Lightweight and Portable Strategy Games For Beginners and Experts
For low mileage trips, base camping, families, and groups of outdoorsy nerds, lightweight backpacking games represent a new frontier of limitless backcountry entertainment. Imagine yourself at camp, surrounded by scenic natural beauty, having just outmaneuvered your friends to make a glorious and game-winning play. People who already love gaming and backpacking will find that combining them makes for two great tastes that taste great together!
My hiking partners and I are all lifelong gamers, and we have been playing lightweight backpacking games for nearly a decade. It’s pretty safe to declare that we’re the world’s foremost experts of this niche inside a niche. Some games work better than others, and over the years, we’ve learned how to pick ‘em. Here are our guidelines:
Criteria for Lightweight Backpacking Games
- Weighs less than a pound
- Plays in under an hour
- Primarily card-based
- Minimal tokens, tiles, and board placement
- Fun, easy to learn, difficult to master
This buyer’s guide includes games I’ve had positive experiences with, that meet the above criteria. It is not a comprehensive list of all possible backpacking compatible games, and many of our favorites have since gone out of production and are no longer available. Jump ahead for a deep dive into our pro tips for backcountry gaming. We also recommend carrying a backpacking tarp, so you can play in the rain or block the wind.
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Cover Photos: Playing Riftforce in the North Cascades
Lightweight Backpacking Games By Category
Classic Card Game Supplies (⬇)
- Waterproof Playing Cards
- Dice Set
- Travel Cribbage Board
- Magnetic Chess Set
- Space Pen & Waterproof Notepad
2 Player Backpacking Games (⬇)
- Rift Force & Beyond Expansion (2p)
- Lost Cities (2p)
- Star Realms (2p)
- Epic Card Game (2p)
- Botanic (2p)
- Radlands (2p)
Multiplayer Backpacking Games (⬇)
- Paper Tales & Beyond the Gates Expansion (2-5p)
- 7 Wonders (2-7p)
- Citadels (2-8p)
- Guillotine (2-5p)
- Love Letter (2-4p)
Simple, Group, & Kid-Friendly Games (⬇)
- Sushi Go! (2-5)
- No Thanks (3-7p)
- Set (2-12p)
- The Great Dalmuti (2-8P)
- Exploding Kittens (2-5)
Playing Fairy Tales in the San Juan Mountains, CO
Playing Radlands in a Fire Lookout, North Cascades, WA
Backpacking Games Comparison Table
Mobile users rotate device for full-width table
| Game | MSRP ($) | Player Range | Min Trail Weight (oz)* | Complexity 1-4** |
| Deck of Cards | 5 | 2+ | 3.0 | 2 |
| Five Dice | 5 | 2+ | .7 | 1 |
| Cribbage Board | 30 | 2-4 | 1.2 | 2 |
| Magnetic Chess | 21 | 2 | 15.0 | 4 |
| Rift Force + Expo | 20 | 2 | 13.5 | 4 |
| Lost Cities | 20 | 2 | 5.4 | 2 |
| Star Realms | 20 | 2 | 8.2 | 3 |
| Epic | 18 | 2 | 7.7 | 4 |
| Botanic | 25 | 2 | 7.4 | 2 |
| Radlands | 40 | 2 | 8.8 | 4 |
| Paper Tales + Expo | 34 | 2-5 | 15.2 | 4 |
| 7 Wonders | 60 | 2-7 | 14/24*** | 4 |
| Citadels | 30 | 2-8 | 11.0 | 3 |
| Guillotine | 15 | 2-5 | 6.9 | 2 |
| Love Letter | 15 | 2-4 | 2.4 | 2 |
| No Thanks! | 13 | 3-7 | 3.7 | 1 |
| Set | 13 | 2-12 | 4.7 | 1 |
| Great Dalmuti | 16 | 2-8 | 4.5 | 1 |
| Sushi Go! | 12 | 2-5 | 6.0 | 2 |
| Exploding Kittens | 20 | 2-5 | 3.5 | 1 |
- *Minimum trail weight assumes removal of packaging, rule book, and unnecessary game pieces. It does not assume switching out counters and tokens for found objects (i.e. pebbles), but this can reduce weight even further. Your measurements may vary due to new editions of games printed on different cardstock, exclusions or inclusion of tokens, rule books, etc
- **Complexity is my subjective analysis relative to other games featured in this guide (not to all games in existence), and factors in complexity of rules, ease of learning, strategic depth potential, length of time it takes to play
- ***Save 10 ounces by replicating the 1/8″ thick Wonder boards onto regular paper instead
Playing It’s A Wonderful World on the Olympic National Park Coast in December
Waterproof Playing Cards
You probably already own a deck of playing cards, but if you’re going to buy one specifically for backcountry and/or travel use, it might as well be Hoyle Waterproof. My personal favorite classic card games are cribbage, hearts, and thirteen.
