Counting Down My Top 10 Favourite Solo Board Games! What Will Be Number 1?

0:00 feels like I should be waiting for Jeff to come in but here's the thing peeps this video is all about me all right no Jeff just Jamie solo hello everyone and welcome back to Foster the meeple a Channel all about board games and board gave me things that's right yes just me solo today no Jeffrey and why you're like what happened to Jeff where the heck where the heck did he go great question he's upstairs why because today we're talking about my favorite solo games and you want to know who I don't play solo games with Jeff I play them by myself all alone soloing yoloing so I am going to raise my chair because Jeff's not here so I could be taller today so today I am going to talk about my 10 my top 10 favorite solo board games now I was going through the list of all of the games that I have played solo and I could honestly just go on and on and on so I think I'm going to start with these initial 10 and these ones are currently my 10 favorite solo games to play and then maybe in the future I will just continue on with five more solo games I enjoy because there are so many more that I want to share I just didn't want this video to be a hundred thousand

1:31 million years long I feel like everybody else would appreciate that too let's jump into it these are in no particular order however I will save my favorite for last so don't worry about that before we get started I do have two honorable mentions even though I mentioned I am going to make other video videos about solo games that I enjoy but I just really wanted to mention these two and not put them on the list for a couple of reasons the first one I want to talk about is wild Tales a pirate Legacy from button shy the reason why this is on honorable mention and not on my list is because I am only four chapters in to this game now this is an 18 card Legacy game this is a game where you are playing as different Pirates you are trying to beat different objectives in order to defeat Rebels villains all of that good stuff and it's taking you through a story it is a legacy game you are adding stickers and doing things like that as you continue on through the game so you can't put it on the list yet because I'm only four chapters in if I'm being honest I do not know how many chapters there are but just know that I have really really been enjoying it big time the other game I have on my honorable mentions is going to be Arkham Horror the card game this would have been on my top 10 solo games list in the past however it has been probably two years since I've played it but for anybody who doesn't know Arkham Horror the card game is set in the lovecraftian

3:02 world it is a very challenging game it is one that I personally think plays best solo you can play it at multiplayer but it is a very immersive solo experience it plays very similarly to a lot of the games like Mansions of Madness and things like that you've got like the same type of characters and card art and you are essentially going through different scenarios exploring different locations fighting different monsters collecting things doing spells and doing all of these things I really want to play it again because I do think if I played it again it would probably jump its way back on to my my radar and onto the list but it's just been years since I've played it it just sometimes in order to get back into it it's just a lot of relearning it's not one that I can easily jump back into that's why it's not on the list the first one that I'm going to talk about on the actual list is going to be over boss from brother-wise games this is a game that I actually have a solo playthrough of on the channel from last year sometime I was just out on the patio Jeff was away on a vacation somewhere without me rude it was the summer time and I was like I'm just gonna sit out here and play over boss and share it with you guys now over boss is also a game that I really enjoy to play multiplayer but this is my comfort solo game it is one of the first solo games that I really kind of got into and it is essentially like a tile

4:34 placement game so you're going to have your grid and you are going to have tiles in front of you that are different types of terrain along with different types of little monster tiles so the tiles and the Monsters you want them to match on your grid each type of tile scores differently and in the solo variant there's actually a full campaign that you can go through you get to use different boss Monster cards and there's different scoring objectives and different things that you're trying to achieve versus just kind of filling out your board and trying to score the highest amount of points one thing that you should know about me and the way that I enjoy solo games is that I like to fight against the game that's my favorite kind of solo game to play so it's not like oh can you beat your old score or whatever it might be I want the game to be fighting back against me and I do find that overboss does have this within that campaign mode because it will say use this boss monster these terrain tiles and you are trying to achieve these objectives or these scores or whatever so I know what I'm going for instead of just being like I got 75 this time and last time I got 74 or whatever so that is over boss it's a very simple solo game to learn so if you are just getting into solo gaming I would recommend that one for sure the next one on my list is going to be three sisters from 25th Century games this is a game that I have played multiplayer many times however I didn't fully realize how

