Top 10 Solo Only Board Games

Almost all of these games are ones that I’ve featured on the Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. I will put out videos for all of them that I have one so you can find them all here.

10. Snowfall Over Mountains

This one is a nice and peaceful board game. Snowfall Over Mountains is a card laying game, and you will see a lot of these. You create a layout of cards that score for different types of terrain. You score rabbit tracks one way, ponds another, trees another, and so on, and this scoring can change. But you want to get as high as score as you can and that’s it for the game. It is fast, it is easy to shuffle up and play again.

9. Cursed

This one is all about trying to defeat a curse before time runs out. You need to defeat a certain number of monsters before the deck of cards runs out, or the witch gets your soul. The game play is all about pushing your luck and deciding how many cards to use to try and defeat the monsters. I like how all the cards have a few things on them. They might have special rules or treasure, but they can all be used for attacking and they are all monsters.

8. Numbsters

Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven eight nine. Yes, that is the basis for this game, and it it works. You want cards to eat each other and you want to end up with as few cards as possible. So you create a line of cards (or you can play it in your hand) and you need to use the rule at the front to eat cards, or just to eat cards that are one higher. It’s a little game, part of the Button Shy Line of games, and it works better than a lot of them for me.

7. Relics of Rajavihara

Maybe you remember the video game Chips Challenge. If you are like me, you loved that game growing up and trying to figure out every puzzle you could. Relics of Rajavihara gives you some of that same feel in a board game. You need to manipulate blocks in ways that let you get to the relic on each level. If you get stuck, you just reset the board and try again. It is one that I owned, played, sold, and now I got it back because I just want to go through them again.

6. Bargain Basement Bathysphere

This is a crazy game when it comes to board games names. But Bargain Basement Bathysphere is a fun campaign roll and write game. It is meant to be solo and it’s campaign only in the loosest terms, less of a campaign than Welcome to the Moon for example. But it’s fun to play and it’s fun to figure out how to manipulate the dice and get down to the bottom of the sea and get back out before your oxygen runs out. There is just a little bit of tension in the game, and that works well.

5. Grove/Orchard

Yes, this is two games at once on the list. But Grove and Orchard are very similar in what they do as board games. I could also add a game like Sprawlopolis to this, but I like what Grove and Orchard do better. In this game you are trying to grown the most fruit that you can. You gain fruit by overlapping cards so that matching fruit symbols cover each other. And that’s the majority of the game right there. Grove adds in some extra scoring challenges which are fun to play with as well.

4. Under Falling Skies

Have you ever wanted to play space invaders with Independence Day? For me, that is what the game Under Falling Skies feels like. At it’s core, it is a dice placement game where you want to get big numbers so you can fight the aliens, drive them back, and research how to stop them. But the higher number you use the faster the smaller alien ships descend. And if too many of them make it into the Earth’s atmosphere, well, that’s game over, man.

3. Final Girl

Final Girl is the one game on the list that I haven’t played yet on Malts and Meeples Youtube. I need to refresh myself on how to play it and then get it to the table. Though that might wait until the fall because Final Girl is all about horror. Every game you play takes you into the setting of your choice and you are the final girl. You need to survive and beat the killer or other things as you play.

And there are really a ton of different options as to what you can do. I love the mix and match nature of the horror setting your are in with the variety of final girls who you can play as. And it is all time management and resource management to try and win the game. Of course, the longer it goes, the scarier it gets. Can you find what you need, rescue others, and defeat the scenario?

2. Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom

This is the one with the most recent playthrough on Malts and Meeples. And I blame Meet Me At The Table for getting me into this game. This is a legacy game, which is a bit odd to put on the list. But it’s a game all about managing a deck of cards to build up your kingdom and get as many points as you can. I love how streamlined it is and how almost all cards throughout the game can be upgraded as well as be resources that you use to upgrade other cards. So the decision how to use a card is always a challenge.

1. For Northwood

Finally, we have For Northwood a solo only trick taking game. And you might think, like I did, I like trick taking but how is it going to work solo? Well, it is my number one, so I think that it works well solo. In the game you need to win at each grove. When you win at a grove you get access to a leader who can help you in future rounds and you get points. But it is hard because each grove needs an exact number of tricks one.

I love how the game gives you powers and abilities that you can use. Though, you are only allowed to use them once per hand of cards. So if you need to spend it early, well that might be rough if things start to go sideways. But it just works and the challenges work well as well for once you have conquered the base game.

