1 Player Podcast

This week Julius introduces us to Cozy Stickerville, a cooperative sticker legacy game about building out a village over a 10-year campaign. You draw cards, make decisions, and place stickers on a mounted board, with the whole experience being mostly about narrative and atmosphere over challenge or strategy. Julius loved it (as a family experience), comparing it to a physical version of Stardew Valley. I played the demo with my son and we were bored by the end of it,  The episode ends with a question that pretty much sums it up: is this a board game, or just an activity? Cozy Stickerville (BGG), Unexpected Games)

This week I take a trip into the hedgerows of Normandy with Fields of Fire, the solitaire tactical wargame by Ben Hull, published by GMT Games. This is a strictly solo experience where you command a US Army company across campaigns set in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.  Instead of a traditional map, it uses a grid of terrain cards.  Command and control mechanics do a great job of simulating fog of war. Fields of Fire (BGG, GMT Games Series)

This week we talk about Nations, the board game.  Really though, this is a tale of two nations.  We are focusing on the board game but use that to discuss and compare Nations the board game with nations the dice game. Nations (BGG) Nations: the Dice Game (BGG)

This week Julius introduces us to a trick taking game for one or more players. In Power Vacuum you take on the roll of an appliance trying to fill the roll of the now deceased Vacuum.  This is a game with a trick taking element in the game play but trick taking is not the only mechanic. Power Vacuum (BGG, Keen Bean Studio)

This week Julius and I look at family games that are also fun solo.  What's a family game?  Well, for us, it's a game that's light enough to play with a group of mixed skills and interest.... more or less. 03:43 Nations: The Dice Game (bgg) 07:12 Sagrada (bgg) 09:17 River Valley Glassworks (bgg) 12:25 Flash Point: Fire Rescue (bgg) 15:35 One-Hit Heroes (bgg) 17:37 Sentinels of the Multiverse (bgg) 19:02 The Game (bgg) 23:52 Flock Together (bgg) 24:31 Necojima (bgg) 25:28 Pandemic (bgg) 25:40 Mice & Mystics (bgg)

This week, I tell Julius all about the one-shot RPG, Dawn of the Orcs.  In this game, you and up to seven friends will play as the council of a kingdom under attack for a more powerful enemy empire.  To fight back, the council approves the creation of an army of orc creatures.  You play through a number of chapters describing the ongoing war and the evolution of the orcs you have constructed. I really enjoyed this game and found it easy to play. * Dawn of the Orcs (itch.io)

This week Julius previews So You've Been Cursed.  It's a Scott Almes game that was on Kickstarter and has now been sent to backers so should be available soon.  This is based on So You've Been Eaten, which we covered way back in episode 275!  This is an asymentric game that can be played by 0, 1 or 2 players.  You play as a wizard that has been cursed to turn into a werewolf at night; or, you play as a werewolf that is trying to make that curse permanent so he can always be a werewolf.  When playing solo, you can choose whichever side you want to play an AI controls both.  The game can be played against itself by having it play both sides! So You've Been Cursed (BGG)

I tend not to like roll and writes.  I'm not sure what exactly it is but I don't seem to like the write aspect of the games, except for Yahtzee and maybe the Catan Dice Game.  Fortunately, Julius is here to tell us about other roll & writes like the very large and complex Tend. Tend (BGG, IV Studio)

This week we look at a big game.  S.E.T.I.: Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence is a game about trying to find alien life forms through science and exploration.  The science and exploration portion is based on pretty darned real science.  This is a really cool game by Tomáš Holek and published by Czech Games Edition.  With simple rules, this game has a complex set of mechanics that are simple to understand because of how well the integrate with the theme. S.E.T.I. (BGG, CGE)

This week Julius and I look at games that use only cards and no other components.  Julius snuck one game in that didn't quite fit and I tried to but wasn't as good at it.. Fortunately, there are quite a few games that fit the description. :D 02:30 For Northwood! (BGG) 06:50 Onirim (BGG) 10:00 Maiden's Quest (BGG) 13:18 Deckscape (BGG) 16:05 Skytear Horde (BGG) 20:40 Star Realms (BGG) Honorable mentions 19:50 Kingdom Legacy: Feudal Kingdom (BGG) 22:50 PAX (BGG) 23:40 Oh My Goods! (BGG) 24:05 Button Shy Games 24:55 Fast Forward: Flee! (BGG)

