Top 25 Solo Games

thank you hey everybody and welcome back to the board meeting today I'm going to be running through my top 25 solo games of all time now this is the second time I've run through made a solo list I did one about two and a half years ago and I just did my top 100 games of all time like oh two weeks ago now so if you haven't seen that go check that one out but today is the top 25 solo games of all time now for me as a solo player I really started to get into solo gaming in 2019 and it was seemed like it was partly because of covid but it was a lot of it was that there was this big hype about solo games they're becoming more and more popular more and more prevalent so I'm like well let's check it out see if I enjoy it and I do really enjoy it I mean solo gaming is more about figuring out the puzzle of the game it seems like more about the mechanics of the game and I I do prefer playing multiplayer but I would say probably about 50 of the time I'm playing solo instead of multiplayer because I have a nighttime job all my friends uh work during the day so it's harder for me to get games during my week of work that I'm doing uh because everybody's at work at work when I'm at home but yeah that's what really got me into gaming so I've been really really steeped into solo gaming for about four and a half years four years now and it's to the point where if I go to a board game store and I'm deciding between between two games and one game has a solo mode the other does not I'm pretty much always going to pick the game that has the solo mode especially with like these bigger games bigger heavier games because it seems like it's harder to get to the close to the table for game night but I know I can get them to the table for myself when I'm just playing a solo game and you'll notice on this list as well I do tend to prefer games if they are like intended as a multiplayer game if I want to play a solo game that's not going to change a whole lot from the game I'm not going to need to learn a whole new giant rule book just to play the solo mode of it I like where there's an easy transition there's like a couple paragraphs of what are the changes for the games so you'll kind of notice that in these this list as well with that being said let's just jump into it because I'm going to talk about all 25 games here in a row hopefully pretty quickly so uh let's start with number 25 number 25 is part of a genre of games that there's gonna be I'll tell you right now there's gonna be five of these types of games on this list this is gone Shawn clever or that's pretty clever it's a roll and write type of game like I said there's gonna be about five of them I think Roland rank games really lend themselves to be in a good solo experience they're usually not much different from the multiplayer game to the solo game and and ganchon clever it's just a sort of drafting different color Dice and marking off boxes and it's a very very much a combo-tastic cascading effect you know you draft this dice which lets you mark this box when that box lets you mark this this box and that box lets you mark off this box it is one of I would say like The Godfather the grandfather of these cascading game these combo type of games this is one of those games that like everybody mentions about how it's so it's it's so combo-tastic and a lot of games have kind of followed in that footsteps I don't think it's like the first game but it's definitely one of them that like really made it prevalent and it's a lot of games copy this style of game and I just think it's a really good solo game so number 25 is gone Sean clever or that's pretty clever for the English edition uh going to number 24 going to another flipping right this is flipping right instead of rolling ranking this is cartographers cartographers is you are flipping over these different shaped cards and you're going to then draw that shape into your own personal map and the the shapes that you're drawing also have Terrain type on them and there's going to be four different seasons that you're scoring for and all the seasons are scoring for different effects different ways and it's kind of becomes sort of like this thinky game I do really enjoy the different season scoring cards that's what sets this one out because there are lots of games that you're going to be drawing different shapes different polynomial shapes onto sort of like map cards this is the one that I sort of enjoy the most and it's because of those season cards and the solo game is pretty much exactly like the multiplayer game so it's really easy to convert from multiplayer to solo for this one so okay done with uh the rolling rights for for now like I said uh going to number 23 number 23 is a small little deck of cards this is regicide it literally is just a deck of cards you do not need to go out and buy the game I'm sure the Publishers and designers would rather you buy the game itself I do have the actual game but like I said it's actually just a regular deck of cards and basically what you're doing you are trying to kill the royalty of the deck you're trying to kill the Jacks then the Queens then the Kings um each of the Jacks each of the royalty has like a certain amount of health so you're trying to take them out if you do not take them out that round they're going to attack you back and then you're going to lose cards as they as your health basically each of the suits also that you're playing has a special power whether it's like double attack or you're gonna get some defense like shielding on you and I just think it's a really interesting puzzle sort of to try and solve you can play it as a Cooperative game multiplayer but I definitely prefer this game as a solo game so number 23 is regicide going to number 22 number 22 is part of the