Catan is the most obvious answer, if you talk to anyone anywhere who's even slightly into boardgames past monopoly they've probably played Catan.

Ticket To Ride is fun and has a billion versions. The European version is better in some ways than the USA version but they're both good.

If you want something cooperative and you want something pretty easy go with either "Forbidden Island" or "Forbidden Desert" (depending on which one seems cooler to you).

If you want something cooperative, a bit more complicated. but still fairly beginner friendly look at "Pandemic"

There is also a "Legacy" version of pandemic which is basically where you play the game through 12 or so times (usually over a few months or a year) but before you start each game you open an envelope/turn over some cards and it either adds a new element to the game, takes one away or changes the rules on something slightly to make it different (and to spell out a sorta "story" as it goes on). If that's something that sounds cool to you.

If you want a fun beginner game to play at parties with a lot of people look into "Codenames."

Try Santorini with some friends! Incredibly fun game and great for any mythology lovers. Not difficult, but takes more strategy than you'd expect!

1. Check out r/boardgames
2. My recommendations would be Pandemic (got me and many others into board gaming), Ticket to Ride, Catan, Mysterium, 7 wonders, Sherriff of Nottingham, and Sushi Go

Risk. Conquer the world and trash talk the other potential potentates while you're at it.

Stratego. It's a very simple game as far as rules go, but there is definitely some room for strategic thinking during setup and play. It's even got "strategy" in the name!

Three things you'll come up against right away.

First, the rules learning will be a skill you hone. Not that it is impossible but jumping in too deep can really bruise the ego.

Second, game mechanics you enjoy are basically a mystery until you discover them. Many assumptions get broken on the table set for one both good and bad.

Third, what is entertainment within other mediums may not be entertaining in this medium of boardgames and vice versa. Farms never appealed to me much at all and now after a decade of solo gaming I own quite a few farming games lol

Just stepping in, I'd suggest starting out with some cheaper things to try out first to see what kind of things you like and of you even actually like solo gaming a lot. They don't have to necessarily be simple or not, but trying a variety of things can inform you of what stuff you're into and cheap or free things are easier to try many things.

First if all there's a site called postmark games. They make print-and-play games that are quite polished. If you're unfamiliar, print and play games are ones where you print out materials for the games like maybe maps or cards or whatnot and a lot of the time you'll use whatever you want to track information (some games you write on them, some you use little bits or dice. I have colored wooden cubes and discs I use). I think all of their games are 5 pounds, and it comes with any future content they produce for the game. I have 2 big ones I enjoy from them. 52 Realms and Voyages

52 Realms is a "dungeon crawl" that uses a sheet of paper with the map, half a sheet of paper with your character, and a standard deck of playing cards. You choose what class you play (I think there are currently 6 different ones) choose a map (currently 3) and deal out a few cards to some different spots. Each turn you're choosing which room to move to, using your equipment cards to open doors, fighting enemies, or passing tests. The combat Is interesting because the enemy you fight is a card drawn. The suit determines what type of enemy it is, and then it gets hp based on the number and where you're fighting it. Every combat turn it draws a card, and that suit informs you of what attack will be coming your way. Then you attack and defend using your equipment cards. Your class gives you special abilities which let's you handle different situations differently. The deck is also the game timer. The goal is to defeat the boss in the last room before you run out of cards. This means that if you spend too long fighting all the monsters or doing other things you may run out of time. Every time you gain a card as a reward, you get to gain it as a potion (different suits have different effects) or as equipment (makes fighting and unlocking doors easier) or as loot (does nothing, but is what determines your score at the end of the game). So the game is all about deciding where you want the cards and what path to take to the boss. If you load up all your cards into equipment the fights will be easy, but you won't score very well. Load too many as loot and you might die or run out of time.

Voyages is a roll-and-write. You roll multiple standard 6 sided dice, and assign them to do different things every round. There are MANY maps that come with the game that all vary what you're doing significantly, but generally you're using the dice for sailing direction, speed, and assigning crew actions. Sometimes fighting off marauders, other times delivering cargo.

For some free print and play games that are a bit heavier:

Rollway Station is a fantastic brain burn in a tiny package. You print off a single sheet of paper and use 5 dice. You roll the dice every turn and assign them to building railways on the hex map. You're also crossing off boxes to 3 different companies to make them more valuable and then also crossing off boxes to assign certain trains to certain companies. Periodically throughout the game, you'll do a scoring phase where each company will run trains along tracks you've created to score points based on the value of the company and the sites you built the tracks through. Fantastic free little puzzle but definitely more think than anything else on this list.

