share of the spotlight! <stupid Luke, stupid stupid!!!> 😛
You´ve got the big box version of point salad? Most people have the pocket-size one thats why you found it in honourable mentions.
No button shy games?
That Space Balls reference was hilarious
Great list Luke
Great list, Luke. I love small-box games, when they are good. I own your top two and I just ordered no thanks. I am surprised not to hear Jaipur mentioned, it's the same size as hanamikoji.
Just goes to show size isn’t everything. 🤪. Thanks for the video. Some interesting suggestions in there for me to check out.
Other cool games that fit the description as well LLAMA, Port royal, Schotten Totten, palm islands
Citadels small box should make the list😀
cool list! have you tried Matcha? kinda has hanamikoji vibes but I like it more 🙂
also, Mr. Jack Pocket, Spicy and Saboteur!
Nice list, I like Circle the wagons as a smal box game, a nice box with a drawer so you don’t need a rubber band is Calavera, a highly interactive roll and write.
Is The Crew not a small box?
I definitely agree with you on Deep Sea Adventure! A boring game where pushing your luck never pays off
"Tiny size" is such a huge category. Card games like Star Realms or a bunch of trick-taking card games like Texas Shootout (not Hold'em!) usually occupy my top 10 "tiny" positions.
Although putting big complex games into tiny boxes is fascinating in itself. It makes the designers focus on what's important.
Tiny Epic Kingdoms impressed me a lot in terms of what they put into the small box compared to bigger versions of 4X games. I don't think it's fiddly.
Castles of Burguny – The Card Game*, and *San Juan 2nd. Ed. (what they also sell as Puerto Rico – The Card game in germany and it drives me nuts!) I find are also impressive games.
Valley of the Kings Last Rites is available on Amazon in the US. It is the same box size.
You can lose the coat, but "Keep your hat on".
Harbour is one of my favorite tiny box games.
Awesome top 10! But quite curiuos that you didnt add or even mention Abyss Conspiracy
Current favorite in the size to game ratio…Ohanami. Also Parade and The Crew. And Fantasy Realms. Qwixx has a small box too.
Have you tried fitting the Sentinels of the Multiverse Collector's Box in your pocket? 😁😂
Sprawlopolis! All the way!
Great list. Would love to see a Micro game list. ie, games that could fit in a shirt pocket.
Great list Luke, you mentioned some great pocket games. My top 10 pocket game list would also have Love Letter (or the Marvel one), Star Realms, Hive Pocket and Hanamikoji just like yours.
But it would also include the lovely drafting game Ohanami, the campy trick-taking game Wizard and the head to head thinky card game Air Land & Sea.
It’s sad to hear you haven’t played many Button Shy Games. I think they’re absolutely awesome. Sprawlopolis is even just my fourth favourite so it misses out on my top 10, while the following 3 all make it; Circle the Wagons, Skulls of Sedlec and Tussie Mussie. They’re big games in small wallets.
Great list. When I bike camp it's essential to keep games small.
Maybe it's not popular in the UK but the I always have Skyjo and Punto in my bag.
Skylo scale well from 2 to 8 players.
Punto is fun from 2 to 4 players.
You can also try Skull King and Bla5t (or Blast).
What version of Point Salad that you own comes in that big of a box?! Mine could easily fit in a coat pocket.
Glad to see that this list was not all roll and writes, a genre that I do not particularly enjoy – although I do enjoy Silver and Gold. Thanks, Luke!
Tussie Mussie and Startups are fine games that haven’t been mentioned. And Innovation is pure gold but it came up in the comments already.