1 Player Podcast

1 Player Podcast episodes:

• 04.20.2024

  1P 335 - Popular Mechanics: Set Collection

  This week Julius and I discuss set collection solo games.  We each bring three games that we think include set collection in the mechanics and are interesting solo games.  Just a footnote here... I am right about Agricola.  The first...

  
• 04.06.2024

  1P 334 - Unpacking '20 Strong' and 'Solar Sentinels'

  I accidentally used Podbeans AI processing.  Let's see how it sounds.. the description below is from their's. Welcome to Episode 334 of the One Player Podcast, where we dive headfirst into the unique game systems of '20 Strong' and 'Solar Sentinels'....

  
• 03.30.2024

  1P 333 - Dungeon Pages

  This week's game is Dungeon Pages, a roll and write by Jasons Greeno & Tagmire.  It's a roll and write dungeon crawl game.  It was initially released once over the course of a year.  Each week you would get a...

  
• 03.16.2024

  1P 332 - Bullet ♥︎

  This week Julius and I talk about Bullet ♥︎ and, really, Bullet ★. These games are in the style of Bullet Hell video games were bullets are flying all over the place in overwhelming quantities.  It's a really fast playing...

  
• 03.09.2024

  1P 331 - Red Cathedral

  This week's episode I tell Julius all about the game Red Cathedral, in which you are tasked with helping to build St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia.  It's an interesting game with beautiful artwork and a very simple AI for the...

  
• 03.02.2024

  1P 330 - Popular Mechanics: Mathy Games

  This week Julius and I look at Mathy and try to figure out if the subject adds up for us.  We had some conversations I thought were interesting in what makes or doesn't make a mathy game while presenting six...

  
• 02.17.2024

  1P 329 - Back to the Table: Escape: The Curse of the Temple

  This week Julius and I revisit a classic realtime game... Escape: The Curse of the Temple, in which you Indiana Jones your way out of a cursed temple.  Hurry though, you only have 10 minutes! Escape: The Curse of the Temple...

  
• 02.03.2024

  1P 328 - Flamecraft

  This week Julius and I talk about Flamecraft, a fun worker placement-ish game of running around being a good dragon.  It is actually worker placement but for me it felt more like running around doing errands than like placing workers.   Flamecraft...

  
• 01.27.2024

  1P 327 - Cyberion

  This week Julius and I look at Cyberion, the latest Oniverse game my Shadi Torbey.  It's a cool game about fighting the Devious Cog whose trying to destroy your factory.  We really like the Oniverse and send almost an hour...

  
• 01.20.2024

  1P 326 - New York Zoo

  This week we learn how to start a new zoo!  Julius tells us about New York Zoo, a game in which you are trying to build a new zoo with animals and rides.  It's a rondel game with polyominoes by...

  
• 01.13.2024

  1P 325 - Popular Mechanics - 2023

  This week's popular mechanics episode is a bit unorthodox.  Instead of looking at a single mechanic, we talk about mechanics (or game stuff) that caught our attention in 2023. 03:10 For Northwood! (BGG) 05:15 Bullet⭐ (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/343844/bullet) 10:55 Wreck This Deck (RPG Geek) 14:20 Bruges...

  
• 12.30.2023

  1P 324 - Wreck This Deck

  This week I go solo and talk about an RPG called Wreck This Deck.  The title says it all, this is a game in which you get to alter and craft on a deck of playing cards all while trapping...

  
• 12.16.2023

  1P 323 - Lock & Spell

  This week I'm out, as well as next week, so Julius and family fill in to talk about a solo poker game!   Lock & Spell (BGG, Jupiter Valley Studios)

  
• 12.09.2023

  1P 322 - Age of Civilization

  This week's episode, I talk about a small game called Age of Civilization, in which you can play through the rise and fall of empires in about 30 minutes.  It's a fun little worker placement game with lots of choices...

  
• 11.25.2023

  1P 321 - Endangered

  This week Julius shares a game he can't stop gushing about.  It's Endangered, the cooperative game about saving endangered species.  It's a neat little compact game with an interesting theme and nice artwork.

  
• 11.18.2023

  1P 320 - Popular Mechanics: No Shuffle

  Poor Julius sprained his wrist pretty badly and has been struggling with shuffling cards.  This week we brainstorm games that we can play without having to do all that shuffling. 02:30 Escape: The Curse of the Temple (BGG) 04:15 Search for Planet...

