I see your shotgun and I raise you a zombie creeper.

February 3, 2011 10:24 AM

The girlfriend and I are going to Hawaii in a few weeks and have a 10 hour flight. I'm looking for a fun, nerdy card game to bring with us to kill some of that time, something that would be fun for two people. We both like the Fluxx variants, but they tend to spread out which seems inconvenient for the plane. Also probably things that require shouting or slapping (a la Spoons) would be bad. Bonus points if it's readily available at The Compleat Strategist in NYC.
posted by edbles to sports, hobbies, & recreation (30 answers total)

Gloom.
posted by painquale at 10:33 AM on February 3, 2011

Honeymoon Bridge! Contract Bridge is super fun, complex, and time-consuming, and honeymoon bridge was made for just such situations as yours--and all you need is a deck of cards. It might help for you to bring along a set of rules for regular, four-person bridge, since this is a modification and you may need some clarification.
posted by stellaluna at 10:34 AM on February 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

Set is a winner. It requires a little bit of space to lay down the cards, but should be fine with a tray table.

Another great game (better with more people; on occasion my boyfriend and I have successfully recruited the 3rd (unknown) passenger in our row to play with us) is our version of liar's poker. Each person gets 5 cards, and you go around one-upping each other guessing how many of a suit are among the dealt cards. Order of suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades. So I might say there are 3 hearts. You might either say 3 spades, 4 hearts, or call me out. Cards are revealed...if there are 3 or more hearts, you lose a card. Fewer than 3, I lose a card. Repeat until someone is left with no cards.
posted by phunniemee at 10:37 AM on February 3, 2011

Seconding Set. I was playing it solo on a flight last week. Kept me occupied for sure.
posted by kendrak at 10:40 AM on February 3, 2011

Lost Cities.
posted by gurple at 10:42 AM on February 3, 2011

Monopoly deal is getting quite popular.
posted by milestogo at 10:44 AM on February 3, 2011

Seconding both Set and Lost Cities.
posted by soelo at 10:53 AM on February 3, 2011

This Christmas I spent two 11 hour flights to and from Hawaii playing gin rummy with my brother, so I know for a fact that the game is conductive to your destination. Also, you might win $40 if you play your cards right, so to speak.
posted by monocultured at 10:54 AM on February 3, 2011

Cribbage!
posted by txmon at 11:01 AM on February 3, 2011 [2 favorites]

Catan Card Game

Lost Cities is a good one too.
posted by bDiddy at 11:03 AM on February 3, 2011

Previously.
posted by Drama Penguin at 11:08 AM on February 3, 2011

If you like the idea of pummeling each-other and adding insults to injuries (all in sport, of course), you might like Lunch Money. Sometimes better as a group game, but if you like fluxx as a couple's game, Lunch Money as 1 vs 1 is similar.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:10 AM on February 3, 2011

Ditto on Set.
posted by salvia at 11:28 AM on February 3, 2011

Ascension is really good. Set and Lost Cities are good too, but in my experience lost cities palls fairly quick 1v1 and Set often turns out to be unbalanced based on who's got better patten recognition skills.
posted by drethelin at 11:34 AM on February 3, 2011

I love Set, and also Quiddler, which is by the same company.
posted by Knowyournuts at 11:57 AM on February 3, 2011

Mystery Rummy is an older game that I've wiled away the hours on in the past. I think there's three decks/games available (Jack the Ripper, Jeckel and Hyde and Murders in the Rue Morgue). They're fun, simple, and easy to incorporate other players (in fact, the game's better with more than two players) and probably really inexpensive.

Link's to Amazon, but I checked The Compleat Strategist and at least the first one is available there.
posted by elendil71 at 12:27 PM on February 3, 2011

My husband and I have a travel Scrabble set we got Brookstone during an airport delay a while back that has saved us from terminal boredom many a time since. It's about the size of a hardback book when it's zipped up and fits easily on a tray table when it's open.
posted by mostlymartha at 12:47 PM on February 3, 2011

2nding Cribbage!
posted by capnsue at 12:53 PM on February 3, 2011

Analogue Diversions just published a laudatory review of Jaipur- "Dump Lost Cities in a dusty drawer to be forgotten: Jaipur is the new king of the ‘couples game’.". I'm not sure how much space it takes up.
posted by zamboni at 1:32 PM on February 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Jaipur doesn't take up a lot of room, but possibly too much for a plane. You need to have a five-card market laid out, a draw pile, a discard pile, and six piles of tokens. I wouldn't guarantee it would fit.

Triumvirate might fit better, but as it's from a smaller publisher I wouldn't bet on your local store carrying it.

While you said 'card games', it might be worth considering Mr Jack Pocket, a two-player deduction game, or Travel Ingenious, a game where your laying tiles to match symbols while trying to block your opponent - reminiscent of scrabble in some ways but not as one-sided if one of you is well-practiced.

Cold War is always great, though I'm not sure it would work sitting next to rather than across from each other.
posted by liquidindian at 2:17 PM on February 3, 2011

2nding Quiddler.
posted by xedrik at 4:05 PM on February 3, 2011

While you said 'card games', it might be worth considering Mr Jack Pocket, a two-player deduction game, or Travel Ingenious, a game where your laying tiles to match symbols while trying to block your opponent - reminiscent of scrabble in some ways but not as one-sided if one of you is well-practiced.

Oh yeah, I hadn't even thought beyond card games but suggestions for other small travel style board games are totally great. The girlfriend mentioned really digging Set after having played it once awhile back, she also seemed to really like Mao, but can't remember the rules, plus seems to think it needs more people? Thanks for all the suggestions so far.
posted by edbles at 4:12 PM on February 3, 2011

My wife and I have a long standing tradition of bringing standard playing cards and playing Gin whenever we take a trip. Usually we go for a penny a point, and by the end of the trip/flight/wait at the airport, the loser has to spring for something, a snack, a drink, a meal, whatever comes after we get off the plane/out of the airport/ or where ever we are traveling.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:37 PM on February 3, 2011

If you happen to have an iPad, I would suggest Small World and Carcassonne. Both are very well designed games, and good to play with 2 people.

If you don't, I think Phase 10 is a good rummy-type game, and although it is more interesting with piles of people, it is also fun for 2. Hanafuda (koikoi) can also be fun and could also fit easily on a couple tray tables. You have to remember all of the combos, but once you get past that the rules are very easy.
posted by that girl at 4:48 PM on February 3, 2011

Pass the Pigs. It is a dice game that I received for Christmas when I was little. If you don't get too rowdy when you toss the pigs, you should be able to play the game using one of those little trays that pulls out from the back of the seat in front of you. Fun game.
posted by kk16 at 4:56 PM on February 3, 2011

If you happen to have an iPad, I would suggest Small World and Carcassonne

Roll through the Ages, a dice game is on iPhone and works by passing the phone between you. And I guess it's small enough to work without the iPhone too.
posted by liquidindian at 4:59 PM on February 3, 2011

Oh yeah, if you have an iPad, then there are all sorts of board games available. Small World, Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Samurai, Neuroshima Hex, Medici, and Through the Desert are all worth looking at.
posted by painquale at 11:20 PM on February 3, 2011 [1 favorite]

Guillotine. A game about chopping off heads during the French Revolution. It's $12, and totally fun.
posted by marcin_zissou at 10:54 AM on February 4, 2011

Oh! Definitely Guillotine! It is a bit of a squish, but its tray-table ability has been proven! It is very silly.
posted by that girl at 5:43 PM on February 4, 2011

All best answers. Thanks people. I'm probably just gonna print this off and then hit up strategist this weekend.
posted by edbles at 9:55 AM on February 11, 2011