Drive through African savannahs collecting exotic animals and plants for your nature park. This week we go wild with Habitats! * Habitats (BGG)  

This week we look at yet another Pandemic game.  This one is the Lord of the Rings themed Fate of the Fellowship.  This game does an excellent job of putting the characters into the story of the Lord of the Rings.  The goal of this game is to take the ring to Mount Doom in Morder and destroy the ring by casting it into the flames. It's a highly thematic game set that any Lord of the Rings fan should at least play once. Fate of the Fellowship (BGG, Z-Man)

This week, Julius talks about the game Oros.  In this game, you play a good raising lands so that your followers can build you powerful temples atop volcanoes!

This time around we talk about Lost in Adventure: The Labyrinth.  It's a light point-and-click style adventure that will feel familiar to folks that played Cantaloop or video games like Leisure Suit Larry, Monkey Island and all those old games.  This game feels like those but quite a bit lighter. Lost in Adventure: The Labyrinth (BGG)

This week sporty Albert and Sporty Julius talk about sports... sports games that is!  We look at the various sports games we know and enjoy. 04:30 - Bottom of the 9th (BGG) 09:42 - Heat: Pedal to the Medal (BGG) 13:28 - Formula D / Formula Dé (BGG) 15:51 - Bowling Solitaire (BGG) 17:45 - K2 (BGG) 22:00 - Cold Water Crown (BGG) 23:42 - Proving Grounds (BGG) 28:00 - Plaay Games 29:00 - Tavarua (BGG) 30:16 - Mars Open: Tabletop Golf (BGG)

This week we learn about a new cozy game about books.  More specifically, storing books all over your house.  As a gamer, this surely sounds familiar. A Place for All My Books (BGG, Smirk & Dagger Games)

This week Julius introduces us to the game Emerald Skulls.  It's a gambling game for 1 to 6 feisty goblins! * Emerald Skulls (BGG, Thunderworks Games)

This week Julius talks about Maki Masters, a game about preparing the best sushi recipes by carefully arranging ingredients on the preparation mat.  This is basically a tile laying game in which you are trying to arrange the ingredients to complete recipes.  However, this game brings some really nice looking components, especially if you have the deluxified edition.   Maki Master (BGG, Kids Table BG)

This week I tell Julius all about managing a finishing and canning business while trying to keep ecological balance in Conservas.  It's a bag-building game by Scott Almes in which you are catching fish to sell in the market.  While doing this, you need to be careful and not overfish or risk unbalancing the ecosystem and losing the game. It's a fun and cozy (it turns out) bag-building game. 

This week we return to Popular Mechanics.  This week we look at games that are sequels to other games.   01:56 The Search for Planet X (BGG) -> The Search for the Lost Species (BGG) 04:33 Arkham Horror (BGG) -> Elder Sign (BGG) 08:00 Sleep Gods (BGG) -> Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies (BGG) 11:50 The Harvest Trilogy: Agricola (BGG) -> At the Gates of Loyang (BGG) 14:50 Dorf Romantic (VGG) -> Dorfromantik: The Boardgame (BGG) 17:50 Cantaloop (BGG) -> Cantaloop 2 (BGG) Honorable mentions Castellion (BGG) Bot Factory (BGG) Nations: The Dice Game (BGG) Comancheria (BGG) Ironsworn (RPGGeek) Final Girl (BGG)

This week Julius shares One Hit Heroes with us.  It's a game about fighting super-villains that are supposedly way more powerful than the heroes.  It's a co-operative game that can be played solo or multi-handed solo. We got into some audio trouble just past the halfway mark around 23 minutes in. From then on, you'll hear lots of clicking and gaps in Julius's voice.  I wasn't able to fix that; but, I was able to fix his pitch which went up a tiny bit.  It sounded as if he'd been on helium for the last 15 minutes :D