Final Thoughts

Now I know I have a lot more solo only games that I’ve played. There are a ton of Button Shy Games like that and only one of them made the list. Why is that? I think it is because a lot of them feel similar and they are all very small games. That isn’t a bad thing because for the most part I enjoy them a lot. And I know that I have a lot more to play from littler games like Friday and Palm Island to bigger solo only games like Mr President, Hallas of Hegra, and Hoplomachus: Victorum.

Is there one of the solo only games that you want to see me highlight on the channel? Let me know that down in the comment section or over on the Nerdologists Facebook page or on the YouTube channel.

Five Solo Board Games to Play on Malts and Meeples

But what are my Top 5 solo only games that I want to get played? Well, let’s do one last final list really quickly and in no particular order.

1. 20 Strong – This looks like a fun game and it’s from Chip Theory Games, but it’s small. And you decide what setting you want to play, so it can be their new one for the game or it can be one of their existing ones.
2. Mr President – This one would be a huge undertaking and that is why I haven’t played it yet. Have you ever wanted to be the President of the United States? I honestly can say that I don’t think I have, but in this board game, you can play as them and make decisions but you need to balance everything.
3. Forage – This is going to be the easiest to get to the table. It’s in the same line as Grove and Orchard, so I should just stream this one.
4. The Ratcatcher – This is the Pied Pipers story, in some ways, in a board game. It is one where you want to catch all the rats before they get too much cheese. I’ve heard the rulebook is tough but I still want to give it a got because of the theme.
5. Hoplomachus: Victorum – The second Chip Theory Games game on the list. This one is not small and it’s a campaign. But it is a short campaign. Can I build up my troops and combat prowess to get through the whole thing?

Which one of these should I play?

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How To Play The Royal Limited

In The Royal Limited you play four turns and you need to get all of your cards, or all but one into your train either as passengers or as train cars to win at the highest level of the game. If you score four or more points, you lose the game. And two or three points, you’re just starting out as a conductor, so you’ll get better.

Trains and Passengers

How do you get cards out as train cars or passengers? Both are fairly simple to do, but you need train cars before you need passengers so we’ll talk about that one first. To play out a train you pick the card you want to play. The first one can be any card. Then you discard cards totally the number on the train car, so if it’s a three, three cards. Each additional card follows that same rule plus the additional one that it can’t match the color or number of the previous train car.

For playing passengers, most of them are very simple. You either need to match the color or the number to play a passenger onto that train car. There are two VIP passengers as well per game and they have additional special rules. So before they can be placed, you need to meet their conditions. They might have a specific color or be wild when it comes to placement. Each train car only can have a single passenger.

Activating Train Cars

When you play out a passenger you then activate the ability on the train that you play the passenger to. You must do the ability on the card if you are able. There are even some that are more specific than that. They give an ability and then a “next” ability. You must do that ability next and complete. If you are not able to complete that ability, then your turn ends and you draw back up to five cards in your hand.

When you turn does end, either because you can’t play more cards or because you don’t have any or don’t want to, you draw back up to five cards. When you tick down your timer. Then you end a turn and would begin your next turn and the “Train Departed” is at the top of the card, the position marking the turn, the game is over. You then count up the number of train cars/passengers that you didn’t use and the number of VIP passengers you didn’t get played and that determines your score.

What Doesn’t Work

Honestly, I don’t really have complaints about this one. The train maybe gets a little bit wide but with the cards overlapping I think I could fit it onto a TV tray. And that’s about it that I can find that might be an issue, and that’s only a very specific issue of it might not work on an airplane tray, but it also might as I haven’t tested it out.

What Works

Firstly the speed of this game is amazing. I talk while I play and I do intros, grab a drink, and then did some mini thoughts at the end of the video, and it’s a 38 minute video for five games. So the game just flies by, I know it says twenty minutes, I think it’s a ten minute max game.

I really like how the VIP passengers are double sided. I thought that maybe it would start to feel the same with the passengers, but with eight total passengers there are a ton of combinations that you can play. And the more challenging those VIP passengers are, I think it makes the game itself more interesting because I want to or need to to win the game, figure out how to get at least one VIP into play.

And I like the abilities on the cards. Sometimes they are good, and that’s great for you. But sometimes you look at it, especially final round, and it’s discard a card or put a card on top of the deck. Well, you do both of those, you are at a minimum of two cards that you won’t be able to play, and then you’ll just be a beginner conductor.

