Last night, following my game of 7-Wonders (solo) and building my civilization, I had time before bed to break out, Spyrium for some solo play. Plus my tea wasn't gone. ;)
Since purchasing the game from GeekMarket, I experimented with one of the only solo variant's out there for the game that I came across on, you guess it, BGG. This variant is actually modified from "Simple solo variant" by another BGG member. Spyrium is a unique worker placement game, and really the interaction and choices of your opponents is part of what makes it fun (and challenging). This solo variant does the best it can to at least make you think.
I'm not a huge fan of "beat your own score" solo variants, but when you love a game like I love, Spyrium... and no one is willing to play with you... You take what you can get. :) I will say th
ough, this is only the third game trying this variant, and it went much smoother now that I understand both the game, and variant better.
The one downfall is, you need a D16 and a D20 (unless you want to cut out the cards the file provides). My issue is, I'm not a big RPG guy (yet anyway) so I don't have those dice. I have to use an app I downloaded on my phone. Which is fine, but I find when I'm relaxing with a tabletop game, I really don't want any screens around me at all. That's part of the enjoyment of tabletop gaming to me.
As I mentioned, this game was much smoother. So much so that I crushed my previous score now that I know the game/variant better. The first time I tried it I scored an embarrassing 17-VPs. I'm pretty sure I didn't tally the building VPs properly, and I was so focused on learning both the game and solo variant that it just wasn't meant to be pretty in any way shape or form. LOL Game 2 was "much better" scoring a whopping 39-VPs. Hehe....
After messaging a question or two on the forum about some rules, I understood things a bit more. So last night trying the solo variant for a third game, I smashed my first two games finishing with 60-VPs (and a much better understanding of the variant). :)
Although it's not as great as the multiplayer game, it at least gets you thinking "Spyrium-like" as a bit of practice for multiplayer rounds. :) ... Plus it's so cool looking, and it's just fun to say SPYRIUM!