2020 / Board game variant rules / 1 player
****
These tight dice-based rules for automated opponent actions and placement will always need the reference keys to hand, but it makes for an authentic simulator that I'd take over playing against a computer, even if solo Catan will never be all that satisfying. I use Catan dice for the trade row to give them something to do.
2023 / Solo roleplaying game / 1 player
***
HeroQuest economically boiled down to a pencil, paper and one or more standard dice. It may not be the most immersive and atmospheric dungeon crawl, but its admirable simplicity means it actually gets played occasionally. Prefer a spaceship, haunted house or other interchangeable theme? Just swap the nouns. There's an ideal middle ground between this pragmatic pamphlet and heavy RPG rulebooks that I could make myself if only I could be bothered.
Devil Dice
***
Not as replayable or existentially horrifying as Kurushi, but a nice take on a virtual dice game that would be possible but annoying to play IRL, featuring an unnecessary CGI demon baby because it's the late 90s. I felt clever as I laboriously rotated dice into matching sets, until time started running out and I realised it was more productive to run around like a madman scoring points from random chance.
2015 / Card game / 2-4 players
***
Of all the games in the junk bundle that could go straight to the try-to-resell pile, a duplicate of a game we already have themed around a cartoon we haven't watched seemed an obvious candidate. But the young Love Letter fan was delighted to have a completely unnecessary variation, even if she struggled with the name changes and minor rule tweaks that presumably make some kind of thematic sense if you know who these characters are. Still a good game, but I don't know why you wouldn't prefer to play the original.
Resold
The extra character options you'd really expect to be included in the base game if they didn't insist on fitting these things into a single wallet. Fortunately, the pair of them are now often available second hand for the price of one, along with the extensive rules and cards to run the necessarily convoluted solo mode. Once the novelty wore off, I traded them in.
Doubles the character count of the base game for almost essential variety and extends the false nostalgia of making it feel like I'm clicking through a mysterious ViewMaster reel that came through a portal from an alternate 1980s.
I generally avoid solo modes that involve fiddly flowcharts and constant cross-referencing, but there's no way around it with something complicated like this. It's a bit of a rough simulacrum and too easy manipulated, but that's what I get for not playing computer games like a normal person.
Battlecrest: Fellwoods Base Game
2022 / Skirmish card game / 1-2 players
This fantasy skirmish game in 18 reversible cards with evocative non-existent comic book art is the densest Button Shy game I've seen yet, but not as complicated as I feared once the rules were mansplained to me in videos. Playing elaborate tag with myself is a bit tedious though, so I'm going to have to crack open the similarly intimidating AI manual.
2014 / Word/card game / 2-6 players
**
Matching first and last letters isn't much of a game, but it served as a desperately educational school break activity, especially as she creatively cheated by inventing words (including ones ending with silent Zs to be extra helpful for dad's turn) and identifying features not actually present on the cards ("they're behind the door"). Some families probably only use Dixit cards to play Dixit.
2017 / Deduction card game / 2 players
***
We seemingly got the full experience of the published game using printed grids (hidden by birthday cards), Stella word cards and unwanted Agent Hunter cards for thematic flavour, but it still ranked low on our list of Dixit-like games, even after inevitably swapping the word clues for more open-ended picture cards.
Gloom of Kilforth: Pimp My Gloom
2018 / Roleplaying card/board game accessories / 1-4 players
None of these deluxe upgrades for the already-attractive game are necessary if they're not included in your second-hand bundle already, but race standees represent the characters better than class standees do (which is lucky, because those have mysteriously vanished), the larger landmark cards stand out better when other cards are piled on, and loads more dice are always welcome.
2017 / Deckbuilding card game expansion pack / 2-4 players
***
Also included in a bargain bundle (along with some duplicate sets I sold on to almost cover the cost of the new stuff), these are more cool, rare cards I hadn't even checked out before, so unlikely were they to end up in my big box that there seemed no point in teasing myself.
I've now got enough to divide my collection into three distinct eras to choose between (old-school, Colony Wars and Frontiers, rather than just pre- and post-Frontiers like before). No, I obviously don't need all of that. Yes, it brings me joy.
