Sea Salt & Paper

Sea Salt & Paper is the game that lives in a bag for restaurants and airport gates, and it has no business being as tense as it is. We give it 5/5 Bamboo and 4/5 Pandas. The squeeze at the middle of it, where you either stop with a score you can defend or push further and hand somebody else the chance to end the round on top of you, works better here than it does in games costing three times as much.

The full review explains those scores and who we think should buy it. Couples and anyone who mostly games as a pair should read how it plays head to head first, since the two-player game changes enough to deserve an honest breakdown of its own.

If you already own it and keep calling for the stop a beat too early, the strategy guide covers stop versus last chance timing, the color bonus math, and the collection priority most players get wrong. And if the box is still on your wishlist next to the other famous tiny card game, Sea Salt & Paper vs Sushi Go sorts out which one suits your group and how much strategy you actually want from a filler.