The 22 Best Single-Player Board Games To Play Solo in 2024 - TGN

Board games are a great way to gather friends and family, but sometimes you just want to enjoy a quiet evening alone, immersed in a world of strategy, storytelling, or puzzle-solving. Solo board games offer the perfect escape, allowing you to challenge your mind, explore new worlds, and unwind at your own pace.

Whether you’re looking to unwind after a long day, challenge your strategic thinking, or simply enjoy some quality “me time,” solo board games offer a unique and immersive experience. From intricate puzzles to epic storytelling adventures, there’s a solo board game out there for everyone.

22. Pathfinder The Adventure Card Game

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 13+
Play Time: 60-90 minutes per scenario
Complexity: Intermediate

Pathfinder: The Adventure Card Game brings the beloved tabletop RPG experience to a card-based format, perfect for solo play. In this game, you take on the role of a classic fantasy hero—such as a rogue, wizard, or fighter—and embark on a series of adventures filled with monsters, traps, and treasures. The game uses a unique deck-building mechanic where your character’s abilities and equipment evolve over time, creating a sense of progression and growth.

The solo mode is great, as you navigate through scenarios, manage your resources, and strategize to overcome challenges. Each adventure is part of a larger campaign, allowing you to develop your character and story over multiple sessions. The game’s modular design and variety of scenarios ensure high replayability.

21. Friday

Number of Players: 1
Ages: 13+
Play Time: 20-30 minutes
Complexity: Beginner

Friday is a compact and highly addictive solo deck-building game that puts you in the shoes of Friday, the loyal companion of Robinson Crusoe. Your goal is to help Robinson survive on a deserted island by battling hazards, gaining skills, and preparing for the final showdown with two deadly pirates. The game is easy to learn but offers a surprising amount of depth and challenge, making it a favorite among solo gamers.

The gameplay revolves around managing a deck of cards that represent Robinson’s abilities and the hazards he faces. As you progress, you’ll improve Robinson’s deck by removing weak cards and adding powerful ones, creating a satisfying sense of progression. The game features multiple difficulty levels, ensuring that even seasoned players will find it challenging.

20. Too Many Bones

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 12+
Play Time: 60-120 minutes
Complexity: Advanced

Too Many Bones is a premium, dice-driven adventure game that combines tactical combat, character progression, and rich storytelling into an unforgettable solo experience. In this game, you take on the role of a Gearloc—a unique hero with distinct abilities—and embark on a quest to defeat tyrannical overlords known as “baddies.” The game is packed with high-quality components, including custom dice, neoprene mats, and detailed miniatures, making it a tactile and visually stunning experience.

The solo mode is deeply immersive, offering a challenging and rewarding adventure.

19. Aeon’s End

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 60 minutes
Complexity: Intermediate

Aeon’s End is a cooperative deck-building game that pits you and your team against powerful nemeses threatening the last bastion of humanity, Gravehold. In solo mode, you take on the role of a breach mage—a powerful spellcaster—and use your unique abilities to fend off relentless enemies and protect your home. What sets Aeon’s End apart is its innovative deck-building mechanics, such as the lack of shuffling and the ability to plan your turns strategically, which add a fresh twist to the genre.

Each nemesis has unique abilities and behaviors, ensuring that no two games feel the same. The game also features a variety of mages, spells, and relics, allowing for endless customization and replayability.

18. Marvel Champions

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 45-90 minutes
Complexity: Intermediate

Marvel Champions: The Card Game lets you step into the shoes of iconic Marvel superheroes like Spider-Man, Captain Marvel, and Black Panther as you battle against notorious villains such as Rhino, Ultron, and Thanos. This cooperative living card game is designed for both solo and multiplayer play, offering a fast-paced and highly customizable experience. In solo mode, you take on the role of a hero, building a deck tailored to their unique abilities and facing off against a villain with their own sinister schemes.

The game’s mechanics are easy to learn but offer plenty of depth, with each hero having distinct playstyles and strategies. You’ll alternate between your hero’s alter-ego and superhero form, managing resources, playing upgrades, and thwarting the villain’s plans.

17. Under Falling Skies

Number of Players: 1
Ages: 12+
Play Time: 30-45 minutes
Complexity: Intermediate

Under Falling Skies is a compact and highly replayable solo board game that puts you in the role of a resistance fighter defending Earth from an alien invasion. The game combines dice placement and resource management in a clever and challenging way, offering a perfect blend of strategy and tension. As you roll dice and assign them to various actions—such as shooting down alien ships, researching technology, or powering up your base—you’ll need to carefully balance your priorities to survive the relentless alien onslaught.