pandemic series but specifically this is pandemic The Cure now there's going to be a couple different Cooperative games on this list where you can't really play it solo but you can play it two-handed solo meaning you're controlling a couple different characters and that's what I like to do with a lot of these Cooperative games so if you don't think that's like true Solo or it shouldn't be on this list I'm sorry but I I do really enjoy like enjoy playing especially especially this pandemic version pandemic The Cure this is like the dice version of pandemic it also it's very very easy to set up it takes about half the time of normal pandemic and so I just really like to whip this out and play it it is very it's more of a luck based game a lot of times than regular pandemic but I also I'm also terrible at this game I'm really bad at this game I I win I've probably played this game 30 sometimes I think I've won maybe three or four times I'm really bad at it but I really enjoy it trying to beat it even though I just don't so uh number 22 is pandemic The Cure going on to 21 now going back into the rolling right uh genre and then we're done with those for a little bit this is Dinosaur Island RAR and right now Dinosaur Island Ron Wright is sort of a drafting dice version of uh Dinosaur Island Dinosaur Island was this big giant table hog of a game and then Dinosaur Island right came out and I was like okay I'll I'll try it as soon as I play Dinosaur Island raron right I replace Dinosaur Island I I got rid of it I sold it not that I think it's a bad game but it's a giant table hog big setup and Dinosaur Island just roaring right gives me that same feel but it takes up a tenth of the table space it's easy to play easy to set up so yeah number 21 one Dinosaur Island raw and right going on to number 20 number 20 is another Cooperative game that I enjoyed to play two-handed uh so to speak this is horrified specifically the universal monsters horrified I like the Cryptid the American Cryptids version as well but that's a little bit more complex this this uh horrified Universal monsters one is just easier to get into the monsters are simpler a lot less complex but I really like playing as the characters you get super you get really cool special abilities but the monsters are where this game is at the monsters all act differently they're going to be defeated differently and I just think it's a really good game that's got a lot of variability because you just can play with whichever monsters you want to and you can switch them up however you however you would like to so number 20 is horrified going to number 19 going to another Cooperative game this is Marvel United Marvel United is this family weight game that I've played with my nephew back when he was like seven and eight and my son when he was younger as well and it's just really easy to get to the table that you are basically just playing out a card and that card has actions on them or symbols those symbols represent actions and there's basically only three things you can do in this game for your action you can basically move you can attack the the villains or thugs that are on the board or you can like save civilians and you are going to use the symbols from your card and you're also going to use the symbols from the card that was played previously previously by a different person in Solo I just like to play two-handed sort of like I said two or three-handed actually three-handed is what I prefer to play this game as for solo actually which is pretty unique but it's a really light game but still it gives you some interesting decisions without that heavy rule book as a burden for this game so yeah number 19 is Marvel United going to number 18 number 18 is a small wallet-sized game from button shy I could have had a couple of games of the of button shy on this list and if I was doing my top 50 games there would probably be four or five button shy games but as it is this is going to be the only button shy game I'm talking about today this is uh sprawlopolis which I said like I said wallet size game there's only 18 cards in this game you are building out a city that has sectors on it you know and how you build your city is going to be determined at the start of the game because you're going to flip over three of these City carts three of the 18 become your goals how you're going to score for that game and the goals are gonna drastically change how you play the game because that's how you're scoring and I really enjoy the puzzle of this game it's one of those games I like to play late at night when I come home uh it is it is rather thinky for how small of a game of it it is and how small of a rule set it is but I think it's easy enough it's a good bedtime sort of game for myself so yes number 18 is sprawlopolis going to number uh 17 is not a bedtime game this is lost Runes of arnach this is a game that combines worker placement with deck building uh the solo version of this you're basically just flipping over these tiles which is going to tell you where the AI where to place the AI uh where they're going to basically take up spots so that you can't go to them they're going to be taking things as well but it's a really good system for as big of a game this as this is this could have been a very complicated solo mode but I think it's a pretty easy one especially after you play it once or twice it's just really Breezy to get through this and play it and it's basically just simulate someone taking up spots that you want to go to so number 17 is lost Runes of our neck going to number 16 number 16 is another small little game even smaller than sprawlopolis this is Grove a nine card solitaire game like I said so it's nine cards instead of 18 like sprawlopolis and it's it's similar in ways but you're