Machine Messiah
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
5M ago
A few new acquisitions in the last few days (with one still to come early next week, which I’ll post about separately as it’s not really new). I played a couple of solo games of Spots the other day and my near-legendary (lack of) dice rolling skills made it a hard introduction as I lost on both occasions to my AI opponent “d0g” by a score of 2-6, although on the second occasion I had another two dogs ready to land when a one-in-six chance of d0g ending the game came up, which I half expected. Anyway, I’ve now had a couple of plays of the new Shadi Torbey Oniverse game, Cyberion, and I suspec ..read more
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People’s Choice Top Solo Games 2023
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
5M ago
I voted in this for the first time this year. This is just a note of my 20 submissions after running my owned collection through the Pubmeeple ranking engine (my 780 owned games required 6,600 comparisions to come up with a result. 1-Fast Drive Football 2-Eldritch Horror 3-Fastcard Soccer 4-Whacky Wit 5-Pandemic: The Cure 6-7 Wonders Duel 7-Flash Point: Fire Rescue 8-Marvel United 9-Star Realms 10-Flamme Rouge 11-Onirim 12-Pandemic (original) 13-Legendary Marvel 14-Azul 15-Horrified 16-Marvel Champions 17-Obsession 18-Ascension Eternal 19-Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu 20-Burgle Bros ..read more
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Mind the Gap
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
5M ago
I managed to persuade Jan to try a new game this evening. Subway Squeeze is a “fit polyominoes into a grid” type game with an “I pick, you choose” mechanism. It plays up to four but I suspect the fewer the better. Each player has a subway carriage into which they are trying to fit as many passengers as possible. However, the passengers come in various types and each type will reward you, the conductor, for placing them in the carriage in a certain way (note: this is some fantasy world where people don’t just pile on but are seated by the conductor as they arrive on the platform – go figure!) I ..read more
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One over Par
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
1y ago
Having suggested this evening to  meepleonboard (@nickster1970 at BGG) that a couple of plays of The Bogey would help him raise his H-Index, I decided that I would lead by example and play this excellent solo game that utilises just an ordinary deck of cards. The aim is to play all cards in the deck to as few columns as possible with each column only containing cards of one suit in descending order (skips allowed) but, after each turn, The Bogey automatically plays the next card in the deck to potentially muck up your plans and, if you ever start a twelfth column, you lose. Par ..read more
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Ticket to Tube Town
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
1y ago
It’s two years since I last played Metro X but as my friend, ron E (@airzonk1 on BGG) put this as his number 1 solo game for 2022, I decided I had to dig it out to play. My previous games were on the Metro City map but this time I decided to go for the Tube Town map. This map seems quite a bit trickier with more intersections to navigate over and, with a limited number of skip cards, I thought it unlikely that I would complete very many lines. However, it did seem to come together ok and a couple of fortuitous cards at the end allowed me to complete two lines I’d pretty much neglecte ..read more
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October 2022 roundup
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
1y ago
In October, I managed to play 58 games of 18 different titles with 3 of them being new to me. == NEW GAMES == Twilight Inscription – 1 play –  8  First Published 2022 This is a complex (in terms of decision space) roll and write but the gameplay is very straightforward. You have four boards that you are looking to develop (Navigation, Expansion, Industry and Warfare) but you can only work on one board each turn and you don’t have enough time to develop everything so you have to decide on where to concentrate your efforts. This decision may be influenced by the Fa ..read more
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July 2022 roundup
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
1y ago
In July, I managed to play 111 games of 22 different titles with 7 of them being new to me. == NEW GAMES == Three Dice Horse Racing – 4 plays –  7  First Published 2013 This is a dice and charts sports replay game of horse flat racing. Races take place over 4 to 7 rounds depending on the length of the race and, for each horse, the three dice generate a movement factor to which modifiers are applied to take account of the horse’s qualities and whether it favours the early, middle or closing stages. It works pretty well and a race takes between 10 and 20 minutes. T ..read more
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February 2022 roundup
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
2y ago
In February, I managed to play 77 games of 12 different titles with 2 of them being new to me. == NEW GAMES == Shoot-Out Hockey – 9 plays –  7  First Published 2005 Solo sports replay game using stats for real NHL teams with a choice of playing the game using dice and charts or fast action cards. The cards work well and a match can be completed in 15-20 minutes with the game producing details of goal timings, scorers and assists, penalties, goalie stats etc. Pretty good but not my favourite of these sports replay systems. Paleo – 1 play – &nbs ..read more
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August 2021 roundup
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
2y ago
In August, I managed to play 72 games of 29 different titles with 10 of them being new to me. == NEW GAMES == Metric Mile – 1 play –  8  First Published 1986 Very clever solo or multi-player game about middle distance running where you can see whether runners from years gone past would match their modern counterparts. A game lasts ten rounds with each of the four laps becoming more focussed so the first lap lasts one turn while the final lap lasts four. I mapped some of the cards to this year’s olympic finalists and it worked very well. So Clover! – 2 p ..read more
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July 2021 roundup
Spiel | Boardgames in the UK
by Garry Lloyd
2y ago
In July, I managed to play 84 games of 18 different titles with 3 of them being new to me. == NEW GAMES == Shut the Box – 6 plays –  7  First Published 1750 It might seem surprising but I’ve never played this dice game before. Very quick to play and some light decisions on which numbers to flip but you’re pretty much at the mercy of the dice rolls. This was a birthday gift and it was good fun. Data Boxing II – 1 play –  7  First Published 1976 This is a solo boxing game simulation using cards for real-life fighters allowing you to p ..read more
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