I've never been one to play games solitaire. I played Agricola solitaire a couple times and it didn't really do much for me. I think this was largely because in Agricola the interaction between players is a major part of the game.

On the other hand (and for the first time ever), I'm having a blast playing At the Gates of Loyang solitaire. The modified card distribution phase for the solo game is very clever, and overall the game is very strong. After a handful of tries this week, yesterday I finally broke 18!! (score was 18+8, to be exact)

Personally, I highly recommend this as a solitaire game, even if you're not big into solitaire games. The randomness of the cards is what really makes the solo game work, imo.

What are everyone else's experiences with the solo game? what's your high score?

I've only played it twice so far, but my best score is a 16. I'm not very good at using the cards to predict what to grow yet. But I, too, am really enjoying it solitaire.

Unlike verandi I do enjoy solo variants in games: Roads and Boats and Le Havre being favorites.

After 4 games At the Gates of Loyang joins this list. As you mention the game works very well. The setting up of the "opponent" markets / customers burns through an unknown portion of the deck and the grid comes out random eavery game. Each game is therefore a new challenge.

Money is tight and you need a scalable plan to ensure you keep up the scoring pace. One mistep and suddenly you are behind and considering a loan which penalizes at the end.

I'm definately still progressing in terms of strategy and planning. Today I scored my best, 15 + 14. I was 3 cash from hitting 17, before the 1 loan penalty. I definately could have done better... I had 3 regular customers going mid-game and only managed a "triple step" once.

Good stuff, and for those who worry about downtime - there is none.

Edit: Played again this morning and scored 16 + 1. This game also taught me a valuable lesson. Don't panic. After the first few rounds I thought I was going to have a horrible game. No regular customers were coming up. So I took a deep breath and setup my fields and started picking off casual customers. Slowly I started to gain momentum. No loans helped too!

In about a dozen games with the current rule I only twice hit the 18. My hiscore is 18 +10 - but the most games end up with 17 + a few coins.

I almost every time hit the 17 with "almost 18 coins"!

Only once I hitted the 18... But, while playtesting, I tried some strategies and did not try to beat my highscore...

I played solo twice now and it's really, really good as solitaire.

One question regarding the card distribution: Is it correct, that even if I take for example two cards from row 1, all three cards from row 2 have to be discarded and two cards from row 3 will "jump" right into tow 1 after the phase?

I really like the solo game too. I just played it to get a feel for the game before trying to play with others, but have found myself playing it a few times more because it's good fun. I consistently hit 16, but can't get higher than that. I had a game a few days ago where I thought I'd managed it by using Saleswoman on three casuals in one round for 12 extra cash, but still couldn't hit 17!

Yes.

Thanks

Played it again (correctly) in the meantime and hit 18+4.

One question about solo game: when I buy/take a common field do I have to pay its additional cost?
I hope I do because I did it this way so far

My score: 18 +7.

Yes, you still have to pay the +2 cash when you buy a common field or take one as part of a 2 Pack (even if you place it on the bottom).

I agree, I played solo for the first time yesterday. I got a score of 18+0. I found myself in the same position someone else mentioned... no regular customers in my first 2 or 3 rounds, so I just got a bunch of fields going. I wound up making almost 50 or so cash in the last round, enough to jump up 4 spots.

I played a similar game to this, I built up a few regulars and casual customers by mid game and made a killing.

My first solo game score was 17 + 13 cash.

Second solo game score 19 + 2 cash.

Where is everyone starting? One the 1 or off the board?

I love this solo. I actually got to 19-11 last night by pulling an interesting move with the 2 packs I acquired. (and I started on the 1... which might be wrong... and if it is then it's an 18) It would probably never work again in a million years, but my last couple two packs were double casual customers, so in the last round I used the sales woman to make all my regular customers happy (so I could make them all mad) and then having the double stacked causual customers paid them all off at the +2 bonus and really jumped up the track!

That is correct, at least according to another post here someplace.

I started off the track in my games, but I will now start on the first place as you are supposed to start.

Brad

totally agree . it´s really great as a solitaire game ,much better than gric or harvey ...

i think my highscore was 18+ , should play again to unearth the truth ...

I have the same problem here I had with playing Agricola or Le Havre solitaire: I get distracted by something and can't figure out what I was doing. I suppose I should make up some phase cards or something to track what step I am at and what I have already finished.

Brad