basically just playing out cards and you're trying to cover up the same type of of trees on top of other trees to score more and more points that is the Crux of the game this game literally takes minutes to play this is the game I said sprawlapis is like a bedtime game this is that game that you play late at night when you have almost no brain power left and you're like I just want to play something really really fast this is the game that I break out it's so easy so simple it takes minutes like I said and it's a fantastic game if you like small little card games especially solo games definitely check out Grove or Orchard this is uh the sequel to Orchard and it's just it's a really good game so check out either Orchard or Grove either way so number 16 is Grove a nine card solitaire game going to number 15 number 15 is a big giant game especially compared to growth it's right right behind me right now actually that is the Isle of cats this is a drafting game where you're trying to get these cats that are different shapes polynomial shapes and place them on the board fitting that little puzzle of your own personal board but it's a it's a drafting game and it basically simulates the draft you know you're supposed to take you instead of drafting around the table like you do normally you just grab a handful of cards basically and take three or four of them and do that until you have seven cards and so it simulates the draft in that manner and then you're going to be flipping over these these cats for the AI and that's going to tell you which which cats are going to score and how many points those cats are going to be worth for the AI they're only going to score points for the stuff that's actually on your board so you can you can determine how they're going to score for that which I think is a really interesting really smart way to do this game uh this could have been a really complex solo mode but instead it's pretty easy pretty straightforward to play so yeah number 15 is the Isle of cats going to number 14 oddly enough is another drafting game and it kind of simulates drafting the solo mode for this simulates drafting like in the Isle of cats but this is an engine building game and it's one of those games that really really ramps up you know you only play four rounds of us this and in the first round you might build one or two of your cards but in the second third and fourth round you have so much buying power by the end of it you are building a ton of cards and adding them to your engine and it's just really cool building your engine seeing how much it ramps up throughout the game so number 14 is It's a Wonderful World going to number 13 number 13 we're going back to the Roland right version the the this is a flipping right this is welcome to the Moon welcome to the Moon is the third game in the Welcome 2 Series we had welcome to what is it called Welcome to my neighborhood uh the perfect neighborhood then there was welcome to new Las Vegas now there's welcome to the Moon I didn't really like the second one welcome to New Vegas but the first one welcome to is a great game The Welcome To The Moon kind of goes back to the Simplicity of that first one and why I like this one more is because this game actually has eight different maps to play with eight different basically scenarios eight different versions of this game and all of them are great I I love the system for welcome to it's it's such a good system and I like that there's eight different versions in this game and they're really easy to implement from one to the other if you know the basic rules of Welcome to you can then look at that map read like a paragraph or two for that map and see what the differences are and you're like okay I'm ready to go so I really like welcome to the moon it's one of those it's a great flipping right game so yep number 14 is number 13 sorry is welcome to the moon going to number 12 number 12 is a newer type of game this is Cascadia in this game you are going to be drafting these terrain tiles and putting them into your own personal area building out that train but each of the train that you're drafting also comes with this animal uh circular chip and you're going to be placing those animal chips on top of the different terrain tiles that you've placed into your area all the animals are going to score differently and there's a lot of variety from game to game in this because you know there's several different versions of these those animals and you just draw one of them and that is how you're going to score for that animal that game so you've got a lot of variability just built into that the solo game is really easy you're just going to be drafting one of the tiles and then another of the tiles is just going to go away basically and then it is sort of like you're trying to score as high as you can and you compare it to the score sheet like oh if you get over a hundred you did this and if you get 90 to 85 you you scored this and if you don't like that type of game maybe you won't like this but I really like this version because it allows me to get a game to the table that I really enjoy without having to have other people around and meeting the other people so number 12 is Cascadia going to number 11 number 11 is a solo only game you can only play this solo this is under Falling Skies this is basically Space Invaders the board game but you're going to be doing that with Allah dice worker placement and I love dice work replacement games and basically you're going to place one of your dies in each of the columns and activating that special ability on each of those columns and but the interesting thing is is there is this giant Mothership that each round is going to be coming down closer and closer and you're trying to score a certain amount of points