Final Thoughts on The Royal Limited

I’m skipping the who this is for. If you like solo games, you probably know from the description if you’ll like this game. If you know someone who likes solo games, it’s cheap, get them it and see if they like it.

But I did very much enjoy this game. I think one of the elements that I really liked is the simplicity of play. The powers are the main thing you need to remember, and that’s just part of playing a passenger is using the cars power. It’s not like some of the Button Shy solo games where it’s a bit challenging to keep it straight in the tiny rule books.

This game is fast and easy to learn. That is always going to work for a solo game for me. And I didn’t feel like the challenge was too light. I need to think about what I’m doing, you saw me rewind a move once or twice. But it is not a game where you need to think and agonize over everything. So I see it as that kind of palette cleanser solo game. When you want that brain reset or refresh to happen, I would grab The Royal Limited.

My Grade: B+
Strategy: B+
Luck: C-

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How To Play At The Helm

At The Helm is a hand management and deck building game where you are trying to beat three challenges. Each challenge is going to want different symbols played out to beat it. Some want a lot of sails played in a single turn. Others want a lot of sails total but it isn’t turn based, or it could be attacks or money that they want as well.

To do this you need to play out cards from your hand of three cards. Every card does some different effect and some of them might do two different ones that you choose between. But a lot are going to give you that attack, sail, or purchase/money. As well as they give you health which you need in the game.

After you play one or two cards each turn you draw back up to three. If there is a broken heart symbol on the card you take a damage (or two from some). You might also lose health from triggers on the challenges you are going after. Such as the giant squid deals you a damage if you damage it with the harpoon.

Then, if you run out of cards, you automatically get a card from the market. Huzzah, free purchase, but once all the cards are gone and you need to reshuffle you lose the game. But if you defeat all three challenges, you win the game.

What Doesn’t Work

Variety is going to be my one negative for the game. I talked about how there is some variety in the game on the stream. But that mainly comes from changing up the challenges. I think that there are good deck building strategies, but those strategies never change, at least not much. So it’s about those challenges. I think I say this a lot about the Button Shy Games, but with only 18 cards, it limits what you do, so almost all of them you probably want an expansion for it to add more variety to the game.

What Works

Let’s talk two things that I generally mention either as a negative or positive. But the game is very fast, which is good, most Button Shy Games are. And for a small solo game, I want it to be that. But At The Helm is also a consistent footprint that isn’t too large. I like that it’s a fixed footprint as well. There are some that I’ve played where the footprint can vary considerably or be dynamic throughout the game.

The hand management aspect of the game works well. I like that determination of how many cards to play because the more you play each turn, the faster you get through your deck. But if you dig for specific cards, well, you likely will find that you end up in trouble because you aren’t fully optimizing what you do.

And I think adding cards to your deck in this game is interesting as well. I did call out that one element of the game is not obvious, and I missed it, because it’s tucked in part of the rules where it doesn’t make as much sense. Not a big negative, but I like how when you run out of cards to play you get to add in a card. That is a good countdown timer and it means that you don’t always need to buy cards.

Who Is At The Helm For?

I think that people who enjoy a good puzzle of a game are going to enjoy At The Helm. Now, I think it’s less of a puzzle game than some. This one is more about reacting to the cards you get in hand and balancing that line of healing up and spending time doing that, versus working on the challenges. So people who like that puzzle but also that hand management or deck building aspect of a game should enjoy this one. And this one is better than some for people who travel as well.

Final Thoughts on At The Helm

I enjoyed this game quite well. I think that it’s one that is easier to understand the rules than some. I do think that the rules needed that tiny bit of extra work. Mainly, where do you place certain key parts of the rules would make a lot of sense. I get that it’s probably a me issue because I should have read everything better. But I suspect there are a number of other players of the game who missed the adding purchased cards to the hand rule as well.

The game is fast, and I like the aesthetic of the game. I think that it works very well and it really does feel like a tightly designed game. The theme is just there enough through that aesthetic as well which is nice. I don’t love it when a game is just all mechanisms with a theme that could be anything. But, with At The Helm, I don’t think that it’s that.

And the game play is so fast and consistent in what you are doing, it feels less lucky than some of the other games. And it feels more like a game than a puzzle than some of the other solo games from Button Shy. For that reason, I do enjoy this one more, and while I suspect that an expansion or two would make it more playable in the long run with that variety, it works really well as it is.

