Yashima's 2023 Top 20 Solo Games

Created 2026-09-18 · 20 games ·

This list is LATE. I know. I regret not getting to it last year. But I was just too busy. I promise I'll do better. I already got started on this year's list. I made my first Top 20 Solo in 2022 using pubmeeple. To create this one, I took all my solo plays from BGStats and my previous list and put them into pubmeeple. While ranking I tried to consider best as I could if anything about the games I ranked has changed since the start of this year. It is certainly not the most representative list but I like to have some continuity. For me it is still useful to compare my rankings. The bottom of my previous Top 20 mostly fell off the list. Showing I am still figuring out what I enjoy. Also 20 is not a lot of games and with new games coming in to occupy me spots are tight: * Sagani (from #14) * Pax Pamir (from #16) * Viscounts of the West Kingdom ( from #17) * Nusfjord (from #18) * Petrichor (from #20)

BGG list: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/341031/yashimas-2023-top-20-solo-games ↗

View the equivalent list on BGG

#	Title	Comment
1	Railroad Ink Challenge: Lush Green Edition ↗ (2021) 60 plays · last played 9/8/24	This used to be my favorite R&W game and still is. Had I actually done this list at the end of 2023 it might have ranked a little higher. Ranking last year: 15 (🔻5 )
2	Calico ↗ (2020) 25 plays · last played 8/24/26	I enjoyed this immensely when I first got it. But I have since figured out that the good fun brain burniness aside it feels more repetitive than some of my other favorite tile layers and so down it goes. Ranking last year: 12 (🔻7 )
3	Legacy of Yu ↗ (2023) 4 plays · last played 7/5/23	Solo campaign game by Shem Philips that probably pushed Viscounts from the list and Paladins even from consideration. I like this one though it seems in theory more than in actual plays because a year later I still have not finished the first campaign (which I will fix sometime soon, as I now have a table where I can leave campaign games set up for a while) Ranking last year: - (new entry)
4	Food Chain Island ↗ (2020) 43 plays · last played 10/2/26	As a wallet game this one has very different considerations than the bigger games on this list. How often do I want to play this? How repetitive does it get? I played this one quite a few times in 2023. And continue to play it. It's fine and I am surprised it came in this hight, it wasn't like my list was short. But I tend to favor "fast to the table" over "big huge sprawling solo" at the moment. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
5	Lost Ruins of Arnak ↗ (2020) 14 plays · last played 7/26/24	It's a very neat and easily managed solo despite being an automa. And it is a very good game. But still some of the novelty has worn off, so down it went. Ranking last year: 10 (🔻6)
6	Earth ↗ (2023) Previously owned 10 plays · last played 1/19/25	I don't even own a copy of this, I have exclusively played this on BGA where the server manages the upkeep and the phases and the solo-bot. But it is a fun spatial puzzle and bonusses and action chaining game that goes by fast enough. I did not enjoy my few attempts at multiplayer. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
7	A Feast for Odin ↗ (2016) 9 plays · last played 10/22/22	Which Uwe games I play, changes every year and so the best ranking comparison would be with last year's Nusfjord. I tend to rank the most recently played games higher (obviously?). (Big-Rosenberg-Game) Ranking last year: 18 (🔺4)
8	Factory Funner ↗ (2022) 18 plays · last played 6/7/26	I like route building a lot and this one is definitely one of the better ones. But this year a new entry to the list caused this one to drop quite a few spots. Ranking last year: 7 ( 🔻6)
9	Obsession ↗ (2020) 13 plays · last played 6/10/26	I still like the theming of this a lot and also the building up of the estate with the various rooms. This one suffered a hit when I attempted my first multiplayer and that didn't go great as my friend exploited an imbalance that has since been called out (I don't remember the details) and it really wasn't fun. So solo it stays. Ranking last year: 8 (🔻4)
10	51st State: Ultimate Edition ↗ (2023) 9 plays · last played 1/17/25	After hearing Zee Garcia go on about this for a good while on so many different Top10/0s... I went for the Ultimate Edition crowdfunding campaign. I played this immediately when I received it... 5 times and enjoyed it but for some weird reason haven't touched it since. It might be that against my expectations the dark theming loses out against nature themed and more shiny SF settings? Possibly, the ruleset feels like it might have bad retention and so I hesitate to go back to it with so many games available to me where I just know all the rules. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
