Introduction

A series of quick descriptions of Button Shy games, with a focus on solo games and solo expansions.

These aren’t in any particular order at all, and I will try to keep this up to date as I play more and more Button Shy games!

Last updated: December 2023.

Table of Contents:

Sprawlopolis, Agropolis, Naturopolis

Sprawlopolis, Agropolis, and Naturopolis (Steve Aramini, Danny Devine, Paul Kluka) are excellent tile-laying games that can be played solo or 2-player co-op. They’re tile-layers with a huge variety of scoring conditions possible each game through clever use of two sides of the card. Sprawlopolis is one of the games that got Button Shy on the “map” of larger gamer audience awareness.

But More Specifically

Sprawlopolis: the original, and I think the most thematically cohesive (even though I’m not too into cities). Has the most expansions and is a trailblazer for expansions in the *opolis series in general; expansions for the others are often based on ones for Sprawlopolis. Rules are the simplest.

Agropolis: the second game in the series, thematically about farming. If you love the open lands for farm activities, this is a prime choice. Agricola’s main mechanical difference is in its scoring cards – the “feed fees” system, which can alter the target score of a card upwards depending on animal and feed icons at the bottom of all the current scoring cards. This leads to an interesting interdependence in set-ups that vary the target score much more often than in either Sprawlopolis or Naturopolis. Rules are the most complex in the series.

Naturopolis: the third game, which deserves to be sold in all gift shops for the national parks in any nation. The theme is not just the outside but specifically the natural wonders of the world – forests, rivers, mountains. If you love nature and especially if you love being in nature, this theme will strike a chord. The main change in Naturopolis is the introduction of rivers, which some scoring cards use, which is nice because now roads are doubly penalized (-2 points each instead of -1) while rivers have no such penalties and provide a second “line element” for tiling. Rules complexity is between Sprawl and Agro.

About Differences in Difficulty

I feel this is an extremely personal determination each individual will eventually make. Some claim Naturo is easiest, some claim Agro, I don’t think anyone claims that for Sprawl. I lose them all equally often (99.9999% of the time) but I love them all, even when they don’t love me.

At the Helm

At the Helm (Ted Heidersdorf) is a very well done deck builder in 18 cards. I found myself surprisingly loving it – and while I tend to love deck builders, I played big ones like Dominion (the trend setter). However, At the Helm has several unique aspects plus being lots more portable and great for a table of one.

Ancient Realm

Ancient Realm (Steve Aramini) is a wonderful condensing of a civ builder into 18 cards, believe it or not! Compared by some to 7 Wonders in theme and some of the feel, I rather like it and its current expansion (Monuments & Misfortunes). The way each card carries multiple blocks on the front, and districts carry abilities on the back, add up to a huge decision space (as noted by someone else on the Button Shy Discord).

River Wild

River Wild (Steve Aramini) is another tile layer that utilizes a river-based mechanic that I feel is, for once in the history of games, actually meaningful. Through the rivers and land pieces you create isolated lands that have different scoring conditions based on mythical creatures on them. I will say that the way this river tiles is a little tricky, so be sure to allow yourself grace for the slight learning curve.

SpaceShipped

SpaceShipped (Lucas Gentry) is a very good solo game that has thematic ties as well as some mechanics (in terms of buying and selling goods, and traveling through space in your little ship) to games like the vaunted classic Merchant of Venus. But in 18 cards and maybe 30 minutes instead of the entire dining table and six hours. I quite love this solo game, and as it’s often out of stock, it’s very beloved for many too.

Tides

Tides (Mike Berg), whether solo or for 2, is a very relaxing set collector based on the theme of beachcombing and hand crafting. The solo AI is one that I especially like for its simple running yet ferocious scoring ability. A relaxing game I return to again and again – as games with the theme of the ebb and flow of tides are often wont to be.

Tussie Mussie

Tussie Mussie (Elizabeth Hargrave; solo with Mike Mullins’ Flower Shoppe expansion) is a very excellent “I pick, you choose” game with a theme of creating floral bouquets. Every flower has special scoring conditions that interact with the other elements of the bouquet you build. The AI is skillfully done. All the expansions available can be used in solo. One of my faves.

Death Valley

Death Valley (Kevin Ellenburg; solo mode with Mike Mullins) is a push-your-luck game that works really well solo with the AI. I love the artwork – really reminiscent of a run of art commissioned by the national parks of the USA – portraying the environments and animals of Death Valley. Scoring abilities on each card make it a challenge to decide when to risk going bust, and add an element of tableau manipulation that interacts with the busting you almost inevitably end up doing.

Antinomy

Antinomy (John Baluci; solo with Mike Mullins’ Solar Flare expansion) is one of my first Button Shy games, and I love it dearly. This is a game based on the set collection mechanic, subgenre “single shared attribute in a set, multiple attributes distributed among cards”. The AI is lovely, and the way you use cards to manipulate your position on a timeline of cards, to pick up and create sets, is a nice little frisson of balancing the timing of your gameplay. I also do love the art.

The Maiden in the Forest

The Maiden in the Forest (Todd Sanders) is a solo game I wish I had picked up much earlier when it first came out. The fairy-tale theme of being a maiden trapped in a magical forest, using animal friends to manipulate the placement of tree cards (in a circle around you) into specific patterns to deactivate them in time to escape – I love it so. This game keeps going out of print all the time and I just scooped it, but the PNP worked for me fine for years.

Pentaquark

Pentaquark (Mike Mullins) very popular for good reason. Themed on particle accelerators – very unique among games – you are manipulating a deck of particles in order to end up with a scoring set at the end. As particles can annihilate each other in specific combinations, being able to time how you manage your quark particles is very important! I like adding the Top Quarks expansion if I tire of the base game’s difficulty at times, though I am decent at the base game by now.