My Grade: B+
Strategy: B+
Luck: C-

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How To Play Unsurmountable

Like all games from Button Shy, Unsurmountable is an 18 card game. Though, there are expansions. In this game you are trying to use all 17 mountain cards and the helicopter to complete an assent of the mountain. You need to make it from one of the bottom edges of the mountain to the top as you build it out in a four wide triangle.

Each turn you do one of two things. You either take the left most card from the “base camp” row of cards and add it to your mountain. You want to connect the paths so that you can make it to the top as you are placing out cards.

The other option is that you can spend one of the other cards, four at the start of a base game, to use it’s special ability. These abilities allow you to manipulate the order of the cards in the base camp, remove cards or add cards in other ways to the mountain and more.

Once you complete one of those two actions you refill your base camp, shifting all the cards to the left and continue. At the end of the game, when your mountain is built, you check to see if you can create a path to the top. If you can, you win.

What Doesn’t Work

This is a solo game with a fair amount of luck to it. If you get the right cards to come out in the right order, you just build the mountain. The powers, they don’t matter so much. But, if you don’t get the right cards, it’s more of a puzzle. So there is a variability in the game as to how you win. Sometimes you win it is pure luck, other times, no matter what you do, or nearly that, there is nothing you could do to win.

What Works

That negative said, this game does give you a good puzzle. The powers on the cards are interesting. Though, as I talk about at the end of the video, maybe not balanced. For example, adding an extra card to the row just gives you more options. But, removing one makes it harder, and the likelihood you want to play either card on the mountain is fairly low. But the rest of the cards offer a lot of fun choices and decisions about which to use.

The game is also again a pretty small footprint and fast to play. I play four games in my video and that is not a long video. In fact, I even spend time talking at the end about some thoughts on the game, so it’s less than that run time for four games. Granted, one game I didn’t play out completely. I knew based off of the cards that I had, I wasn’t going to be able to complete it. But that’s not a bad thing, it means that the game plays fast, and you know when it’s over, no questioning if you can complete it.

Who Is Unsurmountable For?

I think people who like a solo puzzle will find this one fun. As compared to some Button Shy Games, I think that this one might benefit more from expansions. The base game, as you play it, you know what cards do fast. That isn’t a bad thing, but it does limit a potential shelf life of a game. But for someone who wants a lot of small solo games, maybe travels often or finds themselves waiting often, a game like this is very good.

My Final Thoughts on Unsurmountable

This is an interesting game, and I mean that in a good way. I like the game, but also I think that I need the expansions to keep it around. So I am buying the expansions for it. The nice thing about a lot of Button Shy Games is that you get them for $15 and can sell them for $10, so if I don’t find that’s enough for the game, that’s okay. But I think what the game does is interesting.

The reason that it’s kind of riding that edge for me is because I own a lot of little solo games. So which is going to be the one that I play? And Unsurmountable is on the higher end of luck. I won a game without having to use a power for a long time. Why, because that is the order the cards were shuffled into. Am I likely to get that order again, no. But it is possible to just shuffle into a win, which I’m not going to say is bad design.

But it is a testament to the level of luck in the game. And I want to do more than just play out cards in the order I drew them. And most of the time I know with Unsurmountable that I will. If the expansions add some more into the mix, though, that’d be great.

My Grade: C+
Strategy: B
Luck: B

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How To Play Ancient Realm

Ancient Realm is a solo game where you are trying to get your highest score, and there are different levels of score, while building up your society. The game is done by creating this line of cards that is going to be your society. This is a mixture of market cards and wonder cards. You are always able to play a market card, but the wonder cards have a cost that you need to pay that’s either wheat, wood, or stone.

Gaining Resources

To play a card you add it to either end of the tableau that you’re building. Or you place the card above part or all of other cards. Then you activate the cards which you are covering up, or the parts of the card that you are covering up. That is how you are going to get more resources, whether it’s the three above or there is also gold as well that you can get.

However, to get resources, sometimes there is a cost, and you need to be able to pay that in gold. Or if you cover up a mine, you get gold, but all mines have scoring on them, so if you cover it up you can’t score it.

Building Wonders

Then you use those resources to play out wonders. And wonders are going to help you in various ways. The first way is that it gets you more points. But equally as big is that it can make it more efficient to get resources. Plus, and I forgot this from time to time, the market card that is next to be in play has a specific rule on it that you can use as well. That might make it easier to trade resources. Or it might make it so that you can build a wonder cheaper.

