Solo play – Page 4 – Random Geek Child

Terraforming Mars

One of those things that we all love to fantasize about. Or at least, I do. Because honestly, who doesn’t want to imagine turning a desolate, uninhabitable planet into a technological wonder? Terraforming Mars

In Terraforming Mars, each player represents a corporation that is helping in the terraforming process. They are competing to help the most (tracked as points) in order to gain more government funding.

The terraforming process itself has three necessities. Oxygen, heat and water. To make these, you play cards out of your hand that increase your steel, titanium, plant, energy, heat and money productions. You use the money to do this, which is why you (of course) want as much money as possible.

Some cards just require money, but some require specific things that you have to discard or simply have in front of you. This is where you have to be really careful and smart about how you play (Munchkin skills help with that). Other cards can only be played when the conditions are right. For instance, some cards (Livestock, I believe) can only be played when there is at least 7% oxygen. The game ends when the planet is technically habitable, or -if you’re playing alone- when you hit a certain amount of generations (turns).

If there was one thing I could change about this game, it would be to add a cooperative version. As fun as it is to be competing corporations, I would like to believe that in the event of a terraforming mission we would work together.

Eyes of the Jungle

Eyes of the Jungle is a cooperative game where there are 8 artifacts that all have to get back to their spaces, but they’re blocked by obstacles. This little difficulty is especially amplified by the way the board is set up: the obstacles, remedies and artifacts are all mixed together and then placed face-down, so you don’t know whether you’re going to pick up an obstacle, which then has to be placed in its numbered space, a remedy, which is saved until you decide to use it in order to remove an obstacle, or an artifact, which stays in place and must move one space at a time towards its destination. Eyes of the Jungle

I enjoy the mechanics of this game, particularly the remedies. We did end up adding a couple obstacles to some of the remedies so that they made sense, and so that each obstacle had at least 1 way to clear it. That said, even with the additions, it’s still pretty hard.

The reason it is so challenging is because there are way more obstacles than remedies. I appreciate that, even as a game meant for young(ish) children, it’s actually pretty easy to lose.

Harry Potter Trivia!

For all of the Potterheads like me out there, it turns out there is now a Harry Potter Trivia game! I found it at Hot Topic when I was spending some gift cards I got for my birthday. Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit

The questions were in six categories, each assigned to a different color: The Dark Arts: Purple; Hogwarts: Blue; Magical Spells & Potions: Pink; Magical Objects: Orange; Magical People: Yellow; and Animals & Magical Creatures: Green. Questions in a category could range from “What creature did Hagrid introduce to the class during his first lesson?” to “What type of dragon does Cedric Diggory face in the first task of the Triwizard Tournament?”.

For my first game, I played with Mom, but then she had to go make dinner. Luckily, one of the perks of this game is that you can play it by yourself, too. Be forewarned: some of the questions are very hard.

Max

Max is a cooperative kids board game where you are trying to get the little critters (Chipmunk, Mouse and Bird) to the tree before Max (the cat) catches up to them. It was one of my first games and my first cooperative board game. Max

I like the aspect of choice. A lot of kids’ games, you just pick up the card and hope it goes in your favor. In Max, you get to choose which critter to move on a given turn.

I think, if you put your mind to it, it’s pretty hard to lose. I wouldn’t know, because recently my goal has been to make the cat win. Meanwhile the other player (my cousin) has been trying to get the animals to the tree. Thus, it can also be a competitive game. In the picture above, my cousin had successfully gotten the chipmunk to safety when I rolled double black, so Max ate the other two.

I think the treats and trails are cute. There are four cat treats, so if Max gets too close to the critters for your comfort, you can call him back to his starting point. There are also trails, one for each critter. When they land on their trail, they take the trail to wherever it ends. They’re effectively shortcuts. Unfortunately, Max, if he lands on it, will also take the trails.

I have a Brain in a Box!

Or I have a BrainBox game. I’m really excited about this one, as I have had a BrainBox game for quite a while. I actually got my first one at Brookfield Zoo a while back. We kept it in the car and I would read the cards on long drives. Eventually I found out how to play and started playing with my grandmother before school. Nature BrainBox

In BrainBox, you reach into the box, choosing a card at random. Simultaneously, the other person turns the timer and you start reading the card. You have ten seconds to memorize as much as you can. When the other person says “Time” (or something similar) marking the end of the ten seconds, you hand over the card. You roll the die (eight-sided) and the other person reads you the question on the back of the card that corresponds with that number. If you answer correctly, you keep the card in your score pile. If you don’t, you put it back in the box.

I love the facts. I have a big thing for random facts, as anyone who knows me can confirm. The fun facts and little tidbits of information scattered everywhere in this game are right up my ally.

The questions can be quite random. I first found this out when I was playing the US States one a while back. I had pulled the Florida card. I read it, flipped it, rolled, and was completely confident in my ability to answer. I read the question confidently, ready to burst out the answer. “How many oranges are pictured?” Wait… what? I have since realized that a lot of the question are based on the pictures. For instance, on the Flightless Birds card of the Nature box, I once had a question that read, “Which bird has its legs crossed?”

