Top 10 Multiplayer Games That Play Great Solo

In today’s video I’m joined by Karel Titeca to discuss our favorite multiplayer games that work great for solo play.
Karel’s honorable mentions: all Stonemaier games (Tapestry at the top), Obsession, Imperium Classics, Great Western Trail, Atiwa, Cascadia, campaign games, roll-and-write games (e.g., Welcome to)
5. Glen More II
4. Concordia
3. Oranienburger Kanal
2. Maracaibo
1. Dune Imperium
Jamey’s honorable mentions: Destinies, For Northwood, Viticulture
5. Skoventyr
4. Under Falling Skies
3. Escape the Dark Castle
2. Oathsworn
1. Rolling Realms
00:00 - Introduction & Honorable Mentions
13:40 - 5
19:50 - 4
25:38 - 3
33:00 - 2
39:18 - 1
Become a champion of this channel: stonemaier-games.myshopify.com/pages/stonemaier-champion
podcast link: stonemaiergames.com/about/podcast
Intro animation by Jeff Payne vimeo.com/jaaronpayne

[@svai303]

Great video, and Jamey , this is such a SMART thing to do to elevate other games. Hats off to you. I love your brand, and the way you do things. Keep up the great work! Going to pick up my copy of Wyrmspan tomorrow at my FLGS. :)

[@igelkott255]

yes, concordia solo is really good. I played the first scenario of the solo expansion for Lost Ruins of Arnak and I'm looking forward to finishing it. It's well done.

[@niekevandeberg732]

Nice video! As both a multi player and solo player gamer I love the theme. And so nice that you invite guests!!

[@steveg9939]

Thank you to both. I really align with Karel’s choices. Last year, my most played solo games were, in order Obsession, Oranienbuger Kanal and Maracaibo! Need to try the solitaria mode of Concordia.

[@KarelTiteca]

If you like those games, you're likely to like Concordia Solitaria as well. :-)

[@steveg9939]

@@KarelTiteca It is on my shelf. I need to open the solo box!

[@StevenStJohn-kj9eb]

I enjoy this topic and also want to say what a credit to this hobby Karel is. Such a helpful person. My top 5 would be: 1) Terraforming Mars, 2) Ark Nova, 3) Paladins of the West Kingdom, 4) Newton, 5) Scythe. I agree all of the SM Games fit this well, with my faves being Wingspan Duet, Red Rising, Expeditions, Tapestry, Euphoria, and Between 2 Castles.

[@jameystegmaier]

I agree--Karel is wonderful! Thanks for sharing some of your favorites here.

[@KarelTiteca]

Thanks! You’re making me blush!

[@halforange1]

I love Ark Nova (official solo variant) so much. It plays so much quicker than multiplayer and it turns a very competitive multiplayer game into a relaxing solo experience.

[@morgaknightgames]

My gaming group has barely been able to meet up in person anymore and most of our meetings have been RPG dedicated, so solo board gaming is the only way my collection gets played anymore.😅 While I prefer to play with others, solo gaming really introduces a great puzzle aspect. Competitive games in my collection with good solo modes include Oak, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Abomination, Mercurial, Rococo Deluxe, and Raiders of Scythia. Co-op is easier to play solo as the game is already built as players vs the game, and you can play multihanded solo easily with most of them. I absolutely love Cthulhu Death May Die, Marvel Zombies, Deep Rock Galactic, Escape the Dark Castle, Keep the Heroes Out, Massive Darkness 2, Oltrée, Paleo, Resident Evil, Robinson Crusoe, and Shadows of Brimstone. My favorite true solo are Legacy of Yu, Halls of Hegra, and Iron Helm. I've been avoiding campaign games since I really do want to experience the story with at least one other person, but may just have to give in.

[@EarthenGames]

Oathsworn is quite an experience. Playing a co-op campaign with my gf but I’m basically doing the combat portions solo lol. Currently on Chapter 10 and the narrative is simply one of the best ever written in the medium of board games. Having it voiced by James Cosmo on a nifty companion app makes it the bees knees

[@codymortensen8691]

I've played many games solo even if they don't have a solo mode and it was really nice discovering your games with the automa system Scythe being my favorite game. With campaigns I tried doing Rise of Fenris with a group we got halfway through, and stopped. eventually, I just soloed it and had a lot of fun. For a non Stonemaier game, one of my favorites would be Marvel Legendary. Also really enjoyed Terraforming Mars, and Ark Nova.

