The real truth I learned the hard way is that retail stores don't like small box games for the most part in the US. It comes down to people equating the size of the box to the value of the game. I had a bunch of retailers tell me if I had a bigger box they would have stocked my game right away, but since I designed it as I would want it for a player they won't.
Yes, but the truth is that rules out most smaller publishers. You have to print in bulk so you can't print 2 versions and get a similar price break, you can get extra boxes and repack yourself but shipping costs are bonkers and that's not even including the time of someone repacking.
Ah sorry misunderstood, however box cost is a decent part of the overall production cost depending on the game type, and most smaller publishers can't afford 2x of the same amount of boxes added to the landed amount.
[my BGG blog post on reasons why boxes can't be smaller](https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/29490/why-cant-we-have-more-smaller-boxes-let-me-count-t). A comment also added bigger boxes are easier to command larger price points.
Well, retail stores want to sell, and larger boxes sell better than smaller boxes, because of human psychology. A larger box seems more promising, valuable and desireable. So can't really blame the retailers I guess?
To travel with some of my games, I usually put all the content of one box into a freezer bag. Just removing the box is already a good improvement to gain some room and travel lighter.
I think a big problem is that people associate box size with price and weight. And a bigger box catches more eyes on the shelf. If I put red cathedral and pirates on the table (a 1.5 hour game in a box about half the size of quest for el dorado, and a 10 minute game the size of el dorado) people assume the first one is the short filler and the second is the long game. People wouldnt be so willing to pay 50 bucks for a filler if the box was small either.
I’ve actually had a lot of fun making “travel sets” of some of my favorite games over the years, generally by decorating a small cloth bag (the ones that Worldbuilders Market ships Tak pieces in; I bought a bunch of them some years ago) and filling it with either the pieces from the game itself or homemade replacements, plus a cloth board if applicable. Sometimes it’s even possible to combine two games if they use similar components. So far I’ve got:
• Tak / Onitama
• Hey That’s My Fish / Element
• Skull / So Long Sucker
• Thud
• The Fox in the Forest
• The Blood of an Englishman
[Onitama](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4671372/onitama) and [Tak](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/TakEndgameTowers.jpg)
[Hey That’s My Fish](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Travel-HeyThatsMyFish.jpg) and [Element](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Travel-Element.jpg)
[Skull](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Skull-SoLongSucker-TravelSet.jpg) (with enough extra blank poker chips inside to also play So Long Sucker)
[Blood of an Englishman](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/BloodOfAnEnglishman-Bag.jpeg) (this one is my pride and joy; I spent weeks teaching myself how to draw those Celtic-knot vine borders and I love the way it turned out)
[the bag art for Tak, Thud!, and a tarot deck](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Tak-Thud-Tarot-bags.jpg)
I think those are all the photos I have at the moment. If I can take more later I’ll make a new post.
Heck yeah. Of these we most frequently play Tak, though a month ago we were visiting my parents and tried teaching them how to play Skull. Not their usual sort of game (they mostly play word games like Quiddler, Scrabble, and Just One), but they figured it out almost immediately and we all had a great time.
A combination bag/board would be cool! I cut a board from some checkerboard-printed cloth I found at a fabric store, and designed smaller versions of the cards to print out on cardstock. [Here’s a picture of the result.](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4671372/onitama)
A much more old-fashioned approach, actually: I draw the design on paper with heavy black ink (or design it in a computer graphics program and print it on paper), cut it small enough that I can put it into the bag, and carefully trace over it (the fabric is thin enough that I can barely see the ink on the paper inside) with a Sharpie.
There's a reason I like the Tiny Epic games so much. The engineering involved in fitting a compelling game in a small box, even if during play time it ends up being a bit of a table hog. Mint tin games are generally lighter and can be tricky to get back in their tin, but they also travel well.
For some games our favourite version of that game is actually the smaller version. Qwirkle Travel Edition and Hive Pocket Edition the smaller versions play just as well as the full sized game. Citadels 2016 actually went back to the smaller cards and box for the reprint like the original was. Azul Mini is not only smaller but the tiles slot into place and the score tracker is a clicky thing that stops it from getting knocked off (happens more than you'd think). The whole game fits in the tile bag.
