Summary: <br> Playing board games solo is a great way to improve your skills, using strategy and critical thinking. There are unofficial solo variations available for nearly every game, mostly on <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/49479/soloplay-variants-posted-geek">BoardGameGeek.com</a>, and there are even groups (ironically) dedicated to solo play, such as the <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/guild/1303">1-player guild</a>.<br> What we’ve been playing recently:<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bBfFS1">Ticket to Ride</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2b2jeym">World’s Fair 1893</a> – the retail copy! We <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/2015/10/08/worlds-fair/">reviewed</a> the pre-Kickstarter prototype last year, and we like the finished version even more.<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/20S6yOO">Monopoly Deal</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bgiKZf">Checkers</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2b7aVng">Dominoes</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bgiBVS">Hiss</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bpxI12">Build a Robot</a> (“like Cootie, but better in every way”)<br> We did a 1000 piece puzzle. We love <a href="http://amzn.to/2b43yhG">Presto Puzzle Saver</a> to preserve a finished puzzle for framing.<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2b4zZtg">Ratchet & Clank</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bBggDc">Mario Kart 8</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bBfLZI">Wario Ware: Smooth Moves</a><br> <a href="http://www.nintendo.com/nes-classic">Nintendo recently announced the “NES Classic”</a>, a miniature, self-contained system with dozens of classic 80s NES games. We are interested and think it could be a great gift for kids whose parents grew up with NES.<br> We briefly mentioned toys-to-life and other expansion-heavy games. Stay tuned for more next week, and let us know what you think of these types of games for your kids.<br> On to the solo games!<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2b4AaF0">Twilight Struggle</a> can be played solo digitally! From the same publisher is a game called <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Labyrinth-The-War-on-Terror/dp/B005UQ3FLU%3FSubscriptionId%3D0N3YSEQ4N1056XPWS4G2%26tag%3Ditemtext-boardgamegeek-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB005UQ3FLU">Labyrinth</a>, which can be solo or 2 player.<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2b4AO5q">Codenames </a>has a one-player variation in the official rules.<br> We like <a href="http://amzn.to/2b2jDRr">Logic Dots</a>, a one-player-only series of logic puzzles.<br> Andrew really wants to try <a href="http://amzn.to/2b7bhdD">Zpocalypse</a> as a solo play, to really master the mechanics.<br> Most co-operative games can be played solo without too many changes:<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bgi3PE">Shadows over Camelot</a> (here’s our favorite <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/1239345/ideas-solo-play">guidelines for playing it solo</a>)<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bgjttr">Pandemic</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bwodZD"> Forbidden Island</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2bpzEX0">Mice and Mystics</a>, or really any pre-built role-playing campaign that doesn’t require a game master.<br> Games designed to be single-player:<br> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Brio-34000-BRIO-Labyrinth/dp/B0001WGISK/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1471398968&sr=1-1&keywords=marble+labyrinth">Labyrinth</a> the marble-race game<br> “Solitaire” with cards, dominoes, mah-jong tiles<br> Jigsaw puzzles!<br> logic puzzles<br> math puzzles<br> crossword puzzles<br> Scrabble? Try to beat your own high score (or try the <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/words-alone-solitaire-word/id474662296?mt=8">Words Alone</a> app to really hone your skills)<br> Games that can be turned into single-player against one or more artificial intelligence players:<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2b4ANOP">Tokaido</a> (either <a href="https://boardgam..."></a>
