The 10 Best Board Games for Solo Play (According to Us)

After weeks of bickering back and forth on Slack, having a few heated arguments via Zoom, and creating at least 17 different versions of the same spreadsheet, the team at Meeple Power was able to agree on the following top 10 games for solo players.

Solo board gaming is hard to talk about and there’s still a stigma associated with admitting that you spend time enjoying solo board games. Board games are generally thought of as being a social activity — people sit around a table together, laughing, arguing, sharing the experience of connection. And that’s true. But there’s something unique and very special about sitting down alone with a game that values your time, tests your mind, and creates actual suspense or anxiety whether you’re fighting a deck of cards or an artificial opponent.

Games that are optimized for solo play are typically not just multi-player games with a solo variant bolted onto them. Rather, they are games that are specifically designed with the solo player in mind. This means that the game was intentionally created to allow a single player to have a meaningful, challenging, and engaging experience. A game that allows a player to scale the difficulty based on their performance, features an automata system that provides a sense of fairness (as opposed to a random system), and requires less setup time to begin playing alone is an example of a game that is optimized for solo play.

Who this list is for

You are likely a person who enjoys playing board games, but may not always have others available to play with. Perhaps you travel frequently for work, are an introvert, or simply prefer to enjoy a complex game without the distractions of other players. Or maybe you wish to perfect a game before introducing it to others. No matter the reasons why you want to explore solo games — this list is intended for you.

What we mean by “true solo experience”

While we could include many games on this list that offer some form of solo experience, we have chosen to only include games that provide a true solo experience. This means that we have avoided including games that only have a solo mode, and instead focused on games that have been intentionally designed to accommodate both solo and multi-player experiences. Additionally, we have used the following criteria to evaluate the quality of each game’s solo experience:

Automa Systems That Feel Intentional: An AI opponent or system that uses clearly defined rules to simulate a player’s move and make your moves feel relevant to the game, rather than purely random. Difficulty Scaling Built In: The ability to increase the difficulty level of a game based on the player’s performance during previous plays, not just “playing on the easiest setting with no opponents”. Setup Time That’s Reasonable: Less than 20 minutes to set up the game and get to the first turn. We love games that fit within this time frame; we hate games that require too much time spent organizing to enjoy a short amount of gameplay. Rules Overhead That Makes Sense: When using an automata system, we expect to see minimal reference to a 5-page rulebook for the solo mode, and we prefer that the automata system be an integrated part of the game. Gameplay That Changes With The Mode: The game doesn’t feel like you are only playing a multi-player game without another opponent present. The solo experience creates its own style of challenge and enjoyment.

Quick Reference – Solo-Specific Specs

As you continue reading through our top 10 games, keep an eye on the following solo-specific details in each game’s description:

Specification	Definition
Automa Quality	How effectively does the AI/automated opponent create tension, or is it simply a random system?
Setup Time	How long does it take to start playing? (Not from opening the box, but from “unboxing the game” to “making your first move”)
Rules Overhead	How much reference material do you need to access while you play? Is the automata system easy to follow, or is it overly complex?
Difficulty Scaling	Can the game adjust its challenge level to match your skill level as a solo player? Do you feel like you’re only playing on “easy”, or does the game adapt to your skills?
Play Length	Many solo games tend to play faster than their multi-player counterparts. We have included specific solo play-time lengths in the descriptions for each game.

Our Top 10 Solo Board Games

Rank #1 – Spirit Island (2016)

Specification	Details
Designers	Daniel Lim, Janice Cheung, Adam Kwapiński
Playtime	90-120 minutes (solo)
Complexity	High
Setup Time	10-15 minutes
Automa Quality	N/A (Cooperative, not Competitive)
Rules Overhead	Moderate
Difficulty Scaling	Excellent

Spirit Island exemplifies the power of designers who understand cooperative gaming. Instead of merely allowing a player to play a game alone, Spirit Island is a game where you are the spirits defending an island from the colonialists, and the entire design of the game is centered on providing asymmetry and complexity unlike most cooperative games.