  
• 11.11.2023

  1P 319 - Pericle: The Gathering Darkness

  This week's game is Pericle: The Gathering Darkness.  It's a fantasy adventure board game set in a world that reminds me of ancient Rome or Greece.  It is app driven to simulate playing with a game master and really does...

  
• 11.04.2023

  1P 318 - Back to the Table with PAX

  This week Julius and I revisit the game PAX by Bernd Eisenstein and published by Irongames.  This game is a small, fast playing drafting game that reminds me (but not Julius) of 7 Wonders. PAX (BGG, Irongames) PAX: Noctornus (BGG)

  
• 10.28.2023

  1P 317 - The Spill - take 2

  Oops, I forgot to attach the episode to the 1st post. This week Julius and I talk about The Spill, a game about saving the environment from a dangerous oil spill from a deep sea rig.  It's a cooperative game with...

  
• 10.21.2023

  1P 316 - Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons

  This week we talk about the Ravensburger game by Propero Hall, Wonder Woman: Challenge of the Amazons.  This is a very affordable, family friendly co-operative game that isn't intended for solo but can work if you don't mind making a...

  
• 10.14.2023

  1P 315 - Unpopular Mechanics: The Game Between the Game

  This week Julius and I talk past each other as I try to describe games that are good if you want more enjoyment from the game than just the time at the table, or as I call it, the Game...

  
• 10.07.2023

  1P 314 - Banish the Snakes

  This week I tell Julius all about the GMT Games title Banish the Snakes.  You play as St. Patrick or some of the other saints that worked to convert Ireland to Christianity as the Roman Empire and Roman Britain and...

  
• 09.30.2023

  1P 313 - Skytear Horde

  This week Julius tells us about Skytear Horde.  A cooperative card game not too unlike M:tG.  In it you play cards to cast spells and summon allies.  A rift has torn the sky open and from that tear emerges a...

  
• 09.16.2023

  1P 312 - Worldbreakers - Advent of the Khanate

  This week I preset a cool little 2-player dueling game which also includes solo rules.  The game is set in an alternate history earth around the time (and place) of Genghis Khan. Worldbreakers (BGG, Worldbreakers website)

  
• 09.02.2023

  1P 311 - Skoventyr

  This week Julius and I talk about the relatively new game, Skoventyr.  This was designed by Morten Monrad Pederson and produced by Shadi Torbey (of Oniverse fame).  This is a light but fun game of running around the forest trying...

  
• 08.26.2023

  1P 310 - Popular Mechanics: Polyominoes

  This week Julius and I manage to fit a bunch of games into a small 30 minute space.  This Popular Mechanics episode is about polyomino games with their funny shaped pieces.  Think Tetris. Cartographers (BGG) Kingdom Rush (BGG) Spring Meadow (BGG) Nmbr 9 (BGG) ROVE:...

  
• 08.19.2023

  1P 309 - Keep the Heroes Out!

  This week, Julius tells us about the cooperative game, Keep the Heroes Out!, in which, well, you are trying to keep heroes out of your dungeon.  You play as one of a number of dungeon denizens.  You'll go is to...

  
• 08.12.2023

  1P 308 - Notorious

  In a galaxy far, far away you get to be a bounty hunter after your next target.  Nothing will stop you though many enemies will try to get in your way.  Notorious is a solo journalling RPG about being a...

  
• 08.05.2023

  1P 307 - The Adventures of Robin Hood

  Unable to record this week, Julius's family picks up my slack by talking about the Adventures of Robin Hood.  This is an adventure game in which players cooperatively, or one player controlling multiple heroes, explores Sherwood Forrest as Robin Hood...

  
• 07.15.2023

  1P 306 - Wreckland Run

  This week Julius tells us about the solo game Wreckland Run. It's a Mad Max kinda world and you are racing around collecting spare parts and building up your arsenal of a car in a short 7 game campaign game. ...

  
• 07.08.2023

  1P 305 - Popular Mechanics: Modular Boards

  This week Julius and I look at games with modular boards.  It's one of my favorite "mechanics" in a game.  I really like games where the setup is different each round and it affects how the game plays out.  The...

  
• 07.01.2023

  1P 304 - PARKS

  I was out with COVID so Julius and family picked up my slack and revisited a cool little game called PARKS.  Visit the National Parks in a very pretty game with an interesting solo bot.  But do they like it?

  
• 06.17.2023

  1P 303 - For Northwood!

