Board games are a relatively new hobby I got during lockdown. Like with language learning I have only been doing this hobby now for around a few years in a large way. I hope to continue this hobby into the far future.
This blog post will describe some of my favourite games of all time. Some of these are solo games because I enjoy the activity of solo gaming. This is because I find solo gaming to be relaxing and also you can start and stop a solo board game at any time because you don’t need another person to play.
Also with solo gaming, there is a lot of variety of board games to play out there some of them more simpler than others. With solo games not just the board game that matters but the quality of the game is actually in the diversity of what you can do once you’ve completed the game.
Yes, I have said it, once you’ve completed a game, the board game will get very boring very quickly. As such, it’s important to find a board game with a lot of replayability, especially when you find one for solo gaming in particular.
I’ve discovered that solo gaming can just be as fun as actual board gaming – it just depends on the game you’re playing and also like I said how much replayability the current game has.
Here are the current board games I own at home:
Chess
Checkers
Spicy
Viticulture
Terraforming Mars
La Granja
LOTR: The board game
Marvel Champions
Caverna: Cave vs Cave
Pandemic
I currently enjoy all the board games that I own. I hope to do board game reviews in the future however if I had to pick a favourite board game it’ll probably need to be terraforming Mars or viticulture. Both of these have a lot of replayability and a lot of features in them.
I remember playing board games with friends. We would play Spicy to open up as the introductory game and after this will play up a whole range of other board games for at least a couple of hours which used to be a lot of fun, even playing online.
However, on discovering as a person with multiple hobbies and activities, I like to do that board games are solo board games are taking a backseat. It is a hobby I enjoy but is not one of my main hobbies. My main hobbies include cooking, exercising, learning languages, reading, writing, and TV. When I have time I like to play board games mainly solo gaming.
Which one do I prefer? In-person board gaming, solo gaming or online gaming?
I think each mode of gaming provides its own cons and advantages. I think in-person board gaming with other people is best and where most of the fun is whether this is at boardgame cafés or in different groups across the world.
Some of the most fun I’ve had is in large boardgame groups where we play games such as Secret Hitler and other party games showing that these games can be a lot of fun. As well as this small amount of people enables heavier more strategic board games to be played such as Ticket to Ride or Terraforming Mars.
Solo gaming has the obvious advantage of it being solo meaning you do not need to find other people in order to play. This means you are able to start and stop the game at any time (provided you have a free desk or table) and come back to it later.
However, although there are a lot of board games out there that support solo play there are a lot of board games that don’t and so you could be missing out on a lot of great board games that require more people in order to play them.
Online gaming can be a lot of fun using platforms such as Board Game Arena or Tabletop Simulator. However, it is just not the same as physical gaming because it lacks physical and social interaction.
What about you? Do you enjoy board games at all?
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