[@shantelalbert7151]

Yes, solo gaming is a fun puzzle! My primary of playing games, love these lists!

[@browe]

For Stonemaier games, I have a blast with Expeditions and Tapestry solo. DUNE: Imperium is high on my list, too, along with Ark Nova (ARNO variant) and Cthulhu DMD.

[@KarelTiteca]

Those are all excellent picks!

[@NP-dw4fc]

I enjoy Wingspan & Blitzkrieg! as multyplayer games with great solo modes. For Wingspan, I really like how quick the Automa plays, and on the hard difficulty it can score pretty well. As for Blitzrkieg, the bot can be a bit finicky to learn but overall I think its a great system, I really like how you can actuelly plan around and manipulate the bot a bit to do certain things and also here its a challange to beat.

[@hpshovecraft]

Dear Jamey, Only tangentially related as it is a solo experience, but I wanted to suggest a short puzzler for your series on Digital Games. It's called "20 Small Mazes" (free on Steam) and I found it a clever and charming exercise in design. My favourite mechanism in it is that many of the mazes that involve an unusual hook will start with a linear path that forces the player to encounter the hook and see it in action, so that the player doesn't spend a lot of time wondering how things work. There are a few that require a bit of lateral thinking, but nothing too outrageous. On the whole, I enjoyed it a great deal. Runs around an hour or so and can be played in pieces. Cheers.

[@jameystegmaier]

Awesome, thanks for your recommendation! I'll add it to my digital list. :)

[@mixofreak]

I honestly haven't played (and barely heard of a couple, to be honest) any of the top picks. I personally like playing Elder Sign solo.

[@Stormlight8700]

Great lists. It makes me tempted to play The Rise of Fenris solo this year. Had hoped to play in a group but it's just too hard to align schedules.

[@alphabet2238]

Out of the SM games I've got around to I think my favourite solo one is actually Expeditions. The automa plays really smoothly and I don't have to remember lots of new rules. Wingspan is probably a close second in many ways. Tried Scythe a few times but with all the extra rules, I eventually reached the position of just wanting to play multiplayer for the time difference. I played Viticulture automa a bit, I wouldn't say it's good as a solo but it's certainly useful as a teaching resource. Viticulture has a lot going on and I found that letting a new player play a solo game with me explaining and providing help was a far more effective way to teach than throwing them into a full multiplayer game, I could deal with the automa but more importantly a solo game on average with good setup takes about 40 minutes while multiplayer games can easily last 2 hours. As for non SM games. Dune: Imperium 100%, also TFM probably the first game I seriously played on solo.

[@jameystegmaier]

I'm glad that you enjoy Expeditions solo! Thanks for sharing these.

[@KarelTiteca]

In the video, I talked about how smooth the Red Rising Automa is. But after recording the video, I have thought of Expeditions too. I was thinking "I should have mentioned Expeditions" 🙂 because, indeed, that one is also very quick and smooth!

[@Poiuytrew.Q]

I’ll do a take-back sometimes in solo if I make a error or misread a card; I think when playing solo I tend to play faster and am less careful. Or sometimes I just want to get to the end of the game (and not restart from the beginning) so I’ll go back a few steps or just keep going because otherwise the game is no longer fun.

[@wiblick]

I'm exlusively solo so always looking for new recommendations and good solos. I'm still new to board gaming, and I don't know why but it never occured to me that rolling realms was a roll and write.... I think the promo packs threw me off - I must have thought it was some form of LCG (and I'm committed to Earthborne Rangers in that genre).... well now I'm doomed: I love roll and writes.

[@jameystegmaier]

Thanks! Rolling Realms is expandable due to the promo packs, but which packs you get is entirely up to you. My liveplays have a ton of different realm combinations for you to play against, and there's also the solo campaign mode. :)

[@KarelTiteca]

To add to what Jamey said: sometime later this year, Rolling Realms Redux is coming, which is a standalone box with 12 completely new realms (based on non-Stonemaier Games) that can be mixed with the regular Rolling Realms realms. It will come in a box big enough to hold all realms. So, if you don’t want to fall too deep in the rabbit hole of promos, the pair of the original Rolling Realms game + the Redux box (or just the Redux box, really) will give you great value (23 realms).

[@wiblick]

@@KarelTiteca thanks. I’ve signed up for the release notification.

[@vincentgaliano]

Dune Imperium is also my number one, from non-cooperative games. Never won once.

[@gregorys9629]

Another reminder that I need to play Dune Imperium solo 😅

[@KarelTiteca]

You should!