The retail box is unnecessarily large for travelling, but take the cards out and Exploding Minions becomes a compact, simple and very good holiday game — particularly with more players.
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Around 30 minutes per game; we can happily play for around an hour before it starts to become repetitive.
2
5
2
Families, groups, plane journeys, compact packing, more players
Very good for playing on a plane. Once removed from the oversized retail box, the cards require little space and the game works well using aircraft tray tables.
The game is entirely card based, so it isn't a good choice in windy conditions.
Very simple to learn and works well with children while still being entertaining for adults.
15
21
406
Tiny
The 15 × 21 cm retail box is unnecessarily large. The actual game is essentially a pack of cards approximately the same size as standard playing cards, so for holidays we would leave the original box at home and take the cards in a small playing-card storage box or case.
Yes — but we wouldn't take the box.
Exploding Minions comes in a surprisingly large 15 × 21 cm box weighing 406 g, which makes it look like a fairly inefficient game to pack.
Open the box, though, and the reality is completely different.
The actual game is essentially a pack of cards around the same size as normal playing cards. Put those into a small card case and suddenly Exploding Minions becomes an extremely compact holiday game.
It's probably our clearest example of why you shouldn't always judge a game's travel suitability by its retail packaging.
This would be our number-one packing tip for Exploding Minions.
There's simply no reason we'd sacrifice enough suitcase space for the original box when the cards themselves take up so little room.
We'd transfer them into a small playing-card case before travelling. That protects the cards while reducing the amount of luggage space required dramatically.
It's something worth considering with other games too: before deciding a game is too large to take away, check how much of the box is actually necessary.
Exploding Minions is still a very simple game despite our 2/5 complexity rating.
It's easy to get started and works particularly well when you've got several people playing. In our experience, the more players the better.
A game takes roughly 30 minutes, which puts it nicely between our ultra-quick games such as Dobble and something we'd choose for an entire evening.
Around an hour is probably the sweet spot for us.
We'd happily play a couple of games in succession, but after that it starts to become a little repetitive.
That makes it useful when we want something more substantial than a five-minute filler without committing ourselves to several hours of gaming.
For a whole evening, we'd be more likely to choose something such as The Crew.
Yes. This is one of its strengths once you've left the oversized box at home.
The cards don't require a particularly large playing area, and we'd be comfortable playing it using aircraft tray tables.
Combined with the fact that the actual game takes up roughly the space of a normal pack of cards in your luggage, it makes Exploding Minions a very practical game for a flight.
Yes.
The game is straightforward enough for children to understand without requiring adults to spend half the game explaining what's happening.
At the same time, it's still entertaining for adults, particularly when you've got a larger group playing together.
That makes it a useful family holiday game rather than something we'd pack specifically for either adults or children.
This isn't where we'd choose Exploding Minions.
It's entirely card based, so wind immediately becomes a problem. If we were expecting to play outside somewhere breezy, we'd take something like Hive Pocket instead.
That's another reason we like having a mixture of games with us rather than expecting one game to work in every situation.
In the original box: poor.
Without the original box: excellent.
The retail box measures 15 × 21 cm and weighs 406 g, but those figures don't really represent how we'd travel with the game.
Take out the cards, put them into a small protective case, and the amount of suitcase space required drops dramatically.
Few of our games benefit more from repacking before a holiday.
Exploding Minions is a very good holiday game hiding inside a completely unnecessary travel box.
It's simple, family-friendly, works particularly well with more players and is practical enough to play on an aircraft.
We'd happily play it for around an hour, although it doesn't have the longevity of something like The Crew for us.
Most importantly, leave the original box at home. Once you do that, Exploding Minions changes from something that looks awkward to pack into one of the easiest games in our collection to fit into a suitcase.
Very good for playing on a plane. Once removed from the oversized retail box, the cards require little space and the game works well using aircraft tray tables.
The game is entirely card based, so it isn't a good choice in windy conditions.
Very simple to learn and works well with children while still being entertaining for adults.
Exploding Minions
Exploding Minions
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