Our first list includes some of our favorite tiny games. These will fit nicely in your stockings and come in a range of player counts, including just one player because that is a legitimate need these days.
Palm Island is a portable game that you can take with you anywhere. Sitting, standing, waiting, riding, flying, relaxing, alone, or together you can play Palm Island no table required.
Using a deck transforming mechanic a player uses just 17 cards over 8 rounds to shape their island and overcome its unique challenges. Store resources to pay for upgrades and upgrade buildings to access new abilities. Each decision you make will alter your village from round to round. At the end of 8 rounds calculate your victory points.
We play this game so often at the park while the kids play. The ability to hold the whole game in your hand is unique and convenient. It has a bit of variety to as you can play single with or without artifacts, two player co-op, and two player versus. The game comes with enough for two people but if you have more sets, you can play with more people.
Love Letter is a game of risk, deduction, and luck for 2–4 players. Your goal is to get your love letter into Princess Annette's hands while deflecting the letters from competing suitors. From a deck with only sixteen cards, each player starts with only one card in hand; one card is removed from play. On a turn, you draw one card, and play one card, trying to expose others and knock them from the game. Powerful cards lead to early gains, but make you a target. Rely on weaker cards for too long, however, and your letter may be tossed in the fire!
The new release version allows up to 6 players and adds new cards. The game comes in a variety of themes. Our favorite is Adventure Time. We also like the Hobbit variation. This game is a classic. It is a great game to take with you anywhere. It takes up little space in your pocket and on the table.
Star Realms is a fast paced deck-building card game of outer space combat. It combines the fun of a deck-building game with the interactivity of Trading Card Game style combat. As you play, you make use of Trade to acquire new Ships and Bases from the cards being turned face up in the Trade Row from the Trade Deck. You use the Ships and Bases you acquire to either generate more Trade or to generate Combat to attack your opponent and their bases. When you reduce your opponent’s score (called Authority) to zero, you win!
The boys play this game a lot. Expansion packs for this one are slotted for stockings at our house this year. The deck is enough to play with two players. You can play with more if you have additional decks.
Tea for Two is the newest addition to Space Cowboy’s 2-Player range of games. It is an easy-to-learn, yet hard to master, deck building game set in Alice’s Wonderland that combines easy rules and strategic play. To do battle, players simultaneously flip over the top card of their decks. The player with the highest card can use the card’s effect or buy a new card for their deck! Players will collect Hourglasses, Tarts, and try to keep their hands on the Pink Flamingo to win!
The game is quite light and best compared to the game of War improved. I have been thoroughly enjoying the game. When I am feeling a lot of stress a light game can help. The art is fantastic and I am a fan of Alice in Wonderland.
Orchard is a quick solitaire 'tile laying' game that plays in under 10 minutes. The aim of the game is to harvest fruit (score points) by playing cards so that their fruit trees overlap other trees already in the orchard that bear the same fruit. The more trees you can overlap, the more fruit you'll pick.
This is a fantastic solo game. It is an abstract puzzle game. The dice are super cute. You can play multiplayer too. Multiplayer game play is similar to Karuba. You can also print and play this game on boardgamegeek.com
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