# Looking for solo & 2-player tabletop recommendations



## Olgar Shiverstone (Nov 21, 2015)

Hey all ... looking for some recommendations for solo and two-player tabletop games.  Yeah, there's BoardGame Geek, and I go there for reviews, but there's just so much to slog through to arrive at something to focus on...

So, here's what I'm looking for:

(1) Solo game.  Something I can play when I can't get to the FLGS, and don't feel like a video game or Chess or Go against the computer. Looking for something with an interesting theme and mechanics, preferably something that isn't too fiddly but has complex enough interactions to make it replayable, and is more choice-based than random. My tastes run to RPG, wargame, and adventure games, but I like all kinds of things.

(2) Two-player. Looking for something I can play with the Shiverspouse. She's not much of a gamer -- she'll try some gamer-games but tends not to get into them. She's typically been more into "traditional" roll-and-move boardgames, which I hate.  Scrabble she likes but is tired of me beating her; Monopoly has been more her style (blech); wargames haven't been a success (Risk, or even X-wing minis, though at least the minis ); fun beer-and-pretzels games that I like (Wiz-War) have been too complex.  Shorter games (under an hour), less complicated is what is needed, but with a good theme and visuals. I've considered card games like Magic but those appear to have too complex mechanics. Cooperative might be a better approach than competitive -- but I looked at a well-regarded thematic solo/coop game (LotR LCG) and it still seemed to have too complex mechanics.

Any suggestions?


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## phil62 (Nov 21, 2015)

I've found that Pandemic works nicely for single and two-player.


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## Jhaelen (Nov 23, 2015)

Star Realms is a pretty good deckbuilding game for two players. It plays a lot more quickly than most deckbuilders (think: Dominion) and isn't hard to learn.

For solo play I still prefer Arkham Horror, but it may be too fiddly for your tastes. Also, games can take a very long time (up to 5-6 hours). There's also Eldritch Horror, which is a more streamlined version of the game, but I don't enjoy it quite as much. Both games are very thematic.

And then there's Race for the Galaxy which plays well with any number of players. With the first (or was it the second?) expansion it can also be played solo. It will take two or three games to get the hang of the iconography used on the cards, but then it's really an awesome tableau-building game with enormous replayability that also plays quickly due to the simultaneous action selection it uses.


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## Atilary (Dec 1, 2015)

For solo play I can't recommed The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game enough.

My wife and I play board games together and she isn't a gamer. She liked...

Jaipur, Carcassonne, and takenoko the best.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Dec 1, 2015)

Yeah, so I broke down and bought LotR The Card Game.  It's pretty fun so far, if devilishly difficult.  It took me about ten tries to finish the second core quest with a deck I designed, but I'm sure I'll learn more and from what I read online it should get easier with either multiple decks or future expansions. That seems to check the solo box pretty well for quite a while.

I don't know if my wife will go for it, though I think coop should be attractive for her.  I did buy LotR: Confrontation (kind of thematic Stratego) based on a Couple vs Cardboard recommendation and that's got good potential ... she picked it up quickly and beat me, though I don't know if she enjoyed it enough to play regularly. It's a cleverly designed game that's quick with a lot of replay potential, so I'm hoping she'll be game for more.


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## Cody C. Lewis (Dec 2, 2015)

Pandemic: The Cure

This is a dice based version of Pandemic. Absolutely fun. 

Pros:
Soloable (I just run two characters)
CO-OP - Wow I can NOT understate this. I am hyper competitive and my wife is rarely interested in anything gaming. CO-OPs are the only board games I will ever play with just my wife again. Period.
Highly replayable
Challenging
Game Length - 35 minutes ish. Perfect.
Also I want to mention, that if you play this with your spouse it can be engaging for him/her because they have to roll diseases every turn. My wife wasn't terribly excited when we sat down to play the first time, so I had her roll the 12 dice to start, and got her busy 'helping me set up the game'.

Cons: 
Very addictive
Dice will roll off the table from time to time


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## SuperZero (Dec 3, 2015)

I love Pandemic. Haven't tried The Cure, yet.

The In the Lab expansion for original Pandemic adds a solo mode... I haven't tried it, yet either. Really, with a co-op game that doesn't include secret information, you can make it a solo game just by playing two characters yourself.

Mice & Mystics is a co-op rpg-ish adventure game supposedly for one to four players, but each chapter of the game dictates how many characters to play (and states that if you have more characters than players, some will just have to run an extra one or three). Therefore, I think I like it best as a solo game. A bit more to keep track of, but you don't have the "proper" number of players fluctuating by chapter if one person plays all three/four/six (yes, despite being "one to four players," there are three-character chapters) heroes.

