Board games are often seen as a group activity, but some of the best moments in tabletop gaming can happen when you're on your own. Whether you’re a fan of strategic thinking, story-driven experiences, or simply want to pass the time, solo board games offer a rewarding and immersive experience. Here's a roundup of the best solo board games to play in 2024, perfect for anyone looking to dive into tabletop gaming without needing a group.
1. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
Theme: Tactical combat, fantasy
Complexity: High
Playtime: 60-120 minutes
A spinoff of the critically acclaimed Gloomhaven, this game provides a slightly more accessible version of the beloved tactical RPG experience. With streamlined rules and a focus on a smaller campaign, Jaws of the Lion retains the depth, strategy, and exciting combat sequences of the original.
If you love immersive storylines with deep combat mechanics, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion will captivate you for countless solo sessions. Its highly customizable characters and combat systems keep every playthrough fresh and rewarding.
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion is a standalone game that takes place before the events of Gloomhaven. The game includes four new characters — Valrath Red Guard (tank, crowd control), Inox Hatchet (ranged damage), Human Voidwarden (support, mind-control), and Quatryl Demolitionist (melee damage, obstacle manipulation) — that can also be used in the original Gloomhaven game.
2. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
Theme: Sci-fi, strategy
Complexity: Medium
Playtime: 45-60 minutes
If the vast world of Terraforming Mars seemed a bit overwhelming, then the streamlined Ares Expedition is the perfect solo experience. In this game, you play as a corporation working to terraform the Red Planet, managing resources and technology while making strategic choices about which areas of Mars to develop.
The game uses a card-driven engine that is simple enough to pick up quickly but complex enough to keep you engaged over multiple games. The solo mode provides an exciting challenge where you try to terraform Mars within a certain number of rounds, testing your strategic skills.
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition
Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition is an engine-building game in which players control interplanetary corporations with the goal of making Mars habitable (and profitable). You will do this by investing mega credits (MC) into project cards that will directly or indirectly contribute to the terraforming process. In order to win, you will want to accumulate a high terraform rating (TR) and as many victory points (VP) as you can. Players raise their TR by increasing global parameters: oceans, oxygen, and temperature.
3. Under Falling Skies
Theme: Sci-fi, alien invasion
Complexity: Low to medium
Playtime: 20-40 minutes
For a shorter and faster-paced solo experience, Under Falling Skies is perfect. In this dice placement game, you play as the last line of defense against an alien invasion. You’ll need to balance resource management, base expansion, and combat, all while fending off waves of enemies that grow increasingly threatening.
The game features a campaign mode with varying levels of difficulty and modular boards, allowing for tons of replayability. It’s easy to learn, quick to play, and consistently delivers high-intensity moments.
Under Falling Skies
Aliens have arrived to conquer Earth. Enemy ships fill the skies. Humanity retreats to underground bunkers located below cities across the globe. Stand against the common threat! Fight the invaders city by city. Build a team from around the globe to save your planet and defeat the aliens!
GAMEPLAY
Under Falling Skies is a solo game with a multi-mission campaign. In each mission, you take charge of defending a besieged city.
4. Mage Knight
Theme: Fantasy, adventure, deck-building
Complexity: Very high
Playtime: 2-4 hours
For solo players looking for a deeply complex game with tons of strategic options, Mage Knight is an excellent choice. You take on the role of a Mage Knight, traveling through a fantasy world to explore dungeons, fight enemies, and conquer cities. The game combines elements of deck-building, resource management, and tactical combat to create an incredibly immersive experience.
However, be prepared for a significant time investment—both in terms of learning the rules and the length of a typical play session. But if you're up for the challenge, Mage Knight is one of the most rewarding solo board games available.
Mage Knight Board Game
The Mage Knight board game puts you in control of one of four powerful Mage Knights as you explore (and conquer) a corner of the Mage Knight universe under the control of the Atlantean Empire. Build your army, fill your deck with powerful spells and actions, explore caves and dungeons, and eventually conquer powerful cities controlled by this once-great faction! In competitive scenarios, opposing players may be powerful allies, but only one will be able to claim the land as their own. In cooperative scenarios, the players win or lose as a group. Solo rules are also included.