What makes it special: Every spirit is played differently. Thunderspeaker is aggressive and builds towards a military victory. River Surges in Sunlight is defensive and supports other spirits with their presence and synergy. Vital Strength of the Earth seems to do little early, then surges forward into an overwhelming presence in the middle of the game. When playing solo, you can choose to control a single spirit and try to optimize your play to win, or you can manage a group of spirits as if you were coordinating a resistance movement. Each spirit has their own deck of abilities, their own tempo, and their own method of interaction with the invaders. Understanding how one spirit operates is to understand how an entire sub-system of the game operates.

The solo experience demands that you consider probability, optimization, and long term thinking in ways that multiplayer games cannot. You are not working with other players to figure out whose turn it is to stop a particular threat. You are making rational, strategic decisions about where to allocate your limited resources. And when you fail (and you will fail, particularly at high levels of difficulty), it will feel like a logical puzzle you were unable to solve, not bad luck or poor timing.

Does it still hold up?: Spirit Island has become a modern classic because it treats the player with respect. Five years since it was released, Spirit Island is still causing discussions among fans regarding spirit balance, strategy and optimal play. The solo experience was not an afterthought when designing the game; it is integral to how the game was constructed. In fact, the solo experience is probably better suited to Spirit Island than the multi-player experience.

[Deep Dive into Spirit Island’s Asymmetrical Campaign Structure by Nicholas →]

Rank #2 – Terraforming Mars (2016)

Specification	Details
Designer	Jacob Fryxelius
Playtime	90-120 minutes (solo)
Complexity	Medium-Heavy
Setup Time	10 minutes
Automa Quality	Score-based (no AI opponent)
Rules Overhead	Minimal
Difficulty Scaling	Excellent

Terraforming Mars is an engine-building game that lets you build engines to construct better engines to construct even better engines. You are terraforming Mars by playing cards, collecting resources, and watching your production rates grow as you create connections between your projects. The multi-player game is enjoyable. The solo game, however, is where Terraforming Mars really excels.

What makes it special: Multi-player Terraforming Mars contains chance elements. Other players can disrupt your plans with the projects they build. Chance can occur at inopportune moments. Other players can run away with the lead and leave you struggling to catch up. In solo mode, you compete against a score threshold — you must terraform Mars to a specified point before your deck runs out. Suddenly, the randomness disappears. It’s now pure optimization. You are asking yourself: “With the cards I currently possess, what is the mathematically correct series of actions to take?” You’re constructing an engine and the engine either works or it does not.

The solo mode demands that you think about the systems of the game. You find out which card combinations create explosive increases in output. You determine that early purchases appear to be wasteful, but ultimately unlock powerful strategies later in the game. You discover that losing a small battle early in the game can set you up to gain huge rewards later. There is something extremely pleasing about a perfectly functioning engine that you’ve tweaked to perfection.

Does it still hold up?: Absolutely. The size of the card pool ensures that there is a great deal of replay value. You will play 20 games and realize new card combinations that you never previously considered. Solitary Terraforming Mars is meditative — it is you, a theme that actually matters (terraforming Mars), and a puzzle that respects your intellect.

Rank #3 – Gloomhaven (2017)

Specification	Details
Designer	Isaac Childres
Playtime	60-120 minutes per scenario
Complexity	Medium-Heavy
Setup Time	15-20 minutes per scenario
Automa Quality	Excellent (AI deck controls monsters)
Rules Overhead	Moderate
Difficulty Scaling	Built-in difficulty levels

Gloomhaven is a tactical dungeon crawler with a 50+ scenario campaign that will dominate your time playing solo for months. Your party of adventurers fight through a persistent world; all of your actions and decisions affect the world, your characters level up and retire, and there’s always another scenario to conquer.

What makes it special: Gloomhaven’s solo experience is so good it’s nearly unbelievable. Gloomhaven was created as a single-player experience first and then adapted for multiple players. The monsters are controlled by a deck that uses a simple but well-designed AI system. What the monsters do is predictable – how much damage they do is random. Therefore, every win feels like a hard-won battle and every loss feels like a real tactical loss. You didn’t lose because the deck hated you – you lost because of a bad strategic decision.

The campaign structure is also very engaging. As your characters gain experience and unlock new skills, your characters will eventually be retired, and new ones will join the adventure. The story of the world is revealed through the discovery of maps and through the growth of your characters. You’re not simply fighting monster encounter after monster encounter – you’re experiencing a story that is specifically related to your party and shaped by the decisions you make along the way. When a character you have been playing for 20+ scenarios retires from service, it feels like a real event. You have developed an attachment to that character.