After all the wonders and market cards are built or wonder cards are sold for either a resource or two gold, you tally up your score. You want to beat 49 otherwise your land is ruinous. But there are a lot of different tiers to shoot for in the game.

What Doesn’t Work

I really don’t have a negative. I’ll probably talk more about the feel of the game in the Who Is Ancient Realm For section. But the closest thing to a negative might be that there are a few things to keep track of, like the bonuses from wonders and the bonus from that next market card up. But that’s not really a negative, it’s just a learning curve for the game.

What Works

I like the system of covering up cards to activate them a lot. You want to be smart about it, or more likely you need to be smart about it. If you aren’t smart about it, you’ll either get too many resources and have leftovers when the game ends, or you cover up something you need for scoring. So it’s really a good efficiency puzzle to get as many wonders played as possible.

Another element that I think works well is the mines. Gold is great because you can spend two for a resource. But it’s also not great because if you cover up a mine you cover up a scoring opportunity. So you need, again this efficiency puzzle, to be smart on which ones you cover up and cover up as few as possible. Granted, some mines you might look at and realize that you won’t score them or score well on them, so you want to cover up them.

The game is also good in time and space on the table. Now this isn’t the smallest in terms of solo games. Nor is it the shortest game in terms of solo play. But neither make it feel like too much work to get it to the table. And I think that there are ways that you could compact the footprint so it doesn’t get quite as large. Though, the play of cards at the end is definitely going to take up some space.

Who is Ancient Realm For?

I think that this is a good game for people who like puzzle solo games. The game is really that efficiency puzzle. So if someone wants a game that is a bit more open in what you can do, I suspect this might feel like too much of a brain burner. But if that’s what you’re looking for it’s a good and fast brain burner of a game.

My Final Thoughts on Ancient Realm

I enjoyed this game a lot. For the Button Shy solo games, Ancient Realm is one of my favorites. I really like it when a game gives me a good puzzle. Because, a lot of the time, when I play a solo game, I do so to keep my brain engaged. There are a lot of things that I could do to spend time, but so many of them just really turn my brain off. So I like it when I can keep my brain going and enjoy a game as well.

This one also is a tight enough game, see that efficiency puzzle comment, that I feel like I can spot the better options pretty quickly. I don’t want a brain burner of a game to give me too many options. Especially for a solo game. So with Ancient Realm it is a easy to see what might be my options and then what might be the best one of them. At least that’s how it feels. I maybe make the decision too fast, but I don’t want the game to take too long as a small solo experience. And if I play poorly, I can always shuffle up and try again.

My Grade: B+
Strategy: B+
Luck: C

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How To Play ROVE

ROVE is a solo only game where you are trying to complete seven missions. In each mission you need to configure the placement of various modules from the ROVE lander that has broken. To do this, you spend energy. One energy allows you to activate a card. So let’s talk about how it works with the modules.

Each module has a specific way that it can move and a special power. The special powers, however, are only a single use per game. And you need to complete seven missions. So you plan carefully when you use those powers. Otherwise the modules move in different ways. One needs to cross over another module but it can move in any direction. A couple others can just cross over modules but might move only diagonally, for example.

Once you complete one mission you flip out a new mission card and you refresh your energy cards so that you have five, on normal, or fewer, four or three for hard and impossible settings. You do this until you have seven cards into play for missions and you either have run out of energy trying to complete a mission or you complete them all. If you do, you win.

What Doesn’t Work

This game takes up a bit of space. As you move all of the cards around things are going to shift a fair amount. So for a solo game that is just 18 cards, and six of them really in play that take up so mush space, it’s a bit of a table hog. Now that said, it’s really not that much space. But let’s say it’s not a game that you could easily play on a TV tray or something like that, it needs more space.

What Works

I like the different levels that you can play the game at. I played twice and the second game, on hard, I felt like it was actually a bit more challenging. When you get energy cards and you have two three energies available, you never really feel the crunch of movement. But with four cards and you just have twos and ones, well there is more intensity there. I think that hard is probably where I’ll play the game most, though I’m sure I’ll dabble with impossible and lose quickly.

