1 Player Podcast

Episode 181!  This time we talk about Proofing Grounds... the game of editorial combat.  I wish... that would be cool!  This is Proving Grounds.. the game of gladiatorial combat!  This is a game designed for exactly 1 player.  Julius give us a detailed run-down and the game sure sounds interesting!

We are finally talking about this game that has been.  It's been out for like 5 years waiting, just waiting for me to play and talk about it.  Julius finally pushed me to do it and I've had a great time with it.  Come here what we think about this game.  I'll give you a spoiler.. it's fun but hard.  Wait, did I just give it away?

Oh My Goods! (BGG, Lookout Games)

Oh My Goods! Longsdale in Revolt (BGG, Lookout Games)

Oh My Goods! Escape to Canyon Brook (BGG, Lookout Games)

Tybor the Builder (BGG, Lookout Games)

Expedition to Newdale (BGG, Lookout Games)

Another Roll Player Tale game from Thunderworks Games.  Julius seems to be a big fan of the Roll Player universe so we talk about yet another game in the series.  I think we've got them all.  Unfortuantely, this means we may not hear my cool song again any time soon :)

Anyway, Lockup is an area control game with a cool mechanism in the multiplayer game.  Thunderworks found a way to make it work well solo too!

• Lockup: A Roll Player Tale (BGG, Thunderworks)

In today's episode, we ae joined by KarenSDR from the 1 Player Guild to discuss solo trick-taking games!  You'll be surprised just how many trick-taking games can be soloed.  Then we look at one specific trick-taking game, Eck, which is currently part of the 2020 Solitaire Print and Play design contest!

• Eck (BGG, Contest thread)
• Solo trick-taking games geeklist (BGG)
• 2020 Print and Play Design Contest (BGG)

Julius and I are between a rock and a hard place on this one.  Between Two Cities is a Stonemaier Games game about building a city while working with your opponents or against two Automa.  It's a neat little tile laying game.

• Between Two Cities (BGG, Publisher)

Today Julius and I talk about the classic game of SET..  this one is from '88 so yeah, it's pretty much a classic.  It's a light family game that can be played with any number of folks that you can fit around a table, be it one or one thousand, though that's a big table and you'll probably need a really big edition.  It's a simple game of collecting sets of cards with patterns that match on all three cards or are different in all three cards - simple and fun!

• SET (BGG, Publisher)
• Official daily on-line puzzle
• Set Mania solo game (Android, IOS)
• Set Pro HD multiplayer (IOS)

In this episode Julius and I sorta talk about the 1 Player Guild and what it can offer the solo gamer these days.  This show is sorta about nothing. Learn what to guys can do when the show up un-prepared... not much.

• 1 Player Guild
• Solo Challenges
• Collective Acquisition Disorder geeklists
• Solitaire Games on Your Table geeklists
• SGoYT Aggregator
• Top 200 solo games
• Morten's No Prize for Top 200 games
• Chain of Generosity
• Trade it Forward
• 2020 Challenge Coin
• Solitaire Print and Play contest
• Solo variants
  • Carcassone
  • Pandemic - not solo specific but a COVID-19 variant from GMT
  • Civilization
• Facebook solo group

In this episode Julius and I discuss the game Team Pandemic.  Also known as Pandemic: Rapid Response.  This is a hectic timed game in which players are producing plastic cubes to deliver to cities around the world.  Each city has different needs as to what color cubes will solve their crisis so players are working at a hectic pace to produce the correct cubes while they fly around the world.

• Pandemic: Rapid Response (BGG, Publisher)
• Timer song to use with the game (BGG)

In this episode Julius and I look what it takes to grow a village.  Turns out isn't that hard and can be done on your own.  The game Villagers is a fun drafting game from Sinister Fish games for 1-5 players.

• Villagers (BGG, SInister Fish)
• Streets by Sinister Fish (Kickstarter)

In this episode I talk about Thousand Year Old Vampire, the self published game by Tim Hutchings.  This very cool solo RPG won three Ennie awards this year!  In it you play vampire struggling with the passage of time and how we remember things.  It's an excellent game worth checking out, not just because of the unique gameplay, but also because of the excellent production quality.  I quite like it.

Thousand Year Old Vampire (RPG Geek, designer's page)

In this spoiler-ific episode, Julius tells us all about the Dreamlands half of the Dream-Eaters campaign for Arkham Horror.  It sounds interesting, but not as much as the other half.

• Arkham-Horror: The Dream-Eaters (FFG)

Welcome to another episode! This time around, Albert interviews Dennis Furia, the designer of Deck of Wonders, which is on Kickstarter right now.

This game has a nice M:TG feel to it in that you are fighting a battle against an enemy by summoning minions to fight for you.  However, what is really cool here is that this game is designed for solo play and does a very good job of giving you an interesting game experience.

It's on KS right now and worth looking into.

• Deck of Wonders (BGG, Publisher, Kickstarter)
• Tabletop Simulator demo instructions

In the latest episode Albert & Julius discuss the White Dog Games title, Nubia: Egypt's Black Heirs.  This is a States of Siege style game designed by R Ben Madison and quite fun.

Nubia on BGG

Nubia at White Dog Games

In this episode Julius talks about the latest completed Arkham Horror Cycle, the Dream-Eaters (whose name I have trouble getting straight).  This cool campaign takes players to Lovecraft's Dreamlands, though Julius and I will focus our discussion on the waking world, for now and visit the Dreamlands in an upcoming show.

a.k.a., how to play with distractions.  Distractions are annoying regardless the number of players.  It's only really a problem though with solo gaming.  What do you do when your kids or your cat show up?  You panic!

My Lord of the Rings box at YouTube.