Sequence in a Tin takes 2-12 players. Phase 10 and Skip-Bo are colourblind accessible. The magnetic chess set is the only one pieces cannot fall out of.
KAILE
Why we like it
Jax
Why we like it
Bananagrams
Why we like it
Mattel
Why we like it
Mattel
Why we like it| Product | Rank | Brand | Best For | Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KAILE 10" Magnetic Chess Sets for Kids & ... | #1 | KAILE | Best Overall | 9.8 |
| Sequence in a Tin - Five-in-a-Row Fun for... | #2 | Jax | Best Player Range | 9.6 |
| Bananagrams Party Edition | #3 | Bananagrams | Most Portable | 9.4 |
| Mattel Games Phase 10 Card Game in Storag... | #4 | Mattel | Best Card Game in a Tin | 9.3 |
| Mattel Games Skip-Bo Deluxe Card Game Tin... | #5 | Mattel | Best Equipped | 9.1 |
Buyer checklist
We compared these on portability in the real sense rather than on packaging, which means asking three things of each. Does the game survive losing a piece, since a tin on a journey will be opened on a moving surface. Does it need a flat table, or can it be played on a lap or a tray. And what is the player range, because a travel game that needs exactly four people is useless on a journey with three. The magnetic set and the card games answer those differently and both answers are valid. All dimensions, player counts, contents and accessibility claims below are the publishers' own figures read off the live Amazon.com listings. Two of these five we have examined in more detail in our games-like-Uno guide, and they appear here because the tin is genuinely why you would choose them. We have not travelled with any of these.
The magnetic chess set, decisively. Every card game here is fine in a bag and fragile in use: a deck fanned out on a train table goes on the floor at the first corner, and a chip-based game like Sequence has 50 small discs that do the same. Magnetic pieces on a folding board stay where they are put through movement, which is the entire reason magnetic travel sets exist. The card games are better for a hotel room or a campsite table; the magnetic set is the one for a moving vehicle.
Because travel games are played with whoever is there, and roughly one in twelve men has some form of colour vision deficiency. Mattel states that both Phase 10 and Skip-Bo Deluxe print graphic symbols on each card alongside the colour, so identity does not depend on distinguishing hue. In a game family built on matching colours, that is the difference between someone playing and someone sitting out. None of the other games here makes that claim, and in a category defined by being brought out in front of groups, it is a more valuable feature than the packaging.
For anything that gets carried, yes, and the reason is the lid rather than the metal. A cardboard game box has a lid that lifts off and a bottom that splits at the corners after a dozen journeys, and once it fails the contents are loose in a bag. A tin has a tight lid that stays on under pressure and walls that do not deform, so it survives being at the bottom of a rucksack. The trade-offs are weight and that a dented tin lid can become hard to close properly, which is the usual way a tin game eventually fails.