I've only ever played Arkham Horror solo, but I think I'd like it better as co-op... possibly including a solo player playing multiple characters. I think Elder Sign works a bit better, perhaps (same Lovecraftian horror theme and style, but they're not that similar in terms of gameplay).


Legendary Encounters is a solo or co-op deckbuilding game (the original Legendary is less co-op but does include solo rules). I haven't played the newer Predator (I think?) version, but I like the Aliens version (and I've actually never seen any of those movies, so I have no attachment to the setting or characters). It has some quirks as a solo game, but it works okay.
Actually, it has player elimination in a long-ish game when playing co-op, and I think that's kinda a flaw there.


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## Nytmare (Dec 6, 2015)

Having found myself in your situation once or thrice myself, I'll offer my suggestions for possible two player games, along with the possible pitfalls of each.

Hive - A 2 player, tile laying, strategy game; somewhat akin to chess.  The fact that it's competitive, and has no chance element might be a downfall if you're significantly better at it than she is.  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2655/hive

Splendor - A (surprisingly satisfying) engine building game where you're collecting gems to gather ways to get more gems so that you can get even more gems.  Wheee!  I haven't found anyone yet who has played it and doesn't like it.  The decision points are pretty straight forward, even if you don't grok the far reaching strategies.  That might end up being too frustrating though.  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/148228/splendor

Machi Koro - Another engine builder.  You're slowly building a town, and rolling a set of dice each turn to see what ways your town generates money.  The game is pretty straight forward, though I think you need at least the first expansion thrown in to make it so there's more than one viable strategy.  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/143884/machi-koro

King of Tokyo - You're a bunch of gargantuan, mega monsters laying waste to Tokyo and each other.  It's a silly, Yahtzee-esque slugfest.  As long as the theme doesn't make her roll her eyes too much, this should be a safe one.  Avoid King of NY; though it's probably a better game, it's also more complicated and has way more decision points.  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-tokyo

D-Day Dice - Another Yahtzee clone.  This is a cooperative "storming the beaches of Normandy" game.  As long as the theme doesn't bother or bore her, it's pretty solid.  It has the added bonus of playing out pretty well a solitaire game.  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/101785/d-day-dice

Tsuro and Metro - Two different games that are similar enough that I felt safe describing them together.  They're both tile laying "building a path" games.  Tsuro is a abstract, Asian-themed, building-a-path-to-enlightenment game.  Metro is the same exact thing, except that it's a rail line between two Parisian subway stops.   https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16992/tsuro https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/559/metro

Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert - More than one person up-thread have mentioned Pandemic and The Cure as good co-op possibilities, and even though I think they're great games, I'd say that their level of complexity is probably going to be way too high.  Thankfully the creator has also made two different kid-friendly versions in the same vein that are both really good.  In Forbidden Island, you're a team of intrepid explorers trying to gather a bunch of MacGuffins before the forbidden island sinks.  In Forbidden Desert, you're a team of intrepid adventurers trying to gather a bunch of MacGuffins before the forbidden desert gets buried in sand.  All that being said, they're different enough that I enjoy playing both (as well as all versions where you're a bunch of CDC employees trying to gather a bunch of plague cures before the planet is buried in corpses.)  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65244/forbidden-island https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/136063/forbidden-desert

What type of games do you think might be the best fit for your wife, Olgar?  I'm asking about both theme, and mechanics wise.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Dec 8, 2015)

Splendor sounds interesting.



Nytmare said:


> What type of games do you think might be the best fit for your wife, Olgar?  I'm asking about both theme, and mechanics wise.




Well, that's the challenge.

Themes: Dogs (the dog agility card game I'm designing has potential, but at the moment the mechanics are a bit of a mess -- they don't work quite right and I'm blocked on ideas to fix them). Popular fantasy/sci fi themes OK (Star Wars, Game of Thrones, Firefly, Wheel of Time, Harry Potter, etc). Huge Anne McCaffrey fan. Finds war themes boring.

Mechanics: Bored by chess. Doesn't like "hard" strategy and I don't think she'd like resource allocation games. Has tried RPGs (last attempt was D&D 3.5) but found them too much work to keep track of, though Dungeon! was OK -- does like those fantasy universes, though. Not much into wargames. Sorta OK with your typical Hasbro-style roll-and-move boardgame, which unfortunately I dislike. Purely competitive seems to be a dislike (because I tend to be better at those). Trivia games OK. Like traditional 52-card card games and related games (Uno, etc).

Video game preferences: Casual (Bejeweled, Tetris), some traditional arcade (Ms. Pac-Man, Galaga), humorous adventure and puzzle games (played every Leisure Suit Larry game).