The game is also fast. I was worried when I pulled the game off the shelf and learned the rules that with seven missions it’d be a very slow game. But it’s definitely not a slow game. I got through two plays in about half an hour. And that’s a great amount of time for a game like this. Each mission is it’s own puzzle, but you quickly figure out how to solve them as you go and you come up with a plan before you start moving cards around.

Finally, it’s a silly little thing, but I like how the cards create a picture, or panorama as you go. And you get to see what the silly little robot is doing, that’s a great fun element to the game. It takes what’s really a very mechanical puzzle of a game and gives you a goofy little element to it to inject the theme. It’s something that works well, and is just that nice little bit of flavor.

Who Is ROVE For?

This is going to be for that person who loves solo games. Sometimes a solo game could maybe be a two player game if you want to just work together and talk through ideas. But ROVE is really focused down on figuring out that challenge as to where you place everything. And because of that it’s a bit of a quieter game. Obviously I talked through it all on my video, but off camera, I think I’d just play it as a quieter time, so it’s truly a solo puzzle of a game.

My Final Thoughts on ROVE

I enjoyed ROVE quite well. The theme is fun and it is really bolstered by the little artwork in the game. Without that, the game really focuses on functional cards, which isn’t a bad thing, more just a statement of how the cards are in the game.

I want to know what the expansions add to the game. Because, I didn’t mention this as a negative, because the game balances for it, I feel like the game is a bit easy on the normal mode. Hard feels like a normal mode to me and I think that impossible could even be a good challenge from time to time, though I do expect that to be near impossible. But if the expansions add a little bit of complexity to the game, where it feels like the challenge would be harder, than I think my grade on the game would go even higher.

My Grade: B
Strategy: A
Luck: D

Just a reminder, that I changed up the scales so that you can know how lucky or strategic a game is. ROVE is very strategic in nature. Not maybe for super long term planning, but when it comes down to have everything works. And there is some luck in what is flipped, but it’s very minimal for the game. It’s more that you need to be good at having reactive strategy.

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How To Play A Nice Cuppa

A Nice Cuppa is a solo only game about getting the steps of brewing tea in the right order. From picking your tea and mug, steeping it, and eventually sipping on it. The game has seven steps for brewing your tea. Of course, brewing tea, there might be some distractions, these are worry cards in the game. So you need to try and not let the worries get the best of you.

For each round you flip up a worry card. Each worry is going to give you a direction on how to move your steps of brewing tea. So while you want them to end up in order, you need to work with the movement rules that you are given. Each spot with a worry face up, you do that movement, and you must do them in order of left to right. Then you flip your tea brewing cards over to their their other side above worries. If that side that is up is a focused side, that worry goes away.

At the end of the game, you count the cards that you have in order. You find where you have your one card and count from there. You get two points per card that is focused and one per card that is unfocused. Then you lose a point for any worry that remains.

What Doesn’t Work

Honestly, I don’t have much for this section. This is a nice compact solo game in terms of what is does. I think that there is a level of luck in the game. But that’s kind of the point of the game. So for someone who wants maybe a puzzle that is always going to have an optimal solution, this is not going to be an ideal game for them. It is a puzzle, but it’s a very adaptive puzzle as you need to figure out how to order and position the cards.

What Works

First off, I like how compact the game is. I have had a problem with some Button Shy Games, well one in particular, Sprawlopolis, where it is a small game with only a few cards, but it takes up space. While A Nice Cuppa isn’t the smallest in terms of footprint, games that Button Shy makes, it is one that is easy to fit onto a table. I think I could even fit it onto a TV tray if I wanted as well.

I also like the adaptability it makes you play with. You need to think about how the cards are going to interact with each other. You see me puzzle through some of that and start to think about deeper strategies on yesterdays stream. Like how do I set-up cards for next turn maybe by swapping cards versus always just putting stuff in order. Because, depending on what rules are out there, being in order might not be helpful to you.

It is nice that A Nice Cuppa has more worries than just seven as well. That means that there is less predictability but more replayability. I don’t know what is going to show up when I flip a card. And it might be a swap or movement that I need. Or it might mess everything up. That means that I need to adaptable as I play, which is something I enjoy in a game. I don’t want to always play with the same strategy.

Who Is A Nice Cuppa For?

I think that a lot of Button Shy fans are going to enjoy the game. I compared it to both Numbsters and Fishing Lesson in terms of some of what it does. How do you create rules that are going to work to get stuff in order. If you or someone you know enjoys that type of game, A Nice Cuppa is going to be another one of those games. And I think I like it better than Fishing Lessons. But as I think about it with Numbsters, they do enough different that there is likely room for both in a collection.

