Best Travel Board Games

One of the best ways to spend time with friends and family is through board games. Travel does not mean that you need to give up all your board games for the duration of your trip. Travel games can be just as fun while on the road with friends and family and can actually be a great way to meet new people while traveling.

Travel games were made for people on the go. They are compact, organized, and don’t have as many moving pieces. That way when you’re on long road trips or flights, you and your friends can pass the time with your favorite games.

You could also pull out your games in the hotel lobby and get others to join. Below I recommend some of the easiest board games to travel with that everyone knows and loves.

Best Travel Games at a Glance

• Best Travel Board Game- Scrabble Grab-n-Go
• Best Travel Dice Game- Yahtzee
• Best Travel Card Game– Spot It/Dobble

Must-Have Features for Travel Games

Compact

Anything made for traveling needs to be made into a smaller version of the original. This way it can fit in your luggage, car pockets, your purse, or any other small space. Games can be minimized to nearly half the size of the original games, turned into card games, and reduce the pieces involved in a game.

Organized

Most new games are pretty organized on their own with sectioning pieces included in each box. Travel games take this one step further. Each piece has there own enclosed compartment usually. This keeps things from moving around in the box while you are traveling.

Well-Known

This feature is not always important to everyone, especially if you only plan to play with your friends and family. However, one of the best parts about traveling is meeting new people. There’s no better way to meet new people than by inviting others to play your games with you. Therefore, you want games that most people already know so you’re not spending a lot of time explaining the game.

Place Holders

If you are one that likes to play games while on the way, certain games have pieces that attach to each other or the board in some way. While you’re on the road or in the air your game won’t be disrupted by any sudden movements. The pieces can be either magnetized, clip-in, or permanently attached.

Best Travel Board Games

Scrabble To-Go

• Publisher: Winning Moves Games
• Genre: Word Game

Everyone knows Scrabble, making it the perfect game to play with strangers while traveling. The nice thing about Scrabble To-Go is that every single piece attaches to something. The board is attached to the carry pouch that folds in half and zips up. The tiles clip into the board and to the stand.

The best thing about this game is you can stop playing mid-game and continue later somewhere else. Since the tiles clip in, you simply leave them there, fold up the carry pouch, and restart at your new location. Making this one of the most travel-friendly board games out there.

Scrabble is a word game where you make words out of random tiles chosen out of a pouch blindly. Starting with 7 tiles, you place tiles using already made words on the board. Preferably over point builder blocks. Depending on the number of players you have, Scrabble can take 30 minutes to an hour to play.

Catan Traveler

• Publishers: Catan Studio
• Genre: Strategy

Catan is a game growing recognition around the world quickly. Catan Traveler is the same game as the original except smaller in size and the pieces have pegs that attach to the board. That way, you can play this game during a road trip or up in the air.

The board game is also the traveling case. The 6 sided board folds up into a small briefcase and has compartments hidden inside for all of the pieces. The dice also have their own cup with a clear lid to roll in so you won’t lose them while traveling.

This settlement-building game is all about collecting resources. You start by placing two settlements strategically on the board and every time the dice land on a resource surrounding your settlement, you collect that resource. You can then use these resources to build new roads, settlements, and cities to eventually win the game.

Hive Pocket

• Publisher: Gen 42 Games
• Genre: Abstract/Strategy

The original Hive is already a very compact game made up of 24 tiles that are 38mm wide and 12mm deep weighing 600 grams. Hive Pocket is an even smaller version with 26 tiles that are 25mm wide and 10mm deep weighing 200 grams. The pocket version could literally fit in your pocket.

With this size difference, you could easily turn this into a great backpacking game or even save room in your carry-on by carrying them in your pocket. Another key difference is the Pocket size comes with 2 extra tiles, the mosquito and ladybug. All of this is packaged in a convenient carrying pouch that can morph to whatever shape fits best.

The point of Hive is to surround your opponent’s Queen tile with your own tiles. There are 7 different types of insect tiles that make different moves. Some of these include Beetles that can move on top of other tiles, Grasshoppers that jump over other tiles, and Black Ants that can move an indefinite amount of spaces around the outside of the hive.

