Entry 24: Traveling with Games

     
       As I am writing this entry, I am sitting in a house up in the Cascade Mountains of Washington overlooking a beautiful lake contemplating what to write about. I then look over to a carrying case that is next to me (where I store my computer when we go places) and thought, what about the journey? 

        You see I have two specific game bags for going to game nights and other events which I can play. One we picked up because of the need at the time, the other was a Christmas gift from my mother-in-law. Now most of our travelling that we do is via automobile so we plan on one of the bags to come with us so we have a variety of games to play. 

        In this bag next to me are the following games: Cavern Tavern, MYRACLIA, the complete Everdell series, Wishland, Drawn to Adventure, and ThunderGryph’s Matchbox Collection (15 Days, Eiyo, Rebis, Golems, & Space Lunch, in it’s carrying case with the playmats in the tube too). This gives us games to pick and choose from depending on what the length of downtime we have. 

        Now I am not predicting a lot of downtime since my 2 year daughter is at the point in her life where she thinks afternoon naps are of the devil, so having the variety to pick and choose from is great. While the girls were out at the dock this evening, I was able to get a few solo games in (thank you Matchbox Collection). Ah the peace and quiet was lovely. 

        Again, since we travel via automobile we have the opportunity to pick and choose games from our collection at will. What about for those who travel by air? I am sure that they would not want to get a board game bag full of “goodies” for the airline to manhandle and potentially damage, stored beneath them in flight, and also pay outrageous fees for it. 

        So smaller games like the Tiny Epic series or even A Fistful of Meeples that fit nicely in a small suitcase would be great to travel with. Mass produced card games such as Phase 10, Uno, the Spot It series, and Monopoly Deal would fit perfectly in a carryon bag (by the way, the individual games in Matchbox Collection would be great to travel with as well). 

        On Facebook I see posts of people looking for suggestions and/or showing us what they travel with so what to pick from is solely on what space you have and what type of game(s) you want to bring. Also, I would not bring games that would not be a good fit for the people you plan to play with. If the people you are visiting/traveling with are not into a specific genre of game, find games that they would enjoy playing as well. 

        To summarize traveling with games, my key points are the following: 

    • Bring what is appropriate for your travel needs (i.e. travel on a plane or by automobile) 

     • Bring games that will fit in your time allotted for games (do not bring a three hour game if you only have one hour of downtime). 

     • Bring games that everyone would enjoy playing. Don’t be selfish with just your personal favorites; make sure the entire group would have fun. 

        Since the pandemic is easing up a bit, I hope everyone has had a chance to travel at least for a weekend away from home. As always, be safe out there and happy gaming!