Little Single Player Board Games

I love video games and I play them daily. I always have one of my portable systems in my work bag to play on my breaks. As much as I love my digital games I feel like something has been missing in my life lately. I miss shuffling the cards and rolling the dice. I miss real, physical games.

I have an unconventional work schedule and getting a group of people to play is difficult even under normal circumstances. I’m in a Pathfinder 2E group that plays weekly but we use a virtual table top (VTT) to play. It’s still very digital. Recently I discovered a new option. Single player board games.

Recently a lot of companies have been releasing games that include rules for a single player. Many members of the gaming community have created their own rules for solo play. As great as that is, it’s not what I’m talking about today. I’m talking about games specifically designed for a single player.

My favorites are very portable and simple. They include games that fit inside an mint tin and games that fit in small wallets. I love that I can just grab one, throw it in my bag or pocket, and it’s available whenever I have a few minutes. It scratches the itch for me.

Some of my collection.

The two mint tin games I ordered from The Game Crafter and the wallet games are from Button Shy Games. I have more on the way from both sites.

Doom Machine in action.

I also learned about print and play (PNP) games .Games that let you download the the game files at a cheaper, sometimes free price. Just add your own dice and game tokens. I haven’t played with PNP much but I’m interested. I will be adding some of these games to my collection and posting about the experience shortly.

So while Doom Machine may not be the same as an epic Gloomhaven session, in many ways it’s much better. I actually get to play it and it doesn’t consume hours of my day.