before that mother ship hits you but also this mothership is going to be shooting out these basically baby little alien ships at you and how these little alien ships are coming down how fast they come down is determined by those dice that you place in those columns so if you place a 5 in the one column the the baby ship in that column is going to go down five spaces sometimes that's good sometimes that's bad sometimes it'll land on a spot that you can then shoot that baby ship out of the sky and it's just a really interesting solo puzzle that I really enjoy it's got a campaign to it there's if it was just the base game for this I think it'd be worth it but it also has this campaign in it that you're going to be unlocking more and more and more stuff and by the time you finish the campaign you have so much extra stuff in this that it is a great great game so number 11 under Falling Skies so we are have gotten to our top 10 solo games of all time I'm going to take a little sipper here and let's get into my top 10 games so number 10 is a cute uh Tableau building game this is everdell everdel has those fantasy creatures or those what do they call where the animals look alive basically or like people but anyways uh everdel the solo mode from it is a very easy Implement you're just going to be moving around this uh worker basically that's going to take up your spots so you can't go to them but other than that you're basically left alone to do what you want to do in this game and just build out your Tableau from it so if you've played everdel the the solo game for it is really easy to work into so number 10 everdel going to number nine nine is a very large game that has an extremely easy solo mode for it this is terraforming Mars uh terraform Mars you are left to do what you want to do for the solo game there there's basically no other rules you're just playing terraforming Mars but without other people around the thing is you're trying to terraform everything for Mars in a certain amount of rounds and so I really like it if you know how to play terraforming Mars boom you already know how to play the solo mode for this and it's a big giant game but having a game that has basically no other instructions for the solo mode is great you can just jump right into it from multiplayer to solo so number nine is terraforming Mars going to number eight number eight is sort of a game that has almost replaced terraform Mars for myself for multiplayer and I do enjoy it a little bit more solo this is Earth it's a big giant Tableau building that took some stuff from terraform Mars and other games and implemented it into its own game in Earth the the solo mode isn't isn't as simple as terraform Mars as in there is actually something you have to do on your on the ai's turn but it's still really easy they're basically just going to activate one of the colors and then you're going to go and activate all of your colors on it so if you know how to play Earth it's not going to take too much longer to learn the solo mode for it but it just lets me play Earth more often and by myself and I do basically think Earth is a multiplayer solitaire game because the multiplayer game isn't much different than the solitaire game because in the multiplayer game you aren't really interacting very much in this so I figure you might as well play it solo if you're not doing that so number eight is Earth a newer game going to number seven number seven we're going to the West Kingdom for this and it could have been architects of the West Kingdom especially with that new the the new expansion that introduces uh a different sort of solo mode for it but this is VI counts of the West Kingdom now I would say out of all of the games here this is probably the most involved solo game uh you have you're versing in Ai and they're going to be taking actions and stuff like that but after you play it a couple times it is it it works itself out it but like I said it is probably the most complex solo mode out of all of these different games that are on this list but this allows me to play VI counts of the West Kingdom more often than I would if I could only play it as a multiplayer game but it's such a good game I love the artwork it's this like slow really slow deck building game where you basically just have three cards on the board which basically is your hand and slowly one of these cards is going to flip off every single turn and you're just building that deck really slowly I really like VI count so the West Kingdom so number seven Buy accounts of the West Kingdom going to number six number six is viticulture essential Edition and viticulture is another one of these games that is a very easy to implement solo game I I love viticulture I know viticulture seems to get some hate now because they don't think it's balanced because of the the visitor cards that are out there I love the game because of the visitor cards because the cards are so fun they're so interesting and they let you do big powerful unexpected moves and basically the solo mode just lets you play the game and leaves you alone to it so number six is viticulture essential Edition going to number five number five is the last flipping right game on this list this is Hadrian's Wall this is a big giant sprawling flipping right game that has two big pages and the pages are just cram full of different boxes and this very much is like ganchon clever where you're comboing things back and forth except it is giant compared to the tiny game that is ganchon clever and you're going to get resources in this game you're going to get meeples and stone and you have different colored meeples and so you're going to go over to this box spend this yellow meeple now you get a stone so you're gonna take the stone over here spend the stone to get