Monopoly Grab-n-Go

• Publisher: Hasbro
• Genre: Roll and Move

Monopoly is another classic that everyone from all over the world has heard of. The travel version of this game is exactly the same as the original game except for much more compact with storage inside the game board. By much more compact I mean the money and cards are about the size of 2 quarters and the pieces are the size of a nickel.

Even though this travel Monopoly game is much more practical for packing, it lacks features that help during travel. It is not ideal to play this game on a road trip or during a rough flight. It would be a lot nicer if it had magnetized pieces, cardholders, and money clips.

Monopoly is a roll and move game where your goal is to collect all of the properties, “monopolizing” the board. You do this by collecting money to purchase houses or hotels. You then place these houses or hotels on properties around the board. This game averages 45 minutes to an hour of play.

5 in 1 Magnetic Travel Board

• Publisher: Buyess
• Genre: Abstract/Strategy

Chess, Checkers, Dominoes, and Backgammon are games that have been played for centuries by many different cultures. So you can see literally anyone from around the world can play these games with you. This game board has all 4 of these games included as well as 3 dice and a set of cards.

The reason this specific board is so travel-friendly is that the board is magnetized to all of its pieces. You can play any of these games during a road trip or a turbulent flight without worrying about your pieces moving. The board itself also folds in half and clips shut, containing all of the included pieces, making it difficult to lose anything.

All of these games are strategy games with the goal of overtaking your opponent’s pieces. Chess has pieces that move in different directions the goal over taking down your opponent’s King. Checkers has pieces that move diagonally with the goal of jumping over and taking all the other pieces. Backgammon uses checkers that you need to move to your home board and eventually bear them off.

Best Travel Dice Games

Boggle

• Publisher: Hasbro
• Genre: Word Game

Boggle itself is not uniquely made for travel but is a fantastic travel game. The whole entire game is contained in a closed-off plastic case making it virtually spillproof. It is also very lightweight with the game solely consisting of dice, a tray, a plastic lid, a small timer, and pen and paper.

It is also very small in size being only the size of 16 cubic dice. They are lined on a square tray that is 4 dice by 4 dice. This makes it a super easy game to simply through into a bag and to backpack with.

To play boggle you start by shaking the board so that the dice land in each slot on the tray. A 3-minute timer is then flipped and each play must find as many words they can find in the lettered dice. The dice must be adjacent to each other in horizontal, vertical, or diagonal order. The person with the most unique words at the end wins.

Farkle

• Publisher: Avalon Hill
• Genre: Roll and Write

This is a small version of the original dice game, Farkle. They reduce this game down to the bare minimum so that you can take it anywhere with you. It includes a set of miniature dice and a 2 inch tall by 1 inch wide can with a lid. You could quite literally fit this into any pocket.

Pocket Farkle does not come with the score pads that usually come with the game. This is due to its petite size. However, scoring is right on the outside of the can it comes in. That way you only need a pen and paper to keep score.

Farkle’s objective is to be the first to reach a predetermined amount of points, usually 10,000. During your turn you roll as many times as you want, setting aside the points you want to keep and rerolling the remaining dice. Keep in mind though, if you roll and do not get any dice with points, you lose all your points accumulated and your turn.

Pass The Pigs

• Publisher: Winning Moves
• Genre: Roll and Write

Pass the Pigs is a travel-friendly version of the original Pigs game. This game consists of very few parts including a scorepad, two pigs, and a dice cup. The two pigs and the score pad are packed up into the dice cup with a lid when not in use.

This game is extremely travel-friendly because it is very lightweight and compact. The only thing it lacks is something to roll the pigs into. It would be beneficial to have a small box or something likewise to roll the pigs into. This would keep the pigs from rolling off onto the floor or under a car seat.

The goal of Pass the Pigs is to be the first to reach 100 points. You build points by rolling the pigs and how they land determines how many points you will receive. You can also steal your opponent’s points by guessing how many points they will get before they roll.

Yahtzee

• Publisher: Hasbro
• Genre: Roll and Write

Much like the original, this is a dice game that comes with 5 dice, a cup, a score pad, and a couple of pencils. The difference between this one and the original is everything fits inside the cup and there’s a lid for the cup. Making it possible to only bring the small cup rather than the whole box.

The one thing that I’m not sure is great about this travel version is there is nothing to roll the dice into. You could maybe use the lid by simply flipping over the cup after your shake and displaying the dice in the lid. Although that takes away the fun of throwing the dice out of the cup. It could be beneficial to have the original version to use the lid as a barrier for the thrown dice.