This week I tell Julius all about the game SpaceCorp, by John Butterfield and published by GMT.  This game is played in three phases in which you explore colonize, the inner Solar System, then the outer Solar System and finally the nearby galaxies.  The game is based on the Galactican series by Ejner Fulsang. 1P 378 - SpaceCorp 2035-2300AD (BGG) Galactican series (Amazon)

This week Julius tells us about a game as big as a school bus!  Endeavor is a game about exploring the world's oceans solo, cooperatively or competitively.  It's a big game that sounds like lots of fun and very thematic. Endeavor: Deep Sea (BGG)

This week I talk with Mike & Olga Rimer of Caravel games.  They have been making video game content for years and years in the excellent D.R.O.D. series (Deadly Rooms of Death).  A few years ago, they released a solo puzzle game called Twisty Little Passages. Now they have Time Fenix coming to Kickstarter in a month or so.  We talk about all their games and then have a bit of a chat about tariffs and how they are trying to deal with so much uncertainty. 01:30 Caravel Games 05:00 D.R.O.D.: King Dugan's Dungeon (Caravel Games, G.O.G.) 12:05 Twisty Little Passages (Kickstarter) 20:15 Time Fenix (Kickstarter) 41:27 Tariffs

This week Julius and I talk about dexterity games.  It's not a category you see often when talking about solo games, but there are a few fun ones we've tried (mostly). 02:04 Flip Ships (BGG) 05:47 Nekojima (BGG) 09:50 What Lies Beneath (BGG) 12:30 Hunted: Mining Colony 415 (BGG) 15:43 Slide Quest (BGG) 21:20 Hoverkraft (BGG) 25:36 Menara (BGG) 31:14 Jenga (BGG) & Clever Girl (RPG Geek) 34:55 For Science! (BGG)

This week Julius and I talk about the smaller version of Terraforming Mars.  Well, one of the smaller versions.  The game is the very lovely  love-child of Terraforming Mars & Race for the Galaxy, Ares Expedition.  In this game, you are working to make Mars a habitable planet by managing the temperature & oxygen levels while raising oceans.  The theme is straight out of Terraforming Mars.  However, you do it by choosing actions and playing cards simultaneously, just like Race for the Galaxy. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition (BGG) Terraforming Mars (BGG, Fryx Games) Race for the Galaxy (BGG)

This week, we talk about Harvest, the farming game from Keymaster Games, publishers of PARKS.  In this game, you are trying to farm and harvest your fields as often as possible.  It's a worker placement that can be soloed by playing against Gairy, the Dairy cow. Harvest (BGG, Keymaster Games)

This week Julius takes us back to the table with Lewis & Clark.  Go on a slow boat ride accoss the North American continent to explore lands acquired in the Louisiana Purchase and explore the yet unclaimed Pacific Northwest.  That is, not yet taken from the native populations of the are.

This week Julius and I explore a RPG about exploring a giant castle.  Giant doesn't do this castle justice though.  This is a world inside a castle so immense there are seas in it.  The castle is filled with room so large there are cities and villages in them.  You will wander around exploring and fighting Rooks, massive creatures made of stonework.  When you defeat one, you can gain powerful magic stones, Rookstones. Colostole is a solo RPG by Nich Angell. Colostle (RPG Geek, Colostle.com)

This week Julius and I talk about looooong games.  These are games that take 3 or more hours to play!  Serioulsy, these are the kind of games I wish I could play more often but find it hard to get out on the table... <sigh> 03:44 7th Continent (BGG) 04:25 Sleeping Gods - Distant Skies (BGG) 08:28 Mr. President: The American Presidency (2001-2020) (BGG) 12:12 Cantalopp (BGG) 15:30 Silverton (BGG) 18:20 Kindgom Legacy: Fuedal Kingdom (BGG) 24:23 Ironsworn (RPG Geek) 26:52 Tales of the Arabian Nights (BGG) 29:00 Choose Your Own Adventure - The House of Danger (BGG)

This week, Julius introduces Fit to Print the newspaper layout game.  It actually sounds like a fun game with a timer.  In this game, you are buying the best stories and laying out on your newspaper to make the most captivating paper in town!  It sounds a big goofy but it also sounds really fun. Also, Final Girl contest reminder! Fit to Print (BGG, AEG)

This week I tell Julius and the audience all about Free Ride, the train game by Friedemann Friese and published by Rio Grande Games.  This is a fun pick-up and deliver game with quick turns that includes a solo challenge.  Hop aboard and hear all about the game and what I think. Also, listen in for the Final Girl Season 3 giveaway!