Is A Nice Cuppa My Cup of Tea?

I like A Nice Cuppa quite well. I like how small it is, and I appreciate how quick it is to get to the table and how quick it is to play the game. It’s a great puzzle that makes you think on your feet. And I feel like the more I play it, the more strategies that I’ll have with it. Will they work out always, certainly not. And sometimes, like my last game, you’ll just get something that ruins it for you. But I enjoy coming up with a good way to handle the puzzle of the game.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: C+

Upcoming Streams

Just a reminder on my streaming schedule.

• Monday night, time varies, I plan on starting up a campaign game again soon. And generally the streams do start between 8 and 8:30 PM central time.
• Wednesday at 9 PM central is going to be my shorter games like A Nice Cuppa. And I plan on playing through a number of the Button Shy Games that I own. Plus I’ll sprinkle in Top 10’s as well, which might include one coming up soon with Top 10 Crowdfunding Games I backed in 2024.
• Friday at 9 PM central my wife and I are streaming a playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3. Join us for the adventure of Nina and Kaerok and see what choices we make.

The best way to know when we go live, though is to subscribe and click that notification bell. I can’t promise, and in fact it’s pretty unlikely, that I’ll have events to click on ahead of time. Though I do want to get better at it. I hope that you can join a stream and hop into the chat. And let me know what games in this list are your favorite or that you want to try.

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Thoughts on Numbsters

Clearly I enjoy the game. And if you want to see how much, you can do that here. But let’s do the review of it here as we talk about how the play went.

How To Play

Numbsters is a simple game in terms of how you play and turn structure is very easy to follow. You take six cards, plus the eight and shuffle them together. You put them in a line or keep them in your hand in the order they were shuffled to. Then you place a new card in front of the line or on top of the cards so you can see what it is. I’ll refer to it as a line from here on out.

After that you get a choice, you may move cards if you want. If you move cards you either move a single card to anywhere in the line or you swap two cards.

Then eight needs to eat. Eight eats two ways. Either eight eats in sequential number order. As it says, seven eight nine. So if you had a seven it could eat the nine. But if you have a one with the eight between it and the two, one eats the two. Or you follow the rule for eating on the first card in the row. You choose which you want to do.

Then that core loop happens until you either win or lose the game. To win you need to end the game with one card in front of the eight numbster. Basically down to the point where the eight can’t eat another card. But it’s not just that, the eight can never be the top card of the pile. If that happens you lose automatically. But if you pull it off and end the game with that one card, you win the game.

What Doesn’t Work?

This is different than most games that I talk about. It might not be a situation where it’s too lucky. In fact, while there is luck in how the cards flip out, you can almost always ignore that luck. If you watched my playthrough video above you did see one time where it just didn’t work out at all for me. But every other time I’ve made it down to two to four cards. That means that Numbsters isn’t that lucky, it’s instead generally going to give you a lot more strategy in the game. For some people it might be too much of a brain burn.

And I don’t think this will ever be the case, but some people might consider it to be solvable. Maybe there is a particular strategy that generally works to the win. But the game also offers you the challenge to win with each card, or each possible card. So that might be enough motivation to keep players going.

What Works?

What works I want to start out with game speed of play and footprint. I play with the game laid out on the table in a row or two rows for the video. But it barely takes up any room. And the game is a Button Shy Game that means you can fit it in your pocket easily. But not only is it small, it is also a very fast game. You saw, if you watched the video, four plays, granted one is extremely short, in under half an hour. That is fast.

The game is also very good when it comes to being that thinky puzzle. But it never overwhelms you with choices. You see me in the video freeze up a few times trying to figure out an optimized choice. But you only ever need to know what is on eight cards. And even then your moves are limited because you either move one card or swap two.

I also like the little bit of luck or more variability in the game. Numbsters is not a lucky game. But when you flip over a new card it’s always a question of, does that change that I’m going to do. Either because it’s not an ability that I can use, or because now I feel that card is a concern that I need to take care of. So you can’t win from the word go because all the information is available. But there is some ability to plan.

Who Is Numbsters For?

Who is Numbsters for? The solo gamer in your life. This one is actually great for a solo gamer who travels a fair amount. The game is small, the game could easily be played on a airline’s tray. So I think it’s great for solo gamers who are on the go. But also just solo gamers in general because this is the type of game I could see playing while watching a sporting event or something where I want to keep busy additionally and don’t need to pay full attention to either.

