What to pack?

 I’m getting ready for some travel. It won’t be a trip that will involve any gaming but you always pack a few games. Which has then led me to consider what to pack for the odd bit of solitaire gaming for a couple weeks.

And, yes, phones and tablets mean there’s a wide world of gaming at my finger tips. However, analog gaming, actually using physical items, make your brain work differently. Tactile is a different sense than sight or sound.

The first thing I realized was that, as this was a flying trip, space was going to be very limited. I have a friend who hates flying and I am convinced that it’s because it limits how many board games he can pack. And airlines are getting more and more unforgiving about luggage.

The second thing I realized was that there wouldn’t be any surprises about my packing choices. I wouldn’t be taking anything weird or experimental. Familiar, decompressing games that would just be used for mental coffee breaks.

(And I thought about including a game or two that I was still getting to know. However, minimal gaming time would just make that frustrating. But, as you will see, I did bend that rule lol)

At the very least, I knew I wanted one of my small cases of In-Hand games that basically live prepacked that I can throw in a bag or a coat or pocket at a moment’s notice. I have gotten so much mileage out of those. I am taking the ‘heavier’ one, which just means it has Palm Island. (I do like Palm Laboratory but it’s extra cards equal another game’s worth of space lol)

(And if I have to explain why In-Hand games are good for travel, that means you just need to have the term defined)

I have also been really mulling over Roll and Writes. A lot of them are only one sheet of paper, not counting some dice and something to write with. A relatively slender folder and a tiny tool kit of dry erase markers and dice becomes a pretty versatile game library. Heck, if I knew I was going to have a lot of dedicated solitary downtime, I would take a library of Radoslaw Ignatov games.

However, for this trip, I am just thinking of taking a couple of laminated index card-sized games. I have gotten far more mileage out of Knitzia’s Criss Cross than it probably deserves. And I’m just planning on using my watch’s die roller and skipping physical dice. If I don’t have table space, I’m not rolling dice lol

I’m basically looking at less than book’s worth of space here, even if you count the One-Card Mazes I keep in my pocket.

The one other thing I’m looking at, which actually moves away from the coffee break time space, is Chris Anderson’s Tempus games. You use the date stamp to create a number that dictates what actions you can take. Since the only moving part of the system is a writing tool, they are pretty ideal for playing on airplane tray.

The two flavors are Imperium which is about infrastructure development and Quest which is a resource management campaign. I think Imperium has more replay value but Quest is more interesting and dynamic.

I haven’t played the most recent version of the Imperium series, Tempus Imperium Aeternum. (I only seem to play them when I’m traveling) I decided that was a sign to print a few sheets out for the bag.

Oh and a regular deck of cards. Endless things you can do with a deck of cards.

So, I will focus on very limited space, comfort games and one slightly new game that is good for travel.