Whatever happened to... Solotober?
In October JW joined a challenge to play a different solo game every day. He also aimed to get ten games off the shelf of shame that month. But after two weeks things got awfully quiet. Leaving readers wondering: did he fail, did he flee, is he even still alive? We are used to not hearing from him for a long time, but when November came and went, we agreed to send an investigating team over to the Netherlands. JW refused to open the door to them, claiming "covid isolation". Our team left him a threatening note. A week later, this is what we received in the mail.
Ah yes, Solotober! Those were the days.
Here are some links if you missed the previous posts:
I played 13 more solo games that month, and I'm not going to pretend I remember much from those plays. So here are some pictures for you all.
Week 3
Four games from the shelf of shame this week! That's as many as in the first two weeks combined. Two of them turned out to be crazy hard: Kick-Ass: The Board Game and Ghost Stories. Ghost Stories immediately jumped into my personal Top 20. Kick-Ass is certainly fun, but not anything remarkable (at first sight). I had played the PnP version of With a Smile & a Gun when it was on Kickstarter, but there is a lot of solo stuff added to the published version. I still like it a lot. My first few plays of Maeshowe left me in doubt. I won three out of four plays on medium difficulty. I should look into the variants I think.
Week 4
The last week started great, with my all-time high score for At the Gates of Loyang. 19 points may very well be the highest possible score in solo. Then I completed my goal of playing ten games from the shelf of shame. Cthulhu: Death May Die turned out to be good fun - perhaps a bit expensive as I don't really need those minis, but I had a good time. As for In Magnificent Style, it could only disappoint as my expectations had gone sky high over the last few years. But, looking back on it from December, I did enjoy the gameplay. I should really get it back on the table soon. The month ended with some old favourites: Maximum Apocalypse and Apex Theropod.
And then: 31 October. Just one solo game left to play. But a recently acquired friend invited me over to celebrate Halloween at his place for a 6-person Eldritch Horror. My number one game for many years. How could I refuse? So I had a great day, but I failed Solotober.
In conclusion
I had a great month, playing all those games. That said, it's not something I can do often. Just once or twice a year, I think. Also, ten new games in a month is too much. You can play each game three times at most. That may not even be enough for a first impression. Also, for most I'm going to have to refresh the rules when I want to play them again, so what's the use? They've merely been moved from one shelf to another.
I really like challenges, but to tell the truth I almost always fail them. So I guess I don't take them seriously enough. To me they are mainly a way to structure the days. And to have fun, doing something silly. I was glad I could push the brakes in November, playing Legendary Marvel 15 times in a row, Arnak 10 times and a handful of filler games. Nothing taxing.
And then I signed up for two challenges in December. 🤪 So, be prepared to read something about Dicember and the Deep-Dive December 2021 Challenge next.
In March.
Epic. Fail, JW. Just kidding. I actually think it is good you changed directions and chose to do something different on Halloween. The key is that you had a good time and that is all that matters in the end.
This post keeps bugging me. The red cross on the 31st is just something I can't endure!!! Please go back in time and play one game. Amazon has started to offer cool wayback trips these days for the most wealthy. Apparently it only takes the energy amount of a nuclear blast to achieve it.
Maybe with some crowdfunding you could afford one? I'm sure lots of people will be willing to support you to correct this mistake. History will feel better afterwards.
Don't wait too much though. The farthest you go back, the more expensive (and energy-consuming) it gets.
(From my computation, 1s would cost the equivalent of 1 year of the total energy radiated by the sun, so 50…
Very nice but I would be mad not getting the 31st. Maybe that's why I don't do challenges.
Deep Dive December sounds really nice. I wanted to do it with Bullet - something like 30 plays of it. But truth is, the only game I'm "deep diving" these days is Rent Application*. I have logged something like 15 plays of it already, and all the other games are just seemingly gone now that I'm into it.
*visit an apartment, send your application if you want it, and try to roll a 20 with a d20 to see if you do get it; a bit of exploration, a bit of drafting, a bit or harsh and cruel randomness.
Nice, JW! That's a sweet array of gamin' bliss. I saw Herbaceous, which I've played (and liked it okay). Herbaceous Sprouts has gone on and off my WishList more than once. Have you played that one? And if so, what say you?
You didn't play a Solo game on Halloween? Doh! You don't have some 5-minute game you coulda used to complete Solotober? Well, you still got a "A+" for the challenge, I'd say! It sounds as if you probably had great night, though. Did ya win?