Top 10 Best Solo Board Games to Play Alone in 2022

Players: 1-4 | Ages: Approx. 13+ | Time: 1000+ hours of gameplay

When it comes down to the board game that has it all, look no further than The 7th Continent. Filled to capacity with content, this game serves as the ultimate in choosing your own path of gameplay. It’s heavy on exploration and allows you to craft items along the way – all while adding in the complex strategy of survival to give you just the right balance.

Not only is The 7th Continent easy to learn, but its competency ensures that you’ll never find yourself stalling by having to dig through a bunch of text. Gone is the hassle of dice-rolling and chance, replaced by cards to enhance the game’s engrossing story while providing total player control.

Set in the early 20th century, your objective is that of an adventurer set out to purify a curse-stricken land. The 7th Continent is story-heavy, with a compelling narrative that further serves to pull you deeper into its mythical atmosphere.

Simplicity is what makes this board game so much fun. Being card-driven, each one’s actions progress the game at a comfortable, yet engaging, rate. With only two types of cards at play – action and adventure – The 7th Continent never gets tired or overbearing. Nothing is wasted here.

And that is what sets this game apart from its competitors. Where most games require you to take a turn and then deal with the resulting consequences, you won’t find that here. Your character is constantly moving forward, stopping only when you’ve completed your objective.

The makers of The 7th Continent claim that there are over 1,000 hours of play time. They aren’t exaggerating. You’re likely to find your first play-through well into the double digits. Add in three more players and you start to get a sense of how much time can be spent on a single game.

With a monumental amount of cards to randomly choose from, the sheer volume of possibilities is staggering. And that’s what makes The 7th Continent the clear winner out of all of the entries listed here. Sure, there are games similar to it, but none do it quite so well. It is perfectly polished and its following is absolutely massive.

What is perhaps the most incredible aspect of this Kickstarter project is the fact that fans of the game have donated well over $7 million in its funding. That in itself is very telling of just how beloved The 7th Continent truly is.

Players: 1-4 | Ages: 12+ | Time: 60-120 minutes

As a tactical combat game, you take on the role of a wandering adventurer who must utilize special skills to gain the experience required for progressing. Along your journey, you will increase your abilities, earn loot, and open up new locations to explore.

Gloomhaven’s universe changes often, with every decision you make effecting what happens later. Ideally, this will take place over the course of multiple sessions, using the provided card system to progress the game’s narrative.

The gameplay is rather straightforward, with each turn allowing the player to choose two cards that will determine what happens next. Throughout the play, cards are lost in a fashion that forces you to make the most out of your turn. If you completely exhaust your hand, you lose the battle.

What’s most interesting about Gloomhaven is its legacy mechanics, wherein every session serves to build upon its story and thereby never resetting the adventure. Coupled with the ability to level up your character, these aspects provide an engrossing and rich gaming experience.

Players: 1-8 | Ages: 13+ | Time: 60-120 minutes

If you have ever longed to step into the shoes of London’s greatest fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective will provide you with an unforgettable experience. With its engrossing gameplay, you’ll often feel as if you are on the chase for Professor Moriarty.

Search the docks for the giant rat of Sumatra, walk up the cobble-stoned stretch of fog-drenched Baker Street, and consort with some of London’s most memorable characters. Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective captures the mystery and excitement of Holmes’ era in this ambitious and illuminating board game.

In Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, you are presented with a mystery to solve, and it is then up to you to trace the threads of evidence through the byways and mansions of nineteenth-century London. You will interview suspects, search the newspapers for clues, and put together the facts to reach a solution.

Players: 1-2 | Ages: 14+ | Time: 60-120 minutes

Inspired by the world of H.P. Lovecraft, Arkham Horror is a unique card game that plays a lot like Magic: The Gathering, but without the need for trading or buying more decks to get that much-desired rarity card.

Playing more like a campaign, you soon learn that every action you perform has long-reaching consequences that come into play throughout the game – some good, some bad. This title is mighty complicated, with no less than two rule books that must be followed.

However, if you commit to its strict format, you will find yourself lost in its robust story. Once you’ve gotten the hang of it, Arkham Horror is very player-friendly with imaginative use of mechanics that serve to progress its deep story. You’ll find that this game has a loyal community behind it, so you’ll never be at a loss as to what to do next.

There is, unfortunately, a downside to Arkham. While it’s true that you don’t need to buy extra decks in search of rarity cards, you do need them in order to get the most out of the game. Many first-time buyers have felt burned by the fact that you’re really only getting a tutorial to start.

After you’ve gone over the nuts and bolts of the game, you need those extra packs just to progress through the game’s story. If Arkham wasn’t so good, this would be an inexcusable detriment, but the gameplay is so solid and engrossing that it’s hard to knock it too much.

Players: 1-6 | Ages: 13+ | Time: 45-90 minutes

Acclaimed as one of the best solo variants on the market, Viticulture drops you smack in the middle of pre-modern Tuscany, Italy. Your story is that of a simple villager who has inherited a meager, yet promising, vineyard.

Your dream is to turn this vineyard into the best winery that Tuscany has ever seen. With limited resources, it is your job to make the most of what you have in order to see your dream come to fruition.

And with nothing but a worn crush pad, a little bit of land, three workers, and a small cellar, your task is going to be a challenging one. Changing seasonal conditions will factor into gameplay, along with competitors vying to get to the coveted resources before you do.

