Carrying In Hand games everywhere

Okay. I said I was going to do it and I’ve done it. I made a second fidget box, my pet term for a small, extremely portable box of solitaire card games. 

They live either in my bag or on my nightstand and the games are really more for fidgeting or taking mental coffee breaks than being the focus of my gaming life. You know, except when they are :D

One of the things had has haunted me when it comes to make these little to-go libraries is size. The first set of cheap plastic boxes I picked up are too small for larger cards and are slightly convex so the cards at the bottom have to be even smaller :P This second cover box is actually a plastic case that gum came in. It is longer and wider so larger cards can fit into it but it’s more shallower so fewer cards can fit :D

But it fits my big goal. I can fit the Palm Island PnP demo into it. 

While playing more Palm Island, which I am doing, is awesome, it was two of the prototypes from the current Nine-Card PnP contest that made me decide to make an In Hand box. Which means I’ll probably be making new copies of those games in a few months when they are further developed.

9-Card Circus has to using several different actions to sort the cards, creating runs and balancing symbols. I am still trying to grok it but I feel like it’s ambitious in its design and I like that. I want In Hand games to be more than just fidgeting. Even if I decide in the end that  it doesn’t work, I’m glad that it was tried.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2144072/wip-9-card-circus-2019-9-card-print-and-play-conte

On the other hand, Labyrinth Runner, which creates a maze of forking paths out of nine cards in your hand, is amazing for fidgeting. It’s been a great anywhere game. I haven’t bothered trying the advanced game, just playing the light one over and over.

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2128436/wip-labyrinth-runner-2019-9-card-game-print-and-pl

My fidget box of solitaire games

Pretty much since the get go in my gaming, I have always had a game in my bag or coat pocket. Truth to tell, that’s actually how I started with the travel version of Catan and the Hip Pocket line. 

And PnP has become a part of that. My travel bag of stuff for the preschooler has a copy of Bonsai Samurai and a laminated paper copy of Hive, just in case I need a game. (It’s never happened but IT MIGHT) 

However, I’ve gone a step further by making a tiny case of solitaire games. One that doesn’t live in my bag but is easy to throw in at a moment’s notice. The goal is to have games with minimal footprint and minimal playing time easily on hand at any time. It’s basically a fidget box.

It has a rotating content but Elevenses For One and Murderer’s Row seem to have a permanent place in it. To be fair, both of those games are kind of my gold standard for minimalist solitaire games. Plus, I can play Murderer’s Row splayed in my hand and I could finagle a way to do the same with Elevenses For One if I wanted to.

The prototypes for Akur-Gal and I Am Lynx (nine card version) are also currently in the case. Honestly, since the eighteen card version of I Am Lynx will probably fire the nine card version, the fidget box will be the only use I have the nine card version. Tiny, quick game that’s played all in one hand. That’s perfect for the fidget box.

I have to admit that I feel like I’m embracing a weird ideal for games with the fidget box. I’ve filled it with such slight games. My taste in solitaire games leans toward shorter games that are easy to get on the table. By the very nature of the fidget box, that pushes that to the extreme.

(Well, Elevenses for One has enough meat on it that it is still a choice when I have more time to play a game)

On the other hand, the fidget box has seen a lot of use for me. It fits a very, very specific niche but it’s a niche that fits my needs right now.

Man, I like to carry around games

The idea of having some kind of travel kit of games has pretty much always been a part of my gaming life from the start. Before I found any regular groups, a lot of my games were pickup games at restaurants and coffee shops. I didn’t have a game closet. I had a game bag.

Over the years, the bag has changed, depending on circumstances and depending on what struck my fancy. Going to a convention, for instance, always meant a larger bag with a wide variety of choices.

There have been some distinct moments in how I pack a game bag. One of the more recent ones was the Pack O Game series, which gave me the ability to fit a game library into a large pocket. That’s become my go to for any time I’m going somewhere planning to game.

PnP has, more slowly, been affecting the bag. I hadn’t even really noticed until I realized that I was crafting stuff specifically for my every day bag. 

When I go out, I almost always take a daddy bag of things like wet wipes and snacks and spare clothes and water. It’s a satchel that’s been repurposed from carrying work documents around.

And I’ve almost always had a few games that live in the satchel, for when I don’t have any plans for gaming but just in case. Pico 2 has had years of being carried around like that (and I know it will be back when I’m not worried about it getting damaged) and Cinq-0 and Cosmic Wimpout are a couple other standards. However, I got out of that habit when it became focused on baby stuff.

But the doodle has been getting bigger, which ironically means less stuff in the satchel. I almost absentmindedly made a few things like a copy of Bonsai Samurai to keep in the daddy bag. Potential time killers that were small and I wouldn’t care if they got trashed since I could replace them so easily. 

However, when I realized that I had made a copy of The Name of the God for my bag and was planning on making a 1-3 player version of Autumn and a PnP copy of Hive (I have a full Bakelite copy but laminated tiles will take up almost no space), I realized I was making PnP games to always have on me that were more than just time fillers.

