1 Player Podcast

This week I tell Julius all about Onoda, a small-box solo game from Salt and Pepper Games based on the true story of Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese soldier who kept fighting on Lubang Island for nearly 30 years after World War II ended. Over six rounds you sneak around the island raiding for food, repairing gear, and attempting missions, pushing your luck on alarm checks drawn from a bag to keep your companions fed and your paranoia in check.

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.

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.

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.

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:

The honorable mentions

Clip Cut Parks

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.

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.

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:

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.

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.