Alrightgames: Isaludo

Isaludo: Ten Modern Solo Games Using a Standard Card Deck

2021 / Card game rules / 1 player

****

When looking into published games that can be stripped down and mocked up using regular playing cards and imagination, I came across Wil Su's compendium of original games (and variants with credits) purpose-built for the standard deck. Not all of them are likely to become new standards, but as a free guide to free games that most people can play right away to pass some time, it restored some faith in humanity. Now go forth and make card sandwiches and kill card zombies that are inexplicably dressed like royalty.

Skyway **

Weaving straights across time and space is beyond my mental capabilities, and I'm not convinced that my efforts fared much better than random chance would. Way to make me feel dumb at the first game, but fortunately the others are easier to manage.

The Sandwich Guy ****

Simple, quick and pretty fun, even if you don't have significantly more control over it than Uno. This could become a new standard, and I expect to see it commercialised and unnecessarily repackaged to pretend it isn't just regular playing cards underneath.

Saying that, when I introduced it to my daughter, she immediately dismissed it as "boring" and wanted to play I Doubt It instead.

Area 52 ***

More interesting and less gruelling maths battles than Regicide. It's not hard to win, but then you're up against the ultimate boss of your personal high score.

Dead Center ***

This base-under-zombie-siege boss battler gets appropriately tense as the deck starts to run dry, but constant eye-shifting calculations make it kind of annoying.

The First Boba Tea Shop in London ***

Four-way The Price is Right, the theme of rude customers butting in line doesn't feel sufficiently savage for this card bloodbath, especially with no Brucie to lighten things up. I've yet to succeed.

Foursquare **

Unchallenging, unengaging placement puzzle. There seemed to be no danger of exceeding the various rules of 4 unless I was doing something wrong.

Loot the Loop ****

Some of the random narratives contrived for these abstract matching games raise a smile, but this one really did start to feel like I was clearing out a sacred tomb (finders keepers) and was quite fun, if unchallenging.

Like the sandwich one, it's begging for a published version with illustrated traps, treasures and numbered trinkets that only more astute players would realise are just fancy playing cards.

Syndicate **

I feel like I've been tricked into practising times tables when I wanted to play a game. I've got Kingdomino for that. This was my least favourite of the bunch.

Hide and Seek **

An overly simple probability-based deduction exercise, I only fell short of the minimum score on the learning playthrough, and beating it was the only real reason to play more than once.

The Emissary ***

This one actually was commercially repackaged, and the Jacks' unbalanced special powers involve more learning or referencing than most of the others that you can get right into. It's one of the tenser ones, though I managed to succeed with a perfect score on my first play, so it probably won't have the replay value of the trickier ones.

Faves: The Sandwich Guy, Loot the Loop

Alrightgames: Space Lunch

The Matchbox Collection: Space Lunch

2020 / Card game / 1-2 players

**

Resold

I had a feeling this was going to be the dud entry in the collection. The concept of gorging on an exotic buffet is fun (though crazy cartoon art would have been a better fit), and there are amusing opportunities to screw up your opponents' plans, but it's not something I'd want to play over all the alternatives. The automated solo mode works fine, but having to constantly move two coins in different directions at different speeds is just annoying. It's starting to seem like shiny tokens were the main focus of this enterprise over actually making worthwhile games.

Alrightgames: Dustbiters expansions

Dustbiters expansions

Kind of.

Reinforcements ****

This cheeky and nitpicky "expansion" is really just three cards from the original 21-card game that were selectively removed from Button Shy's "Pocket Edition" to maintain their 18-card standard, then sold separately as an add-on. The horse and bike are at least distinct enough to feel expansiony, then there's another truck. There's no reason you wouldn't want these to complete your abridged game.

Rustlicker's Convoy solo variant ****

Seeing this fan variant on BoardGameGeek was more incentive to buy the game that probably doesn't suit my six year old's level or taste. It's carefully fiddly in the automa's favour, so it doesn't waste too much time doing stupid and self-destructive things, and it wins by chance often enough to be satisfying.

