For many board gamers, the biggest obstacle to getting a game to the table isn’t complexity or length, it’s finding the right group at the right time. Solo board games solve that problem by offering deeply engaging experiences designed to be just as tense, strategic, and emotionally rewarding as their multiplayer counterparts.
6 Board Games You Can Play By Yourself
We have selected six excellent board games that are either designed for solo play or feature a single-player experience.
These five solo board games are so immersive, so rich in decision-making and atmosphere, that once you start playing, everything else on your shelf fades into the background. Whether you’re surviving a besieged city, shaping the fate of a fantasy world, or unraveling cosmic horrors one card at a time, these games prove that playing alone doesn’t always result in a less engrossing experience.
This War of Mine: The Board Game
Make Difficult Moral and Practical Decisions in a Besieged City
This War of Mine: The Board Game is based on the survival video game This War of Mine from 11 bit studios. Like the video game, This War of Mine: The Board Game throws players into a brutal besieged city where players need to make difficult decisions - both in terms of practicality and morality - to survive.
To survive, the player must clear rubble, grow vegetation, build beds and workshops, defend from dangerous raiders and bandits, and complete many other tricky tasks. The game's colorful characters amidst the barren grey world, tough choices, and immersive setting are what make it so absorbing. Like the rest of the games on this list, This War of Mine: The Board Game can also be played with friends, although learning what decisions your friends would make in life and death situations is one of multiple reasons why the game is best played alone.
Gloomhaven
A Massive Legacy Campaign That Rewards Long-Term Commitment
Whereas the aforementioned This War of Mine: The Board Game is an adaptation of a video game, Gloomhaven is a board game that became so popular that it was adapted into a video game.
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Gloomhaven was designed by Isaac Childres and is a campaign-based dungeon crawler with nearly 100 playable scenarios and 17 playable classes, offering an incredible amount of variety for players to get lost in. The fantasy game follows a Legacy format, meaning each session can significantly impact those to follow, which can lead to memorable stories with shocking twists for players to be engrossed by. Gloomhaven also stands out from other dungeon-crawler games due to having modern Eurogame mechanics.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game
A Challenging Journey Through Middle-earth
Board gaming is yet another medium where The Lord of the Rings has multiple beloved releases. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is a Living Card Game, which is a variant of Collectible Card Games without the gambling aspect, as players know exactly what cards they're getting when they buy The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and its expansions.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game tasks the player(s) with completing scenarios by sending their heroes and allies to complete quests or fight the growing power of enemy forces. Those who enjoy the game aren't short of extra content, as an eye-watering number of expansions have been released over the years, offering hundreds or even thousands of hours of fun.
Spirit Island
Strategic Solo Play With Escalating Tension and Depth
Spirit Island is a euro-style strategy game where players must defend their island by fending off colonizing invaders. To fend off the invaders, the player must gain abilities and power cards while the invaders' deck sees them explore, build upon, and/or ravage areas.
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The player's goal is to destroy the invaders and their settlements. Initially, victory can only be achieved by clearing out every invader and settlement, but as the game progresses, players can lower the win criteria by generating Fear. Spirit Island is another game on this list with a video game equivalent, thanks to Handelabra Games' 2020 PC and mobile game of the same name.
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
A Narrative-Driven Descent Into Cosmic Horror
A list of compelling board games would feel incomplete without some good 'ol cosmic horror. The Lovecraftian Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a Living Card Game like The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game and from the same publisher, Fantasy Flight Games. Arkham Horror puts players in the shoes of an investigator in Arkham and leans heavily into role-playing, with the player having a great deal of choice in how they proceed as they delve into the mystery.
Like many games on this list, Arkham Horror: The Card Game features a campaign made up of numerous scenarios, where players will battle with their character's internal strengths and weaknesses, load their decks with allies and equipment, and fight enemies who can cause them to lose their minds in classic Lovecraftian fashion.
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