The Best Button Shy Wallet Games

Written by Rob Burman

For almost a year now I’ve become obsessed with a certain type of game. I’ll wax lyrical about them whenever I get the chance. Even better I’ll rummage around in my bag or coat pocket and produce a game to back up my argument. You see, since I stumbled across Button Shy Games I have been entranced by their diminutive size, delightful leather-style wallets and unfathomably varied play experiences.

During this time I’ve been hassling long-suffering editor Charlie with requests for reviews, ideas for features or interviews with the Button Shy Games team. Perhaps fed up with reading my emails [Editor note: Never!], she delivered a killer blow: “Okay, a feature on the best Button Shy Games!”

Talk about being told to put my money where my mouth is. Charlie wanted me to narrow down an ever-expanding catalogue of delicious gaming morsels into a list of the best! I’d have an easier time choosing my favourite child (Note - if you’re reading this kids, you’re both almost as good as a Button Shy game).

So, it’s with some trepidation I sit down to write this and choose - god forbid - my current favourite Button Shy titles.

What are Button Shy Games' Wallet Games?

Before we start though, it’s worth noting why I’ve fallen in love with the Button Shy catalogue. You see, each one comes in a small wallet that easily fits inside a pocket or bag for travelling. Inside you’ll discover a handful of cards - typically around 18 - and a little leaflet explaining the rules. And that’s it.

However, what’s incredible is the amount of gameplay and variety the various designers manage to cram into such a small package. No two games ever feel the same, despite the restrictions on the format. It’s a miraculous achievement in an industry that often overwhelms you with unnecessary ‘upgraded’ tokens or plastic miniatures to bulk out a ‘deluxe edition’.

Button Shy boils it down to the fundamentals and, for that, it should be applauded.

Classic Button Shy Game: Sprawlopolis

Designers: Steven Aramini, Danny Devine and Paul Kluka

First up then, like a delicious plate of spring rolls, I’ll serve up an absolute winner: Sprawlopolis.

Released in 2018, Sprawlopolis is a cooperative game for one to four players in which you have to build a bustling city using just a handful of cards. Each card is split into four different zones (commercial, industrial, park and residential) that must be linked together in particular ways to achieve different missions. Each turn, you choose one card to play from your hand before passing the remaining two to the next player.

However, each turn poses a little puzzle you have to solve in order to score the highest points, e.g. do you try to create a little block of parks, which will score… but that might create a road network that leads to minus points? Thankfully though, there’s no analysis paralysis (at least when we play) because the game’s so quick to set-up and play, that even if you do go wrong (which you will), it takes moments to start again.

The success of Sprawlopolis has spawned numerous spin-offs, including Agropolis, Naturopolis (our family favourite) and a bunch of expansions. Pick up any and you can’t really go wrong.

Test Your Friendship Game: In Vino Morte

Designer: Chris Anderson

Having a game that works well for a large group is one of the Holy Grails of gaming and In Vino Morte nails it with a simplicity that really shouldn’t work.

The game comes with 18 cards - nine show a bottle of wine and nine have a bottle of poison. A player then deals out the cards to the rest of the group, ensuring they hand out at least one poison and at least one wine.

Then the mental gymnastics begin. Everyone needs to avoid drinking the poison and, instead, quaff the delicious wine. In order to achieve this you can choose to drink your card or swap it with someone else. The dealer, meanwhile, can’t swap and must watch as the debates unravel around them.

“Surely the dealer wouldn’t have given themselves poison… so should I swap with them? Or is it a bluff? Do they want me to swap? Ok, well they definitely won’t have poisoned granny… or is that what they want me to think? Is granny a goner?”

In Vino Morte boils down the often complex decisions of hidden role games like The Resistance or Coup into a simple choice: drink or swap! Oh, and if you really want to mess with people’s heads, add the cheese expansion.

 

The Prettiest Game: Tussie Mussie

Designer: Elizabeth Hargrave

First up, yes, that is Elizabeth Hargrave of Wingspan fame but, no, this isn’t about birds.

Tussie Mussie takes its inspiration from Victorian flower arranging. No! Come back… stay with me, it gets better. A little like set collectors such as Sushi Go! you’re trying to create little sets of similar flowers to score victory points.

To do this, you draw two cards then place one face up and the other face down, before letting the next player choose the one they want to keep, while you keep the remaining one. Again, there’s such a wonderful sense of decision making in such a simple manoeuvre, because do you try to hide the card you want, or just leave it out in the open and hope your opponent thinks you’re hiding the better one?

Quick, pretty and deceptively challenging, Tussie Mussie is a gorgeous little package.

Best Solo Game: ROVE: Results Oriented Versatile Explorer

Designers: Dustin Dobson and Milan Zivkovic

There are so many great solo play games in the Button Shy catalogue (Fishing Lessons, Food Chain Island and Ugly Gryphon Inn, for example) but the ROVE series just edges it… because it has a cute robot in.

Look, I’m a sucker for droids.

This is a spatial puzzle game that tasks you with moving around certain cards to match a particular pattern, as described on a mission card. However, the issue is that you’ve only got a limited amount of actions and need to choose wisely in order to pass the mission and unlock the next.

Like so many of the Button Shy Games, ROVE is like the T.A.R.D.I.S. with more gameplay on the inside than it may seem on the outside. It’s perfect to whip out when you’ve got some minutes to kill, instead of just doom scrolling on your phone. Also, if the normal ROVE is proving too tough, the outrageously cute ROVE Jr. goes a little gentler on the brain cells. 

And so we come to the end of this whistle stop guide through Button Shy Games and, in some ways, I’ve barely scratched the surface. Perhaps I should start pestering Charlie about a part two?