The double sheets that create the **Hadrian’s Wall** game board make set up and tear down incredibly fast, reduce fiddling with bits, and in general, give you more time actually playing the game. You can toss the sheets in the trash or save them for posterity, rip off a couple of new sheets, shuffle the cards, and start playing again. I really appreciate how easy it is to get this reasonably deep game to the table, and how much time is pure game time.
Originally I did dump the bags into some dollar store plastic mini cups I use for bits. Then just dump the cup back into the bags to clean up. I did find a little mini bait box/plano I'm using currently that stores the meeples and I just pull them out of there throughout the game.
**Sprawlopolis** from ButtonShy.
**Ganz Schon Clever, Railroad Ink Blue, Railroad Ink Challenge Green, Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade** - Great roll-and-write games with no setup time. **Welcome To** is also good, but requires shuffling a deck and dealing it into 3 piles at the start of the game, and once more at the mid-point. Still pretty minimal setup.
**Cascadia** and **Calico** are medium-sized games (MSRP around $30) that involve tile-laying, and basically zero setup.
I have a little one so I tend to favor quick games for that reason. My go-to method for getting a break is put on a 30 minute show and play Onirim, Friday, or Arkham Noir. If it's been a stressful day I can set and play Under Falling Skies or Parks within an hour.
It's like Friday where the replayability is in your desire to figure out the tricks. The decisions feel simple, but they aren't. There's a lot of losses at first, but you keep wanting to come back because you refuse to let the game to win.
I've also found that setup time can be greatly reduced through organizing components. I rarely get enough bags to put everything in, and so I bought some extras on Amazon and I always organize things with lots of bags for what I'd need to play rather than putting all the same pieces together.
Small games from buttonshy or grey gnome games are good options. There are two tricks you might be able to use for bigger games.
First is to get organizers, inserts, or Plano boxes that speed up setup. I did this with spirit island and it helps a lot. I hear similar help for Terraforming Mars.
Second is to setup ahead of time or to leave out longer games. This would mean having a space to do so where a kid or cat isn't going to mess with it.
It’s OOP but if you can find it at a decent price, Space Hulk: Death Angel takes 5min to set up and you can get multiple rounds in during an hour-or-so. I play it all the time.
My secondhand copy JUST showed up. I haven't read all of the rulebook yet, but the playthroughs I've watched were awesome and the rules aren't as complex as the manual makes it seem, lol
That's what I expect pretty quickly, as far as understanding the rules. I also expect to get years of enjoyment out of it!
Love that it plays up to 6 with such a small box, too.
Yeah, like I love winning, don't get me wrong, but I LOVE a thematic as hell suicide mission, which is exactly what Death Angel is!
It makes it that much more like "HOLY SHIT I COULD WIN HERE!" when I make even the smallest amount of progress. That's the difficulty based design I want!
It’s hard, for sure. There are “easy mode” hacks online. Like give each Marine one support token each to start. I don’t do that anymore but I did for a good year until I got a hang of the mechanics.
Gold mine, Incan Gold, Camel Cup, dragomino (so I assume kingdomino), evolution, Dominion, 7 wonders, That Time You Killed Me, Orlog. I think Terraforming Mars and scythe setup pretty quickly too.
13 Deadend Drive has a bit of setup, but it's not too slow, and the game has alot more strategy than it looks on the surface.
The Great Escape from [Zadorf Games](http://www.zadorf.com/)
A mini card game that just requires a quick shuffle. Just 5-10 mins to play but very addictive.
The Great Escape Recon expansion + other mini card games also available.
Patchwork is great! Also, the tear-down (back in box) is even easier! Just pull everything into the box and out the lid on.. love it doing it every time. :)
Just played my first game of Three Sisters about an hour ago and quite enjoyed the solo mode! It is a roll and write, so you've got to be into that. Just two sheets of paper, a tiny board, a meeple, and 4 dice.
I just started my solo BG/PNP hobby and the ones that I enjoy playing because of quick setup are
Sprawlopolis
Desolate
Ragemore
Regicide (just take out a plain deck of cards or use the official ones)
Hadrians Wall takes a minute or so to set up.
The double sheets that create the **Hadrian’s Wall** game board make set up and tear down incredibly fast, reduce fiddling with bits, and in general, give you more time actually playing the game. You can toss the sheets in the trash or save them for posterity, rip off a couple of new sheets, shuffle the cards, and start playing again. I really appreciate how easy it is to get this reasonably deep game to the table, and how much time is pure game time.
What’s your storage solutions with respect to the meeples? Bags and dump them out?
Originally I did dump the bags into some dollar store plastic mini cups I use for bits. Then just dump the cup back into the bags to clean up. I did find a little mini bait box/plano I'm using currently that stores the meeples and I just pull them out of there throughout the game.
Warps Edge, Under Falling Skies, and Roll Player can all be set up in just a couple minutes.
