Solotober 2025: Recap
/ 5 min read
Table of Contents
Over a month ago, I wrote about Solotober, a monthly commitment to solo gaming during the month of October.
October has come and gone, so I wanted to reflect on the past month. In short, I had a great time playing a bunch of solo games!
The Stats
A grid outlining which games I played during Solotober 2025
- Across the 31 days of October, I played solo games on 18 of those days (on 13 I played no solo games). 1 of those 13 days I did play some arcade games solo (I’m looking at you Galaga).
- I played 4 games twice: A Gentle Rain, Orchard, Mini Rogue and Fluxx: Star Trek Deep Space Nine,
- 9 games plays were IRL (PnP or owned copies) and 9 were digital implementations on Board Game Arena.
- Most of my playes were loses, defeats or a winning with a below average score. The one game were I scored very well was Wine Celler, with 75 points which makes me a master sommelier, just in case you were wondering.
- I’ve added at least 30 games to my want to play and/or want to own list. Surprsingly, I only bought 2 games during October (Citadels and Love Letter) thanks to Prime Day. It’s November now, which mean by budget resets so who know what I’ll buy this month.
- I played 5 games for the first time during Solotober.
Goals, schmoals
I had set some loose goals and I hit the mark on most of them!
A good chunk of the games during Solotober, I played for the first time. Like A Gentle Rain, which is very cozy and was the shortest cool down time between purchase (late September) to actually opening the box to play.
One of my favorite aspects of Solotober was hearing about games that have solo mode I did not know existed.
${INSERT GAME NAME} has a solo mode?!? - Me, at least one a week during Solotober
Some are official. Some are fan-made, but the ones I tried were fun. I did not win any of the rounds of the Mille Bornes solo variant I played, but it was nice dusting off a game I’ve had for a while. The official solo rules to Fluxx — yes, all the Fluxx games can be played solo — were chaotic which is very on brand for Fluxx. I won (at least one goal completed) both times I played solo.
I intended to play more PnPs across the challenge, but sometimes it did not work out. I have many PDFs downloaded and ready to go, but I missed getting enough dice for the one I really wanted to play, Monsters Over Pancakes. Yes, I know virtual dice exist, but it’s not the same. Next time! My copy of Orchard is PnP, so that counts!
I learned a lot about my gaming style
I play games as a brain break, so games with minimal or no set up are high on my play list. Pentaquest is a good example of one I thought was intimidating, but had no set up other than shuffling a deck. Along those lines, shorter, filler type games were the ones I played the most during Solotober. Anything where the rules were straightforward enough to remember without having to refernce the rulebook the whole time. Fluxx nearly broke me since I rarely play it IRL. Most of the games I played, could be played in 20 mins (including set up). For me, this is perfect for taking a break - completing a task because my brain likes completing tasks - then moving onto something else.
Games I wanted to play, but didn’t.
I kept seeing other folks play games that I would flag in my brain to play, only to immediately forget. Anyway, bookmarks exist, so I have a nice backlog for future me. The Mint Works game came up several times. So did Mr. Cabbagehead’s Garden (surprise, food themed games pique my interest). A Count of Nine Estates looks like something I would like too. Also, how can you not buy Honey Heist when the hook is “You have a complex plan that requires precise timing” and “You are a GODDAMN BEAR.” Strawberry Sunset is also one of my favorite games and it does have a solo variation! It’s just not in the BGA implemenation so I’ll need to buy my own copy.
Adjacent to this, I learned more about game mechanics that I want to explore. I hadn’t heard of solo journeling RPGs but holy crap, what a cool concept! Also, other than standard solitare, I didn’t know there were other games that can be played with a standard deck of cards. This opens up a lot of new options for solo gaming!
Anything else?
Wow wow wow, Solotober was a lot of fun! Trying new games, revisiting old favorites and hanging with the solo gaming community was delightful! I have free will, so buying those wishlist games is always tempting, but I also have a decent stock at home (which includes unprinted PnPs) so my wallet should be ok for now.
Maybe