There is a pretty decent selection single player board games out there for those who live alone, or can’t seem to convince another to join in on the fun. Gone are the days where the options are limited to solitaire and a deck of cards. The Bandit has put together our list of the top ten most popular games designed for one player or have a solid with a solo option.

10. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

The Grand Puba of living card games, Arkham Horror has reigned supreme since it's inital release in 2016. As of the writing of this article (March 2021), it still sits atop the Customizable category on BGG, and sits in the top 10 of Thematic games. With more than 50 expansion packs and sets available, there's no sign of this great game slowing down.

Great with 2 players or running solo, this is a card game of Lovecraftian mystery, monsters and madness! In this game you become a character in the New England town of Arkham. Using your custom deck of cards, you use your strengths and overcome your weaknesses to try to unravel the world's most terrifying mysteries.

Designed to be played as a campaign to get the full experience, this game offers a rich story with an interesting way of developing and changing your character over time. We can't recommend this one enough!

Buy Arkham Horror: The Card Game online now!

See all Arkham Horror expansions, Mythos packs and more.

9. Deep Space D-6

That’s Pretty Clever! Is a German game (Ganz schön clever) that’s been translated for North America.

The scoring card in this game looks pretty scary, but not to worry, each section is used separately, and once you start playing this game, you won’t want to stop.

In That’s Just Clever! Pick your dice carefully to place them into the matching colored area on the scorecard, together for tricky chain-scoring opportunities, and earn points. The dice you don't use are also important because every die that's smaller than those selected can be used by the other players, keeping everyone in the game at all times.

This 30 minute game allows for 1-4 players and is a great game for children aged 8 and up.

Buy Deep Space D-6 online now!

8. Mage Knight

The Mage Knight board game places you in control of one of four powerful Mage Knights as you explore and conquer a piece of the Mage Knight world under the control of the Atlantean Empire. Build your army, fill your deck with powerful actions and spells, explore dungeons and caves, and conquer powerful cities ruled by this once-great faction!

This Thematic strategy game is for gamers with some serious time on their hands, with the game running at 60-240 minutes of adventurous fun.

Buy Mage Knight online now!

7. Spirit Island

Spirt Island is a Board Game Bandit favorite for solo option games, and while it is a game of great complexity, it is worth it once you get through the hefty rulebook and start playing.

This thematic game is all about protecting your island from colonizing Invaders. Players are spirits of the land, each with their own elemental powers. Each turn, players simultaneously pick which of their power cards to play, paying energy to do so. Free bonus effects are given by using combinations of power cards that match a spirit's elemental affinities. Quicker powers take effect immediately, before the Invaders spread and ravage, but other magics are slower, needing planning and forethought to use properly. In the Spirit phase, spirits earn energy, and choose how / whether to Grow: to reclaim used power cards, to discover new power, or to bring presence into new areas of the island.

The Invaders expand across the island map in a semi-predictable way. Each turn they explore into portions of the island; They build in those lands, creating settlements and cities. Lastly, they ravage there, bringing blight to the land and attacking any native islanders there.

The islanders battle against the Invaders when attacked, and lend the spirits aid, but may not always do so exactly as you'd like. Some Powers work through the islanders, assisting them (eg) drive out the Invaders or clean the land of blight.

The game escalates as it continues: spirits spread their presence to new sections of the island and find new and more potent powers, while the Invaders step up their colonization efforts.

At the beginning of the game, winning means destroying every last settlement and city on the board - but as you frighten the Invaders, victory becomes easier: they'll run away even if some settlements or cities remain. Loosing comes if any spirit is destroyed, if the island is overrun by blight, or if the Invader deck is depleted before victory.

While Spirt Island is a great solo game, it can also accommodate up to 4 players in a cooperative play game.  The game is suitable for players aged 13 and up, and generally runs about 90-120 minutes.

Buy Spirit Island online now!

6. Terraforming Mars

This award winning strategy game is not only a top ranked game of science fiction, space exploration and territory building, but it has a single player option with it’s 1-5 player capability.

Set in the 2400s, mankind starts to terraform the planet Mars. Corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, begin projects to raise the temperature, oxygen level, and ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. You play one of those corporations and work together in process, but compete for victory points awarded not only for your assistance to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure in the solar system, among other things.

