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Rating 9 Small Box Card Games We Tried for Game Night

Small card games can be an incredible bang for your buck. They can often be found for a reasonable price point, are easy to teach, and can offer incredible strategy to make each play better than the next. We’re rating the 9 small box card games we recently played below to help you find the ones to try next, and the ones to skip.

Vegetable Stock: 9/10

Draft vegetable cards to have the most points in the vegetable stock market. Each vegetable’s stock goes up based on the card left undrafted each turn. If their stock ever exceeds 5, it crashes back down to zero. I love the push your luck element where players are trying to draft vegetables whose stock they can push higher without putting them in a position to be easily crashed by their opponents. It’s easy to teach with smooth game play and fun strategy for the whole family.

We loved this one so much it made it into our top games of 2024 list!

Gap: 8/10

In Gap, you’ll collect cards to create sets in different colors. You earn points at the end of the round by counting the number of cards in your largest set(s) and subtracting the number of cards from the set you have the least cards in. If you ever have sets tied for most or least, their values add together which means you can score big by having equally large sets, or score in the negatives by having equally small sets. It’s a bit of a push your luck game as you can try to keep your sets even to score high and risk taking negative points, or play it save and try to keep the gap between your highest and lowest set as large as possible. We found it easy to learn with some opportunities for clever card play here and there. It doesn’t do anything wildly interesting but it feels familiar and remains fun.

Mojo 6/10

In Mojo you’re trying to have the fewest points from your cards by playing them into the discard pile. If the card you play is higher than the card in the discard, you must draw an additional card. If it’s lower, you don’t have to draw. Players can play multiple cards from their hand if they each match the rank of the top card in the discard pile. When you’re down to just three cards or fewer you “go out” by placing them in front of you. These will be the cards you score. My biggest complaint with this game is the disincentive for players to go out, especially first.

The first player to get down to three cards get’s the “mojo” card. If they have the lowest total after the round, nothing happens, but if they don’t, they get +10 points. This is terribly punishing and unnecessarily extends the game as players don’t want to go out first.

Decisions are pretty obvious in Mojo. I never felt like I was doing anything interesting or clever; just going through the motions and if I got lucky that’s great. On the flip side, the decisions are very obvious so you can hold a conversation while playing and that part was enjoyable.

Turnip 2/10

This one just didn’t work for us. You’re trying to get the most cards in your market by playing numbered cards from your hand secretly in front of you. You can bluff about their value to try to sneak high valued cards past everyone so that you win the “harvest” but if someone calls you out on it successfully they earn points. We found truly no need to ever lie in this game which in a bluffing game is a big issue. Turnip is trying to be like Sheriff of Nottingham without any of the interesting bits. You’ll get about 3 plays out of it before players all catch on to its lack of substance. Pass.

Jalape-NO! 9/10

One of the best trick taking games we’ve played! You try to collect the fewest negative points by taking tricks and avoiding jalapeno cards. Jalapenos are worth -2 points and turns each card you’ve collected in their same color into -1 point. The cool part is that even if you collect a jalapeno card in a trick, you aren’t stuck with them yet! You place them face up in front of you and can play them on future tricks to try and get rid of them. This leads to a LOT of clever card play and savvy maneuvering. I dock it one point because I find the negative point element annoying as you can’t earn any positive points. I wish the goal was to just get the fewest points.

Combo 6.5/10

Combo is a competitive game where everyone will build sets and runs collectively. If your cards are part of the winning combo, you get to score them. Lower cards are worth more points but are the first to get kicked out of the combo if a higher card is played. We found this game enjoyable but the scoring a little finicky – sometimes it was hard to see which cards scored as they’re played out of order around the table. For me it’s a game that’s fun for a little while but is lacking a spark that makes it one I’ll want to keep forever. Our sons age 7-10 love it though and play it often.

Pixies 8.5/10

Pixies is a cute tableau builder that sees you drafting cards and placing them in front of you to maximize the point scoring potential of each. I love how compact it is – perfect for travel and adding to your “small but mighty” game shelf. The art is very charming and makes for a unique look compared to other games we’ve played. If you want a light, straight forward game, Pixies is a great fit, but if it’s lacking the depth and strategy you enjoy from tableau builders the next one on this list will be exactly what you’re looking for.

Castle Combo 10/10

A perfect little tableau builder! You’ll draft cards into your 3×3 player grid and earn points based on their different scoring conditions which are impacted by other cards you draft, locations you choose to place these cards, and coins you collect. It’s very simple to learn and a little mathy as you weigh each card’s value to you each time you draft. Perfect for fans of games like Point Salad or Point City and great at all player counts!

We loved this one so much it made it into our top games of 2024 list!

Ito 7/10

This is a fun, laid back party game great for big groups! Everyone gets a secret number card from 1-100 and based on the current topic must give a clue to what their number’s value is so that the group can order everyone’s cards numerically. If the topic is, “foods you could eat for the rest of your life” and your number is 3 you might say “eggplant” while someone with 90 might say “pad thai.” It combines the fun of games like Wavelength and The Mind where you start not quite knowing how everyone is thinking but then eventually get in sync. The reaction when you get the cards in order is very fun. While the game overall is very basic (hence our rating,) with the right group this could be a 10/10 experience.