Best Solo Board Games: Playing Alone, Not Lonely

Solo board games have gone from an afterthought to a design priority. Most new strategy games now ship with a solo mode, and a growing number are built for one player first. This guide covers the best of them, sorted by how much time you have, and it takes on the question underneath the search: whether playing alone is a retreat from people or a way back toward them.

The short answer is that it depends on how you use it. A solo game at the kitchen table is a different thing from a solo game that replaces every invitation. The games below are good either way. The last section is about keeping them on the right side of that line.

Why play a board game alone at all?

A few honest reasons people play solo, in rough order of how often we hear them:

• The group cannot meet. Schedules, kids, distance, illness. The game night is on hold but the itch is not.
• Learning before teaching. Playing a game alone two or three times is the best way to teach it well later. You find the rules questions before the table does.
• The puzzle is the point. Some people like the thinking more than the competing. A solo game is a puzzle with a story.
• Decompression. Thirty minutes of placing tiles is a screen-free way to let the day go.
• Nobody around wants to play this one. Your group likes party games. You like 90-minute engine builders. Solo mode closes the gap.

None of these are sad. A solo game is, in most cases, a hobby in the same category as a jigsaw puzzle or a crossword. The one case that needs attention is when solo play is standing in for people you would rather be with. More on that below.

What are the best solo board games by time available?

A little more on each.

Friday is a small-box deck builder designed only for one player. You help Crusoe survive hazards by building a better deck while removing the weak cards. It is cheap, fast, and hard to win. A good first solo game.

Onirim is a card game about finding doors in a dream labyrinth before the deck runs out. Twenty minutes, pure solitaire, and oddly calming.

Cascadia has a solo mode that works like the multiplayer game with a scoring target. The game is excellent at any count, and its solo mode is one of the least fiddly on this list.

Wingspan uses an “Automa,” a deck of cards that simulates an opponent’s actions. It takes a few plays to get fluent with the Automa rules, but once you do, it feels like a real game against a steady rival. Many engine builders use this approach. We covered the genre in engine building games.

Spirit Island is a cooperative game about island spirits repelling colonizers. It is heavy, and it is one of the best solo experiences in the hobby because the cooperative structure means you control everything anyway. Playing one spirit is a tight 60 minutes. Playing two is a full evening.

Mage Knight is the game most often named as the best solo board game. You control a hero exploring a map, building a deck, and attacking cities. It is complex, long, and demanding. It is also exactly the kind of game that is hard to get to a table with other people, which is why it shines alone.

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is the accessible entry to the Gloomhaven campaign system. Solo play means controlling two characters, which some people love and some find tiring. The scenarios teach the game as you go. We compared the Gloomhaven boxes in is Gloomhaven worth it.

Sleeping Gods is a storybook exploration game where you sail a ship through an open world, making choices that persist across sessions. It is built for one or two players and is one of the few campaign games that does not punish you for playing alone.

Which games have solo modes bolted on, and which are built for it?

This distinction matters for buying. A game with a bolted-on solo mode (often an “Automa” deck or a score-to-beat) can be very good, but the experience is the multiplayer game with a substitute opponent. A game built for solo play is designed around the puzzle of one person making decisions.

• Built for solo: Friday, Onirim, Mage Knight, Sleeping Gods, Under Falling Skies, Coffee Roaster.
• Excellent solo modes on multiplayer games: Wingspan, Cascadia, Spirit Island, Terraforming Mars, Ark Nova, Scythe.
• Solo-friendly co-ops: Any cooperative game can be played solo by controlling all players. Pandemic, The Crew (with the dummy hand rules), and Spirit Island all work this way.

If you plan to mostly play alone, favor the first list. If you want a game that works for a solo Tuesday and a four-player Saturday, the second list is where the value is.

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How do you keep solo play from becoming isolation?

This is the part most solo game articles skip, and it is the part The Ludarium cares about most. Solo gaming is a good hobby. It is a bad substitute for people. The difference is in how it fits the rest of your week.

A few ways to keep it on the right side:

1. Use solo play to prepare for group play. Learn Wingspan alone. Then teach it. The solo session becomes an investment in a social one.
2. Play solo in public sometimes. Game cafes, libraries, and lounges are full of people playing alone at a table near other people. The side-by-side presence matters more than it seems to. Someone will ask what you are playing.
3. Keep one standing social game. Weekly, biweekly, monthly. A fixed point on the calendar that involves other people. Solo play fills the gaps between, not the slot itself.
4. Notice if solo is a choice or a default. If you would say yes to an invitation but no one is inviting, that is a signal to do the inviting. See how to start a game night group.
5. Share the campaign. Campaign games like Sleeping Gods and Jaws of the Lion are also built for two. Playing one with a partner, roommate, or friend over months is one of the best ways to build a habit of regular time together.

The U.S. Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on loneliness described social connection as associated with better health across a range of outcomes, from heart disease to depression to longevity. A solo hobby does not undermine that. A solo hobby that crowds out all other contact might. Most people can tell which one they have.

If you want a story more than a puzzle, try a solo RPG. Starforged and Ironsworn are both built to be played alone.

FAQ

What is the best solo board game?

Mage Knight is most often named the best, but it is heavy and long. For most people, Spirit Island (deep, cooperative) or Cascadia (light, quick) is a better place to start.

Are solo modes worth it in multiplayer games?

Often, yes. Wingspan, Cascadia, and Spirit Island all have solo modes that are real games rather than afterthoughts. Check reviews for the specific title; quality varies a lot.

Is playing board games alone sad?

No. It is a hobby like puzzles or reading. It becomes a problem only if it replaces social contact you would otherwise want. Use it between game nights, not instead of them.

Can you play cooperative games solo?

Yes. Any cooperative game can be played solo by controlling multiple characters or hands. Pandemic, Spirit Island, and Gloomhaven all work this way and are commonly played solo.

Get new game-night ideas

A solo game is a fine way to spend an evening and a better way to prepare for one with other people. The game is the reason. The people are the point.

The Ludarium newsletter sends new game-night ideas, along with solo picks for the weeks in between. Subscribe, and when our Indianapolis lounge opens, bring your solo game and sit near the window.