1 Player Podcast

This week Julius tells us about Fromage, a simultaneous worker placement game about making cheese in France where a four-quadrant board rotates every round and your workers only come back once they are facing you again. Older, more valuable cheeses keep a worker busy for up to three turns, so the spinning board quietly handles all the timing for you. Julius loves how smooth and clever that is, and compares it to Bordeaux.

• Fromage (BGG)
• Bordeaux (BGG)

This week I tell Julius all about Hercules and the 12 Labors, a small-box solo dice game from Envy Born Games where you work through each of Hercules' legendary labors, rolling and adjusting dice to wear down each monster's track. Every labor you complete flips over to give you new equipment, like the Nemean Lion's impenetrable hide, adding more ways to tweak your dice as the challenges get tougher. Julius compared it to Proving Grounds from Renegade's Solo Hero series and wasn't convinced there's enough challenge here without the timer.

• Hercules and the 12 Labors (BGG, Envy Born Games)
• Proving Grounds (BGG)

This week Julius tells us about Enchanted Ivy, a solo-only small-box game from Allplay where you build a magical fantasy inn (reminds me of Ugly Gryphon Inn from Buttron Shy) by placing cards as ivy-covered walls and guest balconies, then score for how well the ivy connects and how happily each eccentric guest ends up settled. It's got roughly 30 scenarios, a sticker-unlock system that gradually adds new doors to future games, and plays clocking in around 15-20 minutes.

• Enchanted Ivy (BGG)

This week Julius and I tackle tile placement as a game mechanic, each bringing three favorites from what turned out to be a surprisingly deep category. Julius had a list of more than thirty solo-friendly tile games to choose from and still had enough left over for a long honorable mentions run at the end.

Show Notes:
04:55 A Feast for Odin (BGG)
10:25 Steam (BGG)
14:19 Habitats (BGG)
18:30 Limes (BGG)
21:16 Fit to Print (BGG)
26:21 Castellion (BGG)

The honorable mentions

Clip Cut Parks
Cities (2024)
Overboss
Nmbr 9
Mechanica
Machi Master
Caverna: Cave vs Cave
Luna Capitol
Oros
Power Plants
Stamp Swap
Harmonies
Cascadia
Honeybuzz
In the Hall of the Mountain King

This week I tell Julius about Shred of Redemption, a 15-minute solo bag-builder from Best With 1 Games and part of their Solo Game of the Month series. You play as a corrupt feudal lord racing to redeem yourself before death, spending virtue tokens across three phases to align dice on a play area and clear regret tokens before a final reckoning.

• Shred of Redemption (BGG)

This week Julius tells us about Creature Comforts, a dice worker placement game from Kids Table Board Gaming where anthropomorphic animals collect resources to craft cozy household items for points. What's different about this game is that you commit the workers to spaces on the board before you know which actions will be available to you. It's because you are rolling dice to determine that. If they don't cooperate, your worker just goes home with a cute bandage token. Julius loves the relaxed feel even in competitive play, and Albert is now kicking himself for passing on it at game consignment.

• Creature Comforts (BGG, KTBG)

This week I tell Julius all about Magic: The Gathering Universes Beyond Turtle Team-Up, a cooperative M:tG game where up to four players each control one of four Ninja Turtle-themed decks against random boss enemies and event cards. Defeat the first boss and two more jump in; beat those and you face all three at once. I've been enjoying it two-handed solo, even if it has very limited appearl.

Show Notes:
Turtle Team-Up (BGG, Wizards):

This week Julius tells us about The Peak Team Rangers, a fully cooperative game from Scott Almes and Matagot where players are park rangers completing missions across a wildlife reserve before the park closes for the weekend. It has a limited communication/drafting mechanic: rather than keeping your supply cards, you assign them to other players, so everyone has to figure out what everyone else needs. Solo requires difficulty level four, which means working through all four preceding levels first. Julius loved it. I thought the mechanics sounded great but had no interest in that rulebook. It's a big pass for me.

• The Peak Team (BGG, Matagot)

This week Julius and I celebrate episode 400 and 15 years of the 1 Player Podcast with a Popular Mechanics episode on food-themed games. Finding solo-friendly food games turned out to be harder than expected, but we managed to cook up a few good ones, especially master chef Julius.

• 05:25 Food Chain Island (BGG, Button Shy)
• 08:25 Wild Gardens (BGG, Rose Gauntlet)
• 11:15 Elevenses for One (BGG)
• 14:50 Kitchen Rush (BGG)
• 17:53 Conservas (BGG)
• 21:45 Maki Master (BGG)
• 27:50 Crumbs (BGG)
• 30:10 A Nice Cuppa' (BGG)
• 31:10 Waffles for Esther (RPGGeek)
• 31:35 My Mother's Kitchen (itch.io)
• 32:25: Recipe on Kmidysh Paper (itch.io)

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.

• 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)