2021 / Card game / 1 player
***
Like a microscopic novel or animation made of atoms, this nine-card in-hand Wild West simulator was more appealing in concept than experience. The economical design is very clever, but flipping, rotating and squinting got old fast. I'll stick with SpaceShipped.
Catan: Family Edition
****
Like some method meta player, I've traded Catans more than any other game, trying out various editions and expansions at bargain prices, then selling them on for minor profit when I repeatedly decided it wasn't really my kind of game, and probably my family's kind even less. But the 7 year old even likes chess now, and this was cheap enough on eBay to try again again. She's just started to appreciate Takenoko, so there's no rush.
Hanabi solo variants
Solo variant **
A reasonable adaptation of the two-player memory game for one, but it didn't take long for me to surrender to the tedious groove of mainly playing from one hand and relegating the other to token admin. While this should save you from exploding, the resulting display is invariably weak, which is fitting for the mode.
Solo mode for Hanabi in which you give and use hints ***
A more practical reworking of the game that does away with the blind memory aspect but keeps the tricky groupings. On the downside, it's not really Hanabi and it's not really fun.
2020 / Solo journalling RPG / 1 player
***
As a failed writer, I always struggle to commit to the journalling aspect of these, but card-prompted imagination and notes still made for an enjoyable if not wholly consistent tale. I was concerned this was going to be too easy when I found two of the three essential items early on, but that just made defeat all the sweeter. I don't know how often I'll feel like returning, but the tiny book will hang around on the shelf for the prospect of a cooperative RPG session when the little one's a bit older and I won't get told off for giving her nightmares.
My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – The Fake Pain
DIY roleplaying game adventure
For someone who claims the official, child-friendly Halloween adventure is too scary to ever play again, her own improvisations can get pretty dark, this one involving child poltergeist attacks, but I helped steer it towards the conventional happy ending. She'd be happy enough just playing with the toys, so we're lucky I'm on hand to remind her about character traits and dice rolls and keep myself interested, aren't we?
My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – Wind or Blood / Mystery of History
DIY roleplaying game adventures
After only a little persuasion to try out some dice-randomised food festival antics while we were in town, courtesy of The Games-Master's Book of More Random Encounters (an oddly appropriate eyeball-meatball food cart and unnecessarily brutal tattooing), the young GM had us explore the classic dilemma: wind or blood? She got to tell a story with plenty of dice stuff along the way, and Draculaura added a new spell to her page, inspired by Final Fantasy's limit breaks.
Our next session took things into the third dimension as we tried to scale and dig under a seemingly infinite wall, likely inspired by Minecraft, but keeping things on brand and finding creative uses for our stock spells and skills. I don't need to bother planning these outings any more.
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?
2000 / Sega Dreamcast emulator game / 1-4 players
***
AEG Black Box 2015: Pretense
2015 / Deduction card meta game / 2-12 players
**
This secret role "game" played in the background while you all play proper games (or just go about your day) is a fun concept with underwhelming execution. We only found a few options in the deck that were really relevant for our lives and habits, and the fact that everyone will quickly learn what these are (which even seems to be encouraged by the superfluous tokens) seems to ruin most of the fun. It didn't take us long to start setting our own personalised traps on scrap paper that proved more entertaining.
It doesn't take long to work out the solo puzzle, so fortunately, as ever, they provide some extra challenges to expand your... what was the pasted-on theme again? Ah, theme park. Of course.
An only slightly annoying hard mode that adds more parks and more things to think about, while also bringing out the theme a little more, which was sorely needed. It's a keeper.
Family Fun **
Maybe I'll eventually master the game enough to enjoy these ironically-titled torturous obstacles, but for now, they turn an occasionally patience-testing finale into a frustrating ordeal.
2025 / Solo card game / 1 player
***
I may not have needed another rotating spatial puzzle, but at least it's not another -Opolis game, and an economical print-and-play to boot, though I was slightly disappointed that the theme park theme doesn't really come through at all as you try to efficiently line up icons to form randomly differentiated grids.
It became clear fairly quickly that playing well involves careful clinical analysis to ensure you're only reserving optimal cards, but I prefer to enjoy the rides and struggle through the mess I've made at the end.