Throughout your journey, you will amass more workers and visitors of Tuscany to help aid you in your quest by building structures, planting vines, and filling wine orders. Get more players involved to add further competition to Viticulture, and race to see who can own the best winery in town.

Players: 1-4 | Ages: 12+ | Time: 120 minutes

Now here’s a unique concept. By adjusting the temperature, making your own oceans, and stabilizing oxygen levels, your objective in Terraforming Mars is to make the red planet capable of sustaining life. To assist you along the way, you will come across a plethora of resources to maximize your chances of turning Mars into a hospitable local.

Terraforming Mars is very heavy on the incorporation and combining of an ever-growing deck of cards, helping you to successfully reach your end goal. It’s also ingeniously perplexing, serving to make you think about each decision in the hopes of having the best outcome.

Each round, called a generation, consists of four phases. In the first phase, order shifts clockwise. Secondly, each player buys cards in the research phase. Thirdly, turns are taken to allow for players to perform one to two actions. And lastly, players enter the production phase to compile resources. All of these phases combine to make for some truly compelling play.

It’s a bit of a shame that the quality in production is somewhat lacking, as this is a very solid entry. Many players have noticed early wear and tear of the game’s cards. This certainly doesn’t detract from the experience, but it’s an issue one wouldn’t expect to find in a game of this caliber.

With its multiple expansions available that add even more scenarios to the game, you’ll find Terraforming Mars to be a rich, engrossing, and brain-busting adventure that provides hours of varying and well-balanced gameplay.

Players: 1-4 | Ages: 14+ | Time: 60-240 minutes

You start out as one of four powerful Mage Knights with the objective of gaining control of the Atlantean Empire. You must build an army, gain powerful spells and actions, and spelunk through caves and dungeons, all while conquering powerful cities.

Mage Knight is great for solo play, yet it can also be enjoyed with multiple people. By combining elements of popular role-playing games, deck-building, and traditional board games, Mage Knight features an engrossing universe that can be explored for a self-contained gaming experience.

While Mage Knight is extremely complex and detailed, it does sometimes result in a lot of downtime that some players may find a fuzz too slow. If you can deal with some stagnant pacing along the way, Mage Knight provides a deeply-rewarding gameplay experience.

It can be a somewhat intimidating board game with its grand production and massive scope. But once you get the hang of it, look out. Many players find that it sucks them in for hours at a time with its addictive style and strategies.

For many, however, that is what makes Mage Knight so rewarding. By providing hours of intellectual gameplay, you are sure to get your money’s worth.

Players: 1-4 | Ages: 14+ | Time: 60-120 minutes

Created by Ignacy Trzewiczek, Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island starts you in the middle of a deserted island where you must face varied challenges like building a shelter, finding food, fending off wild beasts, and protecting yourself from different types of weather.

You take on the role of a shipwreck survivor and work either together or on your own to build up your settlement. Much is available to be discovered, doing so by the use of event cards. To help further the gameplay, you can craft weapons, fortify your town, and even grow livestock.

Given that the game has an already-rich history intact due to its namesake, Robinson Crusoe is deep in the gameplay department. By offering up so many varied contingencies, you’ll be hard-pressed to find yourself bored with it.

Many players will contend to this board game’s brutal play style. It is very unforgiving and extremely difficult to master. There are no small victories along the way, without any boosts to your confidence, which some may find defeating. You really have to grind hard and often to make it to victory’s end.

If you are just starting out in your venture into the world of board games, you will most likely want to steer clear of Robinson Crusoe. It will probably take you several attempts to master the game’s style of play, let alone conquer. But for some, that is the best part; it’s such a rewarding feeling when you finally overcome its challenges.

Players: 1-100 | Ages: 10+ | Time: 30-45 minutes

A cartographer in the service of Queen Gimnax, you are sent on a mission to map the territory of the northern lands. When the queen announces which lands she most prizes, you must work to increase your reputation by meeting her demands.

But you are not alone in the game’s vast wilderness; a force known as the Dragul battle against you in your efforts of reclamation. Fulfill the queen’s wishes and you will be declared the greatest cartographer in the kingdom.

A roll-and-write game where the dice are replaced by cards, you must draw shapes and their matching terrain in order to meet its random scoring conditions. With a total of 16 possible goals, Cartographers offers up many challenges.

Throughout your journey, you will be tasked with building a village, filling out rows and columns on a grid, and drawing forest spaces on the edge of your map. Properly completing these tasks will result in you being rewarded reputation stars, with the player earning the most stars winning the game.

Players: 1-2 | Ages: 8+ | Time: 15 minutes

Taking on the role of a Dreamwalker, you must escape a labyrinth before time runs out – otherwise you will become trapped within forever. You can either wander through its corridors, hoping to come across the right doors by chance, or you can stay within its many rooms to fight enemies known as Nightmares.

While Onirim allows for two players, it is best experienced in single-player mode. Your goal is to work toward obtaining eight “Door” cards that ultimately lead to your escape of the labyrinth in which you are trapped.

These Door cards are hidden within the card deck and, when drawn, trigger different dilemmas that impact play in a multitude of ways. Each labyrinthine room has several outcomes that advance gameplay and narrative.

As an added bonus, included in the basic game are three expansion packs that serve to enhance Onirim even further. These are known as “The Towers, “Happy Dreams and Dark Premonitions”, and “The Book of Steps Lost and Found”.

Onirim is great for both children and adults alike. Players find that it is a relaxing game that simultaneously provides a great workout for the mind. Many use it as a great wake-up tool to get the brain functioning in the morning before starting off for the day’s tasks.