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## fba827 (Dec 16, 2015)

If and only if you can find it on the cheap, try Drako. One player is a dragon, the other player is a trio of dwarves.  A nice board and minis.   You draw cards (simple cards of move attack block) as you try and take the other side out.  Plays about 30 min. It's pretty simple to understand. And has some light strategy aspect involved so not just mindless card playing.  On the flip side, it is light strategy only and therefore it's charm will wear off... Which is why I specifically say if you can find it cheap. ( it's out of print and a euro product so 'on the cheap' can be hard)

I do enjoy sentinels of the multiverse ( coop card game, superhero themed, can be played solo if you don't mind doing several heroes yourself).  As for complexity, different heroes have different levels of complexity... But it can lean towards 'too much complexity' if your other half has a low threshold

Some others I was going to suggest ( like forbidden island) have already been said


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## Nytmare (Jan 14, 2016)

A couple of new ones that crept up on me over Christmas:

Mysterium/Tajemnicze Domostwo - I've only played the Polish version, and I'm not sure what's changed with the new English release, but it's spectacular even as a two player game.  It's essentially co-op version of Dixit meets Clue.  Players play the part of a team of investigators solving a murder aided only by the murdered victim's ghost, and who can only communicate with the investigators through dreams and visions via a random handful of awesome dream cards.

Robinson Crusoe - I'm just about to sit down to my first solitaire game, and the read through of the rules has me excited.  Playable as solitaire or co-op, you play the part of a cast of shipwreck survivors struggling through a series of challenges and scenarios.  Looks to be a really solid hexcrawl/rpg/boardgame.


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## Jhaelen (Jan 14, 2016)

Yep, Robinson Crusoe is brilliant! I especially like how the designer managed to merge Euro-style game mechanics with such a strong focus on story, theme, and random events.

My most-played board-game at the moment is *Neuroshima Hex*, though. It's from the same company as Robinson Crusoe and also represents a rather unique mix of game styles: It's basically a strongly themed abstract game: Players alternate by drawing 3 hex tiles from a bag, discarding one and placing the other two on a hex-grid. These tiles might be either army units (with different attack modes in one or more directions), modules (which enhance army units in some way) and actions (e.g. to start a battle). When the hex grid is filled or a battle action is played, combat is resolved in initiatove order, typically destroying several units from all players. The goal of the game is to destroy the enemy players' bases which are placed on the hex-grid at the start of the game.
The game plays quickly, supports any number of players (though it plays best with two players), and is very replayable due to the many different armies that are available. The base game comes with four (or five, depending on the edition) armies, and (depending on the edition!) some 'puzzles' for solo players.


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## Nytmare (Jan 15, 2016)

Jhaelen said:


> My most-played board-game at the moment is *Neuroshima Hex*, though. It's from the same company as Robinson Crusoe and also represents a rather unique mix of game styles: It's basically a strongly themed abstract game: Players alternate by drawing 3 hex tiles from a bag, discarding one and placing the other two on a hex-grid. These tiles might be either army units (with different attack modes in one or more directions), modules (which enhance army units in some way) and actions (e.g. to start a battle). When the hex grid is filled or a battle action is played, combat is resolved in initiatove order, typically destroying several units from all players. The goal of the game is to destroy the enemy players' bases which are placed on the hex-grid at the start of the game.
> The game plays quickly, supports any number of players (though it plays best with two players), and is very replayable due to the many different armies that are available. The base game comes with four (or five, depending on the edition) armies, and (depending on the edition!) some 'puzzles' for solo players.




Do you know offhand if the current edition can be played with the current stuff?


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## Jhaelen (Jan 15, 2016)

Absolutely! All editions are compatible, the main difference being the graphical design of the tiles. Here's a nice comparison with images.


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## Cristian Andreu (Jan 17, 2016)

I'll second *Star Realms* as an excellent 2-player game. It's very quick to play and easy to learn, with enough variety to allow for a good lot of strategies without causing analysis paralysis.

*Smallworld* is a game that I love playing with any number of people, and it's simplicity makes it very easy for anyone to play. It's about a tiny world chock-full of fantasy races fighting for territory, and you'll be constantly changing between them as the game progresses. Empires are created by randomly pairing a Race and a Descriptor, so you'll end up with stuff like Flying Dwarfs, Hill Merfolk, and Merchant Zombies.


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## Saul Goode (Jan 25, 2016)

Olgar Shiverstone said:


> Hey all ... looking for some recommendations for solo and two-player tabletop games.  Yeah, there's BoardGame Geek, and I go there for reviews, but there's just so much to slog through to arrive at something to focus on...
> 
> So, here's what I'm looking for:
> 
> ...