Players purchase project cards, these represent anything from introducing plant life or animals, hurling asteroids at the surface, building cities, to mining the moons of Jupiter and creating greenhouse gas industries to heat up the atmosphere. The cards provide you immediate bonuses, as well as increasing your production of resources. Many cards also include requirements to become playable later in the game.

Your basic income, and your basic score, is based on your Terraform Rating, which increases when you raise one of the three global parameters. Your income is also connected with your production, and you also get points from other sources.

Players compete for the best places for their city tiles, ocean tiles, and greenery tiles. As well as for different Milestones and Awards worth many points. Each generation (round) consists of the following phases:

1. Player order shifts clockwise.
2. Research phase: Players purchase cards from four drawn.
3. Action phase: Players take turns performing 1-2 actions: Play a card, claim a Milestone, fund an Award, using a Standard project, convert plant into greenery tiles, convert heat into a temperature raise, or use the action of a card in play. The turn continues around the table (sometimes several laps) until all players have passed.
4. Production phase: Players acquire resources according to their terraform rating and production parameters.

When the three global parameters (temperature, oxygen, ocean) have all reached their goal, the terraforming is finished, and the game ends after that round, and the winner is announced.

The game runs on the longer side, at approximately 120 minutes of play, but regardless, fans can’t get enough.

Buy Terraforming Mars online now!

5. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Much like Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Marvel Champions is a living card game from Fantasy Flight Games. Some similar mechanics are shared between the two, and both are very strong solitaire games. Marvel Champions lets players embody iconic heroes from the Marvel Universe, battling to stop infamous villains from carrying out their devious schemes.

Each superhero has their own unique set of cards and plays a little differently. Add to that the four different hero 'aspects', overarching traits to help round out your deck; things like Aggression or Protection, and you've got a seemingly endless set of combinations to try out against a wide variety of villains and scenarios.

Since this one is a living card game, new heroes, villains and scenarios are frequently released, with the most recent being Scarlet Witch Hero Pack. The thematic elements on this one are phenomenal, every deck feels unique and plays very closely to the hero's traits and abilities. We've said it before but this game is a standout, a must try; but beware, it is addictive!

Buy Marvel Champions: The Card Game online now!

4. Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island is actually a pretty complex thematic game.  Based on the novels, this game is full of adventure and exploration.

You are on a deserted island, playing the parts of shipwreck survivors. You will face the challenges of building a shelter, gathering food, fighting wild beasts, and protecting yourself from the weather. Building walls around homes, animal domestication, constructing weapons and tools and much more waits on the island. Players decide how the game will unfold and how their settlement will look. With hundreds of event cards and hundreds of object and structure cards used during the game, players can discover the secret of the island, find a pirate treasure, or an abandoned village, find an underground city or a cursed temple.

This 2013 award winning game plays from 1-4 players and runs about 60-120 minutes long in playing time.

Buy Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island online now!

3. That’s Pretty Clever!

That’s Pretty Clever! is a German game (also known as Ganz schön clever) that’s been translated for North America.

The scoring card in this game looks pretty scary, but not to worry, each section is used separately, and once you start playing this game, you won’t want to stop.

In That’s Just Clever! Pick your dice carefully to place them into the matching colored area on the scorecard, together for tricky chain-scoring opportunities, and earn points. The dice you don't use are also important because every die that's smaller than those selected can be used by the other players, keeping everyone in the game at all times.

This 30 minute game allows for 1-4 players and is a great game for children aged 8 and up.

Buy That's Pretty Clever! online now!

2. Hostage Negotiator

Designed solely for one player, Hostage Negotiator throws you right in the middle of a tense hostage negotiation. You play the part of a law enforcement agent, it's your job to negotiate the release of hostages taken by some unscrupulous figure who's hell-bent on having their demands met.

This game is great because it features multiple paths to victory, which you have to balance with the hostage takers plans. Will you try to calm them down in hopes they'll surrender? Stall for time until you can in the S.W.A.T. team for a major extraction? How many lives will you save? All of these decisions add up to a tense, fun-filled experience that only takes about 20 mins per play.

