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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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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