While one time a deck of cards would have been enough to pass the time on your break, there are now a host of amazing games that allow you to be spies, jet-setting scientists, investigative detectives and more.
So read on for 10 of the best board and card games to bring away on holiday…
Carcassonne
Part jigsaw, part board game, players place tiles and try to continue the map, scoring points by placing small ‘meeples’ on towns and roads.
Fiendishly addictive, simple and fun, this modern classic is easy to play and fun for the whole family.
Rhino Hero
Players take turns to build a tower of cards, moving and placing the rhino hero when necessary. And it gets tougher as the tower gets taller, until the whole thing collapses.
Fans of Jenga will love this fun, family game that tests your nerve and dexterity as much as your mind.
Codenames
Two teams act as spies and compete to see who can make contact with all of their ‘agents’ first. One player gives a one-word clue to try and help their teammate point to as many of their words on the board as they can.
Codenames is a fiendishly clever and fiendishly fun party game that’s easy to pick up and explain but hard to stop playing. The cards are reversible too, so you can just flip them over to start again at the end of a round.
Ticket to Ride
Players compete in building railways to secret destinations over a map. The player who gets the most points wins, based on length of network and how close they are to their destination.
With other additions offering a variety of different play styles, Ticket to Ride is easy to play but hard to master. Since its release in 2004, it has sold a whopping 3 million copies.
Bananagrams
Bananagrams offers variations on the word-building fun of Scrabble. There’s no board to pack, the whole game fits in a handy banana-shaped pouch and it can be played in really short rounds, so it’s perfect for packing up and taking on a break.
One of the best features of Bananagrams is its educational value. Children (and grown-ups) can learn new words and practice their spelling whilst enjoying themselves on holiday!
Exploding Kittens
Fun, funny and fiendishly clever, this family-friendly card game is a great one to take away. Players have to build a deck of cards and avoid the exploding kittens, and the last one left is the winner.
A game can be played in 10 minutes, and because it’s a card game, it won’t take up too much space in your boot!
Pandemic
Teaming up to travel the world to stop a global pandemic may not sound like perfect holiday fun, but once the clock starts ticking and you work together to prevent outbreaks in international cities, you’ll be hooked.
Games typically take an hour and involve players formulating a strategy and harnessing their characters’ skills to work together and save the world (no pressure!). Teamwork is the name of the game, so it’s great for bringing people together.
Love Letter
Using a hand of just two cards, players must outwit each other until they have the highest scoring card at the end of the round. The first player to collect a set amount of tokens from each round is the winner.
Suitable for between 2-4 players, it’s ideal for playing when you’re in the pub, parked in the car or out and about on holiday. And if royal courts aren’t your thing, there are plenty of themed variants, including Batman, The Hobbit and more!
Dobble
Dobble offers 5 different types of games that involve players identifying the symbols before their opponents on 50 different cards.
The game is really easy to explain and suitable for all ages. Games only last a few minutes and it’s also portable, so perfect for taking out and about on holiday.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Consulting Detective features 10 ‘cases’ that players must work together to solve using only printed newspapers, a case file and a map – with clues from Sherlock Holmes himself.
With no real board, it’s perfect for taking away and enjoying into the early hours whilst you try and use powers of deduction to correctly identify the culprit. It’s unlikely you will beat Holmes himself, but trying is half the fun!