- Price: $5
- Weight: 2+
- Player Range: 2+
- Complexity: 2/4
Dice
A set of dice open up a wide array of possible lightweight backpacking games. My personal favorites are liars dice (five dice per person), Yahtzee, (five dice total), Left Center Right (three dice total), and pig (one to three dice). The particular set we’ve linked to is very economical.
- Price: $7 for set of 50
- Weight: .7 oz per set of 5
- Player Range: 2+
- Complexity: 1/4
Travel Cribbage Board
Cribbage is far and away the most classic lightweight backpacking game. It is easy to learn, easy to play, but still allows diehard strategist gamers opportunity for complex decision making, especially in the pegging phase. Three and four player variants exist, though it’s best as a 2 player game. I recommend a fold out Cribbage Board with wooden peg holes.
- Price: $30
- Weight: 1.2 oz
- Player Range: 2-4
- Complexity: 2
Magnetic Travel Chess Set
If you and your hiking partner are both dedicated chess enthusiasts, there may be no greater joy than playing in the backcountry. I recommend a magnetic travel set to keep size and bulk down, and pieces from sliding around. That being said, while I have major respect for chess, it is heavy for a two player game. And personally, I just don’t think it’s very fun. The lack of hidden information, zero variance, and maximalist analytic processing power required decreases joy, requires 100% of your attention, and all but guarantees the better player will win in a predetermined outcome.
- Price: $21
- Weight: 15.0 oz
- Player Range: 2
- Complexity: 4/4
Fisher Space Pen
Any pen will do, but if want the best option, it might as well be a Fisher Space Pen. It writes on just about any surface at angle (and even zero gravity) due to the pressurized ink cartridge. Made with aerospace quality metals, these are impressively durable gadgets, and also make great gifts.
- Price: $17-35
- Weight: 0.2-1.0 oz, depending on model
Rite In The Rain Notepad
Notepads are good for score keeping, and can even replace cribbage and battle ship boards. Like most of our aforementioned supplies, just about any small notepad will work, but Rite In The Rain waterproof notepads are the optimal choice. Refer to this list for inspiration on pen and pad-based games.
- Price: $10 three pack
- Weight: ~1 oz
Playing Lost Cities at Mount St. Helens
Riftforce + Beyond Expansion
Riftforce was my 2 player backpacking game of choice from 2023-2024, and its profound strategic depth relative to a simple rule set never ceased to impress me. Each turn you are forced to decide between developing your board, attacking your opponent, or scoring points and refreshing your hand. A new character draft at the start of each game makes Riftforce eminently replayable, and I still don’t have mastery after 20+ rounds and counting. To diehard strategy card gamers, I cannot recommend this one highly enough and the Beyond Expansion is very worthwhile and drastically increases replayability.
- Price: $10 base game, $10 expansion
- Weight: ~1 oz
- Player Range: 2
- Complexity: 4/4
Lost Cities
Lost Cities is an absolutely classic 2 player numbers game that rewards you for probability analysis, expected value, risk taking, and keeping track of what your opponent is up to. Its simple rules are a joy for both casuals and enthusiasts. Despite the oversized cards, the board itself is unnecessary, and removing it makes this game lightweight and highly portable.
- Price: $20
- Weight: 5.4 oz
- Player Range: 2
- Complexity: 2/4
Star Realms
Star Realms is a portable sci-fi themed deck builder, a la Dominion, and a perfect 2 player backpacking game. Start with a very basic fleet and build as you go, trashing the low performers. The rules engine encourages players to look for synergistic combinations of star ships from among four factions in order to maximize economy and damage output against the opposing player.
