So great indeed is the game that you can play in the pub (or equivalent dispensary of jollity) with your friends. Sadly, there aren't that many establishments where you can get away with whipping out large box and battling for supremacy over Westeros - if nothing else, the giant throne tends to attract attention. That said, if you're based in London, check out the nascent 'Drafts', or any of other UK board game cafés, such as The Thirsty Meeple in Oxford, etc. In a regular pub, though, it's all about finding the right game.
Here are some of my favourites. Criteria for success are having a small footprint (no big boards or the like, which is why you won't see Forbidden Island on here, despite it being both portable and amazing), compact and portable, and as simple and light-hearted as possible, while still remaining interesting.
So here they are, in no particular order.
Fluxx
Fluxx is almost as simple as they come. Every turn, draw a card, play a card. At first, that is. The catch is that some of the cards change the rules as you go along, meaning it might become something different, like 'draw four cards, play three' every turn.
It comes in all sorts of flavours, such as 'Star Fluxx', 'Zombie Fluxx' and 'Chthulu Fluxx' (because what tabletop game can't be improved by adding 'space', 'zombies' or 'fhtagn'?).
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| Just look at him - doesn't he just scream fun? |
Play if: you want your game to move as erratically-but-amusingly as that man trying to find his way back to the bar.
Zombie Dice
Another pretty obvious inclusion here. I seem to include it just about every one of my lists. It's simple, it's easy, it comes in a cup, and none of the important components are made any the worse by acquiring beer stains. What more do you want?
Seriously, if you want to know more about it, check out my previous post.
Play if: all this talk of brain-eating isn't going to make you too hungry for a tasty and totally non-suspicious kebab.
Cards Against Humanity
Oh boy, what's left to say about this one? To call CAH 'foul mouthed' would be about as understated as saying the sea is 'quite wet', or that the Tube can be a 'wee bit cramped in the morning'. It's profane and contains some truly horrible concepts, but it has such potential for extreme hilarity.
For anyone not familiar, each turn, a player draws a black card and reads it out. This usually poses a question or 'fill in the blank'. The other players anonymously lay down an answer card from their hand, in a bid to impress(/amuse/disgust) the judge for that round. It's not for the faint hearted, but is genuinely far more funny than it deserves to be. It is, though, best played with drink in hand! to steel yourself if for no other purpose.
The one limitation is that, after repeated plays, you can get to know the cards a little too well, rather taking the edge off. Luckily, there is a slew of expansions to bulk out the material when you need to.
Play if: you want to feel like a bad person, and don't mind if the people at the next table give you death stares as you laugh about Boris the Soviet Love Hammer.
Story War
Story War is part of a crop of 'imaginative narrative games' that have appeared out of Kickstarter in the last couple of years. These are certainly not new (just look at Dixit), but there seem to be more and more twists on this theme.
The premise hinges on a couple of decks of cards, representing characters, such as Frankenstein or the Abominable Snowman, items, such as a magic carpet or a really fast car, and battlegrounds, such as the ice palace or a spooky graveyard. Players or teams then choose their character for the current round from the available cards, and then try to weave a narrative which shows why their choice would win in that fight, using the 'environment' of the battleground and items to assist. One player acts as the judge each round to decide outcomes.
As a game, it has its flaws, and it's not my favourite. Everyone has to be on board with the concept and be in roughly the same frame of mind. A hesitant or sadistic judge can lead to a round vastly outstaying its welcome. But if you have friends with a slightly sideways imagination (and, critically, drinks), this can be a lot of fun.
Honourable mention: there are actually a couple of games in this category that I prefer, but are less suited to such a publican environment. Machine of Death has a cooler premise and a tighter play-style, but has more 'moving parts' - more elks of cars and required components, and can cast a bigger footprint. Dixit cards is too beautiful to sully in a pool of London Pride.
Play if: you have friends who like to spin outrageous tales after they've had a few.
Love Letter
Ah, Love Letter. This one has been round for a couple of years now, but I only got to play it recently, and it's fast become one of my favourite 'quick' games, super simple, but rewarding solid strategic thinking. It requires only 16 cards (and a few tokens, but beer mats will do) to play, and can be explained in about thirty seconds.
If you haven't played this one before, check it out. It's truly elegant, and you can buy it for under a tenner.
Play if: the only courting you want to do this evening is of a beautiful (and thoroughly fictitious) princess.
A quick note to close: in many of these, I put forward that these games are often more fun alongside alcohol. While that can be said of most tabletop games, none of these games are really the worse without it (with the possible exception of Fluxx), so people who do not partake don't need to feel excluded! Sobriety would probably improve your win rate in many cases...
Did you enjoy this list? Check out my list of Top 5 games to play with normal people, and my 'Top 5' worst board games.
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