I've been of the opinion that the solo series is a neat idea - rewarding you for good play, and becoming harder and harder to "win" each game by raising the target score. However in the first 5 solo games I played it seemed incredibly easy to not only succeed in the first game, but to blow the target score away, starting the second game with plenty of food to play Occupations, pay for nifty stuff your occupations give you, or just feed your family in the first harvest.

Granted, those 5 games were all played "two-headed moron" style - where a friend and I would basically collaborate on a game and try to do our best. It's probable that makes it easier to do well, and I figured our team of 2 was probably doing better than most single people could do... but I got the impression that even alone the game would be too easy.

So, tonight I played 2 games in a new Solo series using the E deck. I tried to make it a point to play faster than we do in the "team" game, rather than meticulously planning every action up to the next harvest. Instead, while I did a lot of planning, I tried to go somewhat with my gut. In the first game I managed a score of 65, and chose to keep the Mason. I think that was a mistake, because I also had the Grocer, which would probably have been a better bet, especially considering I was going to start game 2 with 7 food, enough to buy just about all the groceries the guy had to offer! I did well in the early game by hiring that Grocer, taking Day Labor several times, plowing 2 fields, and then planting the Grain and Veggie I got from the Grocer. I figured that Day Labor was sort of like taking 2 resources (the ones off the top of the Seller's stack), and I went from there. It helped that the Grocer gives a Stone in the early game, so I was able to get a Clay oven in a hurry.

In the second game I was sorry I didn't have the Grocer because I realized I'd have to wait forever to get Stone. I had several Minor Improvements that required 1 Stone! But I made use of the Mason by only having to build rooms once during the game. I had an Axe (requires 1 Stone!), so I saved up enough wood to buy 4 Stables and 2 rooms (12 wood), and built it all at once. Later, after upgrading to Stone I immediately got a 5th room. I ended with a score of 71 points in that game, a full 16 points ahead of the target score - an even bigger margin than in game 1! I nearly chose to keep the Clay Mixer (2 extra Clay when you take the Clay space) in the first game, and I drew him again here. I also had the Seasonal Worker guy (+1 Grain with Day Labor action), who I nearly kept this time as well. Instead I decided to keep the Meat-Seller, because I figure next game I can start by getting room for 3 sheep and starting to breed them right away, and that's 2 food per turn right there. No need to buy a Fireplace or Hearth (I'll likely be getting an oven anyway). The biggest disappointment was not keeping the Grocer because getting Grain, Veggie, and Stone that early and without even having to spend an action is a really big deal.

I'd already given some thought into how to make the Solo Series more challenging and therefore more fun. One thing that I think would help is to stop juicing the animal spaces once they get 4 animals on them. I wouldn't want to quit juicing anything else, but with the animals I think it makes sense - if you want them to breed then you have to actually make room for them and take them onto your farm... not just let them breed int he wild before collecting all of them at once!

One more thing that might make it a bigger challenge is to spread that free food out so you don't get it all up front. Maybe put 1 food on each space, starting from Round 14 and counting down... so if you start with 7 food you get it in rounds 8-14. This would still be a reward, as the later part of the game would lighten a little, but the early food combined with free occupations really makes the game trivial.

Any other thoughts on making the Solo series more of a challenge?