Is it still fun?: Gloomhaven is not only one of the top-rated solo board games – it’s one of the top-rated games overall. The solo experience is where Gloomhaven truly shines. You can play through the entire campaign without using the multiplayer rules once.

[Nicholas’s investigation into the campaign structure of Gloomhaven and its long-term character development → ]

Rank #4 – Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (2015)

Specification	Details
Designers	Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock
Playtime	12-15 hours across 12 game sessions
Complexity	Medium
Setup Time	5 minutes (after opening the game)
Automa Quality	N/A (Cooperative)
Rules Overhead	Dynamic
Difficulty Scaling	Story Driven

Pandemic Legacy is a legacy game whose board literally changes over time. Players go through 12 missions (one mission per month), and the decisions made in Month 1 directly influence what can happen in Month 12. The game comes sealed. Cards get broken. The rules evolve. By the end of the 12 sessions, your perception of the game will have changed dramatically.

What makes it special: Legacy games are inherently storytelling experiences. But Pandemic Legacy takes that concept to the extreme. Instead of telling the story through the rulebook, the game tells the story through the evolving game board. You pull open an envelope thinking you are getting one thing, and the rules change. A city you thought was safe now poses a threat. New mechanics are introduced that fundamentally alter your strategy. You are not playing the same game in Month 12 that you were playing in Month 1 – you are playing a fundamentally altered version of it.

The reason why the solo experience is so effective is that you are never forced to come to an agreement with the other players. All of your decisions are your own. If you opened the wrong envelope or made a poor strategic choice, you can’t blame anyone else. You own everything. And owning everything is what allows the story to resonate with you in such a unique way.

Does it still hold up?: Pandemic Legacy was a revelation when it came out and remains one of the most innovative gaming experiences available today. The solo experience of Pandemic Legacy is excellent. Yes, it is designed to be played cooperatively, but the fact that you are playing solo means that the story is uniquely yours. There’s something special about that.

[William’s analysis of how Pandemic Legacy combines story & mechanics into one cohesive experience → ]

Rank #5 – Brass: Birmingham (2018)

Specification	Details
Designer	Martin Wallace
Playtime	60-90 minutes
Complexity	High
Setup Time	10 minutes
Automa Quality	Strong (Simple, yet Effective AI)
Rules Overhead	Low
Difficulty Scaling	Strong

Brass: Birmingham is a resource management game set during the Industrial Revolution. Players build networks, develop industries, and use auctions to outdo their opponents. It is a brutal, beautiful, and frequently crushing game about optimizing your economy.

What makes it special: In the multiplayer version, Brass is great because there is player interaction – you watch each other build networks, try to block each other’s expansion, compete for the same resources. In solo play, you play against a deck-controlled opponent and that is where the magic occurs. You are not playing against a strategy – you are playing against the optimal strategy. The opponent never bluffs, never tries to psychologically manipulate you, and never relies on luck. It is purely economic warfare where both sides are executing perfectly.

This forces you to think about the game at the systems level. You realize that sometimes building a network appears to be inefficient, but ultimately unlocks powerful developmental pathways. You find out that being able to secure key tiles early provides cascading benefits. You see what happens when two economically optimized strategies clash – and it is brutal. Your opponent does not back off. They will execute their strategy regardless of anything you do. Therefore, you must create a superior strategy.

Does it still hold up?: Brass: Birmingham is a masterclass in designing an economic game. The solo experience is not easier than the multiplayer experience – it is different. You are not competing for the same resources as your opponent. You are creating your own economic engine and hoping it is more efficient than your opponent’s. It is Chess – but with 18th century industrial equipment.

[Evelyn’s deep dive into the economic systems & networking strategy in Brass → ]

Rank #6 – Arkham Horror: The Card Game (2016)

Specification	Details
Designers	Nate French, Matthew Newman
Playtime	60-90 minutes per scenario
Complexity	Medium
Setup Time	10-15 minutes
Automa Quality	N/A (cooperative)
Rules Overhead	Very low
Difficulty Scaling	Scenario by Scenario

Arkham Horror: The Card Game is a cooperative card game where you play investigators attempting to uncover Lovecraftian mysteries. You build customized decks, engage in branching-narrative scenarios, and your choices will shape the outcome of your multi-scenario campaign.