The objective of playing Yahtzee is to hit all of the dice combinations shown on the scoring pad with the most amount of points. You start by rolling all 5 dice. You can roll up to 3 times either leaving your desired dice and rolling the rest or rerolling all 5 dice. Once someone gets a Yahtzee combination, you yell “Yahtzee!”

Best Travel Card Games

Spot It/Dobble

• Publisher: Blue Orange Games
• Genre: Pattern Recognition

This is a very easy game of pattern recognition that has no language barriers. Since there are no words involved in this game, you and the other players don’t have to speak the same language to play, making it great to play with other travelers. I once played this game with 4 people from 4 different countries and none of us spoke the same language perfectly.

It is also very compact and organized. The cards and instructions all fit in a round tin can the size of your palm. The tin can is nice because the packaging will never fall apart no matter how much you abuse it, which is very likely when packing it. It also keeps your cards from getting wet and dirty.

There are 5 different games that you can play with this deck of cards. The main game is played by passing out the entire deck except for one card that is placed in the center. Your goal is to get rid of all your cards first by matching a pattern on your top card with a pattern on the top card in the center.

Travel Sequence

• Publisher: IEEE
• Genre: Abstract/Strategy

Monopoly Deal

• Publisher: Hasbro
• Genre: Engine-Builder

This is a unique spin on Monopoly that takes a fraction of the time to play. There aren’t very many people out there that want to sit down and play an hour-long board game while they’re traveling. This is much more fast-paced and a lot more fun than the original Monopoly in my opinion.

Monopoly Deal is also more compact and has fewer parts than the Monopoly board game. It contains 110 cards that fit into a double-wide card box. Making this a lighter version that can fit into a lot smaller spaces. It is a lot harder to lose cards than it is to lose small moving pieces and dice.

The main objective of Monopoly Deal is to be the first to collect 3 full sets of a property. You start out with 5 cards in your hand that can either be played or used against other players. Throughout the game, you can draw and discard cards. There are also money cards that are used to pay “rent”, “birthday gifts”, and other things that your opponents can use against you.

Stratego Battle Cards

• Publisher: Play Monster
• Genre: War Game

This is another classic turned into a card game. Except this one is basically the same game as the original. Only turned into a travel-friendly card version, making it more compact and involving fewer pieces.

Stratego Battle Cards has a hard plastic case, further making it a great travel game. This keeps your cards from getting damaged from being thrown in a bag constantly or from getting wet. The case is a little big due to the design that they created for the case, which is in the shape of an emblem or metal.

To play this game you start by choosing the red side or the blue side. You then draw 8 of your color cards and choose 5 of them to create a front line. Then, you and your opponent use these cards to attack the other player’s front line until you capture their flag. Stratego battle cards have a few unique plays, such as the spy and bombs, that are not in the original game.

FAQs

Overall Best Travel Games

Best Travel Board Game

Scrabble Grab-n-Go is the most convenient board game on this whole list with a wide range of people knowing the game. The tiles that clip into the board and the tray are one of the nicest things about this game. You can stop the game mid-game to board your flight and then reopen it and start where you left off once you’re settled in.

Best Travel Dice Game

All of the dice games are pretty much the same in terms of convenience. They all have a set of dice that come in some sort of cup. However, my personal favorite dice game is Yahtzee. Nearly everyone at least knows of the game and it’s so much fun yelling out “YAHTZEE” when you roll those winning dice.

Best Travel Card Game

Even though it doesn’t take much skill to play this game, I am going to designate Spot It/Dobble as the winner of this section. It’s a great game to meet other travelers with and can be played with people who don’t even speak the same language. The small round tin it comes in is also extremely travel-friendly.

Looking for more interesting games? Check Out:

• Sleeping Gods Board Game Guide
• The Best Vintage and Collectible Monopoly Sets
• How to Find the Best Board Games

• About
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Haley Parker

Board games are one of Haley's favorite pass times. So much so that it's one of the few things that her mom still buys her for Christmas every year. She grew up playing all of the classics such as table card games, Monopoly, Yahtzee, Clue, and much more. Some of her favorite games to play now are Duel and the original 7 Wonders, Stratego, Villainous, and Hive.

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