10 games · 1 player
Solo games for one deck
Not the solitaire you grew up with. Each of these is a small puzzle with its own idea — draft a highway, fight off zombies, raid a temple — and you can win or lose.
From Isaludo, by Wil Su
Ten modern solo games for a standard deck of cards. None of them are “put a black seven on a red eight” solitaire: each one takes a single idea — drafting, push-your-luck, deduction, even trick-taking — and builds a small puzzle you can win or lose. The name means “to salute” in Filipino, and is also a mash-up of isa (one) and ludo (game).
All ten games were designed by Wil Su, some from scratch and some grown out of other games he credits on each page. Our pages explain the idea and the rules in our own words. The free book has the full rules, worked examples and his notes — find Isaludo on BoardGameGeek.
- K
Skyway
Draft stacks of cards into a 3×3 grid to build a tangle of highway overpasses.
15–20 min → The Sandwich Guy
Discard three cards at a time as evenly spaced “sandwiches” — and don't run out.
5–10 min →Area 52
Command a squad of black-card soldiers against two waves of red-card aliens.
10–15 min →- ★JOKER
Dead Center
Trapped in a cabin, you play cards into a 3×3 grid to fight off twelve zombies.
15–20 min → - Q
The First Boba Tea Shop in London
Push your luck managing four queues of impatient customers outside a milk-tea shop.
10–15 min → Foursquare
Grow a 4×4 grid of restaurants without too many closing at once.
10 min →Loot the Loop
Explore a temple that's really your deck, grabbing jewels and dodging traps.
15–20 min →Syndicate
A brain-burning puzzle: promote undercover agents up five ranks of the mob.
20–30 min →- J
Hide and Seek
Deduce where your friends are hiding in a grid of face-down face cards.
10–15 min → - J
The Emissary
A solo trick-taking game: win exactly the right number of debates in eight kingdoms.
20–30 min →