- Price: $20
- Weight: 8.2 oz
- Player Range: 2
- Complexity: 3/4
Epic
Magic: The Gathering players will feel right at home with Epic. The rules, while still complex, are like a simplified version of MtG in four self-contained 30 card decks based on four color factions. Draft them, build sealed decks, or jump right in by choosing a preconstructed mono-color deck. I list this as 2 player, but four people can also play via two 1v1s, or two-headed giant style.
- Price: $18
- Minimum Weight: 7.7 oz
- Player Range: 2-4
- Complexity: 4/4
Botanik
Botanik is a 2 player tile placement game with an infusion of visually stunning biopunk artwork. It evokes gameplay mechanics from multiple genres, including adjacent-tile-connector games like Carcassonne, and a tile acquisition mechanic reminiscent of playing Lost Cities.
- Price: $25
- Minimum Weight: 7.4 oz
- Player Range: 2
- Complexity: 2/4
Radlands
Randlands is a thrillingly swingy, two player interactive card game, set in a Mad Max-esque desert dystopia. Its relatively simple to play, but rewards extremely technical sequencing, and synergy deployment. Strategy gamers, especially MtG players, will love Radlands. An expansion is available called Cult of Chrome
- Price: $40
- Minimum Weight: 8.8 oz
- Player Range: 2
- Complexity: 4/4
Playing Paper Tales in an alpine hut on the Mt. Hood Timberline Trail
Paper Tales
Paper Tales and its Beyond the Gates expansion is a magnificent card drafting game, and it kept my friend group occupied for three years worth of backcountry entertainment. The game alternates between drafting and playing cards, with four rounds of each. Those with the most synergistic combination of resource generation and card power will win. The game features a unique mechanic in which most of your cards only last for two of the four rounds before needing to be replaced. Speaking personally, this is my all time favorite high complexity lightweight backpacking game.
- Price: $34 base game
- Minimum Weight: 15.2 oz (base game + expansion)
- Player Range: 2-4
- Complexity: 4/4
7 Wonders
In my opinion, card drafting is the most fun, exciting, interesting, and dynamic rules mechanic that any game can have. And 7 Wonders is one of the OGs. Each player represents a civilization that built one of the seven ancient wonders of the world, and each civ comes with a strategic specialization bonus goals. Play by drafting synergistic combinations of cards to score the most points, while keeping up with your neighbor’s military might. This game is perfect for large groups of strategy gamers, but gram counters will want to replicate the heavy cardstock Wonder Boards onto lighter paper for 10 ounces of weight savings.
- Price: $60
- Minimum Weight: 14.0/24.0 oz (without/with Wonder Boards)
- Player Range: 2-7
- Complexity: 4/4
Citadels
Citadels is a classic role selector game in which players draft characters like King, Merchant, Warlord, and Assassin in order to acquire gold and make buildings. Hidden information makes it interesting, as some roles block other roles, and nobody knows who took which.
- Price: $30
- Minimum Weight: 11.0
- Player Range: 2-8
- Complexity: 3/4
Guillotine
Guillotine is fun, silly and eminently simple. Players are tasked with executing France’s corrupt nobility, and score points based on the heads they’ve collected. Use cards to strategically manipulate the executioner’s line; Marie Antionnete’s head is much more valuable than any old duke.
- Price: $20
- Minimum Weight: 6.9 oz
- Player Range: 2-5
- Complexity: 2/4
Love Letter
It’s the renaissance your job is to win the princess’s hand in marriage. Each player will attempt to outwit their opponents by deducing the contents of their hands and playing accordingly. Love Letter is simple, fun, and ultralight!
- Price: $15
- Minimum Weight: 2.4 oz
- Player Range: 2-4
- Complexity: 2/4
Playing Citadels in the North Cascades
Sushi Go!
The simplest of all drafting games, Sushi Go! is fun for novices, kids, and even hard core gamers. Draft synergistic combinations of sashimi, tempura, and wasabi, while keeping tabs on what your neighbors are up to in order to block them from assembling the perfect plate.
- Price: $12
- Minimum Weight: 6.0 oz
- Player Range: 2-5
- Complexity: 2/4
No Thanks!
No Thanks! is an exciting and simple lightweight backpacking game, perfect for non-gamers and families. Complexity-wise, it’s on-par with Uno. Players compete for the lowest score by bidding to not take point cards, but the script sometimes flips based on cards already in play. Of every game I’ve ever played, No Thanks! probably has the highest entertainment-to-simplicity ratio.