Other favourites that get a lot of play because they travel well:
- Radlands
- Tak (cloth board or the keychain token thing that denotes the center of the board)
- Coup
- Jaipur
- Turing Machine (leave the hexagon thing and the fancy stand the punch cards go in, just pack the decks of cards)
When I think of travel I think of box size and table space. TE games take a ton of table space. I am never gonna pull that out camping like I would mini Azul or Hive.
Same argument with the tin size games. Ya it's small but fiddly as all get out. Just not a good airplane or tiny hotel desk solution, Imo
For me tiny games are more about transport and less about play space. I don't fly or commute often, mostly drive to someone's house. So once I get where I'm going there's a table or something to play on.
I made a travel size version of Quantum a few years back that fit in a box smaller than a Tiny Epic game.
* 7 16mm d6 each in Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow, plus one black and one white d6. I could have used 12mm dice to make it even more compact in retrospect.
* 7 8mm cubes each in Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow
* 24 70mm square cards for map tiles, each a 3x3 grid with a number in the middle.
* 51 Mini Euro cards for Gambit and Command cards
* 4 Tiny Epic sized cards for Command Sheets with the rules and layouts on the back.
Unfortunately I lost all my files for the game a few years ago when my computer bricked.
It may seem simple from the outside, but speaking from professional experience what you're talking about is effectively publishing an entirely new game. Except that the pool of potential customers for the game you're publishing is smaller because most of the people who would have bought it already have it. It's just not worth the cost.
Button Shy games often occupy this weird space in board games where the storage is tiny but the game isn't necessarily great for travel. Sprawlopolis and *especially* Battlecrest can struggle to fit on a smaller table.
One of the Ancient Terrible Things expansions came in a small box that fit the base game (using cards to replace the board, for example). I put it all in there, and I've never taken it anywhere. But I love the idea of it being so compact.
There are some game printing companies out there that could print what you want, in theory you can send them an image of the board and all of the cards and they can scale it down.
You're totally right there, they have some of the basics in a travel size but nothing for the more interesting board games I've found.
Turning existing games into travel editions is actually a lot of fun. I've shrunk boards and printed them to heavy card stock to fit them into IRIS 5x7" cases, and then put a whole bunch of those into keepers like this one: https://www.amazon.com.au/IRIS-Extra-Large-Embellishment-Keeper/dp/B004T6I6RA?th=1
I used to carry a couple of these into work on Fridays (32 games across two keepers) and rotated them based on expected player counts as I had a whole lot more of them at home. Was a great way to make my collection size way more efficient too, eg. I have splendor in one of these cases instead of the big air-filled box it usually comes in.
Some of the apps are actually quite decent, if you have a tablet. Many have pass and play ability.
Besides, Splendor is already tiny if you don't use the original box. I used to travel with it with a card holder tall enough to also hold the chips.
People in the netherlands take travel size real serious. Just bought pocket sized Qwirkle for when I’m in a bar with my SO. And they also have lost cities the duel in literally pocket size, same for sushi go.
999games likes travel size, and I hope more publishers jump on the wagon.
Deluxifying and cool stuff is nice and all… but man, I realize that the more they’re overproduced, the less I play them. It’s why I’m not backing CoB reprint right now.
I know it's not the same ask, but there are a lot of Kickstarter type games where a lot of the box space and price come from miniatures. I would be very interested in re-releases of those with meeples, tokens, or standees.
Honestly that is one thing i like about the tiny epic games, they take no space at all and still pack a helluva punch. Of course the tiny size of the meeples and such can be a turn off for many because it lacks table presence but i like it.
Actually I don't like Azul travel. The components are too small and fiddly for me, because my hands get stiff sometimes. P But that's just my opinion, I have friends who do like it and who own it,
When I travel to visit family over Christmas, I stuff the components of like 7 games into an old Pandemic Legacy box, that can either throw into a carry-on or backpack if I have to. I think that works really well. Even a travel size box would waste space I imagine.
