I don’t think it’s a secret that I love a good puzzle game and one of my faves has to be Factory Funner. In this game, you are managing a factory floor, adding new machines and constructing pipes, goo inputs and product outputs to maximize your revenue.
As usual with my solo overviews, I’m going to assume you know the basic game-play — there are loads of reviews and play-throughs on YouTube you can check out if you need a primer!
Game play
The game set-up is identical to the multi-player game. For your first solo game, you pick one of the boards and use the A-0 side. You get one of each of the “goo” reservoirs and three output receptors, just like the main game. Finally, you get eight random machines, also like the multi-player game.
Each round is played as normal by turning up one of your machines, and then placing it in your factory. You can also choose not to place a machine — since you’re the only player there’s no penalty. Once a machine is placed, you can’t move it, but you can move, build or destroy pipes, reservoirs, and output receptors at a cost of 1k. You’ll take income (i.e. points) equal to the coins on the machine minus the cost of building and moving things around. If you use one machine’s output to fulfill another machine’s input, place a plastic disk on the “dots” for the input.
Once you’ve placed (or ignored) all of your eight machines, the game is over. Add up your final points — this is done by counting up the number of dots under plastic disks and multiplying by three.
If you get at least 45 points, then you’ve won, and in the next game you’ll try the next hardest player board. After winning with any of the A-0s, you move on to B-1, then B-2, on up to B-5. The rules suggest if you get less than 41 points, that you should move back down to the next lower player board.
How did it work?
The solo mechanism worked well — it gives me the feeling of the multi-player game and it goes lightening quick. There’s a bit more of a challenge, since there are no choices in which machines to put in the factory — it’s just what you’ve been dealt from the beginning.
For this type of game, the “beat a certain score” mechanism works well. I’ve found my plays challenging enough that I don’t always beat it. I managed to win on the A0 and B1 boards, but was not successful with the B2 board.
It’s fun to pull this off the shelf, and whenever I do, I have to play it two … three … or four times in a row!