6:07 much I loved it until I played it by myself now this is one that you are just trying to beat your previous score however what I like about this solo game is that there is an interaction between you and what's her name I don't know why Trudy keeps coming to my head but I know it's definitely not that Edith that's it okay so you're kind of playing against firmer Edith and basically this is a roll and write game where you are going to be combo City you are filling out different areas of the papers based on the dice that you roll based on the section of the little rondelle board that you land on and it is a dice drafting game and that is how it is interactive with the AI or firmware Edith because Edith is going to be taking dice away from you which is then going to limit the actions that you're able to do not only that she's also going to be Crossing out things on your paper that you're like dang it Edith I want it to do that she's a little bit rude she's like that weird neighbor that just gets into your business and you're like why are you even here I love combos combos on combos on Combos and this is I would say leans on the heavier side of rolling rights and that's all it is it is combo City so you want to trigger this thing so you can fill it which is going to give you this thing so you go over to this other paper you're gonna do this thing which is going to come down here and you're going to do this combo City the vibe is

7:39 very cozy but the play is not cozy it's brain Bernie and I love it the next game I am going to talk about is the first button shy on this list yes it is the first no it will not be the last and that is called ugly Griffin in this is actually the first solo button shy game that I played and it was gifted to me from my friend Michelle over at seven star to the left so thank you to Michelle for that she is the one that introduced me into the world of button shy and I am forever grateful because it has given me so many amazing games but specifically solo games in ugly Griffin in you are trying to manage an in and your guests are freaking fussy okay let me tell you so basically in this game you have a Tavern of cards in front of you and in that Tavern are different types of guests then next to the tavern you have an inn and these are the people who are like I've had enough ale for one night right I'm going to stay at the end I can't drive home not like this so then they go and they stay at the end but like I mentioned they're very very fussy so if somebody happens to come into the Inn that is triggering one of the things that your current guests do not like they're leaving they're piecing out they're getting heck out of there so this game is all about managing those guests managing what kind of people you're moving from The Tavern to the Inn because realistically you're going to

9:09 lose a few deaths but once you lose a certain amount game over and you lose so it's all just about managing the expectations and the happiness of the guests that you have in your in versus who shows up in the tavern some of the guests have different abilities that they're going to trigger when they move to the end some will have different things that they trigger when they are in the tavern so they each have different symbols on them if you have a certain amount of symbols in the tavern it might even trigger somebody in the end to leave before that player even gets to the end it is challenging it is you fighting against the game it does have different expansions so I think I have the expansion called The Innkeeper which adds just even more complexity to the game it's an 18 card game it is awesome it is so fun and it is just silly because you're like oh there goes the nun again because she hates loud noises classic none it's so good the next game on my list is going to be Marvel Champions this is not a solo only game this is a game that I have played multiple times at two players at three players but my preferred way to play this game is solo I am a Marvel fan I do love the world I love the characters and have since I was little Jeff's not super into Marvel so he likes the game but he's kind of like whatever but in this game basically you are playing as one of the Marvel heroes and you are trying to

10:40 defeat the bad guys you know it's a classic Marvel Trope good guy bad guy fight there is a deck building element to this game however you can play with pre-made decks which is what I do because I'm not as fancy as some people are with the deck building but basically you have a deck and different things are going to come up that are triggering different events they are triggering attacks they are triggering defense they're scheming involved and the bad guys are going to be hitting you back and essentially you are just going through all of these different schemes in order to defeat the bad guys it's not one that I win a ton but it is one that I always enjoy because it's like ah like okay next time I am going to do this and then that's going to help me beat them so it's almost like you're building up the different strategy and it's going to play differently depending on what Heroes you're playing what villains you're playing because certain heroes are better at certain things like Iron Man is really cool because you're literally like you have to build up his suit before you can have a big attack I love that let's talk about another Roland right shall we this might be one of my favorite rolling rights ever and it is fantastic both playing multiplayer or playing solo this is another one though where you are just trying to beat your own score but the way that the game plays makes it so fun that I don't really care and that is called super skill pinball insert type here because there's a ton there's super skill pinball super skill pinball ramp it up

12:11 super skill pinball Star Trek something super skill pinball holiday season whatever I have played Super skill pinball ramp it up and the holiday season one both are amazing with these games it's like you are playing a pinball machine but it is a rolling right so you are rolling Dice and you are choosing one of the two numbers from the dice and you are going to be scratching something out and then you're moving this little metal half ball because it looks like a little pinball down and then you are hitting it with the flipper to fling it up and you're trying to get combos and you're trying to score as many points as possible before your little ball falls out of the machine each box comes with different sets so ramp it up comes with four different sets that you can play with the holiday season one comes with three different so you can play like one that's based on Buddy the elf one that's based on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation it is just addicting it is so fun it plays quickly unless you're really really good and then it might take a little bit longer but I have really really really enjoyed playing this game I would highly recommend it as a way to get into solo gaming kind of the same way that I would with overboss this is a great one because in the Box itself there will be varying levels of difficulty based on the set that you're playing and uh it's fun to roll dice it just is okay let's talk about another button shy game it's a time it is time so the next button should I solo game

13:43 that I want to talk about is called Rove this game is addicting it stands for results oriented versatile Explorer so basically you have a grid of different cards you're going to have a hand of cards that are like movement cards and at the beginning of each round you are going to be putting out a card that shows the exact pattern that you need to create so you've got a hand of cards that have different movements on them so you're going to be playing out those cards in order to manipulate the grid that you have in front of you each one of the modules that's in front of you is slightly different and they have special ways that they can move so one of them might be able to move diagonal one of them might only be able to move one way but when they do that they're pushing another one it's almost like a logic puzzle you are just puzzling your way trying to get the configuration that matches the card that you put out as soon as you complete that you get to flip that card over and then continue on to the next round and you keep going until you get a certain amount of cards completed each one of the module cards also has one special ability that you can use once per game so you flip it over you use it special ability there's also different things on the movement card so that if you have this particular configuration well then you can actually flip over that movement card and use a higher value movement and so basically you are just trying to manipulate this

15:13 board to get the pattern that you're looking for and you are going to keep doing that over and over and over again until you complete the entire set or however many cards I think it's like six I want to say six or seven it is very difficult it is very puzzly it is very addicting it is 18 cards in the tiny wallet that you can take anywhere with you this game is so good I love it I'm not great at it but that's what makes it fun speaking of puzzling the next game I want to talk about is called Town 66 and I feel like Jeff and I have been talking about this game a lot I do love this game at two players as well but this game is such a great solo game so essentially in town 66 this is an oink game small box game you'll notice a theme Here lit 95 of the solo games that I like have minimal setup small box bigger heart those are the qualifications so in town 66 the theme is really silly basically you have a town who says you cannot have the same color house or shape host in the neighborhood you just can't do it and the neighborhood is a 6x6 grid so you're going to start with one tile that is out on the table and that is the start of your neighborhood and then you are going to be placing out different tiles trying to create the perfect 6x6 grid and the columns you have no matching colors or shapes in the row you also don't this is a puzzle that's all that it is it is so

16:46 fun it is so puzzly this is a game that I will play during lunch time this is a game you can throw in your bag and take wherever you go it's simple it's easy to learn it's quick it's fun it's puzzly it's brain burning I absolutely love it love me some puzzling okay so the next one I want to talk about is a classic solo game that is Friday by Friedman freeze this is a notoriously difficult solo game and I got it for Christmas and started playing it immediately and I can see why this is such a popular game it's such a cool challenge so basically set in the world of Robinson Caruso and you are Friday and you are trying to get Caruso safe off the island help him to not die because he's a little bit of an idiot I didn't say it the game basically said it this is a deck building game and essentially you start off with a basic deck of cards each card has a different number on it and it'll have like a little title like tired hungry rested like whatever it might be and there's different numbers on it and then you are going to be playing the game over three phases easy medium and hard and you're going to be going through a hazard deck you flip over two and then you pick one and then you are going to be trying to defeat that Hazard based on the level that you are it'll tell you the point value that you need to achieve and how many cards you will be able to play so if let's say this Hazard card has a value of three that you need to beat and you can play two cards You're Gonna Take

18:18 Your Hand of cards and you're gonna play down one for free You're Gonna Play down two for free if you've got three great you beat the hazard if not you can choose to lose a life play another card or you can choose to lose or maybe you just lose because it just is what it is it's not necessarily the worst thing ever to lose because when you lose you might be able to gain a little bit of life back however if you do defeat the card it comes in to your pile and that is the deck building aspect now when you flip that Hazard card around it has a value that you can play out to defeat other hazards you are trying to get through the hazard deck three times then you have to defeat two other like event cards at the end it is extremely challenging but it is so fun I have not won it yet I feel like I've set that in so many of these games because I just I don't know they're hard I play them because they're fun but I love this because it is completely a challenge against the game I feel like many people who are into solo games have probably played this already but if you haven't definitely check it out it is a great time two left all right the next one that I want to talk about is another button shy game and that is called food chain Island this game is so cute so simple puzzly fun I love it it is another 18 card solo game comes in a little wallet I take get with me everywhere that I go so basically in this game you are building out a grid of

19:50 different animals it is as you would expect a food chain so basically each animal can eat another animal in the grid so long as it's one two or three values below that animal so the fox can eat these three animals but they have to be able to eat the animal adjacent to it so basically as soon as an animal eats another animal you are putting that on top of the animal that gets eaten and you could only ever move your animals one orthogonally instead of fly weird every time that you eat an animal the animal that you have eaten the other animal with has a special ability that gets triggered that allows you to kind of break the rules of the game a little bit there is also a shark card and a whale card that are one time use during the game you flip them over and they allow you to do something special the goal of the game is to get all of the animals eaten so you only have one animal left but you still win if you have like three two or one it's just so simple it is so cute I love the little like logic puzzle that it is and it doesn't take up a lot of space like I said I travel with this and you're just like you know animals eating animals I love it it's adorable the theme is less adorable when I think about what I'm doing it's less adorable but the artwork's really cute so all right last but not least my ultimate favorite solo game is no surprise to anyone this is my second favorite game of all time in general and that is final girl from band

21:21 Rider games this game has apps absolutely everything everything that I want in a Solo experience the only thing that it could be is a little bit less set up but I don't mind the setup time at all because the components and everything are just so cool so essentially in final girl you are playing as a final girl believe it or not and you are trying to defeat the bad guy so right now I have season one I'm looking forward to getting season two you have a core box and then you have different stories that go along with that and each of those other boxes you have a map a villain and two final girls some of them play slightly differently but the ultimate goal is usually not always but usually to kill the bad guy so let's just say you've got everything kind of set up this is a hand management style Cardis uh Style game it's not really deck building so you don't get to keep the cards but you are playing out cards those cards are costing you time your rolling dice in order to check for success there is going to be horror events that happen that are bad things that are going to happen to you you are trying to rescue victims you're trying to get them away from the Killer and you're doing that using the cards that you're adding to your hand because you're buying cards with time everything has that time element it's like okay well if I use this and I fail it's going to lose me some time then the bad guy's gonna get a turn okay and he's not messing around they never are they're always coming at you trying to kill you

22:51 trying to kill all the victims and you're like whoa dude chill but they're not chill that's just not how it goes so they're gonna have a turn they're going to be attacking you some of the cards that you can have in your hand are going to help you defend but that's not always the case so really the ultimate goal kill the bad guy save the victims Get Out Alive you want to get it alive what's really neat about this game though is like classic horror movie Trope as soon as you kill the bad guy or he kills you you have this final heart token that you flip over and there could potentially be more hearts on it which means means he comes back to life or they come back to life it is extremely challenging I am obsessed with the variety I love I love all things creepy and weird and spooky and horror movie-ish I did a whole video based on Final girl in real life where I myself played the final girl you go watch it I'll link it below this is just a fantastic experience it's immersive it's thematic it's everything it is the definition of playing against the game and the game does not make it easy for you to win I love the variety you can mix and match the set so you can do this map with this final girl and this villain and yeah season two I could not possibly be more excited for it if you have not tried final girl I highly highly highly highly highly recommend it those are my 10 favorite games to play solo plus a couple honorable mentions as I mentioned before I will keep doing videos like this where I might mention five more solo games that I enjoy because there were so many that I ended

24:21 up having to cut off of this list that I still really want to share with you anyways if you are interested in buying board games like any of the many that I mentioned today you should first start by checking your friendly local gaming store and for us that is the boardroom Game Cafe don't forget to sign up for the Foster the game-a-thon all you can play 24 hour board game-a-thon we are going to be streaming most of the day and one I have one time slot saved for solo games so I will be on for about an hour by myself playing different solo games and I will most likely be playing a lot of those button shy solo games Town 66 stuff like that so definitely come and check that out we have a whole lineup of some of our favorite creators that are going to be joining us and the goal is just to play as many games as you possibly can play with your friends play some solo games play online whatever you'd like to do if you like what you see please consider subscribing give this video a thumbs up let me know down in the comments below what some of your favorite solo games are I would love to know but that's all I have for today so thanks for watching I hope to see you again soon and now I say goodbye goodbye later days let's see Trudy yeah a farm or something tell me her name the row you have no matching colors or shapes and in the column I said row uh my computer's gonna

25:53 die one second don't die we are live we have batteries all as well in the world foreign