What makes it special: The beauty of Arkham Horror is that it is primarily a card game and secondarily a story. However, the story is part of the card game. You don’t read narrative text – you experience the story through your deck-building choices, through the encounters you have, and through the successes or failures you achieve. When you fail a scenario, it is not simply “You Lost”. It is “The Ancient Ritual Succeeded”, “The Cultists Escaped”, etc… and that failure will have repercussions that cascade into the next scenario.

The reason why the solo experience is so effective is that you can play as either one investigator or as two investigators working together. Either way, the campaign is intensely personal. Every decision is yours and every consequence is yours. When the story develops in unpredictable ways, you are the only person who is experiencing it.

Does it still hold up?: Arkham Horror’s design of its individual scenarios is superb. Every scenario is played differently based upon events that occurred in the previous scenario. The card pool is massive. Re-playability is built in at a systemic level. Playing Arkham Horror solo is the ultimate experience.

The following article is about Nicholas’s investigation into Mage Knights puzzle-like complexity and decision optimization →

Rank #8 – Food Chain Magnate (2010)

Specification	Details
Designers	Jeroen Doumen; Joris Wiersinga
Playtime	180-240 minutes (solo version will be faster than that)
Complexity	Heavy
Setup Time	20-30 minutes
Automa Quality	Good (market-based AI)
Rules Overhead	High
Difficulty Scaling	Market-adjusted

FCM is an economic simulation in a capitalist framework where you operate food businesses. You handle supply lines, set prices, obtain loans, purchase stocks and enjoy the brutality of competition in a free-market system. Bankruptcy is a serious risk, and failure is common in this game.

What makes it unique: FCM is unrelenting in its economic modeling. In the multiplayer version, you negotiate and form alliances with the other players. They may intentionally sabotage your business for spite. In the solo version, you compete with “the market,” an automatic opponent whose decisions are mathematically correct regarding production and pricing. You cannot persuade an algorithm via negotiation. You cannot appeal to it to ease off. You can only enhance your strategy to the extent that it is superior.

In contrast to the competitive aspect of the multiplayer version, the solo version of the game is primarily concerned with survival. Your goal is not to bankrupt the opposing player, but to prevent yourself from being bankrupted.

It is an entirely different experience. Furthermore, it is quite difficult. Most players will lose at least once. Many will lose multiple times. However, if you eventually master the economic mechanisms and successfully navigate to profitability, it is a legitimate accomplishment.

Does it still hold up? FCM is a cult classic specifically due to the fact that it does not care whether you have fun. Rather, it is concerned with the accuracy of its economic representation. The solo version of the game fully meets this objective — you are not competing with your opponent for the same resources; you are establishing a viable firm in a hostile economic climate. It is certainly not for everybody; however, for those who appreciate such an experience, it is unrivaled.

[The Economics of Food Chain Magnate: A Market Simulation & Harsh Reality → ]

Rank #9 – Agricola (2007)

Specification	Details
Designer	Uwe Rosenberg
Playtime	30-60 minutes (solo)
Complexity	Medium
Setup Time	10 minutes
Automa Quality	Score-based (no AI)
Rules Overhead	None
Difficulty Scaling	Score thresholds

Agricola is a worker placement game where you build a farm over 14 rounds. Each family member works on a plot of land, raises animals and grows crops. Each action is valuable. You only have a certain number of family members and a certain number of possible actions.

What makes it special: Agricola’s solo version is straightforward and vicious. You play the normal game, but instead of competing with other players for a spot in the worker placement area, you are attempting to reach a specific score. The scoring is severe. Simply feeding your family is insufficient. You must develop your farm, improve your home, and raise animals. You must strike a balance between short-term survival and long-term development. And you do all of this with limited actions.

The problem is a mathematical puzzle. You have 14 rounds and approximately 20 total actions you must complete. Which 20 are the most important? What actions produce beneficial cascades? At which point do you pivot from survival to development? The game compels you to anticipate several steps in advance and identify the inefficiencies of resource use.

