Yes, you can absolutely play a co-op game by yourself even if the designers never included a solo mode. The practice of playing cooperative games alone, often called solo co-op gaming, is one of the fastest-growing hobbies in tabletop and video gaming circles. You take on the roles of multiple players, adapt a few rules, and make all the decisions yourself instead of debating them around a table.
I have spent years playing cooperative board games and video games solo, testing everything from two-handed sessions of heavy strategy games to lone-wolf runs through team shooters. What I have learned is that almost any co-op game can be adapted for solo play if you understand a few core principles. Whether you are managing your game collection or just want to enjoy a title that your gaming group never seems to have time for, solo co-op opens up a world of possibilities.
In this guide, I will walk you through every strategy I use to solo co-op games that were never built with a single-player option in mind. You will learn the multi-hand technique, practical house rules, difficulty scaling methods, digital tools that help, and which popular games actually shine when played alone.
Table of Contents
How to Solo a Co-op Game: The Core Approaches?
There are five primary methods for playing a co-op game solo, and most successful solo sessions combine two or three of them together. Here is the numbered breakdown I use every time I tackle a new title.
Multi-hand play — You control two or more characters yourself, treating each one as a separate seat at the table.
Rule streamlining — You simplify or remove mechanics that require multiple players, such as trading or simultaneous action selection.
Difficulty scaling — You adjust enemy strength, time limits, or resource availability to match the power level of a single player’s combined forces.
Automata and AI opponents — You use a deck of cards, dice rolls, or an app to simulate the actions of missing players or enemies.
Information management — You decide how to handle hidden information, limited communication rules, and information asymmetry when one brain controls everything.
Not every approach fits every game. A cooperative board game with open information takes to multi-hand play like a fish to water. A video game built around split-screen teamwork may need difficulty scaling and AI companions instead. I will cover each approach in depth below.
Playing Multiple Roles: The Multi-Hand Technique
The multi-hand technique is the single most common way to solo a co-op game that lacks an official solo mode. Instead of one player controlling one character, you control multiple characters yourself. In the board gaming world, this is often called two-handed play when you manage two characters, or multi-hand when you juggle three or more.
I tried this for the first time with a cooperative dungeon crawler that required a minimum of two players. Running one melee fighter and one ranged support character felt natural within a few turns. The key is treating each character as a distinct entity with its own strategy, resources, and priorities. You are not playing one super-character. You are playing several characters who happen to share your brain.
Step-by-Step: Setting Up a Multi-Hand Solo Session
Follow these steps to get your first multi-hand session running smoothly.
Start with two characters only. Jumping straight into four-handed play is how people burn out. Two characters let you learn the rhythm without drowning in decisions.
Choose complementary roles. Pick characters that cover each other’s weaknesses, like a tank paired with a healer or a scout paired with a heavy hitter.
Arrange your play area deliberately. Give each character its own designated space, dice pool, and card hand. Visual separation prevents you from mixing up resources.
Take turns in strict order. Resolve one character’s entire turn before moving to the next. Do not interleave actions unless the game specifically allows it.
Resist the urge to optimize perfectly. Part of the fun of solo play is experimentation. Over-optimizing every move can make the game feel like homework.
One forum gamer on r/soloboardgaming put it perfectly: solo play requires thinking through and using every ability to its fullest. When you control multiple roles, you start seeing synergies between characters that you would never notice when each person only pilots one. That insight is one of the great joys of multi-hand gaming.
Rule Adaptations and House Rules That Actually Work
House rules are where solo co-op gaming gets creative. The core philosophy, as one BoardGameGeek contributor put it, is to use the co-op rules exactly as written but make all the decisions yourself. Sometimes that works perfectly. Other times you need to bend a few rules to make the experience enjoyable rather than frustrating.
Here are the house rules I have found most effective across dozens of games.
Handling Limited Communication
Many co-op games restrict what players can tell each other. The classic example is The Mind, where players cannot speak at all. Games like Hanabi limit information sharing to create tension. When playing solo, these restrictions become meaningless because you already know everything.
I recommend one of two approaches. Either ignore communication limits entirely and play with perfect information, or introduce a memory constraint such as shuffling your hand face-down and only looking at one card per turn. The first option keeps things relaxed. The second preserves the original challenge.
Simplifying Trading and Resource Sharing
Some games include elaborate trading mechanics that exist purely to facilitate interaction between players. When you control all the characters, trading between your own hands adds bookkeeping without meaningful decisions. I usually allow free resource sharing among my characters and remove the action cost of trades. This speeds up the game considerably.
Managing Simultaneous Action Selection
Games where all players choose actions simultaneously, then reveal them together, create tension through hidden planning. Solo, that tension evaporates. Try this instead: roll a die before each planning phase. On a low roll, commit to actions in a fixed order without changing them. On a high roll, plan freely. This reintroduces some unpredictability without adding complexity.