I agree. I've seen some 3D printed travel versions, Splendor and Gravwell specifically, and I'm sure there are more. The Splendor one actually uses the original components, in a surprisingly small package. I have Ultra Tiny Epic Galaxies and UTE Kingdoms, and love them both.
> Wouldn't that be a fairly easy thing for a game publisher to do, to squeeze a little more revenue without requiring any new R&D?
While it doesn't require as much R&D as a brand new game, a travel version likely requires at least _some_ R&D. If you have to make components smaller, you almost certainly need to rework them in some way, since just shrinking them might not look as good or be as usable. And you'll need to test them at their new sizes. Depending on how much the components had to change, this could be a fair bit of testing. And there's work involved in the process of shrinking components too. Some thoughts off the top of my head:
- If there's text on the component/box/manual, you'd ideally want it at the same size it was on the original component, or as close to it as possible, for legibility. The publisher chose the size on the original for a specific reason.
- Artwork for components/boxes/manuals might not look as good smaller, so you may need to rework it somehow, perhaps cropping a portion of the original.
- Components might not be able to be exactly the same proportions when shrunk down, depending on the components and the manufacturing process. Plastic injection molding of minis, for example, would require whole new molds being made. Same thing for the vacuum molding of plastic box inserts.
The other issue for the publisher (besides production costs) is that it's splitting a product line. If you have multiple versions of a game, that's more items in your catalog that stores need to go through and decide "do I want to carry this?". If you only have one version, and the store knows it's a game people want, they're definitely going to order it. If you have two versions, they're going to have to choose between ordering one, the other one, or both -- they're not _all_ going to order both. Stores have a limited amount of space. If they carry multiple versions of one game, that's less space for a different game, and therefore less variety they can offer. Granted the travel version won't take up the same amount of retail space as the original, but space is still space, and additionally smaller games are less noticeable so taking up less retail space in some ways can be a negative.
So even for a game like Splendor where arguably they could keep the components the same size (though not the rules book or the box insert) and "just" use a smaller box, there are many reasons why they might not want to make a travel version.
(TLDR: This post is basically a long version of /u/CBPainting's [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1cew5rp/i_wish_that_travel_size_editions_were_more_of_a/l1mq79p/) "It may seem simple from the outside, but speaking from professional experience what you're talking about is effectively publishing an entirely new game.")
I like making "theme boxes." To combat boxes that are massively oversized for the game within, I'll combine multiple games into a single box. Here are the rules:
1. The player count for all the games must match.
2. There must be a common theme of some kind, so the box as a whole makes sense.
3. The combination must be reasonably convenient still; i.e. I don't want it to take 15 extra minutes to sort out the game I want to play.
So far I have several of these:
- In my **That Time You Killed Me** box I have 10 total 2-player abstract strategy games with relatively short playtimes. This is a great box to take to a friend's house for the evening.
- In my **No Thanks** box are 3 different party-style, 7-player bidding games.
- I'm currently working on a set of 6-player auction games to go in my **Pathfinder Revolution** box. For Sale and Medici, I'm thinking.
- I have a tiny box that still manages to hold three 6-player "lying" card games - Coup, Spicy, and Waka Tanka.
- I don't own Splendor anymore, but I think it would be pretty easy to get Azul (especially if you use the travel edition), Sagrada, and maybe even one more in there.
It's a fun little project I enjoy doing, and it helps cut down on the mental anguish I feel when I see the components of a game taking up 10% of the box!
A game like **Long Shot: The Dice Game** is excellent for my tastes... small, fits in tight spaces, and doesn't eat up precious space in the gaming bag. However, it's at the cost of a small board. Some are hoping they make a board that's much bigger, although whether or not that'll come to fruition is another thing.
May I direct your attention to Splendor Duel? A very portable two-player version that adds a "playing chicken over who will refill the gem supply" mechanic. Highly recommended; I think I actually enjoy it more than the larger version.
Imagine if all board games were made this way, my Kallax would have so much more room and how much more unopened games I'd have still shrink-wrapped 😂 Bring on the Twilight Imperium: zippers and germs!
