Solo-Ventures - Part 1 - Three Types of Modes

 One Is the Loneliest Number

As those who have read my blog previously know (or have spent some time creeping around my logged plays here on BGG; it's ok, I do it too), I spend much of my time playing games solo, especially in the last year. With a four year old (it is really hard for me to believe that my little girl is already four) running around the house, as well as a new girl who just turned five months old in February, time has been at a premium for my wife and I. Normally by the end of the day, both my wife and I are extremely exhausted from taking care of our kiddos and we usually don't have the mental bandwidth to really play any heavier games by the time that the pair of munchkins are in bed. We love our kids, and I couldn't imagine life without them, but sometimes they just drain so much energy from us that my wife is not really up for playing board games at night.

Especially this last year in October with the "Solotober" challenge her on BGG, I really began to look into games that had solo modes that allowed me to play them sans other individuals being present. I had previously played most games with others present, so this was a new experience for me looking into games that not only allowed solo play, but also had built-in mechanics to allow for players to play against the board itself or against an included AI opponent.

This then launched me into a wild frenzy of finding games that offered solo play, or even were designed around solo play, in order to build out my collection with games that would fill that newly opened void that I wasn't aware of. To quote Calvin from the ever-relevant Calvin and Hobbes (Watterson is a genius): "I saw a bunch of products on TV that I didn't know existed, but I desperately need!" I hadn't ever thought about playing games alone and now that that experience had opened to me, I had to have some games that included a solo mode.

I went through a wild set of months looking up articles and lists and reading BGG recommendations for solo games, often purchasing or printing games off to try myself to see how I liked them. This resulted in a few purchases that I slightly regret, but I was fortunate enough to not go wild on my games that I bought and usually purchased them second-hand. After several months of finding and playing solo games (in addition to multiplayer games that include a solo mode) I thought I'd go into some mechanics of solo games and what preferences that I have when it comes to those mechanics.

Tallying the Score

The castles may be chaotic, but they certainly are beautiful.

The most basic version of a solo mode integration that I've come across is a "beat your own score" method. This is included in many games that feature a scoring mechanic such as Castles of Mad King Ludwig. The included solo mode for the game has a scoring system that rates the players based on the number of points acheived in the game, assigning titles such as "Court Jester", "Most High Highness of Castle Building," or "Regal Supreme Chancellor of Grand Castle Construction." Depending on the number of points that a player achieves in game, they are able to get a better title in the game. A score of 60 or below nets the player the lowest title (Court Jester), whereas the highest title (Regal Supreme Chancellor) requires players to acheive a score of 110 or above with their game.

It's a simplistic way to track player scores and gives the player something to work towards, even if it is just a fun title that you can claim that you earned in the previous game. Other games that include the title mechanic are Cartographers, PARKS, and Dinosaur World, to name a few. It's a fairly decent way to allow players to track how well they did in the game and provide a standard for what a good game and what a bad game scores.

That being said, that method of scoring does not make a good solo mode alone. I've found that there are excellent implementations of utilizing titles for scoring, such as Parks which uses an AI player (more on that later) to act as an alternative driving point to the game and makes the game feel closer to what it is like playing with another person. Cartographers is another good example of how a game plays well solo, especially with the implementation of point totals that need to be met by the player at the end of the game (again, more on that later).

Unfortunately, for all the excellent things that Castles of Mad King Ludwig does, it falls a little flat with it's implementation of a solo mode. The game utilizes the same "discard one tile at the end of the round" that is present in several other games (such as Cascadia) but unfortunately with the nature of how players interact with one another, there is quite a bit that is lost in translating the game to a solo version. As I've noted on a previous post, there was an excellent solo mode update that was done by a BGG User, but it's disappointing that it took an outside individual to update the game to make it better in solo mode.

AI-'m Still Standing

The Solo AI Cards for Welcome to the Moon.

Personally, I prefer games with a solo mode that mimics an actual player while playing the game. Castles of Mad King Ludwig hasan updated solo automa built by Steve C which adds in a pseudo-AI player to act as a better determination of how the different rooms are adjusted or updated and removed from the game. It creates much more of a streamlined feeling for me and does a much better job of mimicking what it's like playing with an actual player during the game. While the updated automa requires a D12 and D20 (something that some players might not have), it does an excellent job of filling out the game and catching the je nes se quois that is missing from the included solo mode.