This game is fast and can be concluded whenever it is necessary. At the peak of our playing time, Grandma and I could go through the whole box of over fifty cards in less than an hour!

Also, as I have just recently found out there is an online version, at the website linked to above.

Come make a country!

NationStates is an online game where you make and govern your own country. You can join regions, role-play and form your country through Issues. Your answers will alter the statistics on your nation.

I think this game is creative and fun, as it makes a way to role-play while creating a nation that can represent what you believe, what a friend believes, or just something that comes into your mind!

It is not a fast-paced game. Role-plays and other social interactions can only take place when people are online, so it spans over quite a while. Issues have a timer for how often a new one comes in, so if you aren’t in any role-plays and you’ve just finished all your issues there isn’t much left to do.

I do like the statistics, though. You can see percentages for government expenditure, how most people die and the ownership of the industry. You can click on other peoples’ home pages and hit “Challenge”, where it compares random statistics with theirs to see who has a higher number on it. This is where having low numbers isn’t always good. For instance, I have a rubbish low crime rate, which is actually quite good, but it means I almost always lose if the selected statistic is crime.

Homemade Pinball!!!

I made a pinball machine! Out of cardboard, yes, but I made a pinball machine! Out of a pattern and pre-cut package, but I made a pinball machine! Alright, alright, you get the idea. PinBox 3000

I thought it was so cool when my mom handed me a box labeled “PinBox 3000” and told me to go set it up. It took a while to finish, but I have made the first board for it (I can swap this for another one to change up the obstacles), as well as the box. It comes with a couple marbles to play with. I had a lot of fun rolling the marble around, though the obstacles should probably be a little thicker so the marble doesn’t occasionally roll right over them.

Mom found it on Kickstarter (go figure!). It is quite amusing to play with and provides much fun while constructing. Make sure to read the instructions before constructing, I didn’t do this and ran into some complications.

Enjoy!

[Mom’s note: So I conned my kid into building my pinball machine.. and the cat thinks it’s a box.]

World of Warships

World of Warships is an intricate strategy game. You choose which ship you want to play, then click ‘Battle’. You wait in queue until enough people in your rank range also click ‘Battle’, then you get drafted into a randomized battlefield. That’s when the fun begins.

You have multiple bars for what speed you want to go at. You turn by pressing A and D, move faster by pressing W, and slower by passing S. You can choose a spot on the map to autopilot to using M, and Shift will let you scroll in. 1 and 2 are different shell types and 3 is torpedoes, if you have them. R is repair, which you use if something is immobilized or a crew member is injured. T is your special skill, if the ship has one. You left click to shoot.

This, like other wargaming games, is a fast-paced, quick decision simulation game. I like the fact that though you shoot stuff, there’s no gore.

This game is fun, interactive, and strategic. It is also historical as the ships are modeled off of genuine ships. I play it with my father, uncle, and older cousin.

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Shut The Box!

Shut the Box is a traditional English pub game. Unlike some pub games, it is family friendly and unrealistically easy. I marked this as a quick game, but that doesn’t at all describe it. With 2 players, this game takes 3 minutes. It is wonderful to play with your family, because you can sit down and it will fit most time constraints. It is especially great to play when you have a purring cat next to you. (Errr… might have tried that. What can I say? She was sleeping next to our chosen game board.) Shut-the-box

This game works with any amount of players, making it great for parties or being by yourself. In Shut the Box, you roll the dice. Then you flip down any one set of numbers that you can add to make the sum found on your dice. You continue your turn until you cannot flip anything to make that exact sum. Then you add up the remaining numbers. This is your score. You proceed to reset and the next person goes. This process repeats until everyone has gone. Then the person with the lowest score wins. If anyone successfully flips down all the numbers, they shut the box and automatically win the game. Yep, that’s it. The entire game. No, seriously, that’s it. Yep.

This is just one variation of the ways it can be played. See here for more.

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Off to a new Dimension!

There is a wonderful logic game known as Dimension. You’ve got length, you’ve got width, and you’ve certainly got height, but open up to a new Dimension, where everything is round. That’s right, this game is about balancing balls. But that’s not the best part. You’re structure of spherical shapes must fit the random criteria of the draw pile, or you will lose victory points.

Each player has 15 balls, 3 of each color. Each turn one person will flip over 6 goal cards, a.k.a. the random criteria, and then the timer. Some examples of goals are: black cannot be on bottom or green must touch white. You have until the timer runs out to build as large of a structure as possible while still fitting as much of the criteria as you can. In some cases there are goals that will contradict each other no matter what, like one goal saying that green must touch green and another saying that green cannot touch green. In this case, you just choose which one you don’t want to do.

At the end of each turn you score. You get one point for each ball you use, and you lose two points for each goal you miss. If you use all five colors, and complete all the tasks, you get a bonus token. These are important for end game scoring. If you don’t have any, you lose 6 points, so I recommend getting as many as possible. Will your structures be a round wreck or a celebrated cylindrical construction? It’s your choice!

I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys logic and building.

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