I generally agree, it'd be cool, though sometimes mobile/game versions could work just as well. Everyone seems to love the Dune Imperium game, for example. I remember being so impressed by that one guy who made his own shrunken travel-ready physical copy, but personally if I'm flying somewhere I'd probably just grab the app.
Trailblazers takes this to a confusing extreme where they have a regular edition, a deluxe edition, a travel edition, a super travel edition (discontinued?), and a pocket edition, with a hodgepodge of mini expansions that exist in some but not all versions of the game.
Bizarre. I was initially interested in a copy but trying to figure out what comes with which version just completely turned me off in the end. Will probably just fiddle with it on Board Game Arena if ever
Once you don't care for the box, Splendor fits in a medium-small freezer bag with a zip-lock. I have seen it transported like that by a Ukrainian refugee that came to my country at the start of the war.
The real truth I learned the hard way is that retail stores don't like small box games for the most part in the US. It comes down to people equating the size of the box to the value of the game. I had a bunch of retailers tell me if I had a bigger box they would have stocked my game right away, but since I designed it as I would want it for a player they won't.
Maybe designers that want to do this should design a large retail box then include a smaller, less fancy travel box for storage and travel
Yes, but the truth is that rules out most smaller publishers. You have to print in bulk so you can't print 2 versions and get a similar price break, you can get extra boxes and repack yourself but shipping costs are bonkers and that's not even including the time of someone repacking.
I didn't say print two versions - I said print a smaller box and include it in the bigger box.
Ah sorry misunderstood, however box cost is a decent part of the overall production cost depending on the game type, and most smaller publishers can't afford 2x of the same amount of boxes added to the landed amount.
[my BGG blog post on reasons why boxes can't be smaller](https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/29490/why-cant-we-have-more-smaller-boxes-let-me-count-t). A comment also added bigger boxes are easier to command larger price points.
Will check this out thanks!
Well, retail stores want to sell, and larger boxes sell better than smaller boxes, because of human psychology. A larger box seems more promising, valuable and desireable. So can't really blame the retailers I guess?
Nope, it's just at odds with what most players want lol
Give me Arkham Horror Travel Size with all the expansions, you cowards, and make it magnetic.
Small enough to fit on a seat-back tray table.
I want it engraved on a grain of rice
The trading card game or the other one? If you use an apk for all the random event cards is quite possible.
Def 2E, with the 20 decks
To travel with some of my games, I usually put all the content of one box into a freezer bag. Just removing the box is already a good improvement to gain some room and travel lighter.
I think a big problem is that people associate box size with price and weight. And a bigger box catches more eyes on the shelf. If I put red cathedral and pirates on the table (a 1.5 hour game in a box about half the size of quest for el dorado, and a 10 minute game the size of el dorado) people assume the first one is the short filler and the second is the long game. People wouldnt be so willing to pay 50 bucks for a filler if the box was small either.
This is 1000% accurate and the real answer.
I’ve actually had a lot of fun making “travel sets” of some of my favorite games over the years, generally by decorating a small cloth bag (the ones that Worldbuilders Market ships Tak pieces in; I bought a bunch of them some years ago) and filling it with either the pieces from the game itself or homemade replacements, plus a cloth board if applicable. Sometimes it’s even possible to combine two games if they use similar components. So far I’ve got: • Tak / Onitama • Hey That’s My Fish / Element • Skull / So Long Sucker • Thud • The Fox in the Forest • The Blood of an Englishman
I want to see pictures!!!
[Onitama](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4671372/onitama) and [Tak](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/TakEndgameTowers.jpg) [Hey That’s My Fish](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Travel-HeyThatsMyFish.jpg) and [Element](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Travel-Element.jpg) [Skull](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Skull-SoLongSucker-TravelSet.jpg) (with enough extra blank poker chips inside to also play So Long Sucker) [Blood of an Englishman](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/BloodOfAnEnglishman-Bag.jpeg) (this one is my pride and joy; I spent weeks teaching myself how to draw those Celtic-knot vine borders and I love the way it turned out) [the bag art for Tak, Thud!, and a tarot deck](http://math.andcheese.org/boardgames/Tak-Thud-Tarot-bags.jpg) I think those are all the photos I have at the moment. If I can take more later I’ll make a new post.
