Everyday Tabletop Gaming Carry (EDTGC)

Everyday Carry (EDC) is a term for a popular Internet trend and subculture where people share what they carry with them: it’s often about collections of small tools, gadgets and items that fit into pockets, pouches and backpacks.

As a tabletop gaming enthusiast who’s often on the go, I’ve been interested in other ways of gaming than big box games. So much so, that I recently wrote about my “shrink design” hobby. That post is about different projects that I’ve worked on over the years to make board gaming enjoyable on the go. Or as Youtuber actualol measures it: maximising the fun density.

I don’t carry all of those projects with me every day though — there’s just too many of them these days. I still want to be able to play a variety of interesting games on the go so I have collected and created a collection of items I carry with me every time I leave home: my Everyday Tabletop Games Carry (EDTGC).

The cornerstone of my EDTGC is Potluck deck. It’s a semi-universal deck of 106 cards designed by myself a few years ago. It’s designed to play specifically a dozen or so of my favourite games, plays way more by accidental design overlap and since it includes two sets of traditional French suit decks, the actual count of games is way into few thousands.

My most played game with it is by far 6 Nimmt! by Wolfgang Kramer as it’s a game that’s easy to explain, plays up to 10 players and is easy to finish up mid-game if needed.

I still keep discovering new games that fit this system and I’m also designing a new deck called Banquet to expand to a new set of games that are not playable with Potluck.

A lot of games require you to keep score and many large games come with big boards for scorekeeping, making them hard to carry with them. I struggled for a long time to figure out a good way to have a universal score keeping system that was physical. These days, there’s no shortage of mobile apps and websites that can keep score but I hate using my phone when gaming so I wanted something tangible.

The solution was this counter design by Printables user Oak. I’ve printed a few of them to keep with me at all times. They can keep score of points or hit points up to 99 which is usually plenty for most games I play. Rotating dials are a delight to use and with dual-color prints, the scores are easy to see on a glance.

Having these counters with me lets me leave a lot of stuff at home when I bring other games with me.

One of the games in Potluck that requires more than just cards is the great Onitama by Shimpei Sato. It’s a chess-esque tactics game that uses a selection of cards but also a 5x5 grid board and tokens or meeples.

My board of choice is a mouse pad with custom print. I created a 5x5 grid and added a bit of Onitama style flair into it. It’s sturdy enough that even when folded into the bag, it has never not returned to its original shape. I keep it in my backpack’s side pocket folded, always ready to play.

Inspired by JP Coovert’s video on making custom DnD tokens, I’ve created my own that I can use for playing Onitama but they are also handy for other games that require keeping track of a starting player or non-standard clockwise playing order. I store them in this 3D printed tube designed for Crokinole discs by vzom. (They are also handy if I ever need to explain the football’s offside rule to someone in a pub.)

Dice are versatile and universal. They can be used for randomising numbers but also for keeping track of points and other values. I keep with me a collection of D6 dice as well as a single 7-die set in case I run into unexpected adventures on my travels.

One place where I find myself playing games often is trains and rolling dice in a moving train with small tables can be a pain. That’s why I have this cloth dice tray that keeps the dice from rolling all around but crucially also reduces the noise they make to avoid bothering other people in the same space. Mine lays completely flat when stored away and snaps with four corner snaps together to create a nice sized tray.

I can’t remember the exact brand this is, I picked it up from a local game store one day years ago.

All in all, these items take very little space and are pretty much unnoticeable during my day to day travels but are excellent for all sorts of gaming from quick 2 player sessions to larger party games.

This is my base kit that I then spice up with any of the other travel-sized games in my collection when I know I’ll be gaming somewhere.