I’m guessing I’m not the only one who ever cobbled something together? If I am, this can be a short lived post. If not, we’ve got this community, so we can pull this thread up when someone has something to run by people. Hopefully we can find a few people out there with the appropriate interest/materials/group to provide additional insight. You can’t test these things on their own!
I’m going to leave this parent post generic and post an item as the first reply.
I’ve worked out a Mottainai solo variant. By my own estimation, it’s good (now). But you never trust your own estimation in these things.
Here’s the doc
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My general philosophy is that a good solo does three things:
In that order. I will always sacrifice a lower-down element for a higher one, if needed.
Mottainai has several solo variants up on the geek but they all failed these tests - some were easily exploitable as you could just avoid certain tasks to starve the bot, or they had complex decision making trees for managing the bot’s hand and selecting works and wings, etc.
I copied heavily from the Race for the Galaxy blueprint (in the first expansion) to abstract most of the actions. Eventually, it worked. I think I nailed 1 and 2. 3 is mostly nailed as well, though the first time you have the bot “Smith” you may have to follow the rules closely. It’s smooth once you’ve rehearsed it.
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You just need Mottainai and the rules. They are 2 pages. Jiro’s (the bot’s) actions are all on page 1, and the scoring is on page 2, so you shouldn’t have to flip at all when playing.
As noted, everything should be straightforward except Smithing. And after you Smith once or twice, I’m hoping that feels straightforward as well.
There’s an appendix for the effects of works that don’t make sense against a bot. My advice is - just don’t complete any works that don’t work in this context (at first). Once managing the bot is seamless, you can dive into all those edge cases.
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What I’d love to know:
I’ll give this a look at some point. Playing solo will help me internalise the rules
Ooh, I might have to take a look at this! Of course, I don’t actually own a copy of Mottainai, but this is a good excuse to pick up a copy. I actually looked into the available solo modes when I first saw this game, but was turned off for all the reasons you describe. Hopefully this will be the one!
Good news!
It’s free to print-and-play!
Shamelessly pinging the other known Mottainai players and Chudyk acolytes…
@EnterTheWyvern
@lalunaverde
@Whistle_Pig
@Benkyo
@InkyBloc
@VictorViper
While I do like Mottainai, I’m not going to play it solo, sorry.
I’ll give this a poke. I’m not particularly experienced with the game, but my partner and I have had a half dozen games or so, and the rules are pretty well internalized. We’ve started out with a good rivalry and I’m protective of that, so if it feels like a good trainer bot, I won’t be playing long for fear of widening the gap.
I’ve got another one.
Fossil - An Auction Card Game.
This is a game for 4-8 players with a 52 card deck. While it does mechanically support 4-8 players, 5-6 seems to be the sweet spot. 7-8 really benefits from all players already knowing the game well (per usual). 4 is a little meager.
This started as more of a frivolous party game but as we tested it it showed more muscle than expected. That said, your first play may feel random and undirected, in the vein of 6 nimmt. Yes, you’re having fun, but you don’t really have much control over things.
Somewhere in the first game or two, though, you may start to realize that what you auction allows you to manage other players’ hands, and the table state, setting you up for future turns. And as each auction turns into a mixture of open and hidden information, there is a very fast deduction game going on that may favor (or ruin) the speedy. And once you grok that, you can bluff that deduction game by doing something off-strategy, possibly snatching away something that isn’t rightfully yours.
Rounds are quick and rules are short, so I’m hoping some other groups out there can get a few plays in and let me know what is still janky. And, I hope, enjoy themselves in the process!
Cheers.
Well, might as well throw my hat into this…
Solo modes! Who doesn’t love them? I really enjoy designing what I like to call “player-driven” solo opponents, where instead of a beat-your-own-score thing or an automa system, the player sort of controls how the opponent works. I first came across this style of solo mode in Welcome To…, and have been enamored with it ever since.
Anyways! I designed a solo variant for Caper: Europe which you can find here: Syndicate of Scoundrels Solo Mode | Caper: Europe
And a solo/coop variant for Marvel: Remix (the Fantasy Realms spin-off) which you can find here: ComicCorp Solo/Cooperative Variant | Marvel: Remix I haven’t played Fantasy Realms so can’t speak to how this would work in that game, but I imagine it would play similarly.
I also have been working on a solitaire card game! Concrete Jungle--2022 Solitaire Print and Play Contest (Contest Ready) You play as an ape who has broken out of captivity, and needs to race across rooftops to escape the city before being re-captured. It’s a kinetic, puzzly little game that can be played with just 18 cards printed, and also has an online version available.
Cheers!
I will see if it works with Fantasy Realms! I don’t have the others to play.