BACKPACKER - The Ultimate Travel Game - Fun pocket sized card game about travelling around the world

One of the most difficult things about a new game are learning the rules - and Backpacker scores a massive bonus for its walkthough rules sheet, plus the ability to play a gradually more complex game as you learn.Which is not to say that the rules are complex. It's hard to think of a game it is similar to (poker is the nearest I can think of), which is good as it shows some originality. Basically the aim is to collect a clean set of point scoring cards (representing countries) while avoiding stopper cards (representing various negative events, like running out of money). Some cards also allow you to influence your opponents collections (usually negatively!). Play a couple of hands and you've got it.Games are played by "year" (ie. going through the pack once) and you agree at the start how many years to play. Game play will speed up significantly with practice and tactical knowledge (while there is some luck involved good play is key), but maybe 20 minutes or so per "year" as a beginner would be a reasonable estimate.The game does really require a table to be played on, and a table that everyone can sit around, so though portable I am not sure how much of a travel game (ie. a game that can be played while travelling) it is.A good family game, I am sure that players from about 7 up would enjoy it. It can be played with two, but I think probably works best with 3-4 players. No knowedge of geography or experince of backpacking whatsoever is required - indeed, as regards the former (and I dare say the latter), the game might be said to be (in the mildest sense) educational (but don't let that put you off).

This game initially takes a fair bit of brain power to wrap your head around the instructions. However it well worth powering through. The game itself is simple and the instructions do overly complicate it. Essentially the aim of the game is to be the person with the most “points” when the cards run out. Points are earned by collecting country cards, however there are lots of cards within the pack that can sabotage both yours and your opponanats points.I love the fact that there a variety of complexities of the game by simply reducing or adding to the amount of cards you play with.Highly recommended this game!

This is a great two player game. There are a lot of rules but these can be very easily picked up if you follow the 3 steps that they recommend in the instructions. This involves playing 3 versions of the game that gradually use more and more of cards, until you end up with the full set. Doing it this way we were playing the full set of rules after 4 rounds which didn't take that long, and we felt that it was easy to do this way and made a lot of sense. We attempted to play the full set if rules straight off, but we had to give up.My advice is don't give up because of it takes a while to learn, simply follow the steps in the instructions and it will be easy.Great game.

This is such a good game. We play it with our two children, aged 9 and 11 and all absolutely love it.There is quite a lot involved to start with, and the instructions do a good job of slowly bringing different, and slightly more complex elements of the game in over time (something I would strongly recommend!)Can get very tense and quite tense at times, but well worth it!

I am sure this game is good but we haven't got our heads round the complicated rules yet. Yes I agree with other reviewers that it would be better to play with someone who has played it before.

Our son (10) absolutely loves this game and would play it all day if allowed. The rules seemed a bit complicated to read through but once we started playing it all became quite obvious and easy to pick up. The only problem is that he keeps beating me! Father Christmas really did well with this one - it's amazing how the simple things prove to be the most popular presents!A great game to play at home, in the car, take on holiday, etc. I have marked as 3 stars for durability as it is a card game and, therefore, liable to wear and tear.Highly recommended!

Despite the instructions taking a while to read(!) it’s actually not too difficult a game to get the hang of! Good fun. Works well with 2 players too. Easy and compact to take travelling I’d imagine

Great game