I like games. I like my friends. I like to play games with my friends. However, there’s not a lot of time for playing games, so the smaller a game is, the better. Don’t get me wrong, I love a bigger game, but small games are the ones that get to the table often, as fillers, at lunchtimes, anywhere with a free 20 minutes. There’s a lot of small games out there, so I’m going to give my five favourites.
Llama
Starting out with a classic, we have llama. I feel this game has become iconic, and deservedly so. It’s such a simple concept, either play a card matching the current number or raise it by one, draw a card or fold. When all players fold or one player plays all their cards, points are scored for cards left in everyone’s hand. Each card is worth its face value in points, but the llama cards are worth 10 points. Since the goal of the game is to have the lowest points, the game becomes a game of chicken. Do you draw another card, hoping to be able to play all of your cards and score nothing, or will you fold with a low number of points to guarantee that you don’t get stuck with a high card or a llama? For such a simple quick game, there is a surprising amount of decisions, as well as all the things you would want in a party game, energy, audacious victories, calamitous failures, this is the perfect small game to take anywhere.
High society
Another well known card game behind the enormous brain of Reiner Knizia, who also designed Llama. This one has a bit more depth for those that are looking for it. This is a feisty auction game, where rich socialites splurge on luxuries to cause envy among the social elite. However, there is a devious twist: The player who has spent the most money at the end of the game is cast out of the socialites. That player cannot win, even if they had the most points. This ramps up the tension, where players try to gauge the amount of money in their hand compared to their opponents. To win, you have to spend extremely carefully, only going high when it feels right to do so. Though the final punch in the face are the three bad cards that reduce your score. Rather than bidding to keep the card, you bid to get it away from you, with the first to pass taking the card, and the others have to pay. This leads to hilarious moments where players will bid half of their money to avoid the scandal card that halves their score, and end up losing due to having spent too much. This game expertly mixes decision making in a light, party game feel, and is great for people looking for something a little more on the mean side.
Air, Land, & Sea: Spies, Lies, & Supplies
A mouthful of a title, and a very different game from Llama and High Society. This is a two player game set in WW2, and each player is trying to play cards to different theatres: Intelligence, Economics, and Diplomacy. This is a numbers game, each card has a numbered value from 1 to 6. On your turn you play a card to its matching coloured theatre. Most cards also have an effect that you can carry out when playing it. However, you can also play cards face down to non matching theatres, triggering no effect and providing a constant value of two. However, a big part of this game is flipping cards, for example, flipping one of your facedown cards face up to increase its strength, or flipping your opponent’s most powerful card face down. The best part of this game, however, is the withdrawal mechanic. The winner of each round gets points but players can withdraw from the battle early to give the other player less points. I love this. It encourages you to hide your big cards, play them last, or play them facedown and flip them. However, you also want to hold on to your cards that can flip other player’s cards, neutralising one of their threats. At the same time you are trying to estimate your chances of winning each battle and pulling out if you think you are going to lose. This is a delicate balance of tricky decision making and I love how much thought you can get out of such a small box.
Cabanga!
Another party game where you try and get rid of all the cards in your hand, This plays very similar to Llama (Cards give you bad points, get the least to win) but it feels very different. On your turn you play a card to one of the two discard piles that match the colour of the card (There are two piles for each of the 4 colours). You then compare the difference between the numbers on the top cards of each discard pile that matches the colour just played. For example, if I played a yellow 4 onto one of the yellow discard piles, and there was a yellow 8 in the other pile, there would be a gap of 3 cards (Yellow 5, 6 and 7). If anyone else has cards that fit the gap, they can throw them on the table, shout Cabanga! and force you to draw a card for each card thrown at you. It sounds very complicated, but it’s very intuitive, as you simply have to leave the smallest gap possible to avoid getting penalised. To add some spice, you draw a one card penalty if you play to the same colour as the previous player. This creates a nice dilemma, do you take a one card penalty to avoid potentially taking more cards from other players and adds a little bit of decision making, without eliminating the simplicity of this game. This is a solid favourite among my friends and I can’t recommend it enough for any social setting.
Sail
Slightly cheating here, as sail has a board (Three actually), but it’s a trick taking game, so I’m counting it as a card game. This is a cooperative two player game all about coordination without communication. In standard trick taking fashion, the leading player plays a card, then the following player must play a card with the same suit if they can. In this game you are trying to create matching pairs of symbols, carefully manipulating your hand and guessing what your teammate has to sail through the kraken infested waters and escape the storm before your ship sinks, all without communicating with each other during the rounds (You may freely talk in between each round, which is nice). You each get to pass one card to your teammate before the round starts to better your odds at getting matching symbols, and this is an important piece of decision making that is greatly appreciated. My favourite part of the game, however, is attempting to manipulate as a team who wins each trick. The ship always moves in the direction of the player who won that trick, so if you’re not careful, you’ll sail right into the kraken! Also, the round ends immediately when a player wins 4 tricks so you are trying to ensure that each player wins an equal number of tricks. This is probably the most complicated game on this list, and it can be a bit hard to understand at first, but once you get going, there is a real sense of flow to be had here (It’s also my favourite looking game on the list).
Wrap up
Those are my five favourite card games (Ok, technically Sail has a board, but BGG lists it as a card game, so it counts) I would recommend Llama and Cabanga! for a relaxed party setting where you need something for a casual, larger group. I would recommend High society if your group wants something feistier, while still retaining the party feel that this game was designed for. Sail and Air, Land, & Sea: Spies, Lies & Supplies (Still a mouthful of a name) are fantastic two player games, among some of the best I own, Sail is especially nice for cooperative game lovers and Air Land & Sea is best for two players craving more direct gameplay with the potential to mess with each other.
