Our Best Solo Board Games

No matter where you live in the world, chances are good that you’ve been engaging in some social isolation. And for tabletop gamers like us, that level of separation can make it hard to engage with the hobby we love the most. Fortunately, even if you’re alone in your apartment, there are dozens of games that you can play on your own, offering hours and hours of entertainment!

You can find amazing solo games from almost any tabletop games studio, but in this article, we’ll just run down seven titles from Fantasy Flight Games—each one packed with enough replayability to get you through a quarantine on its own.

If you’re interested in getting one of these games for yourself and your family, local tabletop game retailers near you may be offering curbside delivery—otherwise, all of these games are also available through online channels! So without further ado, let’s get into the list!

1. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

Step back to a 1920s steeped in Lovecraftian horror with Arkham Horror: The Card Game! This Living Card Game invites you to become an intrepid investigator, peering past the veil of human understanding into dark cults, unspeakable rituals, and an unfolding adventure.

Before your first game, you’ll build a deck, using cards that represent your investigator’s allies, weapons, tools, and skills that they can call upon during a game. Once you’ve built a deck, you’re ready to leap into a story of creeping terror from beyond our dimension, unfolding across multiple scenarios, with choices that you’ve made early on reverberating throughout the entire campaign.

The Core Set is the perfect place to start, and from there, you simply choose the deluxe expansion that suits your interest—whether that’s the ethereal dreamlands of The Dream-Eaters, the slow descent into madness of The Path to Carcosa, or another tale. If you want to see us play the first scenario of The Circle Undone, you can find the video here, or you can catch some tips for building an investigator deck in this video.

Player count: 1-2 (3-4 with two Core Sets)

Price: The Core Set is $39.95.

2. Descent: Journeys in the Dark

The definitive dungeon crawl experience, Descent: Journeys in the Dark opens the fantasy realm of Terrinoth for you to explore as a daring hero. You’ll delve into ancient dungeons, pass through primeval forests, and do battle against countless monsters and other forces of evil across dozens of scenarios and epic campaigns. As you advance through any campaign, your victories and defeats in each scenario change the evolving story, granting experience, powerful weapons, and the chance to learn new skills.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark also boasts two distinct ways to play. If you’re playing solo, or if you’d prefer a fully cooperative game, you can download the free Road to Legend app, which controls the monsters arrayed against you and the unfolding scenario. Or, if you have at least one person isolating with you, you can play the game competitively, with one player commanding the heroes and one player leading the dreadful monsters.

Building off of the Core Set campaign, Descent boasts a wealth of expansions, each offering new scenarios, heroes, monsters, hero classes, items, and more. If you’re just looking to add more monsters and heroes to your game, a full assortment of Hero and Monster Collections can supplement your collection. Best of all, both regular expansions and Hero and Monster Collections can be seamlessly integrated into your games, whether you’re playing solo with Road to Legend or with other players.

 Player count: 1-5

Price: The Core Set is $79.95.

3. Eldritch Horror

Few board games can match the sheer wealth of content poured into Eldritch Horror. Like Arkham Horror: The Card Game, Eldritch Horror takes place in the same universe—an alternate history 1920s that’s assailed by the monstrosities and Ancient Ones of the Cthulhu Mythos. This game, however, takes you to the global scale, and each of the game’s eight expansions pack in more content, bringing new scenarios, investigators, items, spells, conditions, monsters, and much, much more.

You may travel to Antarctica in the Mountains of Madness expansion or the tombs of Egypt with Under the Pyramids, but even if you just stick with the Core Set, you’re still embarking on a global adventure that will take you to abandoned old bookshops, ill-fated islands, and bustling cities as you fight to stop a horrifying Ancient One from consuming our reality. As a way to adventure around the globe without leaving your home, there’s no game quite like Eldritch Horror.

Player count: 1-8

Price: The Core Set is $59.95.

4. Star Wars: Rebellion

It’s true that Star Wars™: Rebellion requires two players—so you’ll only want to get this game if you’re social isolating with someone else—but the replayability is too high to leave this game off the list. No other board game offers the entire classic Star Wars trilogy in a single experience.

This asymmetrical board game pits the scrappy Rebel Alliance against the overwhelming might of the Galactic Empire. The Rebels must stoke the fire of rebellion and gather enough support to overthrow the Empire, while the Imperials are tasked with finding and destroying the hidden Rebel base. Over the course of the game, you’ll have countless chances to recreate iconic moments from the films. You can stage a daring attack to destroy the Death Star, imprison Rebel heroes in carbonite, and play out your battles among the stars. If you want to come as close as you can to experiencing Star Wars without watching the movies, then Star Wars: Rebellion is a perfect fit.

Player count: 2

Price: $99.95

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

If you’re looking for another cooperative card game to fill your time away from others, look no farther than The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game! This Living Card Game pulls you into the world of Middle-earth. You’ll play as some of the trilogy’s most memorable heroes and embark on new quests in every game, taking on the forces of the Dark Lord Sauron and traversing across the open wastes, old ruins, and towering mountains of J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic world.

The Core Set is the perfect starting point for this game, but from that point, you can take on dozens of adventures. Deluxe expansions and Adventure Packs each introduce new cards that you can add to your deck, as well as new scenarios for you to test your mettle. If you’re looking for a single game with enough content to get you through quarantine on its own, The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game has enough expansions to keep you entertained for months.

Player count: 1-2 (3-4 with two Core Sets)

Price: The Core Set is $39.95.

6. Mansions of Madness

Where Eldritch Horror takes your investigations to a global level, Mansions of Madness focuses in on the horrors lurking in the gambrel manors and slumping townhomes of Arkham. Whether you’re walking the gloomy streets of Innsmouth or attending a glittering masked ball, your investigator is about to come face to face with shambling deep ones, hooded cultists, and extradimensional entities intent on destroying our world.

Using a free companion app to run the scenario and control the monsters, Mansions of Madness frees you to investigate the strange happenings unfolding in each new scenario. You’ll find four such scenarios available in the Core Set, and each of the multiple expansions available for Mansions of Madness unlocks new scenarios, as well as introducing new investigators, monsters, and more.

Player count: 1-5

Price: The Core Set is $99.95.

7. Star Wars: Legion

It’s true, you may find it difficult to get a full game of Star Wars™: Legion played in your home—but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have a place on this list! Every Star Wars: Legion expansion is packed with highly detailed, finely sculpted miniatures spanning the entire Star Wars saga, ranging from Count Dooku, to Han Solo, to a strike team of Phase I Clone Troopers or an honor detail of Imperial Royal Guards. These miniatures come unassembled and unpainted, which means that bringing them to life with paint can be the perfect way to spend some time at home.

Even if you aren’t familiar with miniatures painting yourself, our paint sets specifically created for Star Wars: Legion make an easy way to start your collection. And for painting tips and tricks for every level of painter, you can find an assortment of our painting tutorials with painter extraordinaire John Shaffer on YouTube.

Player count: 1 for painting, 2 for gameplay

Price: The Core Set is $99.95 and contains components required to play, but if you’re just interested in painting, you can pick up a paint set and a unit expansion for about $59.95.

Enjoy Your Gaming!

Hopefully these suggestions for tabletop games you can play on your own has helped you figure out some ways to stay entertained as you’re staying healthy! As we mentioned above, many local retailers may still be offering a curbside delivery service, otherwise all of these games are available through online channels.

Happy gaming!