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Back in the days before rediscovering modern tabletop games we played classic card games quite a bit. One of the best features of those is, obviously, their travel-friendliness. Literally hundreds , and possibly thousands, of games can be played with just one standard deck of cards. (I should really revisit some of those, I realise!) Problem Even games that consist mainly of cards come with their own deck of specially designed cards now. (This is pretty obvious, as how/why would people buy these games otherwise?) For immersion and rules recollection that is neat, but for travelling this adds unwanted bulkiness.  Solution Lately I have compressed my travel gaming by bringing one tiny game that allows for playing several others, namely " 6 nimmt! ". Great games that work with this relatively small deck of cards are: 6 nimmt itself, obviously. An amazing game that plays from 2 to 10(!) players with increasing degrees of haphazardness - two player is an ...

This year's Spiel in Essen will be a bit amputated for me unfortunately. Even more important to arrive prepared! So, I made a list. Maybe it can be of interest for others. Who knows. (A BGG Geek List with the same info: https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/197261 ) Main Releases 504 https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175878/504 This year's Friedeman Friese seems fascinating. "504 is a game that creates 504 different games out of one box.", they say, but will any of them be worth our time (and shelf space (and money))? 7 Wonders: Duel https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/173346/7-wonders-duel Antoine Bauza teams up with Bruno Cathala to revisit "7 Wonders" as a two player game with intriguing drafting mechanics inspired by... pyramid solitaire. Barony https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/167513/barony Splendor is one of my favourite games from last year. Marc André is back with a seemingly (slightly) heavier game. Mysterium https://boardg...