Solo Games

Besides the two player duel games there are many solo player games. Some solo games are multi-player games that also make good solo games, but a few are solo only.

Coffee Roaster, Friday, Maquis, and Under Falling Skies are some of the currently popular solo-only games. Some others are Star Trek: The Dice Game, Hostage Negotiator, Railroad Ink Challenge: Solo Board, and Unbroken. Many war games are solo only and I have a list of them here. A couple of videos recommending solo war games can be found here and here.

Many very small card-based solo games are popular: Orchard, Ragemore, Rove, and Mini Rogue. These and other card-based games are available from PNP Arcade as downloads to be printed, some free. Black Sonata is a highly rated solo game. Button Shy Games specializes in pocket sized card games and are quite popular. There are also many solo role playing games (aka RPGs). Here is a video on some of the more popular ones. For example try Last Tea Shop.

Two player games that also include solo play are Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes!, Blitzkrieg!: World War Two in 20 minutes, Chai: Tea for 2, Death Valley, The Shores of Tripoli, Saboteur: The Duel, Navajo Wars, and One Deck Dungeon: Forest of Shadows. Concordia: Solitaria is a one or two player expansion for the game Concordia.

Some good multi-player games that include solo play are Alien: Fate of the Nostromo, Ark Nova, Arkham Horror (3rd Ed.), Cafe, Carcassonne, Cartographers and Cartographers Heroes, The Castles of Burgundy, Catan Dice Game, Chronicles of Crime 2400, Clans of Caledonia, Detective: City of Angels, Dune: Imperium, Everdell, A Feast for Odin, The Guild of Merchant Explorers, Gloomhaven, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Ghost Stories, Horrified, Imperium Classics, It's a Wonderful World, Lisboa, The Loop, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Obsession, On the Rocks, Scythe, The Search For Planet X,  Sleeping Gods, Snowdonia, Soloman Kane, Spirit Island, Star Wars Imperial Assault, Terraforming Mars, Tinners' Trail, Town 66, Wayfarers of the South Tigris, and Wingspan. Summit is an interesting mountain climbing game that can be played as either a solo, co-operative or competitive game.

The SoloBoardGamer has solo variation rules for many multi-player games including: 7 Wonders Duel, Azul, Brass Birmingham, Catan, Jaipur, Risk, Forbidden Island, Undaunted Normandy, Wingspan, Cartographers, Agricola, and Arkham Horror. BoardGameGeeks also has, in their files section, instructions for solo play; some are the manufacturer's version and some are created and submitted by users. The site Mautoma provides solo rules and print-n-play cards for many popular board games: Brass Birmingham, Brass Lancashire, Marco Polo, Mombasa, Viticulture World, and others. If you don't want to download and print the solo deck you can use the online automated deck on their website.

BoardGameGeeks rates the top 100 solo games. The top 10 are Spirit Island, Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition, Marvel Champions: The Card Game, Arkam Horror: The Card Game, Too Many Bones, Gloomhaven, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game, Terraforming Mars, Aeon's End, and Ark Nova.