What makes Under Falling Skies stand out is its campaign mode, which introduces new mechanics, challenges, and story elements as you progress. Each game feels fresh and exciting, with multiple difficulty levels to keep you engaged.

16. The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle Earth

Number of Players: 1-5
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 60-120 minutes per scenario
Complexity: Intermediate

The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth is an immersive, app-driven board game that brings the rich world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth to life. In this cooperative adventure game, you and your companions (or just you, in solo mode) take on the roles of iconic characters like Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli as you embark on epic quests to thwart the forces of darkness. The game combines exploration, combat, and storytelling in a seamless experience guided by a companion app that acts as your game master.

In solo mode, you control two characters, allowing you to experience the full depth of the game’s mechanics and narrative. The app dynamically adjusts the story based on your choices, ensuring a unique and engaging experience every time. As you journey through Middle-earth, you’ll uncover hidden locations, battle fearsome enemies, and make decisions that shape the outcome of your adventure.

15. Pandemic

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 8+
Play Time: 45 minutes
Complexity: Beginner

Pandemic is a classic cooperative board game where players work together as a team of specialists to stop the spread of deadly diseases across the globe. In solo mode, you take on the roles of multiple characters, each with unique abilities, to strategize and contain outbreaks before they spiral out of control. The game’s mechanics are easy to learn but offer plenty of depth, requiring careful planning, resource management, and teamwork (even when playing alone).

The solo experience is both challenging and rewarding, as you race against time to discover cures while managing the constant threat of outbreaks and epidemics.

14. Cascadia

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 10+
Play Time: 30-45 minutes
Complexity: Beginner

Cascadia is a serene and beautifully designed tile-laying game that invites you to create your own thriving ecosystem in the Pacific Northwest. In this game, you’ll draft hexagonal tiles depicting forests, rivers, mountains, and wildlife, then place them strategically to build the most harmonious habitat possible. Each tile features different types of terrain and animals, such as bears, elk, salmon, hawks, and foxes, and your goal is to arrange them to score points based on specific animal behavior patterns.

The solo mode is relaxing yet engaging, offering a peaceful but thoughtful puzzle to solve. You’ll compete against a simple scoring system, trying to maximize your points by creating the most balanced and interconnected ecosystem.

13. Dune: Imperium

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 60-120 minutes
Complexity: Intermediate

Dune: Imperium is a strategic deck-building and worker placement game set in the rich and treacherous universe of Frank Herbert’s Dune. In this game, you take on the role of a noble leader vying for control of the desert planet Arrakis, where the precious resource known as spice is the key to power. The solo mode pits you against an AI opponent, offering a challenging and immersive experience that captures the tension and intrigue of the Dune universe.

As a solo player, you’ll manage your deck, deploy agents to secure resources, and forge alliances with powerful factions like the Fremen, the Spacing Guild, and the Bene Gesserit.

12. Nemesis

Number of Players: 1-5
Ages: 12+
Play Time: 90-180 minutes
Complexity: Advanced

Nemesis is a thrilling, semi-cooperative survival horror game set aboard a derelict spaceship infested with deadly aliens. In this game, you take on the role of a crew member with a unique set of skills and secret objectives, working to survive the nightmare while completing your personal mission. The solo mode, while challenging, offers a deeply immersive and intense experience as you navigate the ship, manage resources, and fend off relentless alien threats.

As a solo player, you’ll control two characters, allowing you to experience the game’s rich mechanics and narrative depth.

11. Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 60-120 minutes
Complexity: Advanced

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is a challenging and immersive cooperative survival game that strands you on a mysterious island filled with danger and mystery. Based on the classic novel by Daniel Defoe, the game tasks you with gathering resources, building shelter, crafting tools, and overcoming a variety of obstacles to survive and complete your objectives. The solo mode offers a true test of strategy, resource management, and adaptability

10. This War of Mine: The Board Game

Number of Players: 1-6
Ages: 18+
Play Time: 45-120 minutes per session
Complexity: Intermediate

This War of Mine: The Board Game is an emotional and thought-provoking survival game based on the critically acclaimed video game of the same name. Set in a war-torn city, the game puts you in the shoes of a group of civilians struggling to survive amidst the chaos and devastation of conflict. The solo mode is a poignant and immersive experience, forcing you to make difficult moral decisions as you scavenge for resources, protect your shelter, and care for your group’s physical and mental well-being.

The game’s narrative-driven gameplay is guided by a book of scenarios and events, which shape your story based on the choices you make. Every decision carries weight, from deciding whether to risk venturing out for supplies to choosing how to interact with other survivors.

9. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Number of Players: 1-2 (scalable to 4)
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 60-120 minutes per scenario
Complexity: Intermediate

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a narrative-driven, cooperative living card game that immerses you in the eerie and mysterious world of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. In this game, you take on the role of an investigator, each with unique abilities and deck-building options, as you unravel dark conspiracies, battle otherworldly creatures, and confront unspeakable horrors.

As a solo player, you’ll build a deck tailored to your investigator’s strengths and weaknesses, then embark on a campaign filled with interconnected scenarios. Each scenario presents new challenges, from gathering clues and solving mysteries to surviving terrifying encounters.

8. Spirit Island

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 13+
Play Time: 90-120 minutes
Complexity: Advanced

Spirit Island is a richly thematic and deeply strategic cooperative game where you take on the role of powerful spirits defending their island home from colonizing invaders. Unlike traditional games where you play as the invaders, Spirit Island flips the script, casting you as the island’s protectors. Each spirit has unique abilities and playstyles, allowing for a wide variety of strategies and approaches.

As a solo player, you’ll control one or more spirits, using their powers to manipulate the land, summon allies, and drive out the invaders.

7. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

Number of Players: 1-8
Ages: 12+
Play Time: 60-120 minutes per case
Complexity: Intermediate

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective is a unique and immersive mystery-solving game that puts you in the shoes of a detective working alongside the legendary Sherlock Holmes. In this game, you’ll investigate a series of complex cases, gathering clues, interviewing witnesses, and piecing together the story to solve the mystery.

As a solo player, you’ll read through case files, explore the streets of Victorian London using a detailed map, and consult a directory of characters and locations to uncover the truth.

6. Mage Knight

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 60-180 minutes
Complexity: Advanced

Mage Knight is often hailed as one of the best solo board games of all time, offering an epic blend of adventure, strategy, and exploration. In this game, you take on the role of a powerful Mage Knight, a hero with unique abilities and skills, as you explore a vast and dangerous world. Your goal is to conquer cities, defeat enemies, and gain fame by completing quests and mastering powerful spells.

Mage Knight offers a deep and rewarding solo experience, with multiple scenarios and adjustable difficulty levels to keep you engaged for hours.

5. Scythe

Number of Players: 1-5
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 90-120 minutes
Complexity: Intermediate

Scythe is a highly acclaimed strategy game set in an alternate-history 1920s Europe, where you take on the role of a faction leader vying for control of a war-torn landscape. Combining elements of resource management, area control, and engine-building, Scythe offers a rich and immersive solo experience.

The solo mode features an automa system, which simulates an opponent with simple but effective rules, providing a challenging and dynamic gameplay experience.

4. Wingspan

Number of Players: 1-5
Ages: 10+
Play Time: 40-70 minutes
Complexity: Intermediate

Wingspan is a beautifully designed and highly acclaimed board game that lets you build your own bird sanctuary. In this game, you’ll collect and play bird cards, each with unique abilities, to create the most harmonious and efficient ecosystem.

The solo mode is an automa system where you’ll manage your resources, play bird cards, and activate their abilities to score points.

3. Terraforming Mars

Number of Players: 1-5
Ages: 12+
Play Time: 90-120 minutes
Complexity: Intermediate

Terraforming Mars is a strategic game where players take on the roles of corporations working together to make Mars habitable for human life.

By managing resources, playing project cards, and controlling territory, players work to raise the planet’s temperature, oxygen levels, and ocean coverage. With over 200 unique project cards and multiple ways to score points, Terraforming Mars offers a highly replayable and challenging experience.

The solo mode provides the same engaging gameplay as the multiplayer version, tasking you with terraforming Mars within a set number of generations.

2. Gloomhaven

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 60-120 minutes per scenario
Complexity: Advanced

Gloomhaven is a sprawling, campaign-based board game that has earned its place as one of the most acclaimed games of all time. Set in a dark and immersive fantasy world, you take on the role of a wandering adventurer with unique abilities and motivations. The game combines tactical combat, exploration, and storytelling into a rich and evolving experience.

Players control unique characters with unique abilities, goals, and storylines, working together to explore dungeons, battle enemies, and complete quests. The game features a branching narrative and a legacy-style system, where player choices impact the world and the game’s story.

Gloomhaven’s solo mode allows you to control multiple characters, providing a rich and engaging experience for fans of tactical combat and character progression.

1. The 7th Continent

Number of Players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play Time: 5-20 hours (campaign)
Complexity: Intermediate

The 7th Continent is a cooperative exploration and survival game where players embark on a quest to lift a terrible curse that has befallen them. Set in the early 20th century, players explore a mysterious and vast continent, discovering new locations, facing challenges, and uncovering hidden secrets.

The game features a unique “choose-your-own-adventure” style system, offering a highly replayable and immersive experience.