Best 1 Player Board Games (Medium-High Complexity)

Looking for a solo strategy game that is deep and filled with tough and satisfying decisions? Here are our recommendations.

⭐️ Top Picks

The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

🟢 Ryan’s #15 All-Time

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Release Year: 2011 Complexity: Medium-High

  👥  1-4 Players

  ⏰  30-90 min

  💸 ~$60

  🔗  Buy

Summary: Construct decks to guide your fellowship as it embarks on unique adventures in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.

You Might Like If… you enjoy the deck construction of collectible card games, enjoy the Lord of the Rings theme, and want a strategic cooperative or solo experience with plenty of opportunity for expansion with new heroes, quests, campaigns, and deck-building options.

👍 Honorable Mentions

Marvel Champions: The Card Game

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Release Year: 2019 Complexity: Medium-High

  👥  1-4 Players

  ⏰  45-90 min

  💸 ~$60

  🔗  Buy

Summary: Construct Marvel hero decks to battle villains across a variety of unique scenarios and campaigns.

You Might Like If… you enjoy the deck construction of collectible card games, enjoy the Marvel theme, and want a strategic cooperative or solo experience with plenty of opportunity for expansion with new heroes, scenarios, campaigns, and deck-building options.

Arkham Horror: The Card Game

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Release Year: 2016 Complexity: Low-Medium

  👥  1-4 Players

  ⏰  45-120 min

  💸 ~$60

  🔗  Buy

Summary: Construct decks to investigate the horrors of Arkham and broader cosmic doom across various scenario-based campaigns.

You Might Like If… you enjoy the deck construction of collectible card games, enjoy the Lovecraftian theme, and want a strategic cooperative or solo experience with an emphasis on scenarios linked together into a narrative campaign.

Dune: Imperium

🟢 Ryan’s #6 All-Time 🔴 Daniel’s #34 All-Time

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Release Year: 2020 Complexity: Medium-High

  👥  1-4 Players

  ⏰  60-120 min

  💸 ~$55

  🔗  Buy

Summary: Strategically take actions with your agents to optimize your card effects, build your own custom deck, and position yourself in battles in the Dune universe.

You Might Like If… you enjoy worker placement and deck-building and want a game that combines them in a novel way that leads to constant interesting decisions and player interaction within a thematic sandbox with tons of flavor from the Dune books/movies.

 👀 Worth a Look

Hadrian’s Wall

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Release Year: 2021 Complexity: Medium-High

  👥  1-6 Players

  ⏰  45-60 min

  💸 ~$60

  🔗  Buy

Summary: Strategically fill out your sheets and seek combos as you compete as Roman generals in charge of a milecastle along Hadrian’s Wall.

You Might Like If… you enjoy roll/flip-and-write games where you work on your own puzzle and want one that amps up the complexity to have more strategic options and satisfying combos as you decide how to apply your resources to take actions across your sheet each turn.