SOLITUDE: DISCOVERING SOLO PLAY IN AN EMPTY GAME CAFÉ

In a time of isolation, like the lockdowns of 2020, the modern board game hobby has a weird identity.

- Kevin Hadley

On one hand, families are desperately looking for activities for their kids to engage in beyond video streaming and digital media; on the other hand, gamers may be left with either no one to play with or restricted to simpler “family-friendly” games. As I sat by myself in front of my board game library, I decided to find solace in the back of the rulebook; the place where the rules for solo mode are typically found.

Spreading the Love of Gaming

As a board game café owner, my family and I were hit especially hard due to the lockdowns. We opened The Meeple’s Café in Gilbert, Arizona, during the summer of 2019 with an unstoppable motivation to bring a hobby we loved to others. Our mission from conception was to provide fun, food, and fellowship. Unfortunately, all three became extremely difficult to fulfill in 2020.

One of our niche services is renting out board games, like video stores used to do for DVDs and VHS tapes. Our rentals picked up quite a bit for families who were looking for a digital alternative, but I felt ill-equipped to offer a solution to those casual and serious gamers who needed something beyond family-friendly games. Applying my problem solving, I was reminded of the solo mode of one of my favorite games, Wingspan by Elizabeth Hargrave. While we could only offer food for takeout and fellowship was strictly forbidden during the lockdown, I had to investigate if solo games were a solution to the first third of our mission: fun. Could I recommend games based on their solo modes to our more hardcore customers?

Party of One