September Solo Boardgaming Challenge

It's been a ROUGH year for boardgaming, so I want to start turning that around. I'm going to attempt to not only play at least one game per day in September, but they're all going to be either solo games or solo variants of games I currently own. Historically, I've never been one to play solo games because I really enjoy the camaraderie social aspect that board games naturally bring. Instead of playing a solo board game, it's significantly easier to just play a game on my phone or fire up a game of Age of Empires against the AI on my PC. However, I have shelves of games that aren't getting any love. Why have such investment in something that you're not going to use? 

My mental health has suffered greatly from not having the outlet of gaming for the better part of the past six months. Now that the school year is starting and we're getting back into our normal routines, it seems like a perfect opportunity to incorporate something small and manageable in the afternoons, either before or after dinner instead of just screwing around on my phone. Part of my New Year's Goals is reducing screen time and I've done pretty well by using time restrictions on my go-to time wasting apps. Attempting this challenge will kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I get to play board games and I work towards one of my health goals for this year.

Using BoardGameGeek's advance search function, it shows that I've got enough games that can be played solo for all 30 days this month. There are also unofficial fan made solo variants for nearly all of the games I own, so I won't be left wanting for options. Then there are also dozens of solitaire games that only use a traditional deck of cards. I thought of making a schedule that listed what I was going to play each day as a part of this post, but I feel like making it that strict would take away from the fun. Instead, I've done my research and pulled all of the games I may want to play solo. I probably won't get to them all, but just looking at the pile of opportunity has me excited to get back to doing something I enjoy so much.

Ideally, I successfully get in at least one game in everyday and find more enjoyment in playing games solo than I have before. Even if I find solo gaming really isn't for me, at least I'll have engaged in one of my favorite hobbies. If you want to follow along with the challenge, I'll be posting a picture of each game that I play on my twitter account. If you're a solo gamer, please post some of your favorite games to play.

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