1) There are a few small solo games offered by Decision Games. In the Commando! mini game system are Congo Merc and Border War. 
In the Cold War Blitz mini game system are Khe Sanh '68 and Suez '56.


2) Run, Fight or Die is a good, easy, quick game with dice rolling and zombies!


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## Herschel (Feb 3, 2016)

Eldritch Horror is fun solo, with two, or however many. 

Robinson Crusoe, Claustrophobia and Fury of Dracula are my favorites for two players, and Fury of Dracula is great to add in other players who show up later, also.


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## Saul Goode (Feb 3, 2016)

I recommend the mini game series by Decision Games.
Some are solo designed, but they all can be played solo very easily.
Very easy to learn and are fun. Nice and compact too!

https://shop.decisiongames.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=84


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## SunGold (Feb 4, 2016)

Some co-op recs:

*Arkham Horror* - I know it's been mentioned a few times upthread, and yeah, it's complex. But it's so fun and thematic, a non-gamer might get into it anyway. When the SO and I play, we make a night of it by loading up a playlist of 20s music from the Library of Congress' National Jukebox and making era-appropriate cocktails. 

*Defenders of the Realm* - Much easier than AH, still super fun. You play heroes who have to defeat encroaching enemy generals while keeping the board from getting too clogged up with their minions. There's also a funny user-made Monty Python and the Holy Grail variant that makes for a good time while watching the movie.

*Castle Panic* - Cute, quick, easy. A "light strategy" game where you defend your castle from randomized waves of enemies who move closer each round.

I'll also throw in another vote for *Pandemic* and *Forbidden Island*.


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## amadaun (Apr 27, 2017)

Let me second the King of Tokyo & Pandemic recs!

Other games to consider: 
Duke (small, strategy based game with a distant resemblance to chess)
Tokaido (a deeply aesthetically pleasing journey/experience game with lovely art)


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Apr 30, 2017)

So I'm playing the* Arkham Horror LCG* as my primary solo game now. The theme is good and the implementation of the rules, especially for locations, is great to simulte an adventure -- it does much better than the *LotR LCG*, which though I prefer the theme is just very complicated to play with difficult deck-building plus too many effects to keep track of. Lots of multi-player co-op potential here, but I suspect too much complication to interest the spousal unit

Still struggling to get games to play with my wife.  *Fluxx* survived a few games but was mostly meh. *Exploding Kittens * has had OK success and repeat plays, but would be better with more than two of us.

We recently tried *Carcassonne* (actually, the *Carcassonne: Star Wars* version). She mostly got the hang of it through our first game, and beat me.  Complexity level and game time was about right, though the theme is pretty light. I appreciated the deeper strategy; she just wants to make quick off-the-cuff decisions.  Maybe I'll be able to get her to play a second game, maybe not.


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## Wednesday Boy (May 1, 2017)

My daughter and I like playing Santorini together.  It's a chess-like strategy game.  Very fast to learn and the games are pretty quick too.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Oct 21, 2017)

So FFG's upcoming Legacy of Dragonholt looks like an interesting way to introduce people to RPGs in a solo or cooperative mode.  It appears to be a blend of board game, RPG, and Choose Your Own Adventure Book.

I may pick this up to play with the wife -- cooperative plus rules-lite is her style.


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## Wednesday Boy (Oct 24, 2017)

Olgar Shiverstone said:


> I may pick this up to play with the wife -- cooperative plus rules-lite is her style.




If you end up getting it, please let us know how it goes.  I'm tempted to get something like this as an introduction to RPGs with my daughters but I also look at it and think it might be better to jump them right into a simple roleplaying game instead and let their imaginations run rampant.


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## edhel (Nov 9, 2017)

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is a tough-as-nails cooperative survival game. You can easily play it solo.


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## Wednesday Boy (Nov 9, 2017)

edhel said:


> Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is a tough-as-nails cooperative survival game. You can easily play it solo.




Tough as nails is right!  I've played it three times co-op and twice solo and never won.  Sometimes it was not even close.  It's a beautiful game that's well-designed and intricate but at least for me it was too difficult and now it never gets played.


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## Jhaelen (Nov 10, 2017)

Wednesday Boy said:


> Tough as nails is right!  I've played it three times co-op and twice solo and never won.  Sometimes it was not even close.  It's a beautiful game that's well-designed and intricate but at least for me it was too difficult and now it never gets played.



C'mon it's not _that_ hard! Admittedly, scenario 5 (Cannibal Island) is really tough, but the first four scenarios are quite beatable.

