When you’re on the go and think you might have some downtime, packing a few board games can be the perfect way to kill some of that spare time. Doesn’t matter if you’re in an airport, on a bus, or stuck in a hotel room, bringing along a board game or two is a fantastic way to unwind and possibly make some new friends.
These board games bring a healthy mix of strategy, social deduction, and resource management play styles without making you carry around massive boxes or keep track of tons of cards, dice, and miniatures. Check out our picks for the best games to take with you when you travel!
Updated on June 06, 2025 by Ryan Hay:Summer is here so that means a lot more traveling, especially of the outdoors variety. If you’re out camping, exploring, or taking a day trip to another city, these games are perfect for traveling with. Grab a few friends, toss a few burritos, and guess the secret word to pull out a victory on the road.
Unstable Unicorns Card Game
An army like no other.
Unstable Unicorns not only gives you the power to build a unicorn army, but the strategic thinking and planning will help pass the time on those long flights and airport lounges. The adorable art may also help lighten your mood when your flight gets delayed for a third time.
Unstable Unicorns is a great card game to deal with the frustrations of travel. When the airline delays your flight for the fourth successive time, you can just imagine unleashing your unicorn army upon it. Hopefully, the art and deck-building gameplay will make the time fly by.
Werewords
The magic comes from the word
Magic words, deadly werewolves, and teamwork are the name of the game, unfortunately, not everyone is on the same team. This clever game has you try and guess a secret magic word to help protect your tiny village from a pack of werewolves, but you never know who is on your side and who is out for a tasty snack.
Your town has been plagued by a werewolf attack and it’s up to you to uncover the secret magic word that will keep them all away, but it’s never as easy as it looks. This game has you working with your teammates (and against a few werewolves) to try and uncover a powerful word that will spell the end to the werewolves.
The trick is, that the mayor, who holds the magic word, can’t say more than a few things, simple yes, no, and maybe responses. Werewords has roles similar to Werewolf, like the Seer and Minions, who can perform special actions in the game. You can take and play this game practically anywhere thanks to its small size and app that can help play the game on the go.
Pick Your Poison Card Game
All good things come with a catch.
Pick Your Poison comes from ther creators of Cards Against Humanity and builds on the formula of its predecessor. Instead of merely pairing cards to see which one is the funniest, Pick Your Poison makes you use a bit of logic as well. Of course, the pairing which creates the darkest scenario has the best chance of winning.
Pick Your Poison takes a simple and popular gameplay formula and adds a bit of a twist to it. This one is great for people who love Cards Against Humanity but are bored of the same old cards. Now you’re going to have to do more than just play the card that’s funniest.
Codenames
Turns out, spies love words.
A super fun game that you can take practically anywhere with a table, Codenames is less of a board game and more of a thought puzzle, making it the perfect game to travel with. You can play with a ton of people with this game too, so if you’re traveling in a group or have made some new friends in your travels, Codenames is great to bring along.
Codenames is less of a board game and more of a mental exercise and a trust exercise among your teammates. Codenames has you laying out a grid of tiles, each one with a word on it. The words can range from physical things, like ‘cat’ and ‘France’, to more abstract concepts like ‘trips’ or ‘life’.
The aim of the game is to split into two teams and have players try and match words based on association thanks to single-word hints from the spymaster. So if you say the clue ‘Vacation’, you might be able to link the words ‘trip’ and ‘France’ together, though your guessing team mates might think the word ‘car’ is associated with it too. It’s up to you to try and lead your team to guess the right words to beat the enemy team.
Fox in the Forest
Foxes aren’t the only tricksters in these woods.
Take tricks from your opponents in this two-player game but watch out! Greedy players won’t be rewarded so try not to win too hard.
Easy to learn and difficult to master, The Fox In The Forest is a trick-taking card game meant for two players with a fairy tale twist. The game works by playing cards of a certain suite to try and win the round with the cards in your hand. You don’t want to win too much though, as earning too many points can actually set you back in the game.
Sushi Go!
A deck-building game that has players drafting sushi-based cards to earn as many points as they can. Each game is only three rounds making it quick and easy to learn.
A fantastic drafting game for players of all ages, Sushi Go is a fast-paced strategy game where players must choose cards that match or work together to earn the most amount of points at the end of the round. The artwork is adorable, and the randomness keeps games interesting even though there’s a fixed number of cards.
Sushi Go gets even more creative when you start introducing score modifiers, letting you take your best sushi cards and double or even triple the amount of points you would earn. Most rules are printed on the cards themselves, keeping the game easy to pick up and learn.
Throw Throw Burrito
It’s a dodgeball board game.
A great game if you’re out camping or have a bit of room to move around, Throw Throw Burrito mashes up multiple games into a hilarious dodgeball-like card game. The two innocent-looking burritos won’t be so cute when they’re barreling toward your face when you’re a bit slow on the play.
At its core, Throw Throw Burrito is a matching game. You draw cards from a constantly shifting deck of cards to try and match three cards of a kind. Once you do, depending on your matches, you can either earn points or you get to chuck the burrito at someone.
This game requires some quick thinking and fast moving, so it might not be everyone’s wheelhouse, but there is still plenty of fun to be found in Throw Throw Burrito. If you’re outdoors at a campground, festival, or park, you’re able to make use of all that space to turn the dodging part of this game into a real brawl.
Bohnanza
More fun than a barrel full of beans.
Bean farming has never been more exciting than in Bohnanza. Earn money by growing beans and trade with players under wacky conditions to get the most beans.
A classic board game where anything goes, Bohnanza has players bartering for beans to try and earn as many points as they can. The gameplay is simple, players can choose to plant beans by playing them from their hands into fields. Players can then harvest the beans for points, clearing up the field for more beans.