a purple meeple and you're gonna spend that purple meeple to get a blue meeple and so on and so forth and you're just trying to basically extend each round as much as you can to mark off as many boxes as you can to score the most points you're going to be moving up tracks all over the place it is a great great game uh so number five Hadrian's Wall going to number four number four is a game that I it is a solo game you can play it multiplayer I've never done it because I do not see the point of this this is the lost expedition this is a card game you are trying to move across this jungle area to get to the lost city of Z and you have three explorers that you're taking in you they only have I think it's three Health to start off with each and you're going to be playing out these cards and you're you're forced to play out these cards in a certain manner and pretty much all of the cards are bad they're just bad things are happening and you're just trying to manage the loss you're trying to drag at least one of these explorers alive into the lost city of Z it's just managing this bad stuff after bad thing and if every once in a while you get this good card and you're like oh thank God but it is a it's just an amazing game uh it's got an expansion that's got kind of some modular expansions with it it's a great experience I break this out pretty frequently so number four the lost expedition going to number three number three might be the biggest solo only hit that I've seen in quite a while this is final girl final girl is a re-implement a re-implementation of a game that had come out before hostage negotiator I don't really like hostage negotiator this is almost the same exact game except they introduce a board that you're going to be moving around with and it is very much a dice based game this is this is a very much a luck Fest but the theme is what really draws me into this game you're playing as the final girl trying to take out one of the bad guys that is it's sort of like the 80s tropes of horror movies like your jasons your Freddy's your Michael Myers people like that they basically take the tropes of those and make them into different scenarios and that's the theme that really draws me in I really I usually do not like really luck dependent games and this one definitely is if you roll bad you are going to get slaughtered and I think what makes this game okay for me is that that theme is there and it's it's really prevalent and I feel like it is one of the most thematic experiences that I have in gaming so number three is final girl going to number two number two is a big big giant game this is Arc Nova I was thinking I might have it somewhere around here maybe I don't but Arc Nova is in the same aspects as terraforming Mars as Earth but it's just this big giant game and you are building out your zoo you're gonna have to get uh build Zoo enclosures for the animals then you're gonna have to get the animals and it is it is a game that I I like multiplayer but I don't play it multiplayer very often because it is a very big game and it's a big teach and I'm like do I have the energy to teach people you know which is going to take maybe like a half an hour to teach them this game or do I just want to set up a solo game for myself and play that usually the answer is me playing setting up a solo game playing just by myself but I I really like the puzzle of Arc Nova how figuring out how to use your money to buy the different animal cards to place these in there and money is short but you have to figure out a way life will find a way so uh number two was Arc Nova going to my number one solo game of all time and it is still the same solo game that I had a couple years ago when I made this list it's a game that I play have played a ton this is Marvel Champions the card game there is so much content for this game I have slowed down on playing it as much as I used to but I still like to break it out I like choosing the different Heroes and this is a game that I prefer to play two-handed rather than just a single hero but you're gonna choose a hero or two in my case to play against some villain you're gonna choose the villain there are dozens and dozens and dozens of characters to choose from now and dozens and dozens and dozens of different villains to choose from and you're how you build out each of the decks for the heroes is gonna really change the game as well it's a game that I just really enjoy solo I've played this game hundreds of times and I can say I've only played it multiplayer three times I think I thought it was a good multiplayer game but I would much much prefer to play this game just at home on my own personal table playing out two different Heroes I think it works faster smoother for myself as a solo game so yes number one and still reigning champion of the solo games for myself is Marvel Champions the card game and that will complete this list make sure to comment down below some of your favorite solo games maybe tell me your top 10 favorite solo games of all time maybe tell me if I was wrong about some some of these if you don't like the solo mode for them either way if you did enjoy this video make sure to like And subscribe to see more weekly content from me Shane at the board meeting in the future hope you all have an amazing day take care

Channel: The Board Meeting

Views: 27,674

Keywords: Ark Nova, Cascadia, Earth, Everdell, Final Girl, Hadrians Wall, Horrified, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Marvel Champions, Marvel United, Solitaire Games, Solo Games, Strategy Games, Terraforming Mars, The Board Meeting, The Lost Expedition, Under Falling Skies, Viscounts of the West Kingdom, Viticulture

Id: 5jGlKMpFbuE

Length: 29min 33sec (1773 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 30 2023