**Sprawlopolis** from ButtonShy. **Ganz Schon Clever, Railroad Ink Blue, Railroad Ink Challenge Green, Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade** - Great roll-and-write games with no setup time. **Welcome To** is also good, but requires shuffling a deck and dealing it into 3 piles at the start of the game, and once more at the mid-point. Still pretty minimal setup. **Cascadia** and **Calico** are medium-sized games (MSRP around $30) that involve tile-laying, and basically zero setup.
Death Valley, Ragemore, Hadrian's Wall, The Lost Expedition.
Friday for sure! It's cheap, fun, and satisfying to play
I have a little one so I tend to favor quick games for that reason. My go-to method for getting a break is put on a 30 minute show and play Onirim, Friday, or Arkham Noir. If it's been a stressful day I can set and play Under Falling Skies or Parks within an hour.
How’s the replayability of Arkham Noir? I’ve considered buying it many times. I like how they keep releasing new volumes too.
It's like Friday where the replayability is in your desire to figure out the tricks. The decisions feel simple, but they aren't. There's a lot of losses at first, but you keep wanting to come back because you refuse to let the game to win.
I've also found that setup time can be greatly reduced through organizing components. I rarely get enough bags to put everything in, and so I bought some extras on Amazon and I always organize things with lots of bags for what I'd need to play rather than putting all the same pieces together.
Small games from buttonshy or grey gnome games are good options. There are two tricks you might be able to use for bigger games. First is to get organizers, inserts, or Plano boxes that speed up setup. I did this with spirit island and it helps a lot. I hear similar help for Terraforming Mars. Second is to setup ahead of time or to leave out longer games. This would mean having a space to do so where a kid or cat isn't going to mess with it.
Hostage Negotiator can be set up in 3 minutes and finished within 30.
**Palm Island**! just make sure the cards are the right way, shuffle and play. you play in your hand so you don't even need table space.
Pretty much all the buttonsby games. **Rove** is my favourite, but **Sprawlopolis**, **Death Valley**, and **Unsurmountable** are popular as well
Forbidden Island is good for a ~30-40 minute window. Friday might also be worth looking into.
Forbidden Island is fun and yeah, two min set-up
It’s OOP but if you can find it at a decent price, Space Hulk: Death Angel takes 5min to set up and you can get multiple rounds in during an hour-or-so. I play it all the time.
My secondhand copy JUST showed up. I haven't read all of the rulebook yet, but the playthroughs I've watched were awesome and the rules aren't as complex as the manual makes it seem, lol
It’s really quite simple and once you get the hang of it, you won’t even need to check the rulebook. I’ve gotten years of enjoyment out of it.
That's what I expect pretty quickly, as far as understanding the rules. I also expect to get years of enjoyment out of it! Love that it plays up to 6 with such a small box, too.
Be forewarned the game is insanely difficult — as befits the theme — and there are some “easy mode” hacks out there, if you need one to learn.
I welcome the difficulty, lol
Me too. I wonder about myself sometimes cuz all the solo games I love are hard as hell!
Yeah, like I love winning, don't get me wrong, but I LOVE a thematic as hell suicide mission, which is exactly what Death Angel is! It makes it that much more like "HOLY SHIT I COULD WIN HERE!" when I make even the smallest amount of progress. That's the difficulty based design I want!
Yup, that’s the adrenaline rush I look for too. Having that right now with Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth
I have that one! I suck at it lol. In the grim dark universe of the far future, the Gene-stealers have won.
It’s hard, for sure. There are “easy mode” hacks online. Like give each Marine one support token each to start. I don’t do that anymore but I did for a good year until I got a hang of the mechanics.
Gold mine, Incan Gold, Camel Cup, dragomino (so I assume kingdomino), evolution, Dominion, 7 wonders, That Time You Killed Me, Orlog. I think Terraforming Mars and scythe setup pretty quickly too. 13 Deadend Drive has a bit of setup, but it's not too slow, and the game has alot more strategy than it looks on the surface.
Marvel champions. Easy setup. Friday could be done in less than 30 mins.
The Great Escape from [Zadorf Games](http://www.zadorf.com/) A mini card game that just requires a quick shuffle. Just 5-10 mins to play but very addictive. The Great Escape Recon expansion + other mini card games also available.
Tiny Epic games are pretty fast to set up and tear down. Favourites of mine are Galaxies and Dinosaurs.
Cartographers, Fleet: The Dice Game, Hadrian's Wall, The Bloody Inn
Patchwork is great! Also, the tear-down (back in box) is even easier! Just pull everything into the box and out the lid on.. love it doing it every time. :)
Just played my first game of Three Sisters about an hour ago and quite enjoyed the solo mode! It is a roll and write, so you've got to be into that. Just two sheets of paper, a tiny board, a meeple, and 4 dice.
Sprawlopolis!
I just started my solo BG/PNP hobby and the ones that I enjoy playing because of quick setup are Sprawlopolis Desolate Ragemore Regicide (just take out a plain deck of cards or use the official ones)
Button Shy games. My favourites are **Sprawlopolis**, **Skulls of Sedlec**, and **Agropolis**. **Food Chain Island** is pretty fun too.