In the meantime, players can negotiate with other players to try and get their beans. Anything goes in this game, from letting players promise future bean trades for beans now, to organizing complex trade negotiations between all players to come out on top.
7 Wonders Duel
The 7 wonders have never been so intense.
A strategy game that takes the fantastic gameplay of the main game and streamlines it for two players. Draft your ancient empire to earn victory points.
Build the wonders of the ancient world in this two-player variant of the classic drafting game. You and your opponent are racing to build your wonders or win through other means in this bite-sized version of 7 Wonders. Games are much shorter, lasting around 20-25 minutes, making it a great way to pass a short layover or if you’re looking for a quick game at the end of the night.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Don’t Trust Your Friends
The classic social deduction game boiled down to be played with anywhere between 3-10 players. No need for a moderator so no one is left out!
The perfect social deduction game for small groups, One Night Ultimate Werewolf is for three to ten players, with no need for a moderator thanks to a free app that narrates the roles players receive.
Part of what makes this version of the game so great is being able to invite other players into your games while still keeping rounds quick. It’s also quick to pick up, so players of all ages can jump in and start accusing townsfolk.
Love Letter
Love is in the air
Compete against your friends to deliver a love letter to the princess. Keep your hand close and your enemies closer in this fast-paced game.
Easy to learn but hard to master, Love Letter is an incredibly fast game where you are trying to get your love letter to reach the princess. Everyone starts with one card in hand and draws a new one on their turn. If you ever run out of cards, you’re out of the game.
Best played with three or four players, playing Love Letter requires equal amounts of skill and luck, but is always an enjoyable time every round. The small packaging also makes it the perfect game to slip into a carry-on bag or even into your pocket.
The Great Dalmuti
Only the greatest can sit on the throne.
Rule above your opponents as The Great Dalmuti while you try and empty your hand before your opponents do. If not, be prepared to swap seats with your new Dalmuti.
A fantastic game for 4-8 players where the goal is to get rid of all the cards in your hand before everyone else. If you do, you become The Great Dalmuti, the best player in the game with all the best cards, and if you’re last, you’re a lowly peon, who has to give up their best card to The Great Dalmuti.
Players deal out the 80-card deck and swap positions based on their rank, with each shake-up having players swap chairs to their proper roles. The Great Dalmuti leads the game, playing any number of cards of the same value from their hand, and making each other player play the same number of card but of a lower value. Great for small groups and for players of all ages, making it an incredibly fun game to take on the road.
Monopoly Deal Card Game
Can’t go wrong with the classics
If you’re really dedicated, you could bring out an entire Monopoly board on the plane. But if you don’t want to attract t0o much attention, then Monopoly Deal will do just fine. Built on the same fundamentals as the original game, but with completely different gameplay, you can’t go wrong by packing a deck of Monopoly Deal on your next trip.
Monopoly Deal has two bonuses over the original when it comes to travelling. Firstly, it’s way more portable, as it’s just a deck of cards; but the second, and more important reason is that the gameplay ensures that there are fewer reasons to get into an argument on the plane, at the waiting lounge, or by the poolside.
UNO
Just remember to yell Uno
Considering that Uno is one of the most popular card games ion the world, you could end up playing with even an absolute stranger. It’s a great way of passing time while you’re jetlagged and your flight has been delayed, because you don’t have to think too hard. Just decide upon what the Draw 4 rule is before starting an international incident.
When all other games fail you, you can always go back to the ol' reliable Uno. The beauty of this game is that since it’s so popular and everybody knows the rules, so you could even strike up a game with an absolute stranger while you travel.
Exploding Kittens
Best travel buddies
Another quick and easy game to play while on your travels, Exploding Kittens will keep you entertained while you while away the time in a waiting lounge. The art may even make you smile a bit through al that jet lag. Just don’t talk about explosions too much, unless you want a fandom security search.
While it’s not as popular as Monopoly Deal and Uno, Exploding Kittens has its own, younger audience that swears by it. It could mostly be due to the cats, but the simple gameplay loop also has a hand in making this game popular. That, and the fact that it can be played anywhere.
Push
Don’t push yourself.
While Push doesn’t have the most complex gameplay, that’s precisely why it makes for a perfect travel game. You don’t want to be making strategic decisions when you’re tired and waiting at the aiport lounge or during a long haul flight.
Push is simple enough to play at 2AM in a packed airport lounge, after your flight has been delayed for the fourth time. At times like that you don’t want to be playing something that requires strategic thinking, but something with simple gameplay, that will pass the time.
Cthulhu Fluxx
Break the monotony
OIne of the most common problems with tabletop games while you’re travelling is that they might get a bit repetitive. The Fluxx series is perfect for situations like this, as the rules keepo changing, keeping you on your toes at all times.
Cthulhu Fluxx, or any other game from the Fluxx series, constantly changes the rules, making sure that you’re still paying attention. So, if you’re worried about a game getting boring, this series is definitely worth checking out.
FAQ
What games we can play while traveling?
There are tons of games you’re able to play while traveling but board games provide a great way to pass the time with friends that doesn’t rely on electricity or an internet signal. These games are some of the best to take with you since they pack up nicely and are quick and easy to learn.
What are fun things to bring on a trip?
Each trip is different, but you can never go wrong with a good board game. Most board games are too large and bulky to take on a trip, but games like Love Letter or Sushi Go, where they have small packaging but provide tons of fun are a great choice.
What are party board games?
Party board games are those that you’re able to play with friends or even a group of strangers. Some of the best games are those that are easy to pick up and play with rules that don’t take much explaining.