Alrightgames: Dustbiters – Pocket Edition

Dustbiters: Pocket Edition

2021 (2025 edition) / Card game / 2 players

*****

A more exciting tug of war than Anthelion, because post-apocalyptic vehicles move faster than people, the cartoon art and humour justifying totally unfair abilities might make it the most fun two-player game I have, though I mostly settle for an unofficial solo mode. Hopefully this Button Shy abridgement of the original game will always come with the removed-and-reinstated "expansion" cards in tow, or that would be less amusing.

Alrightgames: Regicide (DIY)

Regicide (DIY)

2020 / Card game rules / 1-4 players

***

A well-devised and intuitive battle gauntlet in standard playing cards if you're away from your proper games and want to teach something different, but it's a bit boring and unnecessary when I have Eiyo at home.

Alrightgames: Jekyll vs. Hyde (DIY)

Jekyll vs. Hyde (DIY)

2021 / Trick-taking card game / 2 players

***

This two-player duel wasn't on my radar until I saw it mentioned as a game that was fairly easy to mock up for free using standard playing cards, then it became irresistible (this is sure to be a new fixation). I really wanted to use Atmosfear cards for the juju, but those decks were all one number short, so I gave the unloved Dos some purpose, along with those versatile Pocket Mars cubes again.

The actual game is pretty interesting, with the Jekyll player seeking balance and Hyde pursuing landslide success or failure with equal relish. Although playing two-handed by myself was apropos for the schizophrenic theme, this meant that every round ended in a 100% tie, which means Jekyll will always win, and that just doesn't seem fair to the repressed maniac.

Alrightgames: Forbidden Island – Fan Expansion

Forbidden Island: The Islands & Treasure Powers Expansion

2016 / Co-operative board game fan expansion / 2-4 players

The publisher preferred to release increasingly harder sequels to this game rather than milk it with unnecessary modular upgrades, but fortunately the fan community came to the rescue with printable overcomplications. Will any be keepers?

Island Variants ****

Some of these were included with some versions of the game anyway, and are patterns you could come up with yourself, so it barely counts. Most or all are guaranteed to make the game harder to borderline impossible.

Treasure Powers ***

Free, thematically-relevant power-ups that are handy and make use of spare cards, though actions are less likely to be going spare by the time you've earned them.

New Roles ***

These make interesting alternatives for solo challenges, though they look a bit complicated for the six year old, especially as the lack of matching coloured pawns means we'd forget who we were.

Alrightgames: SOS Titanic

SOS Titanic

2013 / Card game / 1-5 players

****

As a solo player, I was intrigued, amused and sceptical about what seemed to amount to debatably disrespectful Titanic Patience, but I was ultimately swayed by the involvement of Bruno Cathala (responsible for way more of our favourite games than I realised) and a heavily discounted, slightly battered foreign edition, which spared me from struggling to mock this up using regular playing cards.

It is mainly Titanic Patience, but there are enough twists with special powers and frustrating rules to make it an addictive challenge and the theme carries it the rest of the way. Just one more try, I know I can save the children this time.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – The Phantom

Carcassonne: The Phantom

2011 / Tile placement board game mini expansion / 2-6 players

****

I'd been making do with disappointing and distinctly opaque DIY versions of these incorporeal assistants for years, but they eventually came among the bonus goodies in a Big Box I was planning to upsell anyway. They edge on being too game-breakingly good, but everyone gets one, or they can give inexperienced players a ghostly leg up.

Alrightgames: Kingdomino – Age of Giants

Kingdomino: Age of Giants

2018 / Tile placement board game expansion / 2-5 players

***

Domino times tables isn't our favourite family game, but I can never resist an expansion for adding spice, and it was something to do over Easter break. I was a bit disappointed that the pre-owned set I bought off eBay was unknowingly missing many components, but the seller generously refunded it, those pieces could be substituted and printed without any trouble, and we now randomly have two complete sets of base tiles as a bonus, allowing us to make unwisely massive maps. The giants themselves being an unremarkable feature is less of an issue now.