- Price: $13
- Minimum Weight: 3.7 oz
- Player Range: 3-7
- Complexity: 1/4
Set
Unlike the rest of this list which highlights strategy-focused lightweight backpacking games, Set challenges players in a pattern recognition race. Deal out a face up board of twelve cards, and all players will proceed to stare quietly at them until someone identifies and calls out a set of three. A set is a certain combination of cards with a number of icons with the correct shape, fill, and color. Very exciting, very simple, and the only limitation on player count is how many people can see the cards.
- Price: $13
- Minimum Weight: 4.7 oz
- Player Range: 2+
- Complexity: 1/4
The Great Dalmuti
If you know the game “Thirteen” with a deck of playing cards, The Great Dalmuti is like that on steroids. There’s more cards, more players, and a few more rules. A classic mid-nineties banger with fun medieval art.
- Price: $16
- Minimum Weight: 4.5 oz
- Player Range: 2+
- Complexity: 1/4
Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens is a silly game with a small dose of strategy and card awareness. Players use cards to prevent themselves from drawing an exploding kitten, while rigging the deck to encourage their opponents to draw one. If you draw the exploding kitten, you lose. Last player to explode wins.
- Price: $20
- Minimum Weight: 3.5 oz
- Player Range: 2+
- Complexity: 1/4
Playing Patchwork in the Trinity Alps
Pro Tips For Lightweight Backpacking Games
Bag Up Your Lightweight Backpacking Games
Always replace a game’s storage box with plastic bags to increase waterproofness and significantly decrease bulk. We recommend Smelly Proof, because they’re much more durable and longer lasting than single use Ziplocs.
Use Improvised Play Mats
Natural surfaces make gaming hard. Playing cards or tiles onto blades of grass makes balance and alignment difficult. Playing onto wet, muddy surfaces can ruin your cards and game pieces. Meeples get lost. Etc. The following common gear items can keep your gaming setup clean and orderly. Most of the photos in this guide depict playing onto some kind of improvised gaming surface.
- Maps
- Dry bags or bear bags
- Tent footprints
- Flat 1/8″ or 1/4″ thick foam pads
- Zipped open rain jackets
- Tarps
Bring a Tarp
A tarp can allow the group to play their lightweight backpacking games, even when inclement weather would otherwise prevent it. A dry communal space is highly recommend to enhance the social experience of group trips. Even if you aren’t gaming, it’s still great to set up over the hang out area. A tarp can also be a gaming play surface, or a wind block that prevents cards from blowing around.
Campsite Selection
If backpacking games will be part of your group’s evening camp routine, campsite selection is important. Make sure to choose a site with a large flat open communal space, protected from the element, and with a relatively flat surface. Avoid sites that are dusty, scrape-y, and always follow LNT principals. The best possible sites are those with picnic tables available.
Playing Backpacking Games In The Wind
Wind can seriously mess up card games, eviscerating draw decks, sending counters flying, etc. If your destination is known to be windy, I recommend choosing a tile-based game instead of a card game. But wind can be an issue pretty much anywhere, so here are a few tips: (1) Play on the leeward side of your tent; (2) use backpacks, rocks, and other objects to create a low wind wall; (3) set up a tarp as a wind wall instead of a rain cover (4); retreat into a tent as a last resort.
Replace Counters with Pebbles
Save even more weight by ditching counters/tokens/tiles/chips/etc for pebbles. Be mindful of if your game sets a limit on the number of counters and adhere to that.
Only One Backpacking Game Per Trip
We’ve tried bringing multiple games on the same trip, but rarely alternative. Whichever is the popular game is the only one that will get played. True strategy gamers can while away countless hiking hours discussing strategy lines, ranking cards, synergies, etc.
Playing Treasure Hunter in the Goat Rocks Wilderness
Playing It’s A Wonderful World on the Olympic National Park Coast in December, Photo by Simon Pratt
Conclusion To The Best Lightweight Backpacking Games
Backpacking and gaming are my two greatest passions in life, and combining them has brought incredible amounts of joy. In this buyer’s guide, we hope you found your next great backpacking game! Drop us a line if you have a lightweight game suggestion; I’m always looking for recommendations. Happy trails!
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Check out this mini cribbage board. Small, self contained, and light. A cute little gem!
https://www.tortillagear.com/product-page/backcountry-cribbage-board
Great suggestion, thanks! We’ll be sure to check that out.