Travel Games for Cars, Planes and Hotel Nights

What counts as a travel game

A travel game is a game made to leave the house. Smaller box, fewer loose pieces, and some way to keep them from ending up under a car seat. For this page, the rule is simple: the listing has to sell the game as a travel, pocket, compact, mini or grab-and-go edition, or as a game built to take along. The table above shows every game we track that meets that rule, 23 listings in all.

That puts a mix on one shelf:

• Travel editions of bigger games: Trouble, Qwirkle, Catan, Animal Upon Animal, Herd Mentality, Smart Ass
• Pouch and pocket games: Bananagrams, card games, a tile game
• Classic sets in a case: dominoes and mancala
• Dice in a cup: Farkle
• One-player puzzles and handhelds: Rush Hour, Flipslide, Bellz

Here's the spread, as the listings state it:

• Players: from 1 up to 8
• Age: from 3 to 5 at the low end, up to 12+
• Play time: listed on only two, both 15 minutes
• Packs in: pouch, tin, latched case, wooden case, cup with lid

What to look at before you buy a travel game

How the pieces stay put

This is the question that matters most in a car, and the least at a campground picnic table. Ask where each piece sits when the car hits a bump.

• Pegs in holes: Trouble Grab and Go. Hasbro's sheet for the Grab and Go version says the pegs store in the Finish zones and the cover goes on, so a game can be closed up.
• A sealed die: the same Trouble game uses the Pop-O-Matic bubble. The die stays inside.
• A puzzle you hold: the Rush Hour World Tour Magnetic Travel Puzzle and the Flipslide electronic game sit in your hands.
• Loose pieces on a table: Bananagrams tiles, dominoes, mancala stones, cards, dice, wooden animals. Fine in a hotel or at a picnic table. Not great on a lap.

Lucho's take, as someone who drives a truck full of parts: "Anything that rides in my truck gets a latch or a strap. I don't see why a game should be any different." By that rule, he'd pick the dominoes in the wooden case before anything in a cardboard box.

Magnetic travel games

Magnetic travel games use a magnetic board so pieces cling instead of sliding. In our data, only one travel listing says magnetic in its name: the Rush Hour World Tour Magnetic Travel Puzzle, listed under Ravensburger. It's a one-player sliding puzzle, and the listing doesn't give an age, so check the box before you hand it to a young child.

Swallowed magnets can cause serious internal injuries. Keep loose or broken magnetic pieces away from young children.

What it packs in

The container is half of a travel game. From the listings:

• Pouch: Bananagrams Classic lists 144 tiles in a banana-shaped pouch. I Heart Bananagrams lists 144 letter tiles in a heart-shaped pouch.
• Tin: Spot It NFL Edition (55 cards) and the Smart Ass Trivia Card Game Tin
• Wooden case: Queen Games' double-6 dominoes, 28 melamine tiles in a wooden case
• Folding board: Queen Games' Mancala, a wooden folding board with 56 stones, 48 plus 8 spares
• Cup with a lid: one Farkle listing lists 6 dice, a dice cup with a lid and rules
• Compact box: Animal Upon Animal Compact On the Go Edition lists a wooden die and 29 wooden animals

A pouch packs into anything. A wooden case survives anything. A cardboard box survives exactly one road trip with a 6-year-old in charge of it.

Player count, both ends

Travel shrinks your group. A family of four at home might be two kids in the back seat for six hours.

Most games here list 2 as the minimum. Two need more: Catan On The Road lists 3 to 4, and Think 'N Sync lists 3 to 8. The Grab and Go Bundle 4 Pack lists exactly 2 players. At the other end, Bananagrams and Herd Mentality's travel edition go up to 8.

For one traveler, look at the solo listings: both Bananagrams sets and Bellz list a solo mode. The Rush Hour puzzle and Flipslide are built for one person at a time.

The age on the listing

Ages run from 3 to 12+. Grouped from the listings:

• 3 to 5: Melissa & Doug PAW Patrol Spy Find & Rescue Wooden Take-Along Game
• 4+: Animal Upon Animal Compact On the Go Edition
• 5+: Pop-O-Matic Trouble Grab and Go
• 6+: Travel Qwirkle, Bellz
• 7+: Bananagrams Classic, I Heart Bananagrams, Grab and Go Bundle 4 Pack
• 8+ or 8 to 13: Monopoly Deal Harry Potter (8+), Flipslide (8 to 13)
• 10+ and 12+: Catan On The Road, Herd Mentality travel edition and a_way at 10+; the Smart Ass Trivia tin at 12+

Several listings give no age at all, including OK Play, Think 'N Sync, the dominoes, the mancala set, both Farkle listings, Spot It NFL and the Smart Ass mini travel game. A dash in the table means we don't know. It doesn't mean the game suits everyone.