I think it’s also a solid game for someone who maybe wants to try solo games. It’s going to feel like an interesting enough puzzle for them that it might draw them into the solo gaming side of the hobby. At the same time, I don’t want overstate that it is only a solo gaming experience. And most of the time I think you can play solo games with two and make group decisions, but the decision space is tight enough not sure it’d work as well here.

Final Thoughts on Numbsters

I like Numbsters a lot. I think that the game play is a good time. And I like the silliness of it. It is based off of the joke about six being afraid of seven because seven eight nine. But it’s clever with that. It’s not just there because it’s a silly joke, though that does help, but it’s a good game as well.

I also want to echo my comments around why it works well for me from the what people might like section. It’s fast, it has a small footprint, and it doesn’t lock you up but it still lets you think. To me that’s about the ideal you can get for a small solo only game. I want my solo games to be on either extreme.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: B+
Casual Grade: B-

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Numbsters

Not all Button Shy little games are hits for me. But I found Numbsters to be an enjoyable surprise. I think this one works well because it is that little bit of a puzzle of a game. It seems easy at the start (though at the start of the video I was playing it wrong), but each game as you get closer and closer to the end, there is always a complicating factor. And I appreciate that it is part of the game.

The stress curve of the game is right. When you play with a ton of options, you just pick one more so. And as you get closer to the end, there is more planning that goes into it. I am sure as I get better at Numbsters I will strategize better. And to win you likely need to pay attention a bit more earlier. But the game is that right balance of simplicity and thinky.

The game is also really fast. In my video I get through one partial wrong play and three right plays in the video. And it is not a long stream. Nor is it a game that takes up a lot of space. That is another good thing for a small solo game. I don’t need to have a whole table. And this one is easily playable on an airplane tray at most space. Obviously I lay it out for the stream, but that isn’t needed.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I play small solo game plays. The schedule is, right now, going to look like gaming every other Monday. A chance to see people in person came up for Monday and as much as I like streaming, it’s good to socialize as well. And I might do more deck construction with Star Wars Unlimited on Mondays as well or pack openings.

On Wednesdays I will be starting my Top 100 Games (of all time) 2024 Edition. That’ll be starting a week from today. I think I said today, but my schedule doesn’t allow for it today. So join me for that coming up. And then I plan on getting back to gaming.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

Also checkout this article for upcoming changes to the channel.

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River Wild – Game Play

Let’s talk about this game and how it compares with the other Button Shy Games that I’ve played. Mainly this is my fourth solo only or primarily Button Shy Game. And it’s one of my favorites. Some of the other ones have fallen a bit flat for me, but it works with a similar premise to something like Super Slopes of completing paths and how you do that you score points.

Actually, out of the four solo ones that I’ve done, Fishing Lessons is the one that is the most unique. Sprawlopolis has some similar DNA to River Wild and Super Slopes. I think that River Wild being a purely solo game helps it, in my opinion. Because it doesn’t add to what you need to learn for the game. Super Slopes has a dummy hand that you have to play, which is easy enough.

What I like about River Wild is, and I said this on the One Stop Coop Shop Discord, is that I feel like I can play it while paying attention about 60-75%. That means it is a solid game for when I want something to do while watching a sporting event or maybe a movie that I’m not that interested in. It won’t fully pull my focus so I’ll still know what’s going on in what I’m watching, but it will also then help me from just being on my phone. And that’s not a bad spot for a really small solo game.

Upcoming Streams

On Monday I stream at 9 PM Central. That is sometimes a bit hit or miss, but that’s the goal. And I do small solo game plays. That is going to be interspersed with learning to paint. I am not going to be teaching you how to paint, I’m going to be learning myself. So join me on Monday for solo gaming or painting.

On Wednesdays, well, I said that I plan to play at least 10 games of Rogue Angels. This is going to continue how I play my solo campaign games on the channel. We’ll see if I am able to get four different campaigns played at least 10 games this year. It’s tricky, but I think that I can do it. That is at 8 PM Central time for the campaign games. The next part of Rogue Angels can be found coming up here.

And if you want to know when I go live, the best way is to subscribe. When you subscribe, click that notification bell and you’ll get an alert whenever I’m going to go live. Follow the link – here – to subscribe.

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