Replayability is great on this title as well, there are three different 'villains' in the core box, but numerous Abductor Packs have been released to expand the villain pool even further.

Buy Hostage Negotiator online now!

1. Coffee Roaster

Any coffee lovers dream of a game.  Make your cup of java and get cozy with this 1 player game.

Coffee Roaster only allows for solo play, you start the game by selecting a variety of coffee beans to roast, and put a number of tokens specific to that variety into a bag. You then draw a number of bean tokens randomly from the bag to increase their roast level. Once finished, you create a cup-testing to check the taste of your coffee and score points.  Each variety has a target roast level, but hitting the target is not enough for perfect roasting; you must also even out the roast level of each bean, without spoiling the flavor of that variety.

You also have to screen out smoke tokens and burnt bean tokens that obstruct roasting, and remove bean tokens that spoil the taste. You must control the contents of your bag using effects created by placing tokens on the roast board.

The game has 22 varieties of beans. In one game, you attempt to roast three of them, and your roaster title is awarded based on the total score.

This game plays rather quickly, with a 10-30 minute game play, making it the perfect game to enjoy with your morning coffee.

Buy Coffee Roaster online now!

Bandit Bonus!

For this list we found it difficult narrowing things down to ten. So we've switched things up with this post and included a few honorable mentions. Here's a few more solo standouts that you should definitely consider for your next solitaire gaming session!

Aquatica

Aquatica is a fantasy and Nautical card game that is playable up to 4 players, but also allows for solo play.

This family, strategic game is easy to learn and is based upon underwater kingdoms.

In the game you are one of the mighty ocean kings, fighting to bring glory to his realm. You need to capture and purchase locations, recruit new characters, and complete goals; each of these actions earns you points at games end. You need to play cards from your hand (each with is own actions) and combine them. With a good strategy, you can take up to ten actions in a row.

Encounter many mysterious ocean creatures and take them to your hand. With their assistance you can explore the unknown locations and rise resources from the ocean floor to your kingdom.

This game is represented with a three-layered player board and a unique mechanism of card-rising.

Buy Aquatica online now!

Exit: The Game – The Forgotten Island

Like all escape room themed games, the Exit series of games, including our favorite The Forgotten Island allows for a single player.

In Forgotten Island you are shipwrecked on a beach, a chained up boat seems to be your only chance of escape.  The boats owner has left puzzles around the island that first need to be solved before you can free the boat and escape.

Bring the excitement of an escape room to your table top tonight with this great choice.

Buy Exit: The Game - The Forgotten Island online now!

Welcome To New Vegas

With communal actions Welcome To… allows any number of players from 1 single player and upwards of 50.

The game is set in the 1950s, players want to become the greatest resort architect in all of Las Vegas by adding resources to a pool, hiring employees, and more.

Welcome to New Vegas is similar to a roll-and-write dice game where players record results on a score-sheet...but without the dice. Instead players flip cards from three piles to create three different action sets with both a house number and a associated action from which everyone chooses one. The number is used to fill in a house on your street in numerical order. Then you perform the action to increase the points on estates you build or score points at the end for building different attractions and structures. It's a race to be the first to complete public goals!

Board Game Bandit loves that this game has so many strategies and randomized action sets, it ensures that no two games play the same, a great experience for solo players.

Buy Welcome to New Las Vegas online!

Unlock! Timeless Adventures

With the option of visiting an actual escape room not possible at the moment, number seven on the bandit list is one of the many Unlock! Games in the series, Unlock!:Timeless Adventures.  These games can play with 1 to 6 players, in a solo version or in a cooperative versus with multiple players.  The great addition to the Unlock! Series that sets it above other escape room games is that it incorporates a downloadable app, bringing more interaction to your game play.  These games also allow you to adjust the level of play difficulty and includes 3 different escape room games in one box.  Unlock! Timeless Adventures includes the below 3 scenarios for play;

• The Noside Show
• Arsène Lupin and the Great White Diamond
• Lost in the ChronoWarp

Buy Unlock! Timeless Adventures online now!

Looking for more?

We hear you! We have an extensive lineup of games that are playable solo, check out Board Game Bandit's complete solo/solitaire game selection here.