Ah, the summer, when we try to escape the inevitable rain, even if that just means sheltering in the house and hoping for the best. And it’s hard to find games that suit everyone, but never fear, we’re taking a look at those games you can pop in your pocket or squeeze in your suitcase to keep everyone happy this summer!
SAUSAGE SIZZLE by Sophie Jones
Despite the English summer often arriving with a drizzle, we do occasionally get a scorcher. But whether you’re chasing the sun or sheltering from a sudden downpour, a good summer game can bring the vibe wherever you are, especially one that has you shouting “GO FOR THE SAUSAGE” like you’ve joined a cult.
This game has serious summer energy. It’s light, quick to learn and packed with sausage-fuelled silliness. The small box is easy to throw in a bag, and it plays comfortably on even the tiniest of tables. With a dice tray or just the box lid, you can set it up on a train, plane or picnic blanket in seconds.
Gameplay is simple but satisfying. Players roll a mix of animal and food dice, pushing their luck to build sets of Aussie creatures. After each throw, one die must be locked in; it’s similar to Yahtzee, but with quokkas instead. The twist? You can only score each animal once, so timing is everything. It’s heavy on risk, light on rules, and full of dramatic moments as someone inevitably goes too hard on echidnas.
Then come the sausages. At the end of your turn, your lowest food die becomes your score multiplier. But if you roll four sausages, you hit the elusive “sizzle” and your multiplier jumps to 7. Anything less? Just 1. Cue a lot of shouting as someone gambles it all for the full sausage. Despite the game being mostly luck-based, there is room for strategy. The food dice aren’t evenly balanced, so some have a higher chance of landing sausages than others
It plays 2–5 and is perfect for post-beach downtime, travel delays or pub garden showdowns. Sausage Sizzle is fast, funny and just as essential to pack as your suncream.
COCKROACH POKER By Pete Bartlam
Cockroach Poker packs a lot of action in a 4” box. That’s why they’ve sold over 2 million copies! Or so they say but is that true because that’s what Cockroach Poker is all about. Trying to guess whether your previously upright friends are staying honest or being devious.
A simple concept, beautifully presented, sees a deck of 64 cards holding 8 suits of 8 different creepy-crawlies all fantastically illustrated. The whole pack is dealt out and then a player takes one of their cards and offers it unseen to whoever they choose declaring what type it is. Truth or Bluff?
The victim calls it. A correct call sees the card kept by the offerer and placed on the table. An incorrect call means the victim takes the card and places it. A twist, if they couldn’t decide, is they could pass it on to another. After peeping at the card they make their own declaration, either the same as the original or not! Whoever ends up with the critter makes the next offer.
Having 4 of a kind means they’ve lost. Do they suffer a forfeit? Is drink involved? That’s up to you.
OUCH! By Pete Bartlam
Ouch! Is the desert classic of Picking and Pricking! The 44 brightly coloured cards depict cacti with 1, 2 or 3 flowers on. Each has a similar number of edges on their reverse side with prickles lining them. Six of these flower laden spiny plants are laid out and you’re good to go.
Your task then is simple, choose a card and turn it holding just one edge. If you’ve guessed correctly you keep it and score the number of flowers. If not you prick yourself cry out “Ouch!” to general amusement and discard it back into the box. Either way turn passes to the next player. Play through until the deck is empty and the most flowers wins.
That’s it. Simple enough for children to grasp – carefully! The box says from 5yrs up but I reckon my granddaughter Maya, nearly 4, could give it a shot.
Shots, tequila?, could be a way for older players to spice it up, though there are a few optional scoring variations regarding sets of 4 colours or most Reds. Also 8 cards have animals on them: Snakes and Fennec Foxes which introduce a Take That and a Push Your Luck element respectively.
BLOKUS By David (thewellbeinggamer)
I was in awe when I pulled Blokus Duo out at the local swimming pool where my children learn to swim, to play with my child while we waited for the other in their lesson, how much attention this small game gathered. A lot of people were interested, which was amazing.
Which makes me think that Blokus (original game) would be a wonderful family game to pick up this Summer holiday. A game for 4 people and the objective is very simple, play all your pieces.