I actually consider the first scenario (Castaways) to be rather easy, now. While I failed in my first two (solo) attempts, all of the next five attempts (2 solo, 2 with 2 players, 1 with three players) were successes. Imho, the key is to craft the hatchet as early as possible. Make sure to play the explorer to increase your chances of discovering the required mountain tile.

The second scenario (Cursed Island) is easy once you realize that the sacred bell is a 'trap'. I failed five times before I realized this. Once I decided to just build thoses crosses, it was rather easy. I'd recommend to play a carpenter.

In the third scenario (Jenny needs help) I was probably a bit lucky. I just made it with my first attempt.

Scenario 4 (Volcano Island) can be tricky because you need to be on the move all the time. I think it's easiest with the Explorer.

Scenario 5, as mentioned above, is really, really hard; at least when playing solo. It should be a lot easier with more players, but I didn't get to try it yet. You should definitely have a soldier in your team, though.

I haven't yet attempted scenario 6 since I have yet to beat scenario 5...

Anyway, I think Robinson Crusoe is an awesome game. Don't let the difficulty deter you. It's also one of the few games that works well at any player count and the number of players makes a real difference, because you have to adapt your strategies accordingly. E.g. hunting is completely irrelevant in a solo game but crucial with four players.


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## Wednesday Boy (Nov 14, 2017)

Jhaelen said:


> C'mon it's not _that_ hard! Admittedly, scenario 5 (Cannibal Island) is really tough, but the first four scenarios are quite beatable.




It's been such a long time since I played it that I can't give specific details on what went wrong.  Sometimes it seemed like bad luck (e.g., searching but not finding a land type so we could make a specific item).  I don't think we retried many scenarios so we probably didn't figure out key elements (e.g., ensuring you build the hatchet early, ignoring the sacred belt) in some of them.

Maybe for me it's a failure in expectations--what I want the game to be about vs. what the game actually is about.  The game draws me in with the myriad of interesting options and I become enamored with how our efforts could build on one another to help our characters survive on the island.  But the game itself seems to require more precision and seems to be more about cost/benefit analysis to accomplish the scenario than about exploring.


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## Legatus Legionis (Nov 14, 2017)

.


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## Nytmare (Nov 14, 2017)

Legatus_Legionis said:


> Has anyone tried:
> 
> Ted Alspach's Castles of Mad King Ludwig.




I like it, and have the expansion Secrets of Mad King Ludwig, but in my experience a little less than a half of any random assortment of gamers is going to enjoy this kind of tile laying/building game.

I've only played it 3 and 4 player, maybe a half dozen games so far.  Never tried it 1 or 2, but I'd imagine that it gets FAR more cut throat when you only have a single opponent to focus on/screw over.

I don't remember if this one was mentioned before, but I recently picked up Patchwork (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/163412/patchwork) and it's a damn good, "light", 2 player game.


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## Nytmare (Nov 15, 2017)

Wednesday Boy said:


> It's been such a long time since I played it that I can't give specific details on what went wrong.  Sometimes it seemed like bad luck (e.g., searching but not finding a land type so we could make a specific item).  I don't think we retried many scenarios so we probably didn't figure out key elements (e.g., ensuring you build the hatchet early, ignoring the sacred belt) in some of them.




I'm in the same boat, I played one solo game so that I could teach our gaming group when I first got it, lost, and realized that I had been cheating.  Then I replayed the scenario twice more with the group and without cheating, and we never even came close.  We all enjoyed it, but haven't had the urge to give it another go in the last 2 or 3 years.


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## Wednesday Boy (Nov 15, 2017)

Nytmare said:


> I'm in the same boat, I played one solo game so that I could teach our gaming group when I first got it, lost, and realized that I had been cheating.  Then I replayed the scenario twice more with the group and without cheating, and we never even came close.  We all enjoyed it, but haven't had the urge to give it another go in the last 2 or 3 years.




Do you recall how you were cheating?


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## Nytmare (Nov 15, 2017)

Wednesday Boy said:


> Do you recall how you were cheating?




I don't remember the specifics, but it was something to do with playing Friday and the dog incorrectly.  Maybe I was giving myself too many actions, or wasn't making things cost enough? Beyond that, I don't really know.  It was way too long ago.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Feb 10, 2018)

So, an update on some things attempted over the past few months with the Shiverspouse:

Star Wars: Empire vs Rebellion she liked, although at its core it is mostly just a fancy version of "21" with the Star Wars theme pasted on.  It does have some innovative bidding mechanics that require you to read your opponent, so it has a few more choices than a traditional card game. Pretty cards, too. We did play multiple games of this.

