Board Game Arena

Shawn McCool wrote:If I could play solo, then I could learn SO MANY GREAT GAMES and then feel comfortable playing them online multiplayer.. At the moment, I want to play Race for the Galaxy... However, I would just be lost if I joined a random game.

BoardGameArena is the best way for me to learn a new game so far. But, I don't want to be pressured to learn in a real game, slowing down other people and removing their joy.

There is an option for this. Set up a table, and in the presentation, state "Learning Game -- can someone teach me?" (or something similar). Set it up as realtime--slow. Turn ELO to OFF. When people join, ask them if it is OK to change the time frame to turn-based, 2 turns per day.

Now, when the game starts, you can still play in real-time, but there won't be pressure to learn the interface and learn the game while trying to make a move within a set time. It is assumed you will still try to move the game along, but it will be without a timer ticking at you. Also, with the presentation and no ELO, you are more likely to find people who really enjoy the game, and want to get more people interested (so they can play against more people.... )

It may also be helpful if you send a message via "discuss with everyone" asking people to help teach you the game. I am a member of the Game Tutors group, and most of us are willing to teach new games to anyone.

Standard disclaimer: this is not guaranteed to work, your experience may vary, no warranty (expressed or implied), blah, blah, blah. But it often works.

I would pay money for solo options. I own a physical copy of Myrmes but still have played solo online on that *other* website, using premium membership. It's nice when I'm away from home or don't want to take up a table with the game.

As already mentioned, being able to play as both sides to learn would be nice.

Also, while not every game has a single player mode, a lot of games have great single player variants that are posted to the BGG forums. Some such variants are even created or endorsed by the original designers. Making some of these variants available would be awesome.

It is worth noting that there is a simple AI available for Can't Stop along this line; when you create the game it offers an option of 'play against the computer'.

Just make a second account and play non-ELO games against yourself to learn (so it doesn't look like you are trying to game the ladder). You just need two different browsers or two different machines.

it's done in Dark Agent Game,
SOLO and Multiplayer available...
So you can currently do it