Solo Board Games: Games One Player Can Enjoy Alone

A good solo board game has a one-player mode built into the box, not just a variant online. Wingspan and Wyrmspan include Automa decks that act as an opponent, Cascadia and Dorfromantik offer relaxed puzzles that also work alone, and Terraforming Mars suits a long evening. Each one still plays with friends, which makes it a safe gift.

Solo board games compared

The solo board games below all list one player on the box or the maker’s page. Play times are the publisher’s own ranges.

Wingspan and Wyrmspan: solo against a card opponent

Wingspan, designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and published by Stonemaier Games, plays 1 to 5 people in 40 to 70 minutes. Players attract birds to their wildlife preserves, building engines of cards that pay off later in the game. For solo play, Stonemaier includes 16 Automa cards, which take turns and score as a rival.

Wyrmspan, by Connie Vogelmann, uses a similar engine-building idea with dragons in caves. It plays 1 to 5 people in about 90 minutes, and the box comes with 17 Automa cards and a separate solo rulebook. A Wingspan fan who wants something longer and a bit heavier is the natural fit.

Cascadia and Dorfromantik: relaxed tile games for one

Cascadia, from Flatout Games, plays 1 to 4 people and won the Spiel des Jahres in 2022. Players draft habitat tiles and wildlife tokens to build a landscape that scores in several ways at once.

Dorfromantik: The Board Game, designed by Michael Palm and Lukas Zach and published by Pegasus Spiele in 2022, won the Spiel des Jahres in 2023. It is cooperative for 1 to 6 players, takes 30 to 60 minutes, and is rated for ages 8 and up. Players place landscape tiles to meet task goals, and new pieces are added over a campaign of games. It has no separate solo mode, but it is listed from 1 player, so the same cooperative rules cover someone playing alone.

Terraforming Mars: a long solo challenge

Terraforming Mars, from Swedish publisher FryxGames, plays 1 to 5 people in 90 to 120 minutes and is rated for ages 12 and up. Because the box covers a single player, it suits someone who likes a long engine-building puzzle on their own. The Automa expansion, released in 2024, adds a new solo mode for players who want a card opponent to play against.

Deduction board games one person can solve

MicroMacro: Crime City is a series of large illustrated city maps, with cases solved by spotting clues in the drawings. The first game, MicroMacro: Crime City, won the Spiel des Jahres in 2021. Pegasus Spiele lists MicroMacro: Crime City 3 All In for 1 to 4 players aged 12 and up, so it works as a quiet solo puzzle or a shared game at the table.

More board games for a solo player

Cooperative games are often the easiest to play alone, since the rules do not depend on an opponent. Our cooperative board games guide covers more of them. For heavier picks, see strategy board games, and for a partner on the nights they do not play solo, the two-player board games guide.