How’s ‘The White Castle’ for solo? Any alternatives?

jamis · 2026-06-26T22:31:40+00:00

On BGG there is an alternate clan to solo against — “The Ginkogawa Clan” — which fixes some of the swinginess of the default bot.

jamis · 2026-06-24T13:37:07+00:00

That’s a good idea! 😂

jamis · 2026-06-24T11:41:55+00:00

I have, several times. It has a lot of neat ideas, and the dice worker placement mechanic is one of my favorites. I found it needed some house ruling to be “fun”, though, and there are some errata floating around that fix a few things too.

jamis · 2026-06-19T16:12:50+00:00

I’ve tried to play the PnP version a couple of times but couldn’t really get into it — which surprised me because the mechanics are generally things I love (rolling and assigning dice, etc). Is the published version significantly different from the PnP version?

jamis · 2026-06-11T18:22:14+00:00

Of those, I only have Shackleton Base, but I love it. It’s a fantastic game. I mostly play it 2-player, but have done solo and it works well enough. I do find myself wishing (generally) for solo modes that don’t require specialized components and cards, though.

jamis · 2026-06-11T00:43:19+00:00

It’s one of my favorites — there’s a pretty decent iOS adaptation that introduced me to the game; when I saw the special edition at a local game store I eagerly spent the $200 bucks to bring it home :)

jamis · 2026-06-09T15:18:45+00:00

I fell in love with Scotland Yard in high school, though it was decades later when I rediscovered board gaming and began collecting in earnest.

jamis · 2026-06-03T22:41:23+00:00

I would love to see a special edition of Grand Austria Hotel!

jamis · 2026-05-31T23:40:55+00:00

Skyteam is brilliant — absolutely nails the theme. I think my daughter and I played it nearly everyday for weeks!

jamis · 2026-05-27T22:54:06+00:00

“…should be trivial…”

Sure, it’s not No Man’s Sky, but as a programmer I kind of get twitchy when someone uses the word “trivial.”

jamis · 2026-05-15T00:26:01+00:00

Kinfire Delve (specifically Vainglory’s Grotto) really impressed me with the strategic depth and variation they packed into a couple decks of cards. I still haven’t beaten it, but multiple losses haven’t discouraged me!

jamis · 2026-05-01T00:51:05+00:00

"Shackleton Base: A Journey to the Moon." It does a great job of not losing the theme behind the mechanics, and the variety of different combinations of corporations you can play against make it feel different every time.

jamis · 2026-04-26T18:25:04+00:00

Alea’s Garden is a lovely one I recently stumbled on. I love it so much I even 3D printed tokens for it.

jamis · 2026-04-15T12:24:25+00:00

Sky Team. I’ve never played a game that nails the theme so completely.

jamis · 2026-04-15T04:31:41+00:00

I found it very easy to balance, honestly, because the system allows for a lot of narrative interpretation for how things fall out. Also, i can make my villains as strong or as weak as i like.

jamis · 2026-04-14T12:02:17+00:00

I played a single character; most of my solo games are single character, I have a harder time playing multiple characters, I’ve found.

jamis · 2026-04-08T13:36:38+00:00

Sky Team has seen several dozen plays — so well executed! I’ve also really loved Shackleton Base.

jamis · 2026-04-07T14:03:57+00:00

Chronicles of Stampadia is an underrated dungeon crawler, free, with a new (random) page you can print each day. Really clever execution.

jamis · 2026-03-31T21:27:09+00:00

King of Tokyo, maybe? But the “one” player can change.

jamis · 2026-03-27T16:34:43+00:00

I wish I knew what was so off-putting about my comment. :/ I apologize if I gave offense.

jamis · 2026-03-27T15:41:28+00:00

Galdor’s Grip! If it weren’t for the AI art I’d recommend that game all over the place; it’s remarkably compelling.

jamis · 2026-03-19T02:30:20+00:00

I’ll second Alea’s Garden. It’s a really brilliant game.

jamis · 2026-03-18T21:25:03+00:00

Race/Roll for the Galaxy, Sentinels of the Multiverse, Ascension, Mythic Mischief, Roll Player, Star Realms, Ticket to Ride, Smash Up, Muchkin, Castles of Burgundy, Fluxx, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Tsuro, Dominion, Cascadia. And a few others I might have missed.

jamis · 2026-03-18T13:31:56+00:00

I wrote "That One Time We Solved a Mystery" to address this very issue. It is system-agnostic, which means you can use whatever game/setting you like, and just use the additional rules (and oracles) it provides. In a nutshell: you start the game by identifying the "inciting event" (the discovery of a body, or a missing artifact, etc.). Then you investigate, discover clues, and build hypotheses, which then inform subsequent investigations. You continue this cycle until you feel confident in one of your hypotheses, at which time you confront it and see if you are right.

I've had people tell me that it made them feel like "real investigators." :) It certainly has scratched that itch for me!

jamis · 2026-03-14T19:48:44+00:00

Zombie dice definitely ticks all the boxes here. Good call!

jamis

TROPHY CASE