That is awesome. Your travel companion has it good! :)
Heck yeah. Of these we most frequently play Tak, though a month ago we were visiting my parents and tried teaching them how to play Skull. Not their usual sort of game (they mostly play word games like Quiddler, Scrabble, and Just One), but they figured it out almost immediately and we all had a great time.
Now I want to make a cloth Onitama board that cinches up as the board. And a smaller version of the cards I guess.
A combination bag/board would be cool! I cut a board from some checkerboard-printed cloth I found at a fabric store, and designed smaller versions of the cards to print out on cardstock. [Here’s a picture of the result.](https://boardgamegeek.com/image/4671372/onitama)
Do you print onto cloth using an online service or those iron-on transfer sheets? Any advice regarding type of cloth to print onto?
A much more old-fashioned approach, actually: I draw the design on paper with heavy black ink (or design it in a computer graphics program and print it on paper), cut it small enough that I can put it into the bag, and carefully trace over it (the fabric is thin enough that I can barely see the ink on the paper inside) with a Sharpie.
https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/318181/small-box-game-jackets?itemid=10484639#10484639
I have mostly smaller box/card games for this reason. I do wish some of the bigger ones I have were smaller.
I agree. I love big games in small boxes!
I just want some cool small games, not smaller version of big games.
There's a reason I like the Tiny Epic games so much. The engineering involved in fitting a compelling game in a small box, even if during play time it ends up being a bit of a table hog. Mint tin games are generally lighter and can be tricky to get back in their tin, but they also travel well. For some games our favourite version of that game is actually the smaller version. Qwirkle Travel Edition and Hive Pocket Edition the smaller versions play just as well as the full sized game. Citadels 2016 actually went back to the smaller cards and box for the reprint like the original was. Azul Mini is not only smaller but the tiles slot into place and the score tracker is a clicky thing that stops it from getting knocked off (happens more than you'd think). The whole game fits in the tile bag. Other favourites that get a lot of play because they travel well: - Radlands - Tak (cloth board or the keychain token thing that denotes the center of the board) - Coup - Jaipur - Turing Machine (leave the hexagon thing and the fancy stand the punch cards go in, just pack the decks of cards)
When I think of travel I think of box size and table space. TE games take a ton of table space. I am never gonna pull that out camping like I would mini Azul or Hive. Same argument with the tin size games. Ya it's small but fiddly as all get out. Just not a good airplane or tiny hotel desk solution, Imo
For me tiny games are more about transport and less about play space. I don't fly or commute often, mostly drive to someone's house. So once I get where I'm going there's a table or something to play on.
And it's worth noting: I like Ultra Tiny Epic Galaxies even more than the Tiny version!
I made a travel size version of Quantum a few years back that fit in a box smaller than a Tiny Epic game. * 7 16mm d6 each in Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow, plus one black and one white d6. I could have used 12mm dice to make it even more compact in retrospect. * 7 8mm cubes each in Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow * 24 70mm square cards for map tiles, each a 3x3 grid with a number in the middle. * 51 Mini Euro cards for Gambit and Command cards * 4 Tiny Epic sized cards for Command Sheets with the rules and layouts on the back. Unfortunately I lost all my files for the game a few years ago when my computer bricked.
It may seem simple from the outside, but speaking from professional experience what you're talking about is effectively publishing an entirely new game. Except that the pool of potential customers for the game you're publishing is smaller because most of the people who would have bought it already have it. It's just not worth the cost.
https://buttonshygames.com/collections/wallet-games-1
Button Shy games often occupy this weird space in board games where the storage is tiny but the game isn't necessarily great for travel. Sprawlopolis and *especially* Battlecrest can struggle to fit on a smaller table.
One of the Ancient Terrible Things expansions came in a small box that fit the base game (using cards to replace the board, for example). I put it all in there, and I've never taken it anywhere. But I love the idea of it being so compact.