Supermarché is a resource management game about running a supermarket. You have 2 sheets of paper and you need different colored bits and bobs (they don't have to be colored, but they have to be identifiable) there's also some cards you print out. Every round you're buying goods for your store, like dairy, frozen, bakery, vegetables, but these goods have a certain amount of rounds before they expire and the price you buy them at fluctuates. Then you will put things from your storage onto the selling floor, trying to sell the stuff that expires sooner first. Customer cards are drawn and they're looking for specific items to load into their shopping cart. They pay you for the goods and then the card is discarded, but if at any point a customer can't buy something they want you'll have to stop the selling round and then move onto the next round. So then you go into the next round and reinvest your earnings into more product and then rinse and repeat for like 6 rounds. Money is points at the end of the game, so you want to be as profitable as possible and you immediately lose if you ever go below 0 dollars.

These are all pretty good games that are very cheap or free to see what kinds of things you like.

For more boardgamesboardgames

Warps Edge is kind of like a roguelite game (if you've played the video games hades, slay the spire, binding of Isaac, enter the gungeon or stuff like that). You play as a space ship of your choosing and you have to beat a big boss before running out of time. You load up a bag with chips that represent evasive maneuvers, laser shots, and energy storing. You use them to defeat enemies and buy more and better chips to add to your bag. When you run out of chips, you reset the enemy deck, and add all your chips back to your bag, so now you're much better from the start. You have a certain amount of restarts before you run out of time, and you're trying to defeat the entire enemy deck and the boss in a single run to win.

If you're a fan of horror movies, Final Girl is about as cinematic as it gets, but beware it's not for the feint of heart. It's very swingy, so can become very difficult if you roll poorly. It's also more complicated than anything else on this list. The way you buy it is also a little funky. You buy the " core box" which is basically just components needed to play, but you also need a "feature film" this gives you a villain to face, a location you play at, and 2 characters to play as. These are all knockoffs of horror movies like friday the 13th, nightmare on elm street, alien, the thing, the birds, and so on. You can mix and match villains and locations and protagonists. Very fun game when you can get your head around It and if you're okay with your character getting their face bashed in with a sledgehammer because the villain caught up with you and did something unexpected.

Cascadia is a great nature themed medium-light game that is solo or multiplayer. You draft pairs of terrain and animals to put down in front of you. Each animal has different scoring criteria game to game and you score for large portions of the same terrains. There's a little campaign you can play where you're trying to complete certain goals that are outside the scope of the normal game which gives it longevity.

So those are some solo games I'd suggest looking into as someone new to the hobby who has no clue what they want. Lemme know if you have any more questions!

Solo board games tend to be a kind of puzzle. For relative simple games to get into without being too simplistic, I would say some of the following:

- Mini Rogue
- Friday
- ButtonShy games (Sprawlopolis, Last Lighthouse)
- Under Falling Skies
- Horrified

There are many more of course.

One Card Dungeon

Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale

social deduction but still on the edge of a party game is Bang! Dice. Avalon and coup are slightly more serious deduction games, and none are expensive.

Some great suggestions, would recommend checking out board game arena where you can play some of these online first. Then buy the ones you enjoy, I picked up a bunch of games that way, caper Europe, lets make a bus route, parks, heat, welcome to, tons of options.

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Easy. War of the Ring.

So me personally, i went to a convention...

It was a small anime convention nearby, and i had friends who wanted to cosplay with me. But they had a board game room hosted by the local gamestore. We agreed to spend a little time there in the evenings to chill since the last convention we ended it off in our hotel room, ordering pizza and trying to learn betrayal at house on the hill (we did try it again a year later)

My intent was to try out a few of those games i saw on "Tabletop." And there were a few there. Although i did have munchkin and a handfull of mass market board games, i wanted one of the ones from the show, and i did my research to figure out the rules beforehand.

The one at the top of my list was "smash up." I was still vaugely into magic, and the idea of a cardgame with abilities that you dont really have to deckbuild for sounded fantastic. And better yet, it was there! ... auctualy, i hated it. The gameplay was slow even though you can't really do much. And every deck is like 2 different card game mechanics that only work together if you are lucky.

The next day we played "smallworld". Risk with fantasy races and the dice rolling is down to only once a turn so the game can be completed in a reasonable timeframe. We had a blast. I couldn't tell you what anyone was doing, but we all felt like we had a plan. And we smacked each other a round a bit quite playfully. After packing up the game and putting it back on the shelf, i went straight to their merchant table to pick up the game for myself.

