Let's take a look at some solid, tiny games. The main requirement of this list, is that they will actually fit into a stocking (or a shoe if you celebrate Saint Nicholas day, but since that's today this list may be a tad bit late for you). They are also all relatively wallet-friendly.
Star Realms
Star Realms is a great little deck building game for 2 players, although this can easily be expanded to 6 by adding more deck sets. Utilizing trade and TCG-style combat, this fast paced game pits you against your opponents by having you try to reduce their score to 0. As the strategies you develop will vary based off the cards available and the status of you and your opponent, this game offers great replayability. There are also multipleexpansions available, if you want even more variety.
Coup
Coup is a great, quick bluffing game for 2-6 players. Players start with 2 hidden role cards out of a pool of 5 types (multiple copies of each, dependent on group size). During the game each player can choose an action based off the role they have, or claim to have, including assassination and coup (an insta-kill, and a required action once the player has accumulated a certain amount of money). Players caught lying about their role, or incorrectly accusing another player of lying, must lose one of their cards. The goal is to be the last player standing. The Reformation expansion adds a 6th role, a "team" dynamic, and allows the game to accommodate up to 10 players.
Coup: Rebellion G54
This is very similar to Coup above. Rebellion G54 provides 25 different role types which players can pick and choose 5 from, creating the potential for more unique game plays. Due to the number of cards for each role, this version is limited to 3-6 players, although with some finagling you may be able to add in a few more.
Love Letter
Love Letter is a great little game. Super portable, about 5 minutes to play, and accommodates 2-4. The deck consists of 15 cards, with 1 or 3 being secretly removed from the game (dependent on number of players). After that players get a 1 card hand, draw a second card on their turn, and pick an action from the cards in their hand. The goal is to get your love letter to the princess which can be done by getting and keeping the princess card in game, having the highest ranking card at the end of the game, or being the last man standing.
There are quite a few thematic variations, each with slightly different rules, as well as a few "spin-offs" or otherwise similarly played games by the designer Seiji Kanai. The only other version we have at DSG is Batman, but as we have yet to play it or the others so I cannot offer too much insight. The "spin-off" Lost Legacy however offers a similar play style with different actions and goals. It feels a little more strategic and I would recommend it as well.
Sushi Go!
This quick little game utilizes card drafting to build a tableau/stack in front of you. Players want to collect sets of sushi to maximize their point value, scoring at the end of each of 3 rounds (with some special cards which will play across all rounds). Don't think this is a simple game, there is strategy in deciding what cards to pass on to your fellow players. That being said, this is a cute and fast game that would be a great introduction to card drafting for new or young gamers.
Hive (pocket)
Hive is a fast, strategic, two-player game that involves tile laying. The tiles consist of various insects, including two queen bees. Players will place the tiles, thus building the board, with each insect giving a special ability when played. The winner is the first to completely surround their opponent's queen. The pocket version, which we recommend, is smaller and comes in a draw string bag making it super portable. Just pull out and play wherever you have a flat surface!
Fluxx
Fluxx is a fun group/party game. The rules state it is for 2-6 players, but we have definitely played with more successfully. It starts off simple, players each getting a hand of 3 cards and basic rules of draw 1, play 1. However, throughout the game players will accumulate new rule cards and put them into action (luckily, it is easy to keep track as the current rule cards are laid out on the table). There are also goals which players must achieve to win. This is a great intro game, but is not good for those who do not want to pay attention. It is also very language-heavy.
Much like Love Letter, Fluxx has many thematic variations, each offering their own twist to the rules. Each variation has a unique set of cards, and some even have differing types of cards.
Pairs
This game is a single deck of cards with triangular distribution (1 one, 2 twos...10 tens). It's a simple betting style game where each player is dealt one card and chooses whether to take another or take points based on the lowest card in play. Players receiving a card that matches one they already have are out, receiving the number of points on the card. This game describes itself as having no winner and one loser, but you can definitely continue the game elimination style instead.
This is also another game with thematic variations. The base rules never change, but most of the unique art decks come with some twist based on the theme of the artwork. All the variations are available on the publisher's website, and are not dependent on the deck they come with, so you can print them out for your reference and play with them as you choose.
Gloom
This is an interesting, twisted little game. Players will try to make their family of characters suffer grave tragedies until death, while forcing their opponent's families to have happy lives. Using innovative transparent cards, players choose which character (in their family or another) to play their cards on, stacking them on top of the character. This allows multiple effects to be easily seen and tallied for each character. Once an entire family has been killed, players with tally their family's happiness and the lowest score wins.
This is another game with a few thematic variations. Other than a change in the artwork, I don't believe there are many rule changes. There are also 3 expansions to the original game, each allowing an additional player (up to 7 if you have all 3).
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
This is a condensed version of the game Werewolf, which in itself is just a polished version of the party game Mafia. Instead of playing multiple rounds/nights, this version has been condensed into 1 single round. There is also no need for a moderator as there is a nifty app that will run through the roles, although a player may choose to read the moderator script as long as they don't peek ;)
There are a variety of roles to swap in to allow more player interaction and make picking out the werewolf more of a strategy than blind vote. The Daybreak expansion adds even more roles to make the game interesting. Given the low price point, quick game play, and accommodation of 3-10 players, this is a great addition to any game collection especially if you like to break them out with large groups or at parties.
Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg (Coach Ride to Devil's Castle)
This is another hidden role game. Players are secretly assigned one of two teams, and must spend their trip trying to collect the items required by their team. This gets tricky, as in order to win a player must declare their team has all of their items, or they must declare the other team does not and name each member individually. This is a quick play for 3-8 players.The expansion Die dunkle Prophezeiung (Dark Prophecy) adds more characters and items, and accommodates 2 additional players.
I can't speak on the size of the English version, renamed Castle of the Devil, but the German version is just a small deck of cards in a tuck box. You could fit the base game and expansion into a stocking easily.
Links to check out:
Coup: Reformation
Seiji Kainai
Love Letter: Batman
Lost Legacy
Werewolf
Mafia (1986)
One Night Ultimate Werewolf app
One Night Ultimate Werewolf: Daybreak
Pairs variations
Die dunkle Prophezeiung (Dark Prophecy)
The Castle of the Devil
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