There are some game printing companies out there that could print what you want, in theory you can send them an image of the board and all of the cards and they can scale it down. You're totally right there, they have some of the basics in a travel size but nothing for the more interesting board games I've found.
Turning existing games into travel editions is actually a lot of fun. I've shrunk boards and printed them to heavy card stock to fit them into IRIS 5x7" cases, and then put a whole bunch of those into keepers like this one: https://www.amazon.com.au/IRIS-Extra-Large-Embellishment-Keeper/dp/B004T6I6RA?th=1 I used to carry a couple of these into work on Fridays (32 games across two keepers) and rotated them based on expected player counts as I had a whole lot more of them at home. Was a great way to make my collection size way more efficient too, eg. I have splendor in one of these cases instead of the big air-filled box it usually comes in.
Some of the apps are actually quite decent, if you have a tablet. Many have pass and play ability. Besides, Splendor is already tiny if you don't use the original box. I used to travel with it with a card holder tall enough to also hold the chips.
People in the netherlands take travel size real serious. Just bought pocket sized Qwirkle for when I’m in a bar with my SO. And they also have lost cities the duel in literally pocket size, same for sushi go. 999games likes travel size, and I hope more publishers jump on the wagon. Deluxifying and cool stuff is nice and all… but man, I realize that the more they’re overproduced, the less I play them. It’s why I’m not backing CoB reprint right now.
Most people don't want travel sized games. Seems to me there's only revenue to be squeezed if the game is unusually popular.
Travel sized could just mean space-optimized boxes
The OP is talking about half sized cards.
I know it's not the same ask, but there are a lot of Kickstarter type games where a lot of the box space and price come from miniatures. I would be very interested in re-releases of those with meeples, tokens, or standees.
I like Verdant and Cascadia because i can reasonably jam everything in the canvas/cloth bag they use for chips.
Honestly that is one thing i like about the tiny epic games, they take no space at all and still pack a helluva punch. Of course the tiny size of the meeples and such can be a turn off for many because it lacks table presence but i like it.
Azul travel is better in a couple ways, the score keeper being the biggest one, but also having tiles that stay in place
Actually I don't like Azul travel. The components are too small and fiddly for me, because my hands get stiff sometimes. P But that's just my opinion, I have friends who do like it and who own it,
When I travel to visit family over Christmas, I stuff the components of like 7 games into an old Pandemic Legacy box, that can either throw into a carry-on or backpack if I have to. I think that works really well. Even a travel size box would waste space I imagine.
I agree. I've seen some 3D printed travel versions, Splendor and Gravwell specifically, and I'm sure there are more. The Splendor one actually uses the original components, in a surprisingly small package. I have Ultra Tiny Epic Galaxies and UTE Kingdoms, and love them both.
> Wouldn't that be a fairly easy thing for a game publisher to do, to squeeze a little more revenue without requiring any new R&D? While it doesn't require as much R&D as a brand new game, a travel version likely requires at least _some_ R&D. If you have to make components smaller, you almost certainly need to rework them in some way, since just shrinking them might not look as good or be as usable. And you'll need to test them at their new sizes. Depending on how much the components had to change, this could be a fair bit of testing. And there's work involved in the process of shrinking components too. Some thoughts off the top of my head: - If there's text on the component/box/manual, you'd ideally want it at the same size it was on the original component, or as close to it as possible, for legibility. The publisher chose the size on the original for a specific reason. - Artwork for components/boxes/manuals might not look as good smaller, so you may need to rework it somehow, perhaps cropping a portion of the original. - Components might not be able to be exactly the same proportions when shrunk down, depending on the components and the manufacturing process. Plastic injection molding of minis, for example, would require whole new molds being made. Same thing for the vacuum molding of plastic box inserts. The other issue for the publisher (besides production costs) is that it's splitting a product line. If you have multiple versions of a game, that's more items in your catalog that stores need to go through and decide "do I want to carry this?". If you only have one version, and the store knows it's a game people want, they're definitely going to order it. If you have two versions, they're going to have to choose between ordering one, the other one, or both -- they're not _all_ going to order both. Stores have a limited amount of space. If they carry multiple versions of one game, that's less space for a different game, and therefore less variety they can offer. Granted the travel version won't take up the same amount of retail space as the original, but space is still space, and additionally smaller games are less noticeable so taking up less retail space in some ways can be a negative. So even for a game like Splendor where arguably they could keep the components the same size (though not the rules book or the box insert) and "just" use a smaller box, there are many reasons why they might not want to make a travel version. (TLDR: This post is basically a long version of /u/CBPainting's [comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/boardgames/comments/1cew5rp/i_wish_that_travel_size_editions_were_more_of_a/l1mq79p/) "It may seem simple from the outside, but speaking from professional experience what you're talking about is effectively publishing an entirely new game.")
