In this article, we’ll explore the best single-player board games that you can enjoy on your own. Whether you’re looking for a challenging adventure or a relaxing escape, these games are sure to keep you entertained.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 13+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: Medium
Pathfinder The Adventure Card Game is a cooperative adventure game that combines elements of a role-playing game with a card game.
Players take on the roles of characters from the Pathfinder universe and work together to overcome challenges and complete quests.
As a solo game, you can control multiple characters to build a well-rounded party. The game offers various adventures and expansions, ensuring that you’ll never run out of challenges to face.
- Players: 1
- Ages: 13+
- Play Time: 30 minutes
- Complexity: Medium
Friday is a solo deck-building game where you play as Robinson Crusoe’s companion, helping him survive on a deserted island. Your goal is to develop Robinson’s skills and abilities by acquiring cards that represent different actions. As the game progresses, the challenges become more difficult, forcing you to make strategic decisions. Friday’s quick gameplay and challenging decisions make it an engaging option for solo players.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 8+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: Medium
In Dinosaur Island, players create their own dinosaur-themed amusement parks, complete with custom-built attractions and genetically engineered dinosaurs. The game combines worker placement, resource management, and set collection mechanics to provide a unique and engaging experience.
Although primarily designed for multiplayer, the game includes a solo mode with specific objectives to keep things interesting.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 12+
- Play Time: 60-120 minutes
- Complexity: High
Too Many Bones is a cooperative dice-building RPG where players control unique characters, each with their own set of custom dice and skill trees. As you battle your way through various encounters, your characters gain experience, unlock new abilities, and acquire better gear.
The game offers a high level of replayability with multiple characters, a variety of scenarios, and adjustable difficulty levels.
The solo mode provides a challenging and engaging experience for fans of tactical combat and character progression.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1 Hour
- Complexity: Medium
Aeon’s End is a cooperative deck-building game set in a post-apocalyptic world where players defend the last remnants of humanity from monstrous creatures called The Nameless.
Players assume the roles of mages wielding unique powers and work together to build their decks and combine their abilities to defeat increasingly powerful enemies.
The solo mode offers the same engaging gameplay as the multiplayer experience, challenging players to manage resources and make strategic decisions to save humanity.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1 Hour
- Complexity: Medium
Marvel Champions is a cooperative card game where players take on the roles of iconic Marvel superheroes, working together to thwart the schemes of infamous villains.
Each hero has a unique deck of cards that represents their powers and abilities, and players must balance their hero and alter-ego forms to manage resources and maintain their health.
The solo mode allows you to control multiple heroes and offers a challenging and thematic experience for fans of the Marvel universe.
- Players: 1
- Ages: 12+
- Play Time: 45 minutes
- Complexity: Medium
Under Falling Skies is a solo game where you defend Earth from an alien invasion by managing a hidden underground base.
The game combines worker placement, dice rolling, and resource management mechanics to create a challenging and strategic experience. As you progress through the campaign, the story unfolds, and new challenges arise.
Under Falling Skies offers a tense and engaging solo experience that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
- Players: 1-5
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: Medium
Journeys in Middle Earth is a cooperative adventure game set in the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s famous novels. Players control iconic characters from the books and embark on a series of quests, battling enemies and solving puzzles along the way.
The game features a companion app that manages the story, enemies, and game state, ensuring a dynamic and immersive experience.
The solo mode allows you to control multiple characters, providing a rich and engaging adventure in the world of Middle Earth.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 8+
- Play Time: 45-60 minutes
- Complexity: Medium
Pandemic is a cooperative game where players work together to prevent the spread of four deadly diseases across the globe. By managing resources and coordinating actions, players must find cures for each disease before it’s too late.
Although primarily designed for multiplayer, Pandemic has rules for solo play, allowing you to control multiple characters and face the challenge of saving the world on your own.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 10+
- Play Time: 45 minutes
- Complexity: Easy
Cascadia is a tile-laying and token-drafting game where players create their own Pacific Northwest ecosystem.
The goal is to strategically place tiles and wildlife tokens to create the most diverse and interconnected habitat possible.
The solo mode features unique objectives and challenges, providing a relaxing and engaging puzzle for solo players to enjoy.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: Medium
Dune: Imperium combines deck-building and worker placement mechanics in a game set in the world of Frank Herbert’s famous science fiction novel, Dune.
Players take on the roles of noble houses competing for power and influence in the desert planet of Arrakis.
The game features a solo mode with a unique AI opponent, providing a challenging and thematic experience for fans of the Dune universe.
- Players: 1-5
- Ages: 12+
- Play Time: 2-3 Hours
- Complexity: High
Nemesis is a semi-cooperative, survival horror game where players navigate a spaceship infested with deadly alien creatures.