Legacy of Dragonholt went over quite well, though so far we've just had time for the introductory adventure. It's a light RPG similar to choose-you-own adventure but with some memory elements as well as skills and character advancement.  Will get played again.  Was well received due to rules-lightness and good story. This one I can play solo, too, so it was a decent purchase.

The Hobbit (a Reiner Knizia co-op) got mixed reviews. While she took to the rules fairly quickly, she didn't like the scoring mechanism and "win condition", plus she found the mechanics a little too abstract. We at least won the game. Unlikely to see the table again with her.


Lord of the Rings (Reiner Knizia co-op) was a lead balloon. Despite being fully co-op, which I thought would be a plus, she found the mechanics too abstract and hard to learn, even after playing The Hobbit. I thought that a little weird because she thought Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation was OK and it's a directly competitive game (essentially a smaller Stratego with an LotR theme and a surprise bidding mechanic), but the mechanics in Confrontation are much less abstract. I think what I'm finding is that for her mechanics need to be more literally linked to the theme and actions of what is going on, or be simple to understand. Simple RPGs are good, simple dice/card mechanics are good, less deep strategy and fewer choices (at least on the surface) are good.

One Deck Dungeon was actually reasonably popular, once she got the hang of the "dice covering" mechanics.  This one is fun as both a co-op and solo, so it's got more play from me.  RPG-lite elements were welcome.  It's admittedly pretty random, but has some good choices.

Last, a surprising hit: Lord of the Rings: Journey to Mordor. This is a pretty simple dice game; the entire strategy and set of choices is picking what dice to keep and which ones to re-roll. The adventure mechanic is a "race" of checking boxes based on the dice. At first she complained about the dice being confusing (six different symbols with different associated actions) but once she got those down she warmed up to it and followed the action well plus she saw a good fit for the mechanics (move forward, try to escape Nazgul and orcs) to the theme of the game. Surprised me as there isn't much to this game -- though maybe the "more of a family game, less of a gamer's game" is what I need to keep in mind.

It's a still struggle to get her to try a game, though ...


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## cmad1977 (Feb 10, 2018)

Flashpoint! Be firefighters and save the day!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## jcayer (Jul 6, 2018)

Try the Dresden Files Card Game.  Good solo mechanics as well as up to 5 players.  Plenty of variety and challenges.
https://www.evilhat.com/home/dresden-files-cooperative-card-game/


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## Nytmare (Jul 8, 2018)

Yay!  Necro'd!

Olgar have you had a swing at Azul or Sagrada yet?  They're beautiful puzzley games that work well as an introductory game for non gamers.  Both of them have alright solo play and can be easily tweaked into co-op.

Did Splendor ever make the suggestion list on the previous couple of pages?  I don't think it has an established solo setting, but it would be easy enough to just turn it into a "beat your high score" kind of mode.  And it's a REMARKABLE intro-ey kind of game.

I have to go wandering around downstairs to see what else jumps out at me.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Jul 29, 2018)

Nytmare said:


> Yay!  Necro'd!
> 
> Olgar have you had a swing at Azul or Sagrada yet?  They're beautiful puzzley games that work well as an introductory game for non gamers.  Both of them have alright solo play and can be easily tweaked into co-op.
> 
> Did Splendor ever make the suggestion list on the previous couple of pages?  I don't think it has an established solo setting, but it would be easy enough to just turn it into a "beat your high score" kind of mode.  And it's a REMARKABLE intro-ey kind of game.




I've considered Splendor, but haven't taken the plunge yet. Azul is definitely too puzzly and abstract. 

We took Hive Pocket on a camping trip ... Fail. She thought it was too hard to learn/too much like chess. Sad becuase it's quite a good game and actually simpler in concept than chess but much more dynamic.

Exploding Kittens continued to be popular though.


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## Lord Mhoram (Aug 12, 2018)

My wife and I only play co-op games.

I'll admit we go for the more complex games - so I only have a few.
*Stuffed Fables* - it's a story based move around the board and fight game (sorta dungeon crawler) - but you play as stuffed animals, so the theme and style of the game help overcome the difficulty. We love it. It's a bit more complex than the other two I mention, but the theme really helps.
*Harry Potter:Hogwarts Battle* - deck-building game, and if she like HP that is a huge bonus. The game is set up to play each year as a separate game (although it isn't a legacy game, you don't destroy your cards). What is really nice is that year one is a super simple game, and each year a new element is added. So it helps in learning the more complex stuff as you go.
*One Deck Dungeon* - Fairly simple dice/card game. It's a rogue-like card game of dungeon crawling. Plays in 30 minutes to an hour.

