Why do you keep playing with yourself?

These days, I only play solo. Why? Gamers. I fucking HATE gamers. Socially retarded, hygiene-averse, drama-queen pricks...not surprisingly, gamers are like all the worst attributes of TOS made flesh (around 300 lbs. worth). Now, most of you guys seem pretty cool, but you're not around here, and playing over the internet sucks. So, since many years ago, I swore I would only play with friends, and none of my friends play games, I'm stuck playing with myself.

Still, I love games. I do mostly play videogames, but there are a lot of great boardgames out there, too, many of which either have solitaire rules or are solitaire-friendly (or can be made so). So why not? It's true that videogames can handle solo play better, but then you're not going to get the mechanics of Runebound or Arkham Horror or Fields of Fire on the computer.

I know I'm not Frank, but for what it's worth, when I play Arkham Horror solo, I run with between 2 and 4 Investigators, depending on whatever whim takes me.

I've never tried it with just one investigator, as I can see that being what wrestling fans call a "squash match".

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Please name a video game more awesome than arkham horror solo.

Left 4 Dead

Bullwinkle wrote:

These days, I only play solo. Why? Gamers. I fucking HATE gamers.

Tell me about it. I'm trying to put together a regular gaming group at the moment but trying to find people who:
a) want to play board games;
b) want to play board games that I like; and
c) I don't want to strangle
is making this a surprisingly difficult task.

I haven't ever really tried boardgaming solo although I have stepped through some games by myself to familiarise myself with the rules. Prophecy worked really well in this regard and with some tweaks to the endgame, this could play well solo.

Shellhead wrote:

Now I live with my girlfriend and her cat. I love them both, but the cat enjoys jumping up on the table and scattering the game pieces so he can lie down on the table.

My cats like playing with the dice and minis but they seem to leave everything else alone. As long as I put away the dice and minis I've been ok. I'd hate to see what would happen to StarCraft if my cats got a hold of it.

KingPut wrote:

Shellhead wrote:

Now I live with my girlfriend and her cat. I love them both, but the cat enjoys jumping up on the table and scattering the game pieces so he can lie down on the table.

My cats like playing with the dice and minis but they seem to leave everything else alone. As long as I put away the dice and minis I've been ok. I'd hate to see what would happen to StarCraft if my cats got a hold of it.

I remember reading a funny remark online, possibly at Yog-Sothoth.com, about Arkham Horror... this guy said that sometimes a game ends abruptly when the Great Cat-thulhu appears, bites an investigator on the head and then runs off with him. Usually that investigator is never seen again.

I don't make it a habit of playing board games solo, but I have on occasion. In fact so infrequently I think I can recall all the times I've done so. I've done Descent, Prophecy, Arkham Horror (I know technically it is solo-able) and A Touch of Evil.

My wife likes to make fun of me for the time I played Descent by myself. But to be fair, we had gone to her parents for Xmas and I had gotten Descent. I flew back home a few days before her because I had to get back to work. We had no TV, she was gone, and all my friends were still students and on Xmas break too. So I was really really bored.

Like others have said I do it mainly to learn games, Twilight Struggle being the latest. But that being said, I did play TS one more time as a) I can't get wargameroom working on my Mac and b) I was trying out figure out some basic strategies.

I really, really enjoy Avalon Hill's Blackbeard solo and after looking at GMT's version decided against buying that one. One thing I did like from GMT's is the rule on upgrading your ship which I now use. The AH version was WAAAAY too random.

I bought the Black Goat expansion to Arkham but I've yet to try it out.

Just wargames.

Gary Sax wrote:

Just wargames.

Same here. Solitaire I play only wargames, mostly because of lack of opponents, but I also think the longer, complexer wargames are basically just meant to be played solitaire.

I never played an AT game solitaire, but I understand this is a good way to get a grasp of the rules.

Playing eurogames solitaire is just plain stupid, not just because playing eurogames per se is already stupid enough, but even more so because you could solve some puzzles, add random numbers into your calculator or go outside picking flowers of different colors instead.

Squigherder wrote:

Mr Skeletor wrote:

Please name a video game more awesome than arkham horror solo.

Left 4 Dead

Who plays LEFT 4 DEAD solitaire?

The only games that I play solitaire are those that have a solitaire ranking, with the exception of Red November. RN plays solo very well and the only difference is exposed vs hidden equip. Granted it does take away the "does he or doesn't he" and the "will he or won't he" situation with the Aqualung but I think it is pretty much compensated with the question of "Ok, one of my gnomes has the Aqualung, do I have him ditch the ship securing a "partial" win, or do I go all or nothing?"

On occasion I have played a few games that aren't rated for one solitaire for a few turns just to get a feel for the mechanics and to help me explain it better when bringing it to the group. But even that is rare.

LvT

Pretty much any coop game should work really well solitaire by controlling multiple roles; Pandemic, Lord of the Rings and Ghost Stories are my favorites. I didn't care too much for Red November compared to those, and I still haven't played AH yet (yeah I know, I really need to do that soon). Of course, you miss the interaction with others, but I travel a lot and often times I'd rather sit in a hotel room or in my RV and play a board game solo than watch TV or whatever. Actually, I'd rather play games like that solo anytime on Vassal or at home as opposed to playing a computer game... I just like the experience of those kinds of games in general, so whether I can play them with others or not, I don't really care, though the shared experience is still preferable when that is possible.

Gary Sax wrote:

Just wargames.

I've bought a significant number of wargames specifically for solo play. Almost the entire Great Battles of History series is pretty strong for solo play. I just don't have the local opponents [actually, I have several with the will, but they don't have the time for an iron-butt marathon required for, say, a large SPQR scenario, plus they just find CDGs more interesting). So, hex-n-counter games are mostly left for solo play...