Does it still hold up? Agricola was one of the first worker placement games, and it continues to function beautifully. The solo variant is very challenging. After completing a game, you will instantly notice three alternative approaches to optimizing your strategy. This desire to get the maximum amount of value from your limited resources is what makes Agricola so enjoyable in solo play.

[Agricola’s Worker Placement Puzzle & Resource Management → ]

Rank #10 – Twilight Struggle (2005)

Specification	Details
Designers	Ananda Gupta; Jason Matthews
Playtime	90-120 minutes (solo)
Complexity	Medium-Heavy
Setup Time	10 minutes
Automa Quality	Superior (deck-driven AI)
Rules Overhead	Some
Difficulty Scaling	Built-in difficulty levels

Twilight Struggle is a two-player card-driven game simulating the Cold War. Cards represent historical occurrences — each card has two values depending on which side uses it. Managing control of countries, managing influence, and responding to crises — it is a game where every card is significant and every decision has lasting implications for the global landscape.

What makes it special: Twilight Struggle was a revolution when it was released because it created a two-player game that actually worked for solo versions. You play as the United States against an automated Soviet Union controlled by an AI. The AI is determined by clear rules — you know exactly what the AI will do based on the cards available and the current board state. There is no ambiguity. However, that clarity produces an unexpected result — it creates genuine tension.

You are attempting to outmaneuver an opponent that plays perfectly, responds rationally, and never makes errors. Every card you play must be calculated based on how the Soviet Union will respond. Every world region becomes a battle for influence using cards, operations and events. When you emerge victorious, it is because you have mastered the systems and made flawless decisions. When you are defeated, you can determine why.

Additionally, the thematic integration is also impressive. Cards are not merely mechanical — they represent actual historical events. The game appears to be Cold War geopolitics because the mechanisms support the theme so well. You are not simply moving tokens for points — you are managing the United States/Soviet relationship during the most tense period of the twentieth century.

Does it still hold up? Absolutely. Twilight Struggle is one of the greatest card-driven games ever developed. The solo version is where the game is most successful because it forces you to become proficient in both sides’ strategies and comprehend the fine balance that made the Cold War so perilous.

[Nicholas’s Analysis of Twilight Struggle’s Thematic Integration & Geopolitical Strategies → ]

The games that were excluded and why we are still debating about it

There are numerous fantastic games that could have been added to this list, but this list has to exclude numerous additional excellent games that met the requirements for inclusion. Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition, which provides more complexity without making the same aspects of the original game brilliant. Everdell, which has a wonderful solo version, but is much more of a puzzle than a game. Cascadia, which is surprisingly strategic and significantly underappreciated for solo play. Wingspan, which is likely the most visually appealing solo gaming experience regardless of how light the game is compared to all of the other games on this list. Food Chain Magnate’s predecessor, Philippine Railways, which has a rich history but lacks polish. Spirit Island’s sequel, Spirit Island: Jagged Earth, which we don’t include since it is an expansion. Robinson Crusoe, which has the solo aspect baked into its DNA but is much more a chore than an adventure. Everdell was mentioned seventeen times. Evelyn would always mention Brass: Lancashire as the superior economic experience. William insisted that Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion be included because it is more accessible. Billy claimed that some of the other games are gatekeepers — they are too complex, too lengthy, or too brutal.

In summary, the ten games that follow are representative of games that work extremely well for solo play and games where the solo experience is significant. These are not multiplayer games with a solo version tacked onto them. These are games in which someone made deliberate design decisions to ensure that a person playing the game alone at a table could have a meaningful, difficult, and rewarding experience. From the asymmetrical spirits of Spirit Island to the harsh economic realism of Food Chain Magnate to the evolving narrative of Pandemic Legacy — all of them provide something unique.

Do not worry if your preferred game did not make the cut. With hundreds of board games that offer solo options, there are undoubtedly countless others that could have been selected. Anyone can see that any Top Ten is going to omit someone’s favorite experience. Please feel free to rant at us in the comments — we have already yelled at ourselves sufficiently regarding what we omitted.

Deep dives for each individual game, authored by whoever is the most passionate (and therefore the loudest) about the particular brilliance of that game. Since why shouldn’t enthusiasm be recognized — even when it becomes somewhat argumentative.