Cruise- and wind-friendly game suggestions needed
November 15, 2014 6:09 AM   Subscribe

My partner and I are going on a 10-day cruise to the Caribbean with another couple, and we plan to spend a lot of time lounging outdoors on the pool deck playing board games. We're trying to find games without cards or crucial pieces that will blow away when the wind picks up. Want to know about our preferences? Read further!

The other couple is very much into German-style board games. My partner sort of is, and attends a game night the other couple hosts every two weeks. I've really only learned about these kinds of games in the past year and half—tried them, kinda like them, but haven't played any one consistently enough to really get the deep strategy involved.

Two of us love trivia games (we're talking Jeopardy-contestant level good), and completely dominate the other two. It wouldn't be fun unless the two couples can play against each other and everyone can meaningfully participate.

Our favorite game to play together is called Love Letter, a rather simple card game that's quick to learn, quick to play, and when someone is knocked out they're back in the next hand in a couple of minutes. We could play this all day indoors but we understandably don't want to be chasing cards all over creation. (And something like 7 Wonders, although fun, is right out because it would be hassle weighting down all the scattered cards.)

All that said, the games don't necessarily need to be in physical form. Playing a game on our respective phones may be a possibility—one of us has an iPhone 5S, one an iPhone 5, one an iPhone 4, and one has some recent-but-not-the-latest Android phone. We don't want to pay for Internet on board ship, though, so either Bluetooth or, if possible, a 4-way private WiFi link would work.

Pads of paper and pencil would be great too. We don't care so much about the medium, just that everyone can put up a good game and not be ruffled by the wind.
posted by Somnambulista to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: I think Carcassone would be perfect for this. Nobody is ever clearly losing the game so no one gets pushed out at all, and the tiles are heavy enough that they aren't likely to blow around.

Also, for any game that requires small tokens but that you merely collect rather than have to lay out in some manner (victory points are often collected this way, money too), see if you can get a clean rocks glass from the bar staff for each person, so they can dump their tokens in it. It'll mean a little more digging around when they want to use it, but putting the tokens in the cup will keep them from blowing away.
posted by jacquilynne at 6:32 AM on November 15, 2014


If you can round up 6 dice you can play Farkle! It's really, really fun, really easy to learn and get the hang of, a great combination of luck and strategy, and a totally addictive. It's also a game with a pretty level playing field, even with different ages.
posted by Room 641-A at 6:39 AM on November 15, 2014 [1 favorite]


(The dice don't even have to match.)
posted by Room 641-A at 6:40 AM on November 15, 2014


Hive is good, but it's only for two players. Qwirkle would also fit the bill in terms of the pieces being heavy enough to not be blown about.
posted by The Card Cheat at 6:48 AM on November 15, 2014


Seconding Carcassone. Not a ton of rules, but a surprising amount of strategy. There are also lots of expansion packs.
posted by rockindata at 7:33 AM on November 15, 2014


I would ask this over at Boardgame Geek. Off the top of my head, I would recommend the travel edition of Settlers of Catan, and there are a number of devices for holding cards in travel situations.
posted by mecran01 at 9:42 AM on November 15, 2014


Rummikub would be great! It uses tiles which shouldn't blow away.
posted by jshort at 12:19 PM on November 15, 2014


Travel Scrabble?
posted by tafetta, darling! at 8:26 PM on November 15, 2014


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