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Table for Duo

Jaipur vs The Fox in the Forest

Two card games, one small table, one clear answer.

By Scooter M. - - How we pick

Two small card games packed beside a travel bag

Buy The Fox in the Forest for travel: it is cards only with a compact shared area, published 2 players at 30 minutes. Buy Jaipur if you want the easier teach and do not mind carrying goods tokens; it is also 2 players at 30 minutes.

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Both are two-player-only card games at 30 minutes, both are excellent, and both get recommended for travel. Only one of them is genuinely a tray-table game.

Quick picks

#GamePlayersTimePrice
1

The Fox in the Forest

A trick-taking game for two that actually works, which almost no trick-taker manages.

Built for two2 players30 minutes
2

Jaipur

The best first two-player card game there is: five minutes to teach, and it keeps giving for years.

Built for two2 players30 minutes

Player counts and playing times come from each publisher, cited on that game's review page. Tap a row to jump to the full write-up.

Verified specs

  • Jaipur -- 2 players, 30 minutes, ages 12 and up, Sebastien Pauchon, 2009. Cards plus goods tokens and bonus token stacks.
  • The Fox in the Forest -- 2 players, 30 minutes, ages 10+, Joshua Buergel, Foxtrot Games and Renegade Game Studios, 2017. Cards and a small score pad.

Footprint on a moving surface

The Fox in the Forest is trick-taking, which means the shared area is one trick at a time -- two cards. That is close to the smallest possible playing area for a real game, and it is why it survives a tray table.

Jaipur needs more: a five-card market laid out, plus goods tokens and three bonus token stacks arranged where both of you can reach. On a stable table that is nothing. On a train, a tray table, or a lap, it is a genuine problem -- tokens slide and the market gets disturbed.

Teach time cuts the other way

Jaipur teaches in about five minutes to anyone. The Fox in the Forest assumes you already understand trick-taking -- following suit, trumps -- and layers greedy scoring on top of that. For someone who has never played a trick-taker, that is not a five-minute explanation, and doing it on a plane is worse.

So the honest answer depends on who is traveling with you. Experienced card players: Fox, every time. Teaching someone new on the trip: Jaipur, and accept the fiddlier setup.

Pick this if

  • Pick The Fox in the Forest for planes, trains and anywhere the surface moves. Smallest footprint of the two by a wide margin.
  • Pick Jaipur for hotel rooms, cabins and anywhere with a real table, and whenever you are teaching someone who is new to card games.
  • Pick Hive Pocket over both if the surface is unreliable or outdoors -- cards are the wrong format in wind, and Hive needs no table at all.

The picks in full

#1

The Fox in the Forest

Built for two2 players · 30 minutes · ages 10+

A trick-taking game for two that actually works, which almost no trick-taker manages.

A two-player-only trick-taking card game. Winning too many tricks makes you greedy and scores nothing, so the game is about landing in a narrow band -- and odd-numbered cards each break a rule.

Players
2
Playing time
30 minutes
Age
10+
Designer
Joshua Buergel
Publisher
Foxtrot Games / Renegade Game Studios
Published
2017

Who should skip it

Skip it if neither of you has played a trick-taking game before. The scoring rewards losing on purpose, and that lands badly cold.

Read the full review

Specs from The Fox in the Forest - Wikipedia infobox.

#2

Jaipur

Built for two2 players · 30 minutes · ages 12 and up

The best first two-player card game there is: five minutes to teach, and it keeps giving for years.

A two-player-only trading card game. You collect and sell goods in sets, racing the other trader for bonus tokens that shrink as they are taken. Best of three rounds decides it.

Players
2
Playing time
30 minutes
Age
12 and up
Designer
Sebastien Pauchon
Publisher
Asmodee / GameWorks
Published
2009

Who should skip it

Skip it if you want a board on the table. This is cards and tokens, and it looks slight next to a game with a map.

Read the full review

Specs from Jaipur (card game) - Wikipedia infobox.

Common questions

+Which is better for a plane tray table?

The Fox in the Forest. Trick-taking means the shared area is two cards at a time, where Jaipur needs room for a market plus goods and bonus tokens.

+Which is easier to teach?

Jaipur, by a lot. The Fox in the Forest assumes you already know how trick-taking works, which makes it a poor choice for teaching someone new mid-trip.

+Are both two-player-only?

Yes. Both are published for exactly 2 players at 30 minutes.

+What if we are playing outdoors?

Neither. Cards are the wrong format in any breeze. Hive is the outdoor answer because its tiles cannot blow away and need no table.

Sources

We have not played these games. What we did instead is set out on how we pick.