The other games we enjoy (but are on the more complex end)
Lord of the Rings: Living Card Game
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
Mistfall
Aeon's End (really great game, but a little complex).
Eldritch Horror
Shadows of Brimstone
Sentinels of the Multiverse.
Dresden Files

Aside from Sentinels, all work really well solo.

All are very nice co-op and One Deck is a fantastic solo game.


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## KenNYC (Aug 13, 2018)

Pandemic Legacy Season One.   The greatest co-op game I have ever played.  It takes up to four players but you can run two characters each no problem.   It is the best game I have played in the last few years.   Can be done solo if you want to adopt all four roles.

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective:  Jack The Ripper.    Your wife and you will be Baker Street Irregulars solving mysteries that are darn hard in a choose your own adventure format.    Great solo but two heads are better than one.

Unlocked!    Escape the room in a box series of games.  They run about $15 each and are a lot of fun.  You will work together to solve puzzles.  Works solo, but two heads are still better than one.


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## Vymair (Aug 15, 2018)

2p - Look at Qwirkle.   It's superficially similar to scrabble but based on sequences of shapes and colors, so vocabulary is eliminated as a factor.   I had a similar experience of winning scrabble almost every game, but Qwirkle is much more competitive.


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## jgsugden (Aug 29, 2018)

Solo
Gloomhaven - Run Three characters yourself.
Terraforming Mars - There is a solo variant.

Two 
Gloomhaven (2 PCs is fun - very different than 3 player solo)
Lost Cities (fast and easy)
7 Wonders Duel (I just wish the cards were bigger - great game)
Kingdomino (simple, great filler game)
Patchwork (great game - odd choice of flavor for it)


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## MNblockhead (Aug 29, 2018)

For number 1, I read or play a video game. I just can't get into solo board games.  The closed I've come is with the D&D board games. I bought Temple of Elemental Evil. You can play that solo but it is very fiddly and much more fun with other players.  Endangered Orphans of Clondyle Cove has a fun solo variant and is also one that your wife might enjoy as a two-player game.

For number 2, I have better suggestions as I'm in the same boat as you. I buy far too many games. My wife is not much of a gamer. She'll play games with the kids but the two of us rarely play a game with just the too of us. I find that card games generally are a better bet. That said, here are some good two-player games you can play with a "non-gamer" (i.e., someone that doesn't want the rules to come in the form of a small book). These are all games that I play with my wife and play with non-gamer family members:

1. Illimat. Kickstarted by the Decemberists and now sold from their Web site. My current favorite card game. Can be played with 2-4. Doesn't have a "geeky" feel and feels like a classic game but has some very interesting mechanics. Anyone who enjoys card games will like it and those who typically prefer board games will probably like it as well, be cause you play the cards on "board" of sorts. 

2. Sushi Go. Easy to pick up but interesting choices and very replayable. 

3. Ticket to Ride is a Euro Boardgame that many non-gamers like, but if it is too long or too complicated for your wife, check out the new small, cheap, and quick play version, Ticket to Ride: New York. 

4. Kind of Tokyo. Great dice-battle game. Great for kids, but fun for adults as well. Maybe too cartoony and turn off some people. 

6. Zombie Dice. Fun, fast, easy mechanics. *** Can also be played as a Solo game ***

7. Exploding Kittens, another fun card game that is great with two players

8. Bears vs. Babies. Fun, weird, but easy to learn and plays fast. 

9. Endangered Orphans of Clondyle Cove, mentioned above, but worth mentioning again. Can be played solo, or with 2-4 players. 

10. the Timeline Game  (by Asmodee) series of cheap games that come in tin boxes are fun for people who like trivia games, but want a game that plays fast and is fun with as few as two players. They have many options. Everything from American pop culture, to general history, to inventions, animals, discoveries, etc. It isn't that replayable. After a few games you'll all know the order of things, but that also means you are memorizing history! And the games are cheap. Play a few times and give to someone else. 

There are others but these come to mind without having to look up anything and these are all games that I've enjoyed with my "non-gamer" wife, parents, and sisters.


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## Legatus Legionis (Sep 2, 2018)

.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Sep 9, 2018)

The Shiverspouse recently committed to give me three game nights.  Now while that's a license to bring ot some gamer games, I really would prefer to pick something up that she'll be more likely to be into.

I'm thinking cooperative, discrete (individual turns, not a shared turn -- avoid "Alpha gamer" syndrome), themed (but there has to be a tight connection between theme and mechanics ... no more Knezia LotR co-op fiascos), and light enough to avoid analysis paralysis.