I wouldn’t call them disposable games since, particularly after I laminate them, they should hold up to abuse and plenty of use. However, the fact that it won’t be a big deal if they do get wrecked is part of why I am making them to live in my satchel. 

Oh, when it comes time to go somewhere where I’m expecting to game, stuff like Pack O Games and For Sale and High Society are getting packed in a bigger satchel. But it’s nice to plan out a little ziplocked baggy of fun little games to always have.

My stepping stone of Hip Pocket games

Wandering down memory lane has brought me to the Hip Pocket line of games, a line of games that Cheapass produced that were smaller than their usual games but better than a lot of them.

I played them quite a bit in between getting back into board games with Settlers of Catan and Puerto Rico and Fluxx and getting serious about building a library of games. They were a big part me testing the water with my toe before diving headfirst into the deep end.

Every single game is a little deck of cards in a plastic baggy and most of them are tile laying games. At the time, they cost between four to six dollars so it was easy to get a little library going. The games in the Hip Pocket line were simpler and more solid than most of the other games in the Cheapass catalog at the time.

Over the last few years, as I've become less of a game snob, I've come to appreciate Cheapass's designs more and more. Some of the games that have come out in the last few years have been good and well aimed at the 'causual' audience. But I really believe the Hip Pocket line are some of the best games they made.

The best of the Hip Pocket line, which I'm saying are The Very Clever Pipe Game and Light Speed, I have played more times than I can count, particularly since I wasn't keeping track of my plays back then. I'd honestly play any of the ones I've played again without a problem, even Cube Farm, which I thought was just okay.

Confession time: I have not yet played either Safari Jack or Timeline. I may never play Safari Jack but I do want to eventually play Timeline. It is probably the heaviest game in the lot, which was heavy when Fluxx was one of primary games, but it's probably light to me now. Plus, it looks like pretty good.

Small and short but punchy and well designed. The Hip Pocket line was a good way for me to edge into collecting games. And, while I have other games I now carry everywhere, they still hold up really well.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/73/hip-pocket-games

My old friend, the deck of cards

We will be going on a trip soon, one where I know we won't be having much (or any) downtime for gaming and not a lot of space in our luggage for games anyway.

But just like it is against my principles to not go on a trip without a physical book, I don't want to travel without a game. Even if there's barely a chance at then getting played.

Over the last year, my travel game library of choice has been the first set of the Pack O Games. Seriously, eight very different games that fit in a plastic case that I can easily carry in a coat pocket. But I can do even better than that.

A deck of playing cards

Seriously, a deck of cards is the ultimate travel game. Pick up any copy of Hoyle's and you will see a wealth of games that you can play. It doesn't hurt the playing cards of been around for centuries, which is given people plenty of opportunity to develop games with them.

If we do end up playing any games with them, it will probably be some sort of rummy or maybe Lamarckian Poker. But, really, the sky's the limit.

And if we don't end up playing any games and I'm just bringing a game along as some kind of charm or totem, a deck of cards will barely take up any space.

Of course, knowing me, I might also toss in Proton or Pico 2 :D 

HUE - the gateway to Pack O Games

HUE is the first game in the Pack O Game series and, in some ways, could be considered the ambassador for the series on a whole.

Every game in the series consists of thirty cards, each one cut to about a third the width of a regular card. That means you get stick-like cards and a deck looks literally like a stick of gum.

HUE is the tile laying member of the family. Every card is divided into three squares and three different colors, although about half the cards have the colors divided the long way, making them skinny lines.

Everyone gets five to six cards, including one with a poison symbol in the middle. Special rainbow cards are set out to start the board and then everyone takes turns placing a card on the board. Cards must share at least one edge with cards already out but they can cover one square of a previously placed card.

Now, here's the good bit. You don't play the last card in your hand. You score with it. For each color on the card, you score points equal the largest area of that color on the board. You score double points for the color in the middle of your scoring card. But any area that has a poison symbol is zeroed out and doesn't count for scoring.

The biggest hurdle HUE has to overcome is that there are a lot of time laying games out there and there are even a lot of pocket-sized ones. The Clever Pipe Game and Aquarius were two of the first games I picked up, before I even started collecting games seriously. It takes a lot to stand out in the pack.

But HUE does have a twist that makes it interesting. Your last card being your scoring card, particularly when you get your whole hand at the start. It gives you an end goal at the very start but also gives you the flexibility to change that goal if you have to.

Mind you, HUE doesn't fire Aquarius or small tile laying games for me. However, the more I play it, the more I enjoy it. It keeps growing on me. I don't think I'd turn down a game (it doesn't hurt that the playtime is so short)

None of the first series of the Pack O Game games reinvent the wheel. They all use tried and true mechanics, with just a couple twists to give them their own flair. By being a part of such a large family of tile-laying games, HUE doesn't stand out as much as some of the others like BUS or TAJ. But it is still a solid, well designed game.

HUE really is a good introduction to Pack O Games. It is easy to teach, even to non-gamers. However, the scoring makes it interesting, even for serious gamers. Honestly, the fact that it comes in such a portable package is just gravy.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/159143/hue