This week Julius tells us about the small game Welcome to Reckoning.  This 1 player game by Mike Heiman set in a wild wild west with cosmic horrors.  Gotta love those cosmic horrors.

This week we talk about a Vital Lacerda big-box game on wine making.  The game is the 2016 release of Vinhos: Deluxe Edition.  It's a fun game that lets produce wine, compete in wine fairs, sell and export.  All this in an effort to become the pre-eminent wine producer of Portugal.  It's a pretty neat game with an interesting theme but maybe too big for me. Vinhos: Deluxe Edition (BGG, Eagle-Gryphon)

This week, we look at a year of gaming.  Well, sorta.  We look at games that have a year in them or somehow use the flow of time in them.  It was harder than expected, but we found a few games that do have a pretty decent sense of time passing. Check out the sample fancy map someone drew for Cartographers: 02:30 Creature Comforts (BGG, KTBG) 04:30 Project Ecco (RPG Geek, More Blueberries) 07:55 Cartographers (BGG, Thunderworks) 11:50 Hostage Negotiator: Career (BGG, VRG) 16:50 Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (BGG, Z-Man) 19:05 Fields of Arle (BGG, Asmodee) Honorable mentions Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar (BGG, Buried Without Ceremony) Fox Curio's Floating Bookshop (RPG Geek, Lost Ways Club) The Quiet Year (RPG Geek) Legacy of Yu (BGG)

This week Julius and I look at a game about growing magic herbs and plants in a communal wizard's hedge.  Position your helper sprites to help you get the most plants from this shared garden.  This is an interesting game of area control in which, each turn, you are placing plant patches to trigger a variety of powers and increase your control over the garden.  This game's solo experience closely mimics the multiplayer game using a bot that doesn't really add any time to the play.  In fact, because of player analysis paralysis, it may be faster.

Julius and I talk about Bot Factory but Vital Lacerda.  Mostly Julius describes the game and I talk about how much it reminds me of Kanban and how I want to play either of those two games.  Bot Factory is based on Kanban in both the theme of managing a factory and the mechanics which are simplified quite a bit without making it a simple game at all. Bot Factory (BGG, Eagle-Gryphon) Kanban EV (BGG, Eagle-Gryphon)

This week we look back at a classic co-op game, Castle Panic. Monsters have decided to attach your castle in a clearing surrounded by dangerous woods.  Waves of monsters charge the castle.  Fortunately, the clever design makes it hard for the monsters to get at your castle and your highly trained warriors (knights, archers and fighters defend the castle), each specializing in combat on a certain type of terrain.  This is a pretty simple and accessible tower defense game that has had a relatively recent art upgrade and continues to be fun, if a bit simple. * Castle Panic (BGG, Fireside games)

This week tells us about a Monster High-ish game called Mythic Mischief.  In it, you play a group of monster kids in school, trying to cause mischief in the library and get one of the rival cliques in trouble.  It's a head-to-head sportsball type game of out-maneuvering your opponent's team members so they get caught by the library's Tomekeeper.  The game also features a solo mode that sounds pretty fun to me.  You can get one of two different base games, each with a different set of factions as well as stand-alone expansions, each consisting of a new faction. Mythic Mischief (BGG, IV Studio)

  04:20 - Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age (BGG, Eagle-Gryphon) 08:55 - Cartographers (BGG, Thunderworks) 14:40 - Yahtzee! (BGG) 17:40 - Dungeon Dice (BGG) 22:45 - Railroad Ink (BGG) 27:39 - OctoDice (BGG) 31:27 - Clip-Cut Parks (BGG) 34:28 - Three Sisters (BGG) 36:23 - Catan: The Dice Game (BGG)

