1 Player Podcast

This week is the 10th anniversary of the 1 Player Podcast!  Wow, huh!?  When the show started there wasn't much talk of solo gaming in the podcast world, with at least the notable exception of the EXCELLENT Print and Play podcast which was hosted by FNH1.  it wasn't specifically solitaire, but quite often featured solo games.  Well in 10 years things have changed and we are lucky to have quite a variety of solo gaming shows to enjoy.  We are bringing on as many of the solo gaming podcasts as we can to give you a taste of what's out there.  You will see as you listen to the discussions that they are all interesting and quite different.  There is a lot more than we can fit into a single episode so this discussion will go over the next few weeks!

• 04:14 - Meeple, Myself and I (podcast, review geeklist)
• 18:11 - Stop Somewhere (podcast, Instagram)
• 29:57 - Always Player One (podcast, Facebook)

Some of the mentioned games

• Cartographers (BGG)
• Helionox: The Last Sunset (BGG)
• Ironsworn RPG (RPG Geek)
• The Coin Tribes' Revolt (BGG)
• Rollway Stations (BGG)

This very special announcement is here just to tell you there is no show this week. Tune back in next week!

It's back to the table with Friday!  I hadn't played this game in six years.  Julius and I took the time to re-visit this solo classic.

Someone's stolen the MacGuffin!  What do we do?  You've got five minutes to study the crime scene and find clues to lead you to the culprit.  This is a real-time family game that can be played solo and it sounds pretty fun.

This week Julius and go to the mall! More like we go to a magical mall and get lost.  We are talking about Magic Maze, the real-time mall crawling fantasy game.  If the theme makes no sense, that's okay.  This is a fast playing game for 1 to something like 6 players.  Instead of controlling a character, you control individual actions for all the characters.  It's a neat concept that works great for multiplayer...

• Magic Maze (BGG)

This week and maybe for the first time, we talk about an expansion to a game.  That's right... can you believe it?  We've already talked about Nations: the Dice Game twice before, not to mention Nations and an interview with Rustan Hakansson, so you know we like it.  Well, here's what we think about the expansion.

• Nations: The Dice Game - Unrest (BGG)
• Nations: The Dice Game (BGG)
• Nattions (BGG)

This week I have a discussion with Jason Carr of GMT Games.  He's now managing GMT One, their new internal development studio for solitaire gaming.  GMT Games has supported solo gaming for a very long time.  With GMT One, they are now creating a team of developers concentrated on helping GMT designers add solitaire play to their games.

Enjoy the discussion!

• GMT Games
• SpaceCorp (BGG, GMT Games)
• 1759: The Siege of Quebec (BGG, Worthington Games)
• Caesar: Rome vs Gaul (BGG, GMT Games)
• Red Flag Over Paris (BGG, GMT Games)
• GMT's Monthly newsletter with mentions of GMT One (2021 January, 2021 February, 2021 March)
• Inside GMT One blog posts (Inside GMT)

This week Julius tells us about the game Horrified.  If you like the classic movie monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster & the Bride of Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, the Werewolf and the Creater from the Black Lagoon) then you may just like this game.  This is a co-op game by Prospero Hall and published by Ravensburger that is reminiscent of Pandemic.

• Horrified (BGG, Ravensburger)

This week Julius is out of town.  Instead, I have a conversation with José Ruiz, a.k.a. Stuka Joe.  Stuka Joe has a YouTube channel with many, many playthrough videos of wargames. It you are interested in wargames it's worth checking out his solo playthroughs of multiplayer and solo games.

He's also the designer of the CDG Solo System which allows a person to play Card Drive Games solo by helping you manage the fog of war created by having a hand of cards.  Don't be confused like I was.  You will still be playing both sides, like playing Monopoly against yourself.  The CDG Solo System helps you manage the cards in a way that will still give you interesting choices and a fog of war.

The solo system is available as a PnP, but GMT is also going to produce a professionally printed edition via their P500, including tweak sheets for some of their CDG games, with more tweak sheets to come.  Not only that, as it is a community driven product, they will be offering their edition as a PnP, including the rules, playsheets and all the files you'll need, with very minimal printing.

I really enjoyed talking to Jose.  Listen in and see if this is something for you.  Even if you aren't a wargamer, this system is something you can probably use in many card driven games.

• CDG Solo System print and play edition (BGG)
• CDG Solo System (GMT Games)
• CDG Solo System playthrough video (BGG)
• Stuka Joe's video channel (YouTube)

Welcome to the 200th episode of the 1 Player Podcast.  Today, Julius and I talk about the game Canvas.  This is a really nice looking game about combining components of art into a single cohesive work of great beauty and lotsa points.  This game uses transparent plastic cards to achieve the goal and unlock your creative point-ential 🙄.  Unfortunately, it is currently unavailable... aaah!

• Canvas (BGG, Road To Infamy)

Episode 199 is about a sneaky little PnP game not found on BGG.. not exactly anyway.  This is a legacy version of the game Ada Lovelace: Consulting Mathematician (which is on BGG).  Julius found out about this game and goes through the legacy experience.  Note, there is every the slightest spoiler in this, but this game doesn't have a lot to spoil.  Check it out.. it sounds interesting!

• Ada Lovelace: Legacy of the Analytical Engine (Designer's site, payhip, itchio)
• Ada Lovelace: Consulting Mathematician (BGG)

In this episode, my voice can actually be heard as Julius and I talk about the roll-and-write game, Railroad Ink.  this is a cute little dice-chucking (for one person) dry erase drawing game of railroad empires.  Hop aboard and listen!  🙄

• Railroad Ink: Deep Blue (BGG, Horrible Guild)
• Railroad Ink: Blazing Red (BGG, Horrible Guild)
• The entire Railroad Ink family (BGG, Horrible Guild)

Welcome back to another episode.  This time around, Julius interviews Gabe Barrett, designer of the Hunted Series of games and host of the Board Game Design Lab.

• Hunted: Kobayashi Tower (BGG, BestWIth1)
• Hunted: Mining Colony 415 (BGG, BestWith1)
• Hunted: Wode Ridge (BGG, KS)
• Hunted: Santa's Workshop pnp (BestWith1)
• Board Game Design Lab (BGDL)

Today Julius and I talk about a pretty darned new game, The Lost Ruins of Arnak.  You are an archeologist exploring what you are pretty sure is the fabled island of Arnak.  At least, that's what you think the uncharted isle you found is.  You will explore the island and uncover ruins, still guarded by mythical beasts and study the resources you find to help you uncover hidden secrets and most especially... victory points!  Listen in and see what I think of this game.

• Lost Ruins of Arnark (BGG, CGE)

Julius and I revisit a classic!  We talk about Nations: The Dice Game again.  A game we first covered back in 2015 on episode 85.  This is a great dice game with lots of luck and strategy and a really good, really simple solo variant in the box.  Come see (hear) what we think about it.  Are we still playing it?  Some more than others.

• Nations: The Dice Game (BGG)
• Episode 85 (1 Player Podcast)