What I Played On My Holiday

At school, returning from summer holidays and writing about what I’d done on my holiday, going to see my Aunty Gill and Uncle Mac was always top billing. I loved everything about those trips but playing Inspector Higgins and the My Little Pony board game were particular highlights. Holidays aren’t quite the same now, they’re not six weeks long sadly, but I still want to use my time away playing games.

I’ve just been away for a week and crammed as many games into my suitcase as my luggage allowance would allow. As with all things my ambition outstrips reality, and I did not play everything, but it was great to have plenty of choice.

As I unboxed most of the games, I packed all the components, including rulebooks (just in case) in a laptop sleeve. It didn’t take up loads of space in my suitcase and it also fit in my hand luggage on the way back (I filled up my suitcase with wine). If I’d been more organised it would have been even less to fit in. I always laminate some of the sheets from roll and write games and play with dry-erase pens. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the pens, so I packed the roll and write pads instead, still entirely manageable though.

What I took

I know it seems silly to take more games than we have time to play, but I really like having choice. It’s obtuse, but if I only have a couple of games, I’ll not want to play them. I need some variety and options other than card games. Not that there’s anything wrong with card games, I just want the choice.

Tussie Mussie and Hive Pocket

I always pack these for any trip, in fact I often just keep them in my bag when I’m out and about. They’re so small and easy to transport with simple rulesets, easy to play anywhere.

Fox in the Forest and Lost Cities

I have often taken these with me on holiday, although minus the boxes. Without the chits for Fox in the Forest and the board for Lost Cities, which you don’t need at all, they’re both just a deck of cards.

Assembly, Circle The Wagons, and Piepmatz

All small card games and easy to transport. I’ve not played Assembly yet despite having had it for years. I have played Piepmatz and Circle the Wagons on another holiday but haven’t played either for a while. I thought it would be a good chance to try them (again). Although they don’t take up much space in transit, Piepmatz and Circle The Wagons both need a bit of table/floor space so they’re not games you can play anywhere.

Avenue, Castles of Burgundy the Dice Game, Troyes the Dice Game, and Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

Roll/flip and writes aren’t necessarily my favourite mechanism, but perfect for portable play, especially when you take them out of the boxes.

Splendor Duel

I’ve taken this on holiday before, the compact box makes it easy to pack, but offers a slightly longer puzzly game.

What I played

Although I didn’t end up playing everything, I had a great choice and games to suit every mood. I played a new (to me) game as well as some old favourites.

Tussie Mussie

It’s a fairly abstract I-split-you-choose-drafting game based on the symbolism of flowers in Victorian posies. On their turn a player offers two cards to an opponent, one face-up and one facedown. The other player chooses a card, the active player keeps the other. Cards are played into a bouquet or as a keepsake depending on whether they were face-up or facedown when selected. Cards have different abilities and may interact with other cards depending on where they have been played. A round ends when each player has four cards and final scoring takes place after three rounds.

This is a go to game for me when travelling, it’s quick, satisfying and takes up hardly any space when playing. I actually played on the plane, there’s plenty of space on one fold out table.

Hive Pocket

It’s a strategic two-player only game. Each player has 13 insect tiles, and each type of insect has unique rules as to how they can move. In turns players place or move their tiles with the aim of completely surrounding their opponents queen bee which must be placed within their first four turns.

It’s a great tug-of-war game and although you can often get through a game quickly, it can be surprisingly challenging. I also love that whilst you can definitely argue this is very abstract, the way that the different insects move is really intuitive. Hive is on my packing essentials list. Like Tussie Mussie it’s easy to play almost anywhere, you only need your game pieces and there’s no set-up. I’ve played it so much that I can always just pick up and play without checking rules.

Avenue

This can play up to eight people, although I’m not sure there’s any real limit to the number of players. The aim is to connect different locations on the map via a series of paths. You have to be careful about not scoring too big in the early rounds though, as you’ll be penalised if you can’t

exceed your score in the following round. It’s a really good twist for what’s otherwise a very simple game and creates interesting choices. Avenue was reimplemented as Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama which added a couple of interesting rules. However, I have the original version that is now out of print. Whichever version, this is a super pleasing little flip and write game that plays nice and quickly.

