That sounds like “Heads Up,” which @ZipperJJ mentioned.
The card game Mille Bornes is fun.
I played this with family as a teen. I forgot about it. I remember liking it a lot. I’ll definitely consider it.
Any number of amazing games out there, but a lot of them may make enemies out of loved ones.
Illuminati and Munchkin can be in this group. But they’re endlessly entertaining and don’t take up too much space.
Fluxx is a lot less likely to have you stabbing each other later in the trip, and it has a lot of themed variants.
Otherwise, you can play any number of cooperative games against an “enemy” that is automated, such as Arkham Horror.
Note, that Fluxx is the smallest, about the size of a largish Uno Deck, with the others being smaller-scale board/semi-boarded games. So storage/luggage space could be an issue. I’d check your local gaming store and see how they’d fit your packing.
Bohnanza is a fun little game that is both competitive and cooperative. Every one is playing for their own win, but you will never win if you don’t negotiate trades with other players. Each game is relatively short as well.
Taboo!
This post reminded me of Bananagrams, a word game with Scrabble-like letter tiles. The game is packaged in container shaped like a banana, although slightly larger, so it doesn’t take up a lot of room. However this game could have the same problem that @kaylasdad99 pointed out with my dominos suggestion, which is that the tiles could possibly get tossed around on rough seas.
A brewery we go to has a games shelf. Several times I’ve grabbed the card game Drunk, Stoned, or Stupid but we haven’t played it yet…
I second this, especially for larger groups. The kids (teens and up) would play this for hours and then talk about it the next day. As an adult it is fun for a few games at a time, but then I want to do something with less social negotiation.
A light game I would recommend is The Great Dalmuti. The rules are easy, but with some strategy. It is possible for people to drop in and out of for a single hand (in the same way that like Apples to Apples). We played this on vacation with our extended family and it was a big hit.
Another recommendation is Coup. There is a lot of player interaction and strategy. And the play changes as people develop and then learn each other’s strategies. Similar to Coup is The Resistance.
@ParallelLines mention Fluxx which was in our rotation. Another is Love Letter which is fun, but I get burned out on quickly.
All of these games (except One Night Werewolf) are games that we’ll bring when we go out to eat. We’ll play a few hands before the food arrives; they’re portable and work in cramped spaces.
I wouldn’t worry about bringing a lot of choices. I would try to find something that will ‘click’ and everyone will want to play the whole trip. Usually this means something new to the group. Playing cards are great for this because the group will naturally gravitate to that game. We’ve had trips where the kids learned Euchre at the airport and then we played it the rest of the time. Similarly for Hearts, Spades, Cambio, Golf, etc.
We had a non-magnetic version like this, which saw plenty of use.
I’ll bet that the ship library will have many games that are available to borrow.
+1
We have a little folding travel cribbage board that is roughly the size of a deck of playing cards. It’s our go-to for camping and light travel.
Go to a board game store (not someplace like Walmart or Target) and you’ll find a ton of games about the size of a deck of cards or at most a paperback. A number will be implementations of board games into a card or dice format. Also some very small board games like the Epic Tiny series, a bunch of stuff made by a company now called Let’s All Play (but started really as a board game furniture company), and lots more. The industry has come a long way from your choices being stuff like Uno or a travel version of a game. Plus you’ll get recommendations.
I would recommend Chronology which is a party favorite amongst our crowd. If your family is interested, there’s a Disney variant.
I would also highly recommend Tenzi and the accompanying game variants card pack. For when you’re tired of playing cards.
Tried to edit, too late:
I would also bring 2 decks of cards since that allows for progressive rummy.
Boggle !
If you need it smaller for packing, most of its volume is the top, which could be omitted. Just pack the base and the letter cubes in a sandwich bag. Then instead of shaking, take turns placing letters in the base with your eyes closed.
I’m no prude, but I found CAH to be crass and unfunny - definitely not family-friendly, but also not particularly amusing. The mileage of others may vary, of course.
Yeah; my experience is that, even for adults, it’s hit-and-miss – either you find that sort of humor to be hilarious, or you absolutely don’t, and there’s not much in-between.
Apples to Apples can result in much better “crude” innuendo than the rather forced CAH deck. It’s the unexpected that makes it funny.
We add “Bubba” when we play A2A. Bubba is a fake player, that we first added with friends when we were only 4 people and works very well for our family of 3 too. Bubba just blindly plays a random answer from the hand he’s dealt. if he’s the guesser, Bubba takes our cards face down and picks the winner at random before we reveal any of the words/phrases. It makes it much harder to guess who played what card and to use that to influence the winner.
Bubba comes very close to winning sometimes.
We don’t quite remember why he’s named Bubba. We’ll often use an object (or house cat) to represent Bubba at the table, to add more silliness.