5. Spirit Island
Theme: Nature, anti-colonialism, strategy
Complexity: High
Playtime: 90-120 minutes
In Spirit Island, you take on the role of a powerful spirit defending your island home from invaders. This cooperative game works beautifully as a solo game because it offers complex strategic choices and a deeply satisfying narrative. As the spirit, you must manage your power, protect your island’s natives, and fend off the encroaching settlers through unique and thematic abilities.
Spirit Island is known for its steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, the game offers endless strategic depth and replayability. The challenge of balancing power with sustainability makes each solo session exciting.
Spirit Island
In the most distant reaches of the world, magic still exists, embodied by spirits of the land, of the sky, and of every natural thing. As the great powers of Europe stretch their colonial empires further and further, they will inevitably lay claim to a place where spirits still hold power - and when they do, the land itself will fight back alongside the islanders who live there.
6. Wingspan
Theme: Bird watching, engine-building
Complexity: Medium
Playtime: 40-70 minutes
If you're looking for something more peaceful, Wingspan offers a beautifully designed solo experience where you build a bird sanctuary. Using cards and dice, you’ll collect birds with different abilities to create the most efficient wildlife habitat possible.
The solo mode, where you compete against an AI-driven automa, is streamlined yet challenging enough to keep things engaging. Plus, the artwork and theme of bird watching make this a relaxing and enjoyable game to play on your own.
Wingspan
Wingspan is a competitive, medium-weight, card-driven, engine-building board game from Stonemaier Games. It's designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and features over 170 birds illustrated by Beth Sobel, Natalia Rojas, and Ana Maria Martinez.
You are bird enthusiasts—researchers, bird watchers, ornithologists, and collectors—seeking to discover and attract the best birds to your network of wildlife preserves. Each bird extends a chain of powerful combinations in one of your habitats (actions). These habitats focus on several key aspects of growth:
7. Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Theme: Horror, mystery, deck-building
Complexity: Medium
Playtime: 60-120 minutes
For fans of Lovecraftian horror, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a standout solo experience. In this cooperative deck-building game, you play as investigators delving into strange mysteries and battling otherworldly creatures. Each game is part of a larger campaign, and your decisions will carry over from one scenario to the next, making for a highly narrative-driven experience.
The game’s modular deck-building and campaign system allow for tons of customization and replayability. Whether you’re a fan of horror or narrative-driven games, Arkham Horror: The Card Game delivers a tense and thematic solo adventure.
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Something evil stirs in Arkham, and only you can stop it. Blurring the traditional lines between role-playing and card game experiences, Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a Living Card Game of Lovecraftian mystery, monsters, and madness!
8. Friday
Theme: Survival, deck-building
Complexity: Low to medium
Playtime: 30 minutes
Designed exclusively as a solo game, Friday is a small but engaging deck-builder where you help Robinson Crusoe survive on a deserted island. The game is easy to learn but offers enough strategic depth to keep you engaged across multiple playthroughs.
You’ll have to manage resources, fight enemies, and survive long enough to escape the island. Despite its simplicity, Friday is a highly addictive game and perfect for a quick solo gaming session.
Friday
Friday, the second game in the Friedemann Friese Series: Freitag-Project (Friedemann Friese), is based on the story of Robinson Crusoe and his loyal partner Friday (Freitag). You play as Friday, and when Robinson Crusoe crashes his ship on your island, your peaceful times are disturbed. You must help Robinson to survive the island and prepare him to defeat the pirates that are coming for the island.
9. 7th Continent
Theme: Exploration, survival
Complexity: High
Playtime: 5-10 hours per session (campaign-based)
For those who love exploration and storytelling, 7th Continent offers a sprawling solo adventure filled with mystery and discovery. You’re stranded on a mysterious island, cursed, and must explore the environment to survive while uncovering the secrets of the land.
The game’s save system allows you to break up its long play sessions, making it perfect for those who like long, immersive games with multiple sittings. It’s rich in narrative and offers a deep, choose-your-own-adventure style of gameplay.
The 7th Continent
It's the early 20th century. You have decided to sail back to the newly discovered seventh continent to attempt to lift the terrible curse that has struck you since your return from the previous expedition.
Final Thoughts
Whether you’re looking for a quick game to pass the time or a complex experience that will challenge your strategic thinking, these solo board games offer something for every type of player. The beauty of solo gaming lies in the fact that you can enjoy these fantastic worlds, stories, and puzzles all by yourself, whenever you want.
So, grab your favorite board game from this list, clear the table, and dive into your next solo adventure!
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