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Welcome to Ex Libris Solo Rules!
Hey there! Are you ready to dive into the world of book collecting on your own? In the solo mode of Ex Libris, we’ll be exploring a series of five rounds that have some similarities with the multiplayer game, but with a few exciting twists. Instead of competing against other book collectors, your goal will be to get your librarian license approved.
Now, in order to accomplish this, you’ll need to outscore the public library. They’re kind of a big deal, and their score is represented by the discard pile.
First Things First: Setup
Alright, let’s get started! Here’s what you need to do:
1. Place the town board in the center of the table. Oh, and don’t forget to have the Official Librarian License Application S-42a within reach.
2. Gather the 10 location tiles that have the solo compatible icon underneath the number. Leave the other 8 location tiles in the box for now – we won’t need them for solo games. Take the solo compatible tiles, give them a good shuffle, and deal 6 of them onto the lower section of the town board. They might hang over the edge of the board just a little bit. The remaining 4 tiles go face-down in a stack nearby.
To start the game, make sure you have the right library tiles. You’ll need 7 tiles with the solo compatible icon, which is the one to the right of the assistant spaces. Put the 5 incompatible tiles aside, as they’re not used in solo games. Shuffle the solo compatible tiles and draw 2. Pick one of those 2 and put the rest back in the box.
Next, choose the special assistant that matches your library and select three standard assistants in any color you like.
Now it’s time to set up the category cards. Shuffle them and place one face up on the Prominent Works space on the town board, and another face up on the Banned Books space. You should also deal one face down card to the Public Library Focus space of the Official Librarian License Application S-42a without looking at it.
Hey there! Let’s get your library set up for some solo mode fun. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Start by removing 6 random category cards from the deck. Keep them to the side as your library’s focus.
2. Take the 2 remaining category cards and place them face down on the top space of the Official Librarian License Application S-42a. Don’t peek at them!
3. Give the book cards a good shuffle. Once they’re all mixed up, draw 6 of them to form your starting hand.
4. The rest of the book cards will be your deck. Divide them into two roughly equal stacks and place them near the board.
Here’s an Example of Solo Mode Setup
Here’s How the Solo Version Works
When playing the solo mode of the game, I’ll go through the same four phases as in the multiplayer version, but there are some small changes in each phase:
- Preparation Phase
- Placement Phase
- Resolution Phase
- Cleanup Phase
I. Preparation Phase
In the solo mode, things work a little differently compared to the multiplayer game. During the Preparation Phase, you won’t uncover any new location tiles like you would in the multiplayer version. Instead, you’ll need to get rid of a certain number of book cards from the deck in each round.
The number of book cards you have to discard depends on the difficulty level you choose to play. We recommend starting with the beginner level until you become familiar with the changes in gameplay.
| Level of Difficulty | Number of discarded cards per round |
| Beginner | 1 |
| Easy | 2 |
| Challenging | 3 |
| Difficult | 4 |
| Very Difficult | 5 |
| Nigh Impossible | 6 |
| Impossible | 7 |
Hey there! Let me tell you about interpreting the game difficulty in Card Toss.
When you’re just starting out, go for the Beginner level. You only discard one card per round. Easy mode is next with two cards discarded each round. If you’re up for a challenge, try the Challenging level where you discard three cards. Feeling brave? Take on Difficult and discard four cards. And for the experts, Very Difficult requires discarding five cards! If you’re looking for an intense experience, aim for Nigh Impossible and discard six cards per round. And finally, if you dare, go for the Impossible level and discard a whopping seven cards!
Remember, you can take a peek at the book cards that are discarded, but you can’t look through the discard pile completely. You can only see the top card.
Now, let’s get ready for the game! Just follow the preparation instructions on each face-up location tile, just like in multiplayer mode.
Note: Before discarding book cards at the beginning of the 2nd and 4th rounds, we need to reveal one of the category cards from the top space of the Official Librarian License Application S-42a. Take a quick look and then put it back in the box. This will give us some clues about what the public library’s focus might be.
II. The Placement Phase
The Placement Phase is similar to the multiplayer game, but we can only have one of our assistants on a location tile at a time.
III. The Resolution Phase
Once we have placed all four of our assistants, we can move on to the Resolution Phase. This works the same way as it does in the multiplayer game.
IV. The Cleanup Phase
Now that I’ve found all the locations, I need to pick two to get rid of. Put those tiles back in the box, then grab a new tile from the stack to add to the town board. So each round, we’ll have one less location:
At the end of the fifth round, when all the location tiles have been removed, the solo game comes to a close. Cross your fingers and let’s move on to Game End & Scoring.
End of the Game
First, you need to get rid of all the cards that are still in your hand. Then, spread out the discard pile into different columns so you can easily see and count all the category icons on each card. This is when you’ll use the Official Librarian License Application S-42a to calculate your score.
Note: Don’t forget, the public library is represented by the entire discard pile. Make sure to spread out all the cards in a way that you can see all the category icons.
Alphabetical Order Check
Check your bookshelf to make sure the books are in alphabetical order, just like you normally would. However, the public library doesn’t care about alphabetical order. (They actually expect it to be messy).
Categorical Tally
Let’s start by taking note of how many books from each category you have on your bookshelf and in the public library. It’s important to keep track of these numbers for each category.
Now, when it comes to shelf stability, you can survey your own bookshelf to see how well the books have held up over time. However, the public library doesn’t really keep track of shelf stability, so their books may be in various conditions due to years of neglect.
Moving on to the Bestow Prominent Works Award, you need to find the category that matches the category card given to the Prominent Works space on the town board. Once you locate that category, circle the corresponding row in the tally section. If your number is higher than the public library’s number in that row, you earn 15 points. But if the public library’s number is higher, they get the 15 points instead. In the solo game, there is no second place award, and the public library wins all ties.
Lastly, we have the Assign Banned Books Penalties. This part involves imposing penalties on books that have been banned.
Hey there! Let’s get started on this fun game! I need to draw a zig-zag line around the row in the categorical tally section that matches the category card dealt to the Banned Books space on the town board. After that, I have to give myself a -1 point penalty for every banned book I have in my bookshelf. Oh, and I have to do the same for the public library.
Now, let’s assess the categorical variety bonuses!
I need to find the category where I have the fewest books, but I’ll ignore the Banned Books section. Once I find that category, I’ll multiply the number of books I have in that category by 3 points to determine my variety bonus. I’ll also do the same for the public library.
Time to reveal and score the library focuses!
If I have any books in my bookshelf that match my library’s focus, I’ll score 2 points for each of them. Then, I’ll reveal the public library’s focus and do the same for them.