I think you should do your research. Maybe one of the top 10 videos on the dice tower. If you like a genere, search by that. Get a small list of things, then just find a local game store and see if they have that or could order it for you. They might have good suggestions, too. Honestly, if you like ticket to ride, that is still a good choice.

My first game "smallworld" was something that scales well within its player count as each map is specificaly made for that many players and also changes the ammount of rounds you have so it takes around the same ammount of time for 2 players as it does 5 players. The variability and replayability of stacking both powers and races and combining 2 randomly leads to having never had a game that felt like the last. And the powers, omg. Every ability is made to break or ignore a rule. The halflings can start on any territory (not just the outside ones), and those first 2 territories can not be attacked. The trolls basicly have an extra token per territory. The amazons DO have extra tokens that get taken off the board at the end of your turn, 4 of them, in fact. And although humans only get an extra coin per farm territory, if they get combined with the flight ability, they will just take all of the farmlands dotting the map. Everything is overpowered in its own way. And there are expansions if you want more but, nothing nessicary. " Be not afraid" is really good.

Civilization 5. Later move on to 6. I don't recommend Civ 4 for beginners.

San start with Prince or Warlord difficulty level and move from there later. Come back after like 4000 hours of game for more :)

Step 1) Pick a game that looks cool
Step 2) Play it

Seriously, why does this question get asked every few days on this sub?

Age of Empires 2 or StarCraft 2. Both have all the classic RTS elements, tutorials, good single player campaign content, and then there's multiplayer once you're into it.

The Strategy genre is vast and its subgenres can be very different from each other. You might love some and absolutely despise others.

Are you looking for a relaxing game where you can take your time and think about your moves ? Try 4X games like Civilization IV, V or VI, Age of Wonders IV, Old World or Stellaris. Grand Strategy games are also a good fit here - Europa Universalis IV, Crusader Kings III, Hearts of Iron IV.

Are you looking for a good single-player story-driven campaign or a game with tense PvP matches ? Real-time Strategy games fit perfectly here. From the Age of Empires series, Age of Mythology, Warcraft III, StarCraft II, Command & Conquer, Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 1/2, etc.

Are you looking for games where you can simulate big battles between armies ? Total War is the best option.

Are you looking for a story-driven strategy game where you have to use stealth to complete tough missions ? Desperados III, Shadow Tactics and Shadow Gambit are perfect.

There are also many more genres like turn-based tactics (the best games here being X-COM 2 and Warhammer 40,000 Daemonhunters), rogue-like card games (Slay the Spire, Monster Train) or even colony sim games and city builders (Cities Skylines, Planet Zoo, Rimworld, Anno 1800).

Take your time and get informed about each game because the genre is vast and there's a high likelihood that you will be drawn more towards a specific subgenre more than the others.

Steam

Why would you not say that Chess is purely strategic because someone has to go first randomly, and then immediately suggest Stratego being purely strategic where someone has to go first randomly?!? It's kind of insane. I would even say that Chess is more strategic than Stratego since there is no hidden information in Chess but tons in Stratego.

For games with no random chance: Terra Mystica, Gaia Project, 18xx, Food Chain Magnate, The Great Zimbabwe off the top of my head.

Most modern games involve FAR much luck than the classics you mentioned. Happy to recommend some if you tell me what you like.

>The only game I can think of is Stratego

Absolutely pissing myself.

Go.

Diplomacy does not have any probabilistic aspects.

There are ton of abstract games that only introduce probability in terms of who goes first. Chess is one example, but there are many, many more.

Also, you are using the term "strategic" to mean "no probabilistic aspects" but that isn't really what strategic means. For instance, a game could be 100% tactical, 0% strategic, and 0% luck. Similarly, you could have a highly strategic game that has a lot probabilistic aspects.

If you are into Stratego-esque games, then there is LotR: the confrontation and Shadows over Kyoto.

So you started with arguably the hardest possible game for a complete strategy games beginner, i suggest something a little bit easier, Stronghold crusader, civilization, total war, company of heroes, red alert. I think these should be pretty easy and they are ton of fun.

r/crusaderkings might be able to help you if you have any questions. CK2 is one of my favourite games ever but it is hard to get into.

CK3 is far easier to learn though, but it's not free and it doesn't have as much content as CK2 does yet.

