What we‘re looking for:
- Easy to learn, hard to master
- small footprint
- It has to be great with both 2 or more players (up to 5)
- exciting (push your luck or take that or similar mechanisms, maybe bluffing? A coop small engine builder tycoon game heavier than Bohnanza maybe?)
What we already have and like, but are bad with 2p
- The Crew: Awesome, but sucks at 2p
- For Sale
- High Society
What we didn‘t enjoy:
- Sushi Go Party
- Cascadia (also too big)
- King if Toyko (awesome but a bit too big, we‘d prefer a game without dice)
- Love Letter
- Coup
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Have you tried Skull? You can get the official set or play with coasters. Bluffing and push your luck. I think you’d like it!
Strongly agree, Skull is super simple to teach and even to make a copy, and can have great group dynamics. I don’t think it works with 2, though, but it’s small enough that having it as an option is reasonable
Oh, I forgot about that, thank you!
Have you tried Regicide? I love it because the footprint is literally a poker set and your smartphone. It’s also kinda hard, and really gripping by the end.
I disn‘t think of this one! I should finally check it out at BGA.
- Hanabi co-op deduction, the deluxe edition that uses blocks rather than cards might work even better in a pub.
- Point Salad simple but fun drafting game that works well at all player counts (2-6)
- Coloretto or Port Royal for the push-your-luck. Zombie Dice and Martian Dice are fun too if you want a light option with lots of dice chucking
- Fantasy Realms rummy-like hand-crafting but with much more interesting scoring possibilities
- Liar’s Dice or Spicy for bluffing
- Super Mega Lucky Box bingo but good!
You might want to look at some laminated games with erasable pens. We really like Welcome To, and recently discovered Aquamarine as a 4 dollar game.
5 minute dungeon is a quicktime game that is coop, but was hard to get in Europe.
Picomino (regenwormen in Dutch) is a dice push your luck game that has a small footprint. I know you said no dice but still wanted to give the tip :p
Lastly you have walletgames such as Sprawlopolis (coop) which might be worth looking at, they are meant to be small.
Roll & Writes: We didn‘t enjoy Cartographer, it didn‘t feel exciting for us. Ganz schoen clever was another suggestion, but we‘d prefer no dice.
5 Minute Dungeon is awesome, but I played it so many times with my kids that I can‘t stand it anymore. But great suggestion! I‘ll have a look into your other suggestions.
These are all great fun with 2-5, and may fit your requirements:
Port Royal
Century: Spice Road
Camel Up
Incan Gold (AKA Diamant)
On the lighter side i would suggest king of the dice as a yahtzee+ game, or port royal. A little mire involved and a great game is rajas of the ganges - the dice charmers (roll & write with good decisions)
Have you tried Fluxx? Not sure it’s a game you can ‘Master’, but it does have some fun moments, and moments when you know a decision you make can totally change the game.
Never played the original but Star Fluxx is FANTASTIC. It’s been my groups go to bar game for a while
We have Zombie, Pirate, Space, and Cthulhu Fluxx. Zombie is the simplest one that we play the most and they get more complicated (cards affecting other cards/players more, etc) with some of the other decks. Personally I am not a fan of Cthulhu Fluxx but the other three are great!
Shuffle a couple of them together. It makes a crazy game even crazier.
Push: Easy game but lots of fun. As the name suggests a highly concentrated push your luck game that we always enjoy for some quick rounds.
Kakerlaken-Poker: Man this game is pure stress - Stress the game. A game where somebody removed everything apart from the STRESS - No fat - Filet Au Stress. Either you love it or you hate it. But exciting non the less! I only played the base game but some people suggest other versions of this game. So if you are interested you might want to have a look at the other versions as well
I love both of your recommendations, thank you! Kakerlaken Poker Royal seems to be a version you can play with or without the Royal cards. Maybe that‘s the one I‘ll get!
Bang! Might work, else the card game version.
Is there a version you can play with 2+ players? I know there‘s Duel (2p only) and the other versions (3+/4+).
Ah sorry, I meant the dice game. The main game is a card game.
Lowest number is three players for the dice game.
Bang Dice fucking rules, but I don’t think it really works all that well at low player counts.
My personal favorites that fit your criteria are:
- Honshu - Haven’t played it with just 2p before, but the BGG community says it works.
- Hey that’s my Fish!
- The Shipwreck Arcana
- So Clover!
I know you said preferably no dice, but… have you checked out Perudo/Liar’s Dice? It’s a cup & dice game based around bluffing
Sherriff of Nottingham is also a great push your luck sort of game but the footprint is probably bigger than you’d like, you’re trying to make money by selling goods and maybe contraband past the sheriff, who could also be open to bribery…
Seconding Perudo. It’s brilliant fun.
Coloretto is one of my favorite simple games, and has a good 2-player variant
Three Cheers For Master. Struggles a little with the small footprint aspect, board states can get pretty large, but it is small and portable, quick to play, and a LOT of fun.
I often refer to it as the good version of Munchkin, in that its very funny, and features a lot of direct attack mechanics. The key difference is that every attack relies on exploiting a weakness in the opponent’s board state. Instead of just feeling like you got fucked, you’re always left thinking “Shit, I should have seen that coming. I’ll do better next time.”
Also, the card art and flavour text are some of the best I’ve ever seen.
OK Play! is great and very pub/travel friendly!
I recently picked up Senso and it’s pretty good. All card based area control.
https://www.stoneswordgames.com/product-page/senso-battle-for-japan