Welcome to the Moon and Welcome To... both have an included solo AI (the latter introduced the AI with an expansion) that mimics playing with another person. I talked about these games at length in my post on Friday, but I do want to reiterate how excellent this solo mode is, especially because you're able to vary the level of difficulty that the AI brings to the table by choosing which card you would like to play with. It's supremely clever and really captures the essence of the game without losing any of the punch that the game brings to the table with its gameplay.

Nightweave has not only AI levels, but also abilities that can be added.

One game that has been both awful and incredible with it's solo implementation is Everdell. The base game comes with a built in solo mode where you face off against an AI directed by a D8 roll and while perfectly serviceable, it left me wanting more after a few times playing against the AI. It was a puzzle for certain, but really didn’t do a great job of meeting the need that I had for feeling like I was playing against another player. The implementation of an AI that had a variable play deck in Mistwood really changed up the game for me. It added an AI that not only could be increased or decreased in difficulty, but also added in variable actions that the AI could take to change up your strategy in game. And the AI could also be played with two players. I’ve played four times against the AI and each time has felt challenging and different and I love it.

What I find really beneficial with an AI opponent that plays against you is that there's a sense of challenge that comes with the AI player. Often times, it creates a puzzle that players have to work against and figure out how to beat. Other times, like with the solo automa that is included in many Stonemaier Games published games (such as Wyrmspan or Apiary), the AI player receives a set of cards that act as instructions for it to perform based on the current status of the boards. It attempts to mimic what it's like playing with another player, and while it's not my favorite way to play, it does offer a nice challenge to pursue.

PARKS tasks the player with playing against an AI opponent that mimics a set of park rangers that usher the player along the trail as you play the game through the various seasons. This is one specific solo mode that I will say benefits from some house ruling as sometimes the rangers can be a bit overzealous with how much they force the player to compromise the plan. It's an excellent game and the solo mode is very well put together, but despite all of what it does well, there is certainly room for improvement.

Points Minus Points?

Solo objective totals on bottom right corner.

As I noted above, Cartographers utilizes both a scoring system, but also incorporates a title system as well into the game in the solo mode. "But Josiah," I hear you beginning to ask, "How does Cartographers make this happen?" and to that I will point to the bottom right corner of the card that I included as an example. There's a small number on the bottom of each objective card that lists a number. After players have completed the game, they then take the number listed on the bottom right corner of the objective card and subtract each number from their final score in the game to determine what title they earned. It's a really clever way of keeping the same gameplay feel as the game plays exactly how it does in multiplayer with a slight adjustment

for ambushes, but scores differently.

Another game that utilizes the same "tally score, subtract objective scores from final total," is the print and play game, Polyhedral Park Planner. This came up as a suggestion based on another user here on BGG regarding good PNP games that were easy to find and print off. I attempted multiple plays of the game and ended up having a significant amount of difficulty even winning the game as it was entirely based on a pass/fail mechanic. If you didn't score enough with your game board to beat the total subtracted, you lost the game. It's a clever reimplementation in theory, but in practice, Polyhedral Park Planner is a bit too strict with it's rules to really take advantage of the benefits of the scoring that I originally encountered with Cartographers. I've been told the "expansion", Polyhedral Park Planner: Convention Season, helps alleviate the concerns, but at this time, I have not yet played it, although I might attempt it in October for my "Solo-Tober" experience.

Adventuring We Will Go

I could talk at length about what other solo games and mechanics there are out there, but for now, I'll leave the subject with those three variations. I probably will revisit the topic of solo games, especially emphasizing some of the fantastic solo modes that have been created here on BGG by many of you all. There's so much more now that's coming out with solo modes that I'd love to dive into that mechanic a bit further since much of my gaming tends to be solo.

What are your preferred solo mechanics? Do you like playing against an AI enemy, or prefer to work with the "Beat your own score" scoring present in many solo games? What games do you think deserve to have a solo mode included in them?

As always, have a wonderful week. Thanks for checking out my blog and remember to hit that thumbs up if you liked what you read. Keep on playing those games everyone!

*Originally posted 4/3/2024 on BoardGameGeek*