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Can You Play Villainous by Yourself?

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Do you know how to play Villainous alone? Disney Villainous board game takes your time to plot, scheme, and strategize just like a villain does. 

From Captain Hook to Ursula, there are 6 iconic characters to choose from. The best part of this game is that you can play villainous by yourself without changing the rules up to accommodate solo gameplay. 

Can you play Villainous by yourself? Yes, you can play Villainous on your own. Villainous is known as a family friendly game that requires 2 to 6 players. 

However, this game can be played solo with the same rules and a creative twist. There are couple of slight adjustments and tools you need to enjoy this game properly.

To play Villainous by yourself, you need a turn counter to keep track of your turns, a 20-sided die called D20  and 10-sided die or D10 or just use Power tokens. Start the game with no Power tokens and the winner must complete the villain’s objective within 20 turns. 

By playing Disney’s Villainous alone, it allows you to discover the best gameplay method by familiarizing yourself with villains and techniques to win or defeat. In addition, each villains has special abilities and game mechanics that you get to play each villain in a different experience. 

However, sometimes it may not work well with solo player rules, so there are special rules and tips to certain villains. 

In this article, we will review endless possible ways, rules, and tips to play Villainous by yourself. Answered below are frequently asked questions about single player Villainous and the best gameplay methods.

Is villainous hard to play alone?

As a beginner, you might feel villainous in a hard-to-play alone game. However, as you understand rules, follow tips and tricks, it is the best gameplay whether you are indoor or outdoor and have a company to play with. Using simple tricks, you can have fun even alone with this game.

The one thing that several players find tough is to roll the dice D10 twice for each turn. Play the game as 2 opponents. The second tough thing is 1-4 or 40 percent Fate per roll. Take 18 turns rather than 20. 

Furthermore, Ratigan is the hardest villain for beginners to play due to having 2 different objectives of the character. So, when you select Ratigan as role to play, take time and strategize the game as you play. 

In contrast, other villains are fun enough to play few times. They do feel similar but different enough that it’s worthwhile to play while taking rounds. 

Know there are 3 steps of gameplay that starts as a player moves the villain to a new location, perform any of the actions and draw back up to four cards. With each gameplay, understanding rules, and with some tips, you can equally enjoy the solo gameplay.

Villainous Solo Player Rules

Villainous board game for solo players requires a slight modification, but generally the rules are followed the same. There are some new additions like difficulty choice, alterations in fate action, condition cards clarified, and some extra instructions for each villain.

Here are useful solo player rules to follow:

  • Set the board as per the instruction manual. Playing alone, you start with no Power tokens.
  • The point is to finish the object of your villain in 20 turns. When playing solo, you can go with 18 turns.
  • Fate Actions can be taken by drawing 2 cards from the fate deck. Decide on what is the most devastating at that moment. When you get both at the same level, you flip a coin or roll a dice. If neither can be played, fate is escaped.
  • To end your turn, adjust the counter by drawing cards and taking the optimum to your hand limit. Once 20 turns are over, the game is finished.
  • The opponent’s turn starts after your turn ends.
  • Roll the D10 and see if the opponent performs fate and if your roll 1-4 or 40% chance on dice then fate is on yourself.
  • Your next turn starts with the other player being finished.

The great part of Villainous for solo player is that you can easily adjust the difficulty level of the game. 

Sometimes on many other board games, there are no options to adjust the level to challenge. If you want to switch Villains to make an easier or harder game, here are ways to adjust based on your comfort.

  • Start the game with 5 power for an easier start.
  • Increase the number of turns for an easier game and decrease the turns for harder game. However, it is not recommended to adjust above 5 or more.
  • Decrease the dice value that triggers fate for easier game and increase the value to make it harder game. But do no adjust beyond 2 or more. 

For solo player, each villain characters slight change based on their power and game mechanics. This will give you different experience every time you play. 

Here are different rules for special Villain characters:

  • Maleficent (Raven): It is a powerful card to be able to perform one action at a new location. Change it up so he can still fly to new location to help others, but needs more strength to defeat a Hero.
  • Lady Tremaine (Locked Up): It is condition cards that are locked up as this villain has no-vanquish actions. Playing “Locked Up” when a Hero is removed from the board, but when discarding Cinderella to play ball gown Cinderella does not count in this case. 
  • Gaston(Maurice’s Invention): This is card as a normal item with no strength. 

Tips for playing Villainous by yourself

There are clear set of rules for solo player when it comes to Villainous board game. Mostly when playing the board game by yourself, it about learning how to play the game and character decks. 

But if you want to play villainous by yourself, here are some tips and tricks to help you enjoy the game in maximum:

  • Adjust the toughness level of the game when playing alone by decreasing or increasing the number of turns. However, keep it above 5 turns.
  • Understand your villain character to diagnose and understand their psychology.
  • Try reading and learn the opponent’s villain’s flaws to counterattack.
  • Explore rage levels of the opponent like how much power, how much anger or how far they can go.
  • Hide the feelings properly to defend well.
  • Find a voice and great a costume for your villain, cosplay makes it extra fun.
  • Look for the humor and humanity of the villain.

Playing Villainous by yourself has a lot of positive aspects. 

The playtime averages 15 to 20 minutes after gaining experience with each villain. They possess unique strength and weaknesses to make it more fun to play with different characters. 

Additionally, downtime is very limited with a dice due to less players and pauses in between turns. 

How to play Villainous alone

To start playing Villainous alone, you will need a 20-sided dice, a counter for tracking the turns, a 10-sided dice, power tokens, and the game board. 

The game include a fate action deck, condition cards, and rules. Overall, it is a 20 minutes gameplay or less depending on your level of experience.

Let’s take steps on how to play Villainous alone:

  • Set the board, take 10-sided dice to roll and draw 4 cards.
  • Take your turn and to win or lose you have 20 turns to play.
  • Roll the dice at end of each turn.
  • When you have a 1-4 or 40% chance, fate is performed on you.
  • When fated, draw 2 cards.
  • Slot the card that is most devastating at that moment, discard the second.
  • Spin the 20-sided dice to 1 and take your subsequent turn.
  • Trigger condition cards in your turn when you finish the objective mentioned. Once done, discard the condition card.
  • At the finish of a turn after you finished the condition objectively, draw 3 cards.
  • Win before 20 turns.

The basic steps for Villainous game is moving your villain to a different location as long as it is not locked and you may not stay at your previous location. Each location has symbols representing the actions you may need to take. 

At the end of your turn, draw cards. If you have fewer than four cards in your hand, draw from Villain deck until you have four. 

How to play Villainous by yourself

Single Player Villainous Board Game: Conclusion

If you are a huge fan of Disney and enjoyed playing Villainous with groups of family and friends, you will also love to play board games alone

It is possible to play Villainous by yourself. To play Villainous alone, you need some adjustment on the rules and Villain characters to make the gameplay more fun and challenging.

To set the game, you need to prepare a turn counter to keep track, 20-sided and 10-sided dice, and Power tokens. Due to single player, you will begin the game without token, and to win this game by completing the objective of villains within 20 turns. 

As solo player, Villainous tends to be difficult to play as there are certain parts that make this game challenging. 

One is when rolling the D10 dice twice for each turn and play the game as 2 opponents and the second difficulty is the 40% Fate per roll. Last obstacle is the character Ratigan is hard to play as it has 2 roles in one character.

By understanding the rules of the game with a few helpful tips and tricks, the gameplay is worth. Playing Villainous by yourself will help you study each character’s ability and game mechanics so you can prepare yourself to win next time you play with groups of friends on a game night. 

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