Each player has 21 different shaped pieces, made up from 1 to 5 squares, like tetris pieces. Players take turns to play one piece, corner to corner with another of their own pieces (1st piece starts on a corner of the playing grid). At the same time as you want to get rid of your own pieces, you want to block in your opponents and stop them.
If players cannot play, then they wait until someone gets rid of all pieces or no one can play. The player with the lowest amount of squares within their pieces takes the win in the event no one gets rid of all pieces.
The game is so simple but has a huge amount of gaming depth. It would be perfect to play on those days in the Summer where the weather isn’t so good. Perfect around the restaurant dining table of an evening waiting for food to arrive, or away in the caravan after dinner and settling down, I could go on. Give it a go this Summer.
FUNGI By Neil Parker
Fungi is a great little game that can easily fit into a bag for travel. The box is large enough to store two stacks of playing card size cards, but small enough to be quite portable. With easy instructions it is ideal to either add to a batch of games for a summer holiday or simply pop into a bag, rucksack or handbag and play whenever the mood suits you. The only draw back is that it is a two-player game only, but that’s not an issue if you travel with a friend, partner or colleague and want a quick game to occupy yourselves with.
Essentially, Fungi is a card set collection game. You gather your sets of mushrooms and play them as though you were cooking a delicious meal with them. The better the sets played, the more they are worth when determining victory.
It is a small, compact enough game to play on a train, on the beach, with a beach towel as base or inside wherever you are staying. Definitely a game to consider adding to your collection especially if like playing quick games.
KITTIN By Emzie
Kittin is a fast paced dexterity game which is great fun to play with your family and friends! Players race to make the pattern of cats stated on the card in front of them and the first person to do this and shout MEOW claims the card and that is worth one point. The player who gets 3 cards first wins the game!
This game takes around 5-10 minutes to play and is great for your cat loving friends! The meeples are adorable and is lots of chaotic fun. Especially when you are all grabbing for the cat meeples at the same time!
BOHNANZA By James Loves Games
Bohnanza is a set collection and social auction game from the mind of Uwe Rosenberg, a German games designer with 6 games in the Board Game Geek top 100 (more than any other games designer!). He’s now best known for his deep strategy games like Agricola and A Feast For Odin as well as for his massively successful 2 player tile layer Patchwork. But Bohnanza was the game that first put him on the map.
The players take the role of bean farmers in the American West, trying to plant sets of beans to harvest and sell for gold. The player with the most gold at the end of the game wins. You may look at the bean cards in your hand but not change the order. You start your turn by planting your rightmost bean card (or optionally your two rightmost bean cards) then you turn 2 cards over from the top of the deck and either plant those as well or auction them off to the highest bidder.
Any you can’t successfully auction off need to be planted so auctions range from bidding wars over in demand beans, to bribing other players to take beans off your hands so that you aren’t forced to plant them and uproot more profitable beans from your field. It’s very luck heavy which makes it perfect for non-gamers but there are some strategies involved with trying to get rid of cards you don’t want from your hand to maximise your profits.
Everyone I’ve played this with has loved it, especially my unbeaten 19 year old daughter, who I call the Bean Queen because it makes her cringe and shake her head (which is like 90% of your job as a dad to a teenager). The box is tiny so it’s perfect for travel, I actually bought it to take on holiday with me later this year. Also, for less than the price of an airport Stella Artois, it’s a ridiculous bargain, so pick yourself up a copy today to get planting and harvesting beans on your next summer holiday too.
COURTISANS By Me! (Sam de Smith)
Now it can be a challenge to find something portable and satisfying for the more dedicated gamer. Whilst Courtisans isn’t heavy per se, it is utterly ruthless and cut-throat, as the different family suits vie for a seat at the Queen’s table. Each turn you must play 3 cards: 1 to yourself, 1 to an opponent, and 1 either above or below the table; at the end, the value of all the cards is either added (based on the number of a suit above) or subtracted (based on those below). However, different family members can do different things – Assassins strike to remove a card where they’re played, Spies are played facedown, Guards are safe from removal, and so on – and each player will also have objectives they are secretly working towards (for example, scoring for disgraced rather than honoured families). The trick, of course, is to do enough to win without revealing your strategy, making this a savage little game indeed. With its beautiful card art, elegant cloth table-runner board, and slick gameplay, this is an absolute winner!