  This week Julius and I look at the charming little trick taking game For Northwood!.  It's a fun and interesting game in a tiny package.   For Northwood! (BGG) Solo trick-taking games (BGG)

  
• 06.10.2023

  1P 302 - Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar

  This week I was lost in time.  Julius and family picked up my slack and took an anachronistic look at a Jurrasic Park legacy game Jurassic World: The Legacy of Isla Nublar.  It sounds like a fun family experience and...

  
• 06.03.2023

  1P 301 - K2

  I've always been curious about this game but have never tried it.  Julius does me the curteousy of telling me all about how it works.  It sounds like a fun, light and puzzling experience but not as cold as being...

  
• 05.27.2023

  1P 300 - Popular Mechanics - Kickstarter

  This episode comes out 12 years to the day after the 1st podcast!  Huzzah!  Just to liven things up a bit, Julius and I decided to do something a bit different (just a bit) and make this popular mechanics episode...

  
• 05.20.2023

  1P 299 - Back to the Table - Space Hulk: Death Angel

  This week Julius and I get Space Hulk: Death Angel back to the table.  This is the classic game of dying a brutal death and just watching your team of Space Marines get decimated by a bunch of alien scum. ...

  
• 05.13.2023

  1P 298 - Legacy of Yu

  This week Julius and I talk about Legacy of Yu, from Shem Phillips and Garphill Games.  This is part of their Ancients Anthology collection by the same designer.  Unlike those games, this game is made for solitaire play only. It's...

  
• 05.06.2023

  1P 297 - Black Angel

  This week we revisit a mechanic Julius quite likes in the form of a game called Black Angel.  Honestly though, we don't talk about that mechanic much at all.  The mechanic in question is a scrolling board that we encountered...

  
• 04.29.2023

  1P 296 - Fabled Lands

  This week we look at a classic fantasy gamebook from the 90s, or more accurately, we look at a few books in the Fabled Lands series.  These are some rather unique gamebooks in that they are open ended and you...

  
• 04.15.2023

  1P 295 - Popular Mechanics: Variable Character Stats

  This week we are back to Popular Mechanics.  Well, sort of. I'm back but Julius is on vacation so I have a special guest. It's the return of Deborah from Geek Gamers!  She chose the episode's mechanic and it led...

  
• 04.08.2023

  1P 294 - Merchants of the Dark Road

  Let's take a look at Merchants of the Dark Road.  This is a 1-4 player competitive game that includes an automa for solo play.  It's a beautiful looking game with lots of shiny components (if you get the deluxe version)...

  
• 04.01.2023

  1P 293 - The Battle at Kemble’s Cascade

  This week we talk about the vertical scrolling, space shoot-em up game, The Battle at Kemble's Cascade.  Don't worry though.  This isn't a video game but a board game with a theme of a space shooter video game.  It's a...

  
• 03.25.2023

  1P 292 - Vagrantsong

  This week Julius talks about the Wyrd Miniatures game, Vagrantsong.  The publisher is known for making miniatures games but this one uses plastic standies instead.  This is a tactical combat game with a campaign.  Think Gloomhaven or Gloomhaven: Jaws of...

  
• 03.18.2023

  1P 291 - Resist!

  This week Julius tells me all about the game Resist!.  This is a game about the Spanish maquis during the Spanish Revolution.  You take control of a number of maquis and complete missions by fighting the defenders at the location. ...

  
• 03.11.2023

  1P 290 - Popular Mechanic: One and Done

  This week Julius and I finally return to our Popular Mechanic series.  In this brief episode, we talk about games that are "one and done".   Basically you play the game once and then can move on from that game, never...

  
• 03.04.2023

  1P 289 - Solo Game Master’s Guide

  This week we have a very special episode.  I have a nice long chat with Deborah, the host of the  Geek Gamers YouTube channel.  We talk about all sorts of things including her channel, playing RPGs solo and her new...

  
• 02.18.2023

  1P 288 - Stellarion

  This is the final episode in our Oniverse series. Fittingly, it ends with us visiting more of the Oniverse in the way of voyages to other galaxies... well, sorta.  In this game, you don't travel anywhere but you enable ships...

  
• 02.11.2023

  1P 287 - Aerion

  As Julius and I make our way through the Oniverse, we've caught a breeze and ended up in the lands of Aerion where we are charged with making flying machines.  This is a Yahtzee like game in which you roll...

  
• 02.04.2023

  1P 286 - Nautlion

  Our journey in the Dreamlands continue.  This time we drop below the waves for an undersea adventure with a guest aboard.  This, I think, may be the most thematic of all the Oniverse games so far.  This time we'll recruit...