The Fox in the Forest

Another two-player only abstract card game, The Fox in the Forest is a trick taking game where different character cards have special abilities to help you manipulate play. This isn’t all about who wins the most tricks though, it’s about winning just the right amount of tricks, too few or too many means you receive no points. In the standard game the first player to 21 points is the winner, but you can adjust that to suit your preference for game length.

I’m never not in the mood to play this, like most trick-taking games I can play it over and over again. I also played this on the plane, there’s more than enough space on one fold out table. As I didn’t take the victory point tokens I used the excellent Board Game Buddy app to keep track of the score.

Lost Cities

This is also a two-player only card game based on five suits or colours in the original game (newer versions have six). In each colour there are three ‘handshakes’ or wagers and cards that run from two – ten. Each player is making archaeological discoveries, and each colour represents different archaeological sites, but this really is completely abstract. Each turn a player first plays one card to a column (an ‘expedition’) or discards one card. Each colour has its own discard pile. After playing or discarding a card they draw card, either from the deck or one of the discard piles. Cards played to ‘expeditions’ must be in ascending order with any wagers, which act as multipliers for scoring, at the top of the column. Each column with at least one card is included in final scoring, each column starts at -20, the multiplier effect from a wager applies to negative scores as well as positive ones. Players must have played cards that total at least 20 points of cards into a column to avoid a negative score. There is also a bonus worth 20 points for any column with at least eight cards.

I’m not sure how many times I’ve played this, but it’s loads, and I can crack on without checking rules. However, it has been a while since I’d last played it and I’d forgotten just how good it is. Part of the reason I didn’t play more of the games I’d taken is that I just wanted to keep playing this. It’s difficult to explain quite why I love it so much, it’s so simple. Although I think that might be it, it’s such a smooth game, and more than the sum of its parts. There’s strategy here for sure, and although there is luck involved, it creates a push your luck element which I absolutely love. The Board Game Buddy app is also really helpful here for scoring. You just need to enter the cards you’ve played and it works out all the scoring for you including the wagers and bonus points.

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

Based on Dinosaur Island, the Rawr ‘n Write version uses draft dicing and worker placement for players to build a polyomino dinosaur park. As well as fitting in attractions, players need to build routes through the park and ensure that they can adequately manage security. There are two phases of the game, building your park and running your park. During the building phase players draft dice to gather different resources and then use the dice as workers to make dinosaurs, raise funds or security, extract DNA, duplicate resources on their dice or build roads or an attraction. In the run park phase players run through each stage outlined on their sheet to trigger different bonuses based on the attractions in their park, the staff they’ve recruited, running a dino tour, and measuring guest satisfaction. Following this each player looks at the difference between the level of threat in the park and their security. If there’s insufficient security, they must adjust their score on the death toll track. After three rounds final scoring takes place.

I’ve had this for quite a while and have been desperate to play, but not got round to it, so thought some free time on holiday would be the perfect opportunity. This probably had the most bits and pieces to pack, but without the box it’s still reasonably compact. Although I haven’t played Dinosaur Island, I absolutely love Dinosaur World and this is a great version that gives the feel of a much bigger game. The other reason that I didn’t play more games was that when I didn’t want to play Lost Cities, I wanted to play Dinosaur Island Rawr ‘n Write. Putting aside the very silly name (the ‘n particularly irks me) this game is fantastic. It’s a really brilliant puzzle and the combos that you build and trigger are really satisfying. Like the other games in this series, it has great graphic design and components, the amber dice in particular are perfection. I would definitely take this on holiday again, easy to pack and once you’re used to the iconography it’s easy to play without checking rules. My favourite games tend to be medium to heavier euro games so I really enjoy having a slightly bigger and thinky game to play when I’m away.

Next time I go on holiday

Unfortunately, it’s back to reality for the time being, but I’m already thinking about my next break. Games are a must have and I’d definitely pack these again. I might also see what I can leave out of the suitcase to make more space for games!