Diskworld Solo

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Terry Pratchett passed away today. Not really a surprise, but still sad.

In honor of his memory, I broke out DiskWorld for a solo play.

This is not as easy as someone unfamiliar with the game may believe, as play depends on a lot of hidden information.

The two hands are Vetinari and Lord de Worde.

Vimes is the "AI" but doesn't have a hand.

The goal is for Vetinari and de Worde to screw each other over until the deck runs out. But not screw each over too much, else one of them will win. (Thinking about it, this really ought to be Vetinari's role as the manipulator he is, not Vimes, but whatever.)

I don't know whether my notion would work as a truly viable solitaire option for this game, but it doesn't really matter, as I've only played it once before and this is a great way to get more familiar with it.

Some notes:

  • When I forget whose turn it is, I proceed with the hand with the fewest cards, or the hand with the worst position on the board. This means sometimes a hand gets to go twice, but I forget a lot, so it evens out.

Vetinari "won" this play.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.