Creating a Simple AI Deck
For games where enemies or events are driven by player count, a simple custom AI deck can fill the gap. Write six to ten possible enemy actions on index cards, shuffle them, and draw one each round. This is a lightweight version of what published solo variants do, and it works surprisingly well for everything from small card games to medium-weight strategy titles.
Difficulty Scaling: Making the Game Fair for One
Co-op games are usually balanced around a specific number of players. Enemy health, event frequency, and resource scarcity all assume a full table. When you play solo, the game can feel either too easy because you have perfect coordination or too hard because you have fewer total actions per round.
The fix is deliberate difficulty scaling. Here are the adjustments I rely on.
Scale enemy health to character count. If the game has four enemies for four players, use two enemies for two characters. Do not just throw the full enemy board at a single seat.
Reduce time pressure. Turn limits and round counters are often balanced around group decision speed. Add 25 to 50 percent more rounds when playing solo to account for the mental load of managing everything.
Adjust resource generation. If each player generates one resource per turn and you are running two characters, make sure you are actually generating two resources. Some games scale this automatically, but many do not.
Lower the difficulty one notch for your first run. Learning to manage multiple roles is already a challenge. Do not stack a punishing difficulty level on top of that learning curve.
I made the mistake early on of keeping difficulty at maximum for my first solo attempt at a popular co-op card game. I got demolished in four rounds. Dropping the difficulty one level let me learn the rhythm, and I ratcheted it back up once I was comfortable managing both characters.
Digital Tools and Apps That Make Solo Play Easier
This is an area where most guides fall short, but digital tools can transform your solo co-op experience. The right app or helper can automate the tedious parts of multi-hand play and let you focus on the actual decisions.
Companion Apps for Board Games
Many modern board games ship with official companion apps that handle enemy AI, scenario generation, or ambient sound. Even if your game does not have one, generic tools can help. I use a dice-rolling app to speed up large enemy groups and a timer app to keep sessions focused. Some publishers release official solo-mode apps even when the physical game has no printed solo rules.
Spreadsheet Tracking
For heavy strategy games with lots of stats, a simple spreadsheet can track multiple characters’ health, resources, and objectives. I built a one-page template for myself that tracks up to four characters. It takes five minutes to set up and saves me from constantly recounting tokens.
Digital Editions of Board Games
Platforms like Board Game Arena, Tabletop Simulator, and digital app versions of games often handle rules enforcement automatically. Playing the digital version of a co-op game solo means the app manages bookkeeping, enforces turn order, and even provides AI opponents. This is an excellent way to test whether you enjoy a game solo before committing to the physical version.
Solo AI Generators
Community-built solo AI generators exist for hundreds of popular co-op games. These are usually free PDFs or print-and-play card decks that simulate a missing player or an automated opponent. Search for your game name plus solo AI or solo variant on BoardGameGeek and you will often find something the community has created and refined over years.
Board Games vs Video Games: Solo Co-op Differences
The strategies for soloing a co-op game differ significantly depending on whether you are playing a tabletop game or a video game. Both can be done, but the tools and techniques change.
Board Game Solo Co-op
In board games, you have total control. You manage every character, make every decision, and can modify any rule you like. The main challenges are mental load and table space. Running four characters across a sprawling board can feel overwhelming, especially in games with long action sequences or complex enemy AI.
The advantage is complete flexibility. You can pause indefinitely, consult rules, and redesign the experience to suit your preferences. No software limitation can stop you from playing the game your way.
Video Game Solo Co-op
Video games present a different set of challenges and opportunities. You cannot easily rewrite the rules of a digital game, but many video games with co-op modes include AI companions or bots that fill empty slots. The key is knowing which games support this well.
Forum players consistently recommend games like Deep Rock Galactic and Helldivers for solo co-op play. Both titles provide AI teammates or scale enemy difficulty when you play alone. The experience is not identical to multiplayer, but it is designed to be enjoyable and complete.
For games without AI companions, look for community mods. Many PC games have player-created mods that add solo-friendly features, adjust difficulty, or even implement bot teammates. The modding community has made games playable solo that their original developers never intended for single-player use.
Popular Co-op Games That Work Surprisingly Well Solo
Not every co-op game solos equally well. Based on community recommendations and my own testing, here are categories of games that tend to work beautifully when played alone.
Co-op Games With Open Information
Games where all players share the same visible board and information are the easiest to solo. You simply run multiple characters and make decisions as if you were a team of one. Titles in this category include cooperative tower defense games, pandemic-style crisis management games, and cooperative deck-builders where all hands are visible.
Co-op Games With Hidden Traitors
Social deduction games with hidden traitor mechanics are trickier but not impossible. Some players enjoy randomly assigning a traitor role to one of their characters and playing that character according to the traitor rules without meta-gaming. This requires discipline but can recreate the tension of not knowing who to trust.
Co-op Video Games With AI Bots
As mentioned above, games like Deep Rock Galactic and Helldivers are community favorites for solo co-op. Left 4 Dead and similar cooperative shooters also offer bot teammates that handle basic combat well enough to make solo play viable and fun.
