The weather is improving and we would love to combine boardgaming and spending time outside. Azul works very well outside, not so many things can fly away. Any other recommendations?
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Hive is the perfect outside game. My number one game to play on the beach or directly on the grass in a park as the whole game is made out of heavy plastic.
Came here to say Hive. Big enough pieces that they won’t blow away, but small enough that you can carry around the box/bag in a backpack.
Hive. The original version has larger tiles, the mini version is more compact but should still work as long as it’s not too windy. Hive Carbon is worth checking out if you prefer that color scheme.
For Azul I wonder if the new Azul Mini might work better, smaller tiles but the boards have indents to keep tile in place. And much better score track.
Oh, Hive is a duel game! I love those because we mostly play with two. With some games designed for bigger groups I often feel like something is missing from the session if played with two, its a different dynamic
For 2 you could also check out War Chest. It’s sort of a mix between a bag-builder and an abstract. You play with weighty poker chips that should work well outside. There are 8 cards each game to remind players of the unit abilities in the given game, you could put these on some kind of card holder and once you are comfortable with the unit abilities you won’t need them at all.
Skulls (Skull and roses) is a great one to play outside. Cards are heavy stock, no small parts
Nice! Looks like this would be best for a bit more people :) lets see how many I can get together this weekend! Thank you for the suggestion!
Skull and Roses is a brilliant game, but for some reason I find it very hard to explain to people - and I’m the rules guy so it’s not a lack of practice.
I always start with, “you have 4 cards only, flowers good, skulls bad” :D
I know what you mean though, the switch from Placing-cards to Raising-bids usually throws off first time players for one game.
- Railroad Ink and other roll and write games might work.
- The tiles from Kingdomino are quite thick and shouldn’t fly away at a slight breeze.
- Trick Taking games may work well, I have played lots of Skat outside way back when
- Kakerlakensalat and Dodelido don‘t take up a lot of space and worked well for us recently
Werewolf. Each person justo has to grab onto their card.
This doesn’t exactly go along with the initial post question, but while Werewolf is fun and Ultimate One Night Werewolf is also fun, a long-time favorite game of mine is Wolves of Mercia. That’s pretty portable, but dang do you need a lot of people in order to have a good game of it!
Anything with tiles works well, like Hive, Hanabi Deluxe, or Carcassonne. Dice games also work well, such as Pickomino. And there’s Crokinole, if your table can fit it
Most card and board games on a gusty day will fly away, but on a calm or slightly breezy day…
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Love Letter might work as it’s solid token pieces and a few cards only, easy portability is another plus for outside play.
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Games like Chess, Checkers, any game with Dominoes (e.g. Mexican Train), Stratego, Mahjong, Blockus will work fine as they all use pieces and tiles only.
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Games that use cardboard tiles like Carcassonne (as long as you have a table that fits it)
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I have very fond memories of sitting out in the sun playing Tsuro. But then there’s no situation that can’t be improved by a game of Tsuro.
Oh! How cool! Never heard of it before, I will have to check it out! Does if play well with 2/3 players?
Yep it’s great for small groups like that! Very simple rules, quick rounds, you can’t go wrong 👍
You can have a lot of fun with a plain old deck of cards. https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Standard_Deck_Playing_Card_Games
Work perfectly outdoors:
- Smallworld
- Photosynthesis
- Kingdomino/Queendomino
- Magic Maze
- Azul
- Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra
- Century: Eastern Wonders
Works well with just a couple weights for some cards if windy:
- My Little Sythe
- King of Tokyo
- Forbidden Island
- Forbidden Desert
- Forbidden Sky
- Downforce
- Pandemic
- Onitama
If you have many people Masquerade is an awesome game and only one card for each player
Chess with heavy pieces ^^
Meadow is very immersive when played in a garden, but there are a lot of cards and tokens, and the whole thing takes up a ton of space … so it’s not very practical … but it’s lovely. Cascadia it’s pretty compact and again, a nice nature theme that suits being on a picnic bench.
I’ve been making travel versions of Tak and Hnefatafl, both chess/checkers-like games. The idea is to embroider or quilt the gameboard on a circle of fabric which can be sinched into a pouch that carries the pieces. If the pieces are heavy enough, they won’t blow away :)
That’s the goal anyway.
What game is that in the pic?
The game in the pic is Azul. It is rather popular, very easy to play, pretty to look at and can have surprising depth (mainly math)
Sweet gonna pick it up now, thanks !