Id like more solid boxes as well
I’d love a travel sized Mage Knight. Like just a small version of Mage Knight with mini euro sized cards, not a spinoff like Mage Lite or Mint Knight.
I like making "theme boxes." To combat boxes that are massively oversized for the game within, I'll combine multiple games into a single box. Here are the rules: 1. The player count for all the games must match. 2. There must be a common theme of some kind, so the box as a whole makes sense. 3. The combination must be reasonably convenient still; i.e. I don't want it to take 15 extra minutes to sort out the game I want to play. So far I have several of these: - In my **That Time You Killed Me** box I have 10 total 2-player abstract strategy games with relatively short playtimes. This is a great box to take to a friend's house for the evening. - In my **No Thanks** box are 3 different party-style, 7-player bidding games. - I'm currently working on a set of 6-player auction games to go in my **Pathfinder Revolution** box. For Sale and Medici, I'm thinking. - I have a tiny box that still manages to hold three 6-player "lying" card games - Coup, Spicy, and Waka Tanka. - I don't own Splendor anymore, but I think it would be pretty easy to get Azul (especially if you use the travel edition), Sagrada, and maybe even one more in there. It's a fun little project I enjoy doing, and it helps cut down on the mental anguish I feel when I see the components of a game taking up 10% of the box!
A game like **Long Shot: The Dice Game** is excellent for my tastes... small, fits in tight spaces, and doesn't eat up precious space in the gaming bag. However, it's at the cost of a small board. Some are hoping they make a board that's much bigger, although whether or not that'll come to fruition is another thing.
May I direct your attention to Splendor Duel? A very portable two-player version that adds a "playing chicken over who will refill the gem supply" mechanic. Highly recommended; I think I actually enjoy it more than the larger version.
I want travel sized super durable SKULL. Don’t say you can okay it with a standard deck of cards.
More solid in combination with travel sized would be perfect!
Imagine if all board games were made this way, my Kallax would have so much more room and how much more unopened games I'd have still shrink-wrapped 😂 Bring on the Twilight Imperium: zippers and germs!
Your so right and you should say it!!!
I generally agree, it'd be cool, though sometimes mobile/game versions could work just as well. Everyone seems to love the Dune Imperium game, for example. I remember being so impressed by that one guy who made his own shrunken travel-ready physical copy, but personally if I'm flying somewhere I'd probably just grab the app. Trailblazers takes this to a confusing extreme where they have a regular edition, a deluxe edition, a travel edition, a super travel edition (discontinued?), and a pocket edition, with a hodgepodge of mini expansions that exist in some but not all versions of the game. Bizarre. I was initially interested in a copy but trying to figure out what comes with which version just completely turned me off in the end. Will probably just fiddle with it on Board Game Arena if ever
Where on the internet can I find pics of the shrunken dune imperium game? That sounds adorable
I should've linked it to begin with. [Here you go!](https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3135480/my-homemade-travel-dune-imperium-now-with-ix-and-i)
That’s even better than I imagined. The magnets are a genius idea…
If you are traveling, Board Game Arena is a thing. Not the exact same experience, but it exists. They also have Splendor.
Once you don't care for the box, Splendor fits in a medium-small freezer bag with a zip-lock. I have seen it transported like that by a Ukrainian refugee that came to my country at the start of the war.
Whether people like it or not, I think travel size games have been replaced by digital implementations that people can play on a tablet