Co-op Games With Official Solo Variants
Some games receive official solo variants after launch, either through expansions or updated rulebooks. Even if your copy did not ship with solo rules, check the publisher’s website. Many designers have released free solo-mode PDFs years after the original release, responding to community demand.
Games to Avoid Soloing
Games built primarily around real-time simultaneous action, heavy social negotiation, or physical dexterity challenges are generally poor candidates for solo play. If the core fun comes from the social interaction itself, no amount of rule adaptation will replicate that experience alone. Save those for your next game night.
Common Challenges When Playing Solo and How to Beat Them
Solo co-op gaming is rewarding, but it comes with real pain points. Forum discussions on r/soloboardgaming and r/boardgames surface the same challenges again and again. Here are the most common ones and how I address them.
Analysis Paralysis
When you control every character, you can spend thirty minutes agonizing over a single round of decisions. This kills the pacing and makes sessions drag. Set a turn timer. Give yourself two minutes per character to decide actions. If the timer runs out, commit to your first instinct and move on. This keeps the game moving and actually improves your strategic intuition over time.
Mental Fatigue
Managing multiple roles is cognitively demanding. After two hours of four-handed play, your brain will feel it. Break sessions into 45-minute chunks with short breaks. If a game requires four or more characters, consider whether the multi-hand experience is worth the mental cost. Sometimes a smaller-scale game that solos cleanly is more satisfying than a sprawling epic.
Losing the Social Experience
One reddit user captured this well: many co-op games are effectively solo games played by a team, so playing them alone just removes the social layer. If you miss the shared excitement of a clutch win or a devastating loss, try recording a session report, joining a solo gaming Discord, or live-tweeting your playthrough. Sharing the experience asynchronously can fill some of that social gap.
Rule Confusion
Without other players to catch mistakes, rule errors compound quickly in solo play. I keep a rules reference sheet beside me and re-read the turn structure before each session. If something is ambiguous, make a ruling and write it down. Consistency matters more than getting every edge case right on the first try.
Tips for Choosing the Right Game to Solo
If you are building a collection with solo co-op in mind, here is a checklist I use when evaluating whether a game will work well for single-player adaptation.
Low player-to-character ratio. Games where each player controls one character are easier to multi-hand than games where each player controls squads.
Open or shared information. Avoid games built around hidden hands or secret objectives unless you enjoy the extra challenge.
Short turn structure. Games with quick, repeating turn cycles are easier to manage solo than games with long, branching action sequences.
Active community. Check BoardGameGeek and reddit for solo variants, FAQ documents, and session reports. A game with an active solo community will have answers when you get stuck.
Reasonable playtime. A game that takes 90 minutes at full player count might take 150 minutes solo due to the extra decision load. Factor that into your planning.
When I evaluate new additions to my shelf, I run through this list mentally. It has saved me from buying several games that would have been frustrating solo experiences despite being excellent multiplayer titles.
FAQs
Can you play co-op games by yourself?
Yes. You can play most cooperative games by yourself using the multi-hand technique, where you control multiple characters, along with house rules that simplify mechanics designed for group play. Many players also use difficulty scaling and AI decks to create a balanced solo experience.
How do you play co-op games alone?
The most common method is multi-hand play, where you take on the roles of two or more characters yourself. You take each character’s full turn in sequence, manage their resources separately, and make all decisions. You can also streamline trading rules, add simple AI decks for enemies, and adjust difficulty to keep the game fair for one player.
What co-op games can be played solo?
Co-op games with open information, low character-to-player ratios, and short turn structures work best for solo play. Community favorites include crisis management games, cooperative deck-builders, and video games with AI companions like Deep Rock Galactic and Helldivers. Check BoardGameGeek for community-created solo variants for specific titles.
Is it cheating to play co-op games solo with house rules?
No. Solo co-op gaming is a widely accepted practice in the hobby. House rules and rule adaptations are part of the experience. As long as you are consistent with your rules and enjoying the game, there is no wrong way to play solo. The goal is entertainment, not competitive fairness.
Do I need to buy a solo expansion to play solo?
Not necessarily. Many co-op games can be soloed using the multi-hand technique with the base game alone. However, official solo expansions often provide a more polished experience with purpose-built AI systems, balanced difficulty, and streamlined rules. Try the base game solo first, then consider an expansion if you want a more refined single-player experience.
Conclusion
Learning how to solo a co-op game that was not designed with a solo mode opens up your entire collection to single-player enjoyment. The multi-hand technique, thoughtful house rules, difficulty scaling, and digital tools all work together to create an experience that can be just as engaging as a full table. Start with two characters, keep your sessions focused, and do not be afraid to bend the rules until the game feels right for you.
Your next step is simple. Pick a co-op game from your shelf, set up two characters, and give it a solo run tonight. You may be surprised by how much you enjoy it.