11	Oranienburger Kanal ↗ (2023) 5 plays · last played 10/31/24	Another one fresh off the boat. Besides the cover that I don't like this is a great game. It says 1-2 player on the box but I have NO intention ever playing this other than solo. I want to optimize and not clash with someone over the tight worker spots. This has a resource wheel (à la Glassroad), several Uwe-decks (à la Nusfjord), a spatial puzzle that is fresh and fun and very tight worker placement. The Industrialization theme does not speak to me at all but that just means this game is even better because I do usually care about theme (it is quite present, just not my thing). I haven't played this as much as I aspire to, despite playing fast, it is a "big game" to wrap my head around. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
12	Planet Unknown ↗ (2022) 36 plays · last played 2/23/26	My favorite Polyominoes game since I playtested it at SPIEL years ago. The solo is fun and the variability an additional bonus when the basic puzzle could keep me occupied for ages. Ranking Last year: 6 (🔻3 )
13	Dune: Imperium ↗ (2021) 10 plays · last played 3/20/24	I just enjoy this one more than Arnak because of the theme. Also because the way the worker spots are so wildly different. It makes for far more exciting play with the skirmishes at the end. Where Arnak--and in my brain those 2 will always be compared--is mostly resource management and action chaining into longer rounds, this one is a bit more swingy and I kind of like that even in the solo, even when losing against the bot and even when the bot is harder to manage than in Arnak. Ranking last year: 9 ( 🔺1)
14	Trailblazers ↗ (2023) 69 plays · last played 5/7/26	I backed this because I wanted Pipeline without the economics. And it delivers. Good solid route building and more of that and then more. This is Fairy Trails on steroids. I love it. And I am not surprised it entered the list this high. This is so quick to play and it seeps so deeply into my brain... in that aspect it's a bit like playing too much Galaxy Trucker on the app. Turning tiles this way and that, considering and then making a mess with my hybris. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
15	Revive ↗ (2022) 17 plays · last played 3/5/26	How do I even describe this game? Techtrees, tracks, multi-use cards, bonus chaining and exploration ... I can't. Also one of the few solo favorites that I enjoy as a multiplayer as well. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
16	Ark Nova ↗ (2022) 37 plays · last played 8/22/25	I got late to Ark Nova because our friends managed to buy it before me and so it took me a year to finally get my own copy for solo-play. I just like big stacks of cards and continuously having to get rid of cards I can't play and pivoting to whatever strategy is available to me in the moment. I like the various strategies you can pursue while building up your zoo. I like the action selection (inherited) and surprisingly I like building a zoo. Nature games have really taken off in recent years especially in my collection... this one is here to stay both for solo and multiplayer. Ranking last year: - (new entry)
17	Cascadia ↗ (2021) 92 plays · last played 6/14/26	Almost my favorite tile layer. With the huge variation and the challenge modes, I can play this over and over. This was somewhat unexpected I admit. Also from here on out all the games retained last years spots on the list. Ranking last year: 4
18	Naturopolis ↗ (2023) 91 plays · last played 10/3/26	This is a standin for the whole series Sprawlopolis / Agropolis / Naturopolis. This one was new this year and so I played it the most. I didn't enjoy Agropolis as much and Sprawlopolis has been a solo favorite since I first got it. Ranking last year: 3
19	Terraforming Mars ↗ (2017) 138 plays · last played 9/24/26	What can I say. I love SF games, I love the premise of terraforming the red planet (ever since reading the Mars trilogy). The game never gets boring. I am mostly playing on the app because it is just a bit much to set up on the table for how much I get late-night-hungry for a quick snack of terraforming experience... Ranking last year: 2
20	Spirit Island ↗ (2020) 82 plays · last played 3/15/26	I don't even need to put this in pubmeeple for the rankings (I have done it but to what end? It just adds to the comparisons) My favorite game of all time. So many spirits now, so many cards. No two games are alike. It has a lot of my favorite game mechanisms (not all of them, so far I see no route building spirit). Ranking last year: 1