Am currently comparing between D&D Adventure: Temple of Elemental Evil, Mice & Mystics, and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle. Any thoughts about the three of them, or similar games?

(I could just break out Imperial Assault and run it co-op with the app, but I know it's too crunchy mechanically.)


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## MNblockhead (Sep 10, 2018)

Temple of Elemental Evil can take quite a bit of time to set up and put away. Not a great game if you plan to play several games on a game night. Best if you decide to play several scenarios from it to progress through the campaign. Not sure if Shiverspouse is up for making a longer-term commitment to a game. 

Also, ToEE can be quite difficult, especially for those who do not commonly play tactical games. If you want a lighter game, you'll want to go on easy mode (e.g. make all healing surges available). Even then this is a game of attrition. If you take too much time or are too cautious, your party will be ground down. This can be very frustrating for some players.


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## Olgar Shiverstone (Sep 15, 2018)

I've opted for Forbidden Island initially.  I'll give that a try and go from there.


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## Nytmare (Sep 17, 2018)

I've played both Mice and Mystics and Hogwarts.  I think that although both of them are on the "easier to learn" end of the spectrum for new gamers, Hogwarts can be a lot meaner.  It really does a good job of letting you fall into really neat combos, and lets you feel really smart for wandering into them, but I've seen way too many unwinnable games due to the random bad guys you get at the start of the game.


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## KenNYC (Sep 25, 2018)

Detective:  A Modern Crime Game.   It came out this year, and all you will need is access to the internet to go along with the game.   Fine for 1 or 2 people.


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## Jhaelen (Sep 26, 2018)

KenNYC said:


> It came out this year, and all you will need is access to the internet to go along with the game.



That's an odd requirement for a boardgame.


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## KenNYC (Sep 26, 2018)

Jhaelen said:


> That's an odd requirement for a boardgame.





It's a mystery solving game.  There are five cases to solve but you have a limited amount of actions to solve the cases.   The cases are all fictional but there is a backdrop of actual real world history and events which you might have to google or check wikipedia pages (or any page you wish really) to find the missing piece of the puzzle.  It's very interesting, and the cases are all linked to form a greater story about secrets and corruption which my group and I are slowly unearthing.   I am up to case four and think it's a great game, you just need a tablet, computer or smartphone while you play.   We play with three players but it is easily done with two.


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## Jhaelen (Sep 27, 2018)

KenNYC said:


> The cases are all fictional but there is a backdrop of actual real world history and events which you might have to google or check wikipedia pages (or any page you wish really) to find the missing piece of the puzzle.



That sounds a lot like the puzzle quests in the Secret World MMO:


> Some missions involve fetching items or fighting monsters; others include a variety of puzzles that are quasi-alternate reality games that require "searching the Internet" for clues with an in-game browser.[4]



They use a mix of 'real' websites and websites that were specifically created for the game, e.g. to portray the in-game factions or fictional companies. I really enjoyed these puzzles; so, if it's like that, that's quite cool, but it's not something I would want in a boardgame.

I specifically returned to playing board games regularly because I wanted to get away from playing online games and spend more time 'offline' with a bunch of friends. I don't really care for board games that require an app to play.


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## Nytmare (Sep 29, 2018)

Jhaelen said:


> That's an odd requirement for a boardgame.





A lot of games are dabbling in that play space now.  I think it's novel, but not something that's going to really become the new normal.  I think that the new... is it Descent?  Maybe Mansions of Madness? Regardless, they've removed the "DM" player and replaced them with an app.  I think one of the Star Wars games maybe does that too.  There's a mazey kind of game called Mask of Anubis that involves one player wearing a smart phone/VR headset while everyone else is using a board. 

From what I've heard, In Detective, part of the game is actively researching information by Googling for it.


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## Lord Mhoram (Sep 30, 2018)

Jhaelen said:


> I specifically returned to playing board games regularly because I wanted to get away from playing online games and spend more time 'offline' with a bunch of friends. I don't really care for board games that require an app to play.




I tend to keep my hobbies seperate - I don't use online stuff when I roleplay. I play video games on console, single player. My board games are a time to unplug. If a game requires an app or an online connection to play it (board or RPG) I won't play that game.


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## Jhaelen (Oct 1, 2018)

Nytmare said:


> I think that the new... is it Descent?  Maybe Mansions of Madness?



Actually both. I think there's also app support for Imperial Assault. However none of these require an active internet connection. You just download the app and that's it.

That's what I thought was odd about 'Detective'. But if you're supposed to search the internet for clues, it makes sense.


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## CezarJ (Oct 5, 2018)

For two player's try Hanamikoji. My SO and me love it after a tough day at work.


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