Play time

Only two travel listings give one: Catan On The Road and Monopoly Deal Harry Potter, both 15 minutes. That's the right size for a travel game. If a listing doesn't say, the size of the box is a fair hint. A pouch game rarely runs long.

Electronic or not

Flipslide is the one listing marked electronic. Everything else on this page runs on hands and eyes. If you're packing for a flight, an electronic game is easy on the tray table and hard on everyone's ears unless the sound can be turned down. The listing doesn't say whether it can, so check the box.

Kinds of travel games, and when to pick which

Travel editions of games you know

If your family already plays Trouble, Qwirkle or Catan at home, the travel edition means no new rules on vacation. That's the easy win. Travel Qwirkle lists 2 to 4 players and 6+. Catan On The Road lists 3 to 4, 10+ and 15 minutes. Herd Mentality's travel edition lists 2 to 8 and 10+. Animal Upon Animal's compact edition is listed as a dexterity game with a wooden die and 29 wooden animals, at 4+.

Pouch, tin and pocket games

These are the ones you forget are in your bag until you need them. Bananagrams is a word game for 1 to 8 at 7+. Monopoly Deal Harry Potter is a set-collection card game for 2 to 5 at 8+. Spot It NFL Edition is a matching and speed game in a tin. Think 'N Sync lists 225 cards and 3 to 8 players. OK Play is a tile game for 2 to 4. Blue Orange's a_way lists 2 to 4 and 10+.

Classic sets in a case

Dominoes and mancala travel well because the pieces are sturdy and the rules fit in your head. The Queen Games dominoes list 2 to 4 players. The mancala listing gives no player count. Both are table games, not lap games.

Dice in a cup

Two Farkle listings, both from PlayMonster, are dice games. One lists 2 or more players and a cup with a lid. Dice and a cup are the oldest travel kit there is. Just don't roll them in a moving car.

One-player puzzles and handhelds

Rush Hour, Flipslide and Bellz are the games for the kid who wants to be left alone for a while. That's a reasonable request on hour four of a drive.

Pack for where you'll actually play

The short version: match the game to the surface you'll have, not to the trip.

• Back seat of a car: pegs in holes or a puzzle in your hands. Trouble Grab and Go, the Rush Hour travel puzzle, Flipslide.
• Plane tray table: cards, or a game that plays in a small square. Monopoly Deal, Spot It, Think 'N Sync.
• Hotel room: anything with tiles or dice, on the desk or the floor. Bananagrams, Travel Qwirkle, Farkle.
• Campground picnic table: the sturdy sets. The dominoes in their wooden case, the folding mancala board, Animal Upon Animal.
• Waiting room or airport gate: solo games and quiet ones. Bellz, Bananagrams in solo mode.

Two games for one trip is a good number. One for the seat, one for the table.

Travel board games for kids

The same advice as at home, with one travel twist: on a trip there's no other toy box to fall back on, so the age has to fit exactly.

• Under 5: stick to the 3 to 5 PAW Patrol take-along game or Animal Upon Animal at 4+.
• 5 to 7: Trouble Grab and Go needs only counting. Travel Qwirkle and Bellz start at 6.
• 7 to 9: Bananagrams works if the child is reading and spelling. Monopoly Deal Harry Potter starts at 8.
• 10 and up: Catan On The Road, Herd Mentality's travel edition and a_way.

Check the age label on the listing. Toys with small parts are a choking hazard for children under 3. Many games here have small pieces, tiles, stones or dice, so count them back into the box before you leave the table.

Who should skip travel games

Skip a travel edition if you already own the full game and never take it anywhere. A smaller box of the same game doesn't add anything at home. It usually means smaller pieces.

Skip loose-piece games for car trips with kids under 5. Tiles and dice will end up on the floor, and small pieces don't belong there with a toddler.

And skip any game that needs 3 or more players if you're traveling as two. Catan On The Road and Think 'N Sync both need 3 to start.

Related pages

• Card games: more games that fit in a pocket
• Dice games: a cup and a few dice
• Trouble: the full story on the Pop-O-Matic game and its Grab and Go edition
• Bananagrams: the word game in a pouch
• Stocking stuffers for kids: small gifts, many of them games

Makers on this page with their own brand pages include Hasbro, HABA, Ravensburger, Spin Master, Gamewright, Blue Orange Games, MindWare and Melissa & Doug.

Pack the pouch, latch the case, and count the pieces at both ends of the trip.