This week we talk about the game Aleph Null by Tony Boydell and published by Capstone Games.  The art is by Alex Leigh and music by Nicholas O'Neill.  I did not include music as I mentioned I might do, primarily because I didn't see it available on-line for public consumption. Anway, this game is about summoning the demon Baphomet, the Sabbat Goat.  It's a bit creepy and would be creepier if not for the excellent and light-hearted art by Alex Leigh.  Either way, it's a really fun game in which you are trying to cast a ritual to summon Baphomet by playing cards from your hand and slowly using them up to do magics with the hope of finally completing the ritual as expected. Aleph Null (BGG, Capstone Games)

This week Julius and and daughter join this week to talk about the very lovely Wild Gardens.  This is a game about foraging for natural ingredients to put into your delicious recipes. It's a beautiful game that reminds of Studio Ghibli animations - think Totoro.  Wild Gardens (BGG, Rose Gauntlet)

This week I talk about a small solo RPG called Anamnesis.  This is a game about forgetting your past and then rediscovering who you are.  I found it hard to start because you begin with no information and you are making it all up as you go along!  That even goes for the setting!  I found as I played, the story comes together nicely and I have had a really good time every game I've played. Anamnesis(RPG Geek, itchi.io)

This game seems to come up again and again and it's for good reason.  Pandemic is a classic games in line with the likes of Monopoly, Clue or Scrabble.  Fight off diseases ravaging the world in an effort to save humanity.  This game has inspired variants, legacy games and made cooperative games popular.  It occurs to me that we didn't credit the game.  It was designed by Matt Leacock and originally published by Z-Man games. Pandemic (BGG, Z-Man Games)

While still struggling slightly (very slightly), Julius and family recorded an episode about tragic games.  That's right.  These week we look at games that are overall about sad events.  No tragedy here though, it's a very fun episode! 02:00 Endangered (BGG) 03:55 Leviathan Wilds (BGG) 05:30 Anachrony (BGG) 07:45 Pandemic (BGG) 11:20 Mysterium ?? (BGG) 13:00 Horrified (BGG) 14:30 Under Falling Skies (BGG) 15:07 Purim (BGG) 18:57 The Spill (BGG) 20:39 Flatline (BGG)

This week we talk about Deck of Wonders, which currently has an expansion out on Kickstarter.  I'd hope to get this episode out with plenty of time for listeners to decide if they want to back this.  Saddly, Hurricane Helene set back my production schedule and the Kickstarter ends in just a couple of days. This game is a light deck construction game similar to Magic: The Gathering.  In fact, it draws some inspiration from that game.  However, this one is much lighter and more accessible because of that.  Also, the card pool is a bit smaller :) Deck of Wonders (BGG, Kickstarter Expansion)

I am still struggling with outdoor home internet. Julius and family picked up my slack and recorded an episode. This week's game is the sequel to The Search for Planet X.

This week again no episode. I was affected by Hurricane Helene. My family is fine but we are with out power going on four days now. It will be a few weeks before I can get the currently recorded episode out. 

This week Julius tells us all about climbing behemothic monsters, also known as Leviathans.  In this game you are trying to remove crystals from Leviathans all while they fight back.  It's a cooperative game that can be played solo and uses a book with 17 diferrent monsters, each its own board.  It is actually a pretty unique sounding game and I enjoyed learning about it. Leviathan Wilds (BGG, Gamefound)

This week I talk about a gamebook from Fervent Workshop called What Lies Beneath.  It was designed by Chris Scaffidi and the art is by Jason Glover, who has also designed quite a few games of his own. In this gamebook, you wake up in a dungeon with no memory of who you are or what you are here.  What's worse is you seem to have some sort of creepy cancerous growth on your arm.  You need to get out of here and figure out what is going on.  It's an interesting gamebook with some very novel mechanics. You get to play as one of 6 character classes.  If you die, you can take any earnt experience points and apply them to the next character you make.  Hopefully, this time you are able to survive long enough to get out of this dungeon. What Lies Beneath (BGG, Fervent Workshop)