Each player has their own secret objective to complete while also working together to keep the ship functional and avoid being killed by the aliens.
The game features a solo mode with specific objectives and challenges, providing a tense and atmospheric experience for fans of the survival horror genre.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: High
Robinson Crusoe is a cooperative survival game where players work together to overcome the challenges of a deserted island. With limited resources and ever-changing weather conditions, players must build shelter, gather food, and complete various objectives to survive.
The game offers a variety of scenarios, each with unique goals and challenges, ensuring a high replay value.
The solo mode allows you to control multiple characters, providing a deeply strategic and immersive experience in a harsh and unforgiving environment.
- Players: 1-6
- Ages: 18+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: High
This War of Mine is a cooperative game based on the critically acclaimed video game, where players control a group of civilians trying to survive in a war-torn city.
The game features a unique day/night cycle, where players manage their shelter during the day and scavenge for supplies at night. The game offers a challenging and morally complex experience, as players must make difficult decisions to ensure their group’s survival.
The solo mode provides the same engaging and emotional gameplay as the multiplayer experience.
- Players: 1-2
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: High
Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative, narrative-driven card game set in the Lovecraftian universe.
Players take on the roles of investigators trying to uncover the secrets behind supernatural events in the town of Arkham. As the game progresses, players upgrade their decks and make choices that influence the story, offering a deep and engaging experience.
The solo mode allows you to control one or two investigators, providing a challenging and immersive adventure in a world of cosmic horror.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 13+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: High
Spirit Island is a cooperative game where players take on the roles of powerful spirits defending their island from colonizers.
Players use their unique abilities to control the elements and influence the indigenous population to drive off the invaders. With a variety of spirits to choose from and an adjustable difficulty level, Spirit Island offers a highly replayable and challenging experience.
The solo mode provides the same strategic and thematic gameplay as the multiplayer version.
- Players: 1-8
- Ages: 13+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: Medium
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective is a cooperative, narrative-driven game where players work together to solve a series of cases set in Victorian London.
By following leads, interviewing suspects, and piecing together clues, players attempt to solve each case as efficiently as possible. The game offers a unique and immersive experience that transports players into the world of Sherlock Holmes.
The solo mode allows you to take on the role of the famous detective and test your deductive skills against the game’s challenging mysteries.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 2-3 Hours
- Complexity: High
Mage Knight is a highly strategic and complex game that combines elements of deck-building, RPG, and exploration. Players control powerful Mage Knights, who embark on a quest to conquer the Atlantean Empire.
As the game progresses, players acquire new spells, actions, and artifacts to enhance their abilities and overcome challenges.
Mage Knight offers a deep and rewarding solo experience, with multiple scenarios and adjustable difficulty levels to keep you engaged for hours.
- Players: 1-5
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: High
Scythe is a strategic, alternate-history game set in a post-WWI world where players control factions vying for power and resources.
The game combines resource management, area control, and combat mechanics to create a deep and engaging experience. Scythe features beautiful artwork and high-quality components, immersing players in the game’s unique setting.
The solo mode, known as Automa, offers a challenging and satisfying experience, allowing you to enjoy the game’s strategic depth and replayability on your own.
- Players: 1-5
- Ages: 12+
- Play Time: 2 Hours
- Complexity: High
Terraforming Mars is a strategic game where players take on the roles of corporations working together to make Mars habitable for human life.
By managing resources, playing project cards, and controlling territory, players work to raise the planet’s temperature, oxygen levels, and ocean coverage. With over 200 unique project cards and multiple ways to score points, Terraforming Mars offers a highly replayable and challenging experience.
The solo mode provides the same engaging gameplay as the multiplayer version, tasking you with terraforming Mars within a set number of generations.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 1-2 Hours
- Complexity: High
Gloomhaven is a cooperative, campaign-driven dungeon crawler that offers a deep and immersive experience in a persistent and evolving world.
Players control unique characters with their own abilities, goals, and storylines, working together to explore dungeons, battle enemies, and complete quests. The game features a branching narrative and a legacy-style system, where player choices impact the world and the game’s story.
Gloomhaven’s solo mode allows you to control multiple characters, providing a rich and engaging experience for fans of tactical combat and character progression.
- Players: 1-4
- Ages: 14+
- Play Time: 5+ Minutes
- Complexity: Medium
The 7th Continent is a cooperative exploration and survival game where players embark on a quest to lift a terrible curse that has befallen them. Set in the early 20th century, players explore a mysterious and vast continent, discovering new locations, facing challenges, and uncovering hidden secrets.
The game features a unique “choose-your-own-adventure” style system, offering a highly replayable and immersive experience.
These are the top single-player board games to keep you entertained and challenged when playing solo. From strategic masterpieces to immersive narratives, there’s something for everyone in this diverse list of games.
Source: Tabletop Gaming News
