Playing games alone...

[somonels]

Technically it's not playing but rather a necessary method of playtesting the cardflow unless you know how to calculate it Math style.
I loved M:tG because it was a puzzle and mental exercise in the guise of a game. So many hours spent laying cards down, solo.

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

Technically it's not playing but rather a necessary method of playtesting the cardflow unless you know how to calculate it Math style.
I loved M:tG because it was a puzzle and mental exercise in the guise of a game. So many hours spent laying cards down, solo.

This. I don't generally play multiplayer games by myself for the heck of it, but when it comes to playtesting a new MTG deck, you kind of have to. At the very least, I'll play through my first few hands, skipping the opponents turn, just to see how the thing draws. Not doing at least that much leaves you with a deck that you have no idea whether it'll work or not until you're actually playing against someone.

 

[Swny Nerdgasm]

As a serious optimizer in Pathfinder, I am constantly testing new builds for characters against creatures from the various bestiarys, so yes, I guess I do play with myself. lol

 

[Chairman Miaow]

I don't see how you can play against yourself. You know all your opponents plans and thoughts so you can't simulate a real game. That said, I'm not exactly one to talk as I used to play chess against myself a lot.

 

[SecondPrize]

I'd just fish hands to initially test decks out. Just keep dealing yourself hands and play just one side to turn X and redo it. It's a lot faster than what you describe and what you are really looking for is consistency, is your deck consistently getting your threats out/drawing answers. If it isn't tweak the mana-base, decklist, etc.

OT
Maybe Axis and Allies vs. myself sad.


If your deck is cheap, build it on MTGO. That is a great place for playtesting. If it ain't cheap, well it's not even cardboard there, just pixels so it's definitely not worth it.

 

[KingsGambit_v1legacy]

I tried playing chess against myself on numerous occasions, but usually with poor results. Knowing what the other "players" moves, strategy, cards or finances makes it impossible to play fairly if at all.

Examples given in this thread:
- MTG: You know what both/all players have in their decks and hands
- Monopoly: Trading properties between "players" cannot be unbiased or fair.
- Poker: In a game about chance and bluffing, simply can't be played.

Lego, blackjack and playing D&D/Pathfinder as both player and DM all can work. The first because it's not a "game" but a "toy", the second because it's entirely based on the turn of a card and the third because everything is decided by die rolls.

MTG can be played online, on a PC, which is probably a good way to do it. My phone has an excellent chess game on it.

 

[Risingblade]

I play single player games by myself...

 

[Powereaver]

I play with myself all the time.. oh wait.. wrong definition! *coughs* but yea sure sometimes when im bored ill pull out a deck of cards and play round the clock solitaire or something.. it usually passes the time well.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

When I was more into card games I did but I haven't done this in years. More recently (as in, within the past...12 to 18 months possibly) I would roll characters for the Star Wars RPG and...I think there were a couple of not-D&D-but-similar-game-type-of-game characters. I may roll out some new ones though as I may be able to play some table-top RPGs in the not-too-distant-future which I look forward too especially since I haven't had a chance to actually play the Star Wars RPG and I've come up with some Old Republic scenarios since I don't care about the time period portrayed in the movies (well, it may be alright playing out the adventures of a band of Jedi trying to survive Order 77...or was it Order 66...?)

As for Video Games: I play single player almost exclusively. My Xbox360 isn't hooked up to Live (nor can it maintain a connection anyway) and I don't even think I own any 3DS games that I can play online...oh wait Mario Kart...either way, don't care about multiplayer. Bot matches were awesome but those seem to have gone away for some reason.

 

[joshuaayt]

Back in the day I'd spend hours playing the Pokemon TCG alone- I had a whole bunch of themed decks, and sorta had a rule system for how each "Gym leader" would respond to my moves.

I tried that again just a few months ago, and couldn't resist cheating- I guess I had a lot of self control, as a kid.

 

[Palademon]

Yeah, I play with myself all the time.

But if I want to try out my decks I nag my brother to play against me using a structure deck.

 

[Sean Hollyman]

I tend to enjoy single player games more, so..

 

[Appleshampoo]

I don't have many friends, so I play pretty much everything alone. Sure, it'd be nice to have some people to explore new games with, but whatever.

I'm a lone wolf. Live alone, die alone. LONE WOLF.

 

[DirtyJunkieScum]

I assume you mean games that are meant to be 2+ player and not on a computer so you can't use bots?

I used to when I was a kid and was quite into games, it helped you to work out strategies etc, see how likely an outcome was etc, basically playtesting. I usually GM'd RPGs when I was a kid and running through combat scenarios in Cyberpunk, WHFRP and AD&D was especially helpful as a GM since you didn't want to put in challenges were going to crush your players like a bugs. Going through a combat a couple of times with copies of their character sheets and the proposed enemy helped to avoid unwanted TPKs.
As for other vs style games you couldn't really play a game per-Se, it was more a case of running through different combat situations to see what the most likely outcomes were. 40K and Epic were ok for that.

There were a couple that could actually be played solo as a game, such as Space Hulk, as it had solo play rules, although they made genestealers more vicious than sneaky. Advanced Heroquest had similar solo play rules.

These days I do occasionally play the odd game but since my upstairs neighbour is into playing various GW games I pretty much always have an opponent on hand.