Hello,

After a bit of searching I found Demise of Nations. It seemed like a good balance of mechanics and simplicity. It was free so I downloaded it without much thought. I have played for a couple of hours, so far it seems nice. You can get 3 maps for free and then you can buy 150 extra maps for 20 dollars or 1 map for 5 dollars. Their multiplayer fees are kinda weird (you gotta pay about 0.1 dollars for every game you play) but I am not really into multiplayer games.

​

I was also thinking about General and Rulers but people kept saying that it's very simple and after 3-4 hours it's very repetitive.

Play starcraft 2 , it's easy to learn, have fun with AI , and when you feel like you want more difficulty , join 1v1 , it's great . Otherwise dota 2 might be good if you want a moba , but if you love team games try lol before dota 2...

I recommend starcraft 2 for being easy to learn and enjoy a while but hard in multiplayer

Dota 2 if you like team games. .

I personally love dota 2 but sadly I dont belong to team games. So yeah I'm all into Sc2. So it wasnt hard when i started so you will feel fine. Age of empires is also good if you are seeking non team startgey game

Happy valentines day, here, have a box of chocolates ��

Welcome to the hobby. There are a lot of different avenues you could explore here. My first recommendation would be to understand that soloboardgaming might take a few tries to solidify your tastes. Until you play some games, you won't really know what you will like or not like until you try a game or two.

So if a particular theme calls out to you, let us know, that can help turn this from "blindly suggest me a game" to something more refined. Here are some recommendations.

Try a modern classic board game

Try picking up something like Pandemic or Forbidden Island. Games like these are often readily available everywhere, usually cheaply, and embodies the evolution of boardgames while also being soloable. These are now considered older classics in the modern boardgame world, but they are great entries to onboard yourself to solo. They are generally easy to learn too.

Try a print and play and/or roll/flip and write

If you have a set of playing cards lying around, you can download the print and play version of Fliptown. Or you can also try some other print and plays like Voyages. Both of these you can download for very cheap a pdf version of the game you can print, and usually you just need a pen, dice, cards, coins, or things that you likely already have access to. i

Or try a boxed roll and write game... something like That's Very Clever or Railroad Ink, both of which have digital adaptations you can explore before purchasing.

Try a very small package game

Personally, I always recommend Sprawlopolis from Button Shy Games, it's an 18-card game but I still play it against some of the bigger box games... Button Shy Games has a very large library of different themes that could be appealing to you. But if you hang out in this subreddit for a while, there are all kinds of very small packaged games that a lot of people start with. You'll likely get all kinds of recommendations in this area. I just gave one to keep it simple.

Since you mentioned Clue

Maybe try Black Sonata, which one might argue is a stellar deduction solo game... or if you want something more narratively focused you can try Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective or Chronicles of Crime

A few extra tips

• If anyone suggests a game, you can probably look it up on youtube to get an idea of what it is.
• BoardGameArena.com is a cheap way to access a lot of games digitally, both solo and multiplayer. While the library is only a fraction of games available, it's growing, and there are a lot of titles on that list
• If you ever find yourself in a store, like a Target or Barnes and nobles or a Mom and Pop game store... you can always look the game up on boardgamegeek.com, and look up the "Player Count Poll". This is where people rate how well it plays with different player counts. Most newer games will have 1-player on the box, but older games may night, so always look it up if you are unsure.
• If you want to jump off the deep end, every year, the solo communities (1-player guild which has overlap here) on boardgamegeek.com do a popularity poll for solo games. Here is the 2024 People's Choice Top 200 Solo Games, just keep in mind, a lot of these games are complex and heavy, as the community voting are often experienced with such games. Based on your wording, this is probably not the best place to start, but you should know it exists!

Lastly...

Don't rush yourself. Try one game at a time. See what sticks and what doesn't. Best of luck!

check your local library; mine actually has a massive selection of board games that got me started.

if not, here are some fairly inexpensive ideas you can research. Go onto Youtube and search for "watch it played..." or something like that.

- Marvel United - slightly similar to pandemic style of gameplay, but more streamlined and interesting, imo. core box is often under $20 and generally loved, solos well with 2 or 3 hand play. the x-men box is a little more expensive but a significant improvement. tons of addon boxes available like spiderman, multiverse, etc.

- Marvel Zombies: Heroes' Resistance - typically around $30-$35, and gives you a really fun, gateway box to try zombicide on for size. zombicide Undead or Alive is probably my all time favorite solo boardgame experience, but there's a ton of themes like fantasy, sci-fi, modern, etc. There's a more recent DC version.. Gotham DCeased or something like that.

- Tabletop simulator on Steam - you can get this for $10 on sale and if you have a computer that can run it, it's a really great way to demo games before purchase.

Jaws of the Lion - this one is okay but I lost momentum after failing multiple times on a stressful/difficult scenario and never picked it back up again. I've seen it go for $25 which is a pretty incredible value for what you get.

Other stuff I've enjoyed:
LotR - Journeys in Middle Earth. Not for everyone, but if you're a tolkein nut, it's worth investigating.

Marvel Champions - lite coop/solo deckbuilding game... not cheap, especially if you go hard.

Mice and Mystics - this was my point of entry into boardgames. i didn't solo it much, mainly play it with my kids. it's really rudimentary and benefits from some simple houserules, but if you can get it for cheap, it's a fun entry-level dungeon crawl with an interesting story.

CLANK! - not great solo, but if you have anyone else to play with it's freaking awesome.

Dominion - The only way to solo is the smartphone app, I think... but this one is also a favorite in my family for 2+ players.

The only solo game I've gotten that I regret is probably Fallout: The Boardgame w/ATomic BOnds. Avoid. Oh, and Buttons and Bugs... don't waste your money. I have also yet to enjoy a "tiny epic" game I've tried. They all feel too formulaic and restricted to draw me into the themes.

Stuff I'm looking into:
Fallout Wasteland Warfare
Sniper: Elite the board game
Metal Gear Solid
Bloodborne: the board game
Arkham Horror: the card game

Check out board game arena, their collection of digital games is huge. The annual subscription is pretty affordable too.

This sub has a ton of posts exactly like yours and frankly my thumbs are tired of typing Final Girl everytime lol. Just search the sub

Under falling skies or Kinfire Delve I think are both cheap fun entry points.

I will also reiterate Black Sonata if you like deduction.

There are so many options available today that you will be overwhelmed with choices. You will very likely buy some games that initially look cool to you and play them one time and then never play again. Don’t worry about it. Just sell the game and move on.

Check out some of the games that are popular on this sub or in the BGG top 100 solo games and give them a try. After each one, decided what you did or did not like about it and maybe try another. Watch some learning videos on some games you might be interested in.

Don’t be afraid to dive into the deep end if a game looks fun to you. Even a complete novice can learn the most complicated board game with a bit of effort.

For specific recs, I’d say check out a few different genres:

Deck builder -GI Joe the DB game.
Solo points puzzle - Casscadia
Objective-based game - Warps Edge

These 3 games are all around $30ish American, can be played in a pretty small area, but offer very different experiences.

Good luck and welcome to the hobby!

Also…look into BoardGameArena.com. For $20/year (or free if you are patient) you can play 100s of digital games with people all over the world and they are constantly adding new games.

Doom machine. Simple to understand dice placement game, great replayability, pocket sized (comes in a mint tin), and thinky without giving you a headache. I personally enjoy the art work as well. I think game crafter or etsy are both purchasing options.

Cascadia, Under Falling Skies, Railroad Ink, Sprawlopolis, Guild of Merchant Explorers, Mists over Carcassonne, For Northwood!, Coffee Roaster ...

Any of those. I'm sure others would have recommendations as well.

Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I ended up ordering Cascadia! It was already delivered! Can’t wait to play when I get home!!

If you like the dice rolling aspect, 20 Strong. Roll dice, push your luck, fight bad guys.

Fliptown is a fairly easy to grasp flip and write that’s basically just a standard deck of playing cards and a board.

Friday is a fairly challenging deck builder with rules that are pretty straightforward.

Metal slug Tactics.

Tactics Ogre Reborn.

Front mission 3.

Final Fantasy Tactics advance 1 & 2.

Advanced Wars Series.

Xcom series (You should start on the easiest or normal difficulty)

Warhammer 40k Battlefront.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 is very strategy minded. Or you could try the studio’s latest more modern work: Baldur’s Gate 3

Into the Breach is my suggestion; phenomenal game with enough variation you won't get bored, but not so much that it's overwhelming. The mechanics themselves are very simple and everything is visible; the game tries to not have any gotcha moments. I personally can't think of anything better; many turn based strategy games have a plethora of layered systems and/or use a bit too much randomness for me to suggest.

Crypt of the Necrodancer.

It’s turn based, the third just happens to be the best of the music, forcing you to make hyper strategic choices on the fly constantly.

Wasteland 3