The Lure of Solo Games

Hello, all!

 

I've only just recently gotten into "designer" board games, and I've noticed something about me: I will only really buy a game if there is a solo play varient (or is a fully cooperative board game, such as SotM).

 

My reasoning behind this is because I don't get out to play with people much. While I do enjoy gaming with other people. that doesn't happen very often. Why then should I pay upwards of $40 on something that I'll only play once a week, if at all? With solo games, I can at least explore the game by myself, and when the moment arises, I can share my hobby with somebody else. 

 

I really appriciate all of the people on BGG who are making solo varients for non solo games (Such as a very good solo version of Android: Netrunner called Cracking the Code. Very interesting stuff.) I hope more games come out that can be played solo, or that can be tweaked so that people can enjoy the game when no one else is around.

 

So I was wondering, what does everybody else think of solo games? Should most games be able to be played solo? Does a solo play varient extend the life of a board/card game? 

Thanks for indulging my thoughts for a moment. Happy Holidays and happy gaming!

Zalrus9

I appreciate solo games and am glad they're available for the people who enjoy them, but for me, the purpose of a boardgame is to sit around a table with people and interact.  I've never been drawn by solo boardgames.

I do enjoy playing a solo game, but I definitely prefer them being a "variant" of the regular. Reason why I put it as "variant" because  like Sentinels of the Multiverse it is still the regular game, just playing multiple characters. I like being able to switch between both solo and with others easily. So essentially any cooperative game would fit under that, at least all the cooperative games I own. I'm not sure if I would buy a game that was made to be a solo game though, unless it was fairly cheap. At the same time I wouldn't buy anything that requires there to be more than two people, as it isn't too often we have too big of a group and when we do it is because we are running a Campaign.

Gaming with others is always the best way to play, although there are many times at home when I'd rather play a boardgame than watch TV or sit in front of the PC with a vacant expression as I do little more than waste time. Usually I'll read, but sometimes I want a more interactive challenge. My wife is not much of a gamer and, like us, most of my friends have young families, making club nights my only real option for face to face gaming. I therefore have no problem with the occasional solo game, especially as it gives me an opportunity to explore a game to a depth that would otherwise take far too long on club nights alone. 

I like it when games have a solo variant, or when the nature of the game lends itself to this environment, but it does not normally guide my decision on making a purchase. The key selling points in this respect are ones where I don't have to develop selective amnesia, or where the sprawl is minimised. As much as I love Arkham Horror I've only played a couple of times in the past year because it's too much hassle to run all of that bloated complexity by oneself, so I only play with company even though it does lend itself well to solo play. I've played more competitive games like Battle of Westeros solo purely to learn the rules and identify simple strategic blunders, but it is a very poor cousin to having a real opponent. Taking out the hidden elements on a game like that would take it too far away from what makes it enjoyable in the first place, which is why I usually avoid fan made solitaire variants.

There are some great games designed specifically for solo play, such as Friday by Friedemann Friese (sp?), and Victory Point games have a few designs around which there is a lot of positive noise. I played FFGs Lord of the Rings LCG for a bit until the deck management became too annoying and I sold it off, and Chrononauts by Loony Labs, which I cannot stand as a group game, has a nice puzzle-like solo variant which is quite fun. Other than that I usually play Flash Point Fire Rescue - anything which is a puzzle type game without hands of cards to manage or competitive strategy works well.

Sentinels is not too bad solo as there is not a great deal to keep track of, although now that the online games are so frequent and accessible I haven't looked back. Seeing someone with a lot more experience handle complex characters such as AZ or Argent Adept is a real treat in that environment too.

As far as the cost of gaming goes, I've learnt to put things into perspective. Games I made a mistake on purchasing can be resold or traded for little loss and, really and truly, I've wasted far more money sitting in movie theatres watching something that invariably has a terrible ending, or buying a CD because of one good song then realising that it was the only good song. Or eating a really terrible meal when I could have cooked at home for a fraction of the cost. What I have spent on gaming is pretty irrelevant in comparison so I don't get hung up on it anymore.

 

I've never really explored many options of solo games.  I used to "test" out my Magic: The Gathering decks by playing a few rounds by myself (with no deck to compare it to.  Yes, I know that that doesn't make for a very productive test.  I was 15.).  Typically, if I'm going solo, I either marathon a show, play a single player video game, or surf the net while doing one of the two previously mentioned activities.

I imagine I would find solo games very rewarding, but I don't know much about my options.  I can't imagine playing Sentinels by myself because I've always been fortunate enough to have a lot of good friends around that love playing the game with me.  Also, it has been a real treat playing online and seeing what other people do with various characters.  Better yet, I've been able to gain further clarity on some rules that I've found rather confusing in the past thanks to the help of playing with a few of the various Sentinels forumites.

I like boardgames, but I like them more than most people I know - and even those who like to play don't have the time to play as often, or for as long, as I would want. So I buy games that I can play solo "easily" - even if it means playing "multiplayers alone". For instance : in the last two months, I could only play 3 times with fellow players (two SotM sessions, one King of Tokyo + Pandemic) - but played 50 or so solo games of SotM, plus half a dozen solo games of Shadowrift, and a few Village, Conquest of Planet Earth, Pandemic and King of Tokyo, all solo.

Gaming as a social experience is cool, but you are dependant on the availability of others to play - that's what led me to play more computer games than boardgames/RPG two decades ago. Now that I am fed up with computer games, boardgames that can be played solo are my way to procrastinate. And if solo table top RPGs existed, I would play them a lot : it's been more than a year since I last had the opportunity to play RPGs !

Decades ago, I had the habit to play Pax Britannica solo (with all nations) for the same reasons. Finding half a dozen diplomats with 12 free hours has never been easy.

As a (former) game designer, It end to always think about solo play when building a game - especially if the hteme or mechanisms are not "causal" enough to convince anyone to play...

I have grown to love solo games recently as I can guaranteedly get those to the table more often. They also work really well for business trips as it gives me something to do in my hotel room other than watching the idiot box or sleeping. Since I go on 4-7 week long business trips a year, they've come in really handy.

 

My favorites at the moment are Friday (which was mentioned above) and Onirim, which is a very tiny, very fun card game that can be tucked in a pocket of a piece of luggage without any problem. It is even small enough that I have played it on an airline tray, so it also has that going for it.

 

Lately I've been bringing solo games with me to the game store so that I have something to play while I wait for people to be available to play other games (like Netrunner or Sentinels)