Solo, Challenges & Variants
Solo rules, A Journey into Infamy and its ranking, the three solo Challenges with their difficulty tables, and the Diplomatic Crisis, Dante's Rush and Time of Thieves variants.
Solo rules
Every solo game — A Journey into Infamy and the Challenges — uses these changes.
Setup (also in the setup checklist):
- Put 3
Shortcuts on the stops on the left side of Dante’s stairs. - Draw a single black Guardian card at random. Red Guardians are not used.
- No starting Sin Track advances.
- If your Family card shows the “not in solo” symbol, draw another. Add a 4th
Noble
to your home: you start with 4 family members.
Rules:
- If your Infamy falls below the starting space (below zero), the game ends and you lose.
- Each location holds only one family member at a time.
- No points for Reputation in Florence.
- HAYSTACK: the family member you send there is swapped for an Urchin from your reserve, so your family never grows past 4.
- Minos: each time you lay a Soul down in the circle holding your Tail, score 2 extra Infamy.
- Fraud effects that hit opponents or move their safe passages are not available.
You still collect Diplomas — being on a track is enough, even at level 1 — and you still score the 2 points of Dante’s final stop.
A Journey into Infamy
The goal is the most Infamy. Keep score during play with your Infamy token; for the final scoring (Fraud cards, Diplomas, Charon’s penalty) use a second token of another colour. Your result is the lower of the two scores. Compare it with Hell’s most notorious residents:
| Infamy | You rank with | |
|---|---|---|
| 0–9 | Socrates | Those deprived of faith |
| 10–19 | Aristotle | |
| 20–28 | Homer | |
| 29–36 | Electra | |
| 37–43 | Hector of Troy | |
| 44–49 | Julius Caesar | |
| 50–54 | Helen of Troy | Those driven by incontinence |
| 55–59 | Paris | |
| 60–64 | Dido | |
| 65–69 | Cleopatra | |
| 70–74 | Achilles | |
| 75–79 | Attila | Those violent to others |
| 80–83 | Sextus Pompey | |
| 84–86 | Diomedes | Fraudsters |
| 87–89 | Ulysses | |
| 90+ | Brutus | Traitors |
The Challenges
Three challenges, each at Easy, Medium or Hard. Choose a level: its score target is in the column heading. Each row is a check made when Dante reaches the stop with that circle’s Diploma; meet or beat every requirement of that row — including paying the Drachmas — or lose the points in the last column at once (you may choose to lose them even if you could pay). Challenges use normal scoring with one Infamy token, without Reputation in Florence.
Challenge 1: Payback Day
Charon lends nothing more and wants his money back. Rule change: no loans; if that leaves you unable to play your Hell phase, the game ends.
Each cell: Souls lying in that circle, and Drachmas to pay.
| Diploma | Easy (30) | Medium (45) | Hard (60) | Miss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purple | 1 Soul, pay 2 | 1, pay 2 | 1, pay 3 | −7 |
| Green | 1, pay 2 | 1, pay 3 | 2, pay 3 | −8 |
| Brown | 1, pay 1 | 1, pay 2 | 2, pay 3 | −9 |
| Blue | 1, pay 1 | 1, pay 2 | 2, pay 3 | −10 |
| Yellow | 1, pay 2 | 1, pay 3 | 1, pay 4 | −13 |
| Red | 1, pay 2 | 1, pay 2 | 1, pay 4 | −14 |
| Gray | 1, pay 2 | 1, pay 2 | 1, pay 2 | −15 |
| Ice blue | 1, pay 4 | 1, pay 5 | 1, pay 6 | −16 |
Challenge 2: The Black Death
The plague has crowded the Graveyard. Setup: put the Souls of the first 7 Plague cards and one cream Soul in the Graveyard; remove the other Plague cards. Rule change: when the Graveyard empties, it is not refilled. Extra victory condition: at the end, none of your Skulls may be on level 1 or 2 of a Sin Track (levels 3–4, or off the track, are fine).
Each cell: Souls lying down in all circles of Hell together.
| Diploma | Easy (75) | Medium (100) | Hard (120) | Miss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purple | 2 | 3 | 3 | −7 |
| Green | 3 | 6 | 7 | −8 |
| Brown | 5 | 9 | 11 | −9 |
| Blue | 7 | 12 | 14 | −10 |
| Yellow | 10 | 15 | 19 | −13 |
| Red | 13 | 19 | 23 | −14 |
| Gray | 16 | 24 | 28 | −15 |
| Ice blue | 20 | 28 | 32 | −16 |
Challenge 3: A Descent to Remember
Show Dante the worst horrors you can. “Skull ≥ n” is your Skull’s level on that circle’s Sin Track; “lying” and “standing” count Souls of that colour in that circle; “isolated” means lying Souls whose neighbouring shields are all empty.
| Diploma | Easy (75) | Medium (100) | Hard (120) | Miss |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Purple | Skull ≥ 1; 1 lying | Skull ≥ 1; 1 lying isolated | Skull ≥ 1; pay 3; 1 lying isolated | −7 |
| Green | Skull ≥ 1; 2 lying | Skull ≥ 1; 1 lying + 2 standing | Skull ≥ 2; 2 lying + 1 standing | −8 |
| Brown | Skull ≥ 1; pay 2; 2 lying | Skull ≥ 1; pay 3; 2 lying | Skull ≥ 1; pay 5; 2 lying | −9 |
| Blue | Skull ≥ 1; 2 safe passages; 2 standing | Skull ≥ 1; 2 safe passages; 2 lying | Skull ≥ 2; 3 safe passages; 2 lying | −10 |
| Yellow | Skull ≥ 1; 1 lying | Skull ≥ 1; yellow cube at Phlegethon 5; 1 lying | Skull ≥ 2; yellow cube at 5; 1 lying | −13 |
| Red | Skull ≥ 1; 1 lying | Skull ≥ 2; 1 lying | Skull ≥ 2; 2 lying | −14 |
| Gray | Skull ≥ 1; 1 Fraud card played; 2 standing | Skull ≥ 1; 1 Fraud card; 1 lying + 1 standing | Skull ≥ 2; 2 Fraud cards; 2 lying | −15 |
| Ice blue | Skull ≥ 2; 2 lying | Skull ≥ 3; pay 2; 2 lying | Skull ≥ 4; pay 3; 2 lying | −16 |
Variants
Setup variants for more interaction between players:
- Diplomatic Crisis — before putting the Guests in the PALACE, