Solo Games

In-depth reviews of all the solo board games I've played, from simple one-deck card games to sprawling adventures with multiple boards. These include solo-only games as well as games with official solo modes.

Dungeons, Dice & Danger Review

Rating: (3.3)

Dungeons, Dice & Danger is an adventurous romp through a dungeon, driven by smart dice manipulation and clever strategy.

Turing Machine Review

Rating: (4.6)

I've never played a deduction game like Turing Machine before. It's impressive, thinky, creative, and worthy of all the accolades.

Railroad Tiles Review

Rating: (2.7)

Railroad Tiles is a tile-laying puzzle game that doesn't do enough to rise above the many other games in this genre.

A Carnivore Did It! Review

Rating: (3.8)

Who's lying? Who's telling the truth? Who's the real culprit hiding in the dubious claims? Untangle the logic in A Carnivore Did It!

Spots Review

Rating: (2.7)

Spots is an adorable little push-your-luck dice game that's sure to appeal. Unfortunately, it's less than the sum of its parts.

Let's Go! To Japan Review

Rating: (2.1)

Let's Go! To Japan uses card drafting and tableau building to simulate what it'd be like to plan a week-long trip to Japan's Tokyo and Kyoto.

Divvy Dice Review

Rating: (3.2)

Divvy Dice is a roll-and-write game where you chuck dice and benefit whenever anyone else chooses to reroll.

MicroMacro: Crime City Review

Rating: (4.5)

MicroMacro: Crime City combines hidden object search with narrative and deduction into a fresh, unique, and charming package.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal Review

Rating: (3.9)

Heat: Pedal to the Metal is a racing board game where smart card play and efficient maneuvering will get you across the finish line first.

One Deck Galaxy Review

Rating: (3.1)

One Deck Galaxy is a tableau-style dice game where you build up a space civilization and take down an Adversary before it's too late!

Coffee Roaster Review

Rating: (3.9)

Coffee Roaster is a solo board game where bag-building represents the challenge of brewing a perfectly tasty cup of coffee.

Ex Libris Review

Rating: (3.0)

Ex Libris is a whimsical strategy game that blends worker placement, tableau building, and hand management.

One Deck Dungeon Review

Rating: (3.0)

One Deck Dungeon is a dice-rolling game that simulates a dungeon crawl, complete with items, skills, and a boss at the end of every dungeon.

Maquis Review

Rating: (1.8)

Maquis is a solo worker placement game that feels like an abstract puzzle game with elements of push-your-luck.

AQUA: Biodiversity in the Oceans Review

Rating: (3.4)

AQUA: Biodiversity in the Oceans is a spatial puzzle game using hex tiles. Build the best Coral Reef that attracts the best animals to win!

Illiterati Review

Rating: (3.5)

Illiterati is a real-time, cooperative word-spelling game that puts a fun spin on classics like Scrabble and Bananagrams.

Junk Drawer Review

Rating: (3.8)

Junk Drawer is a polyomino puzzle board game that's simple, fast, and elevated by its unique push-your-luck elements.

First Rat Review

Rating: (4.0)

First Rat is a strategic family board game that blends action efficiency, set collection, and engine building to fantastic results.

Grove Review

Rating: (4.6)

Grove is a solo puzzle-style microgame that involves the strategic overlapping of cards and dice to score as highly as you can.

The A.R.T. Project Review

Rating: (1.4)

The A.R.T. Project is a cooperative game of action efficiency where you're trying to recover stolen art pieces from the White Hand.

Project L Review

Rating: (2.7)

Project L is an engine-building game where you solve polyomino puzzles to acquire more pieces to solve even bigger puzzles.

Cartographers Review

Rating: (4.8)

Cartographers is a flip-and-write game where you draw polyomino shapes onto a grid-based map to score points.

FUSE Review

Rating: (3.7)

FUSE is a real-time dice drafting game played cooperatively. Can you defuse all the bomb cards together before time runs out?

Welcome To... Review

Rating: (5.0)

Does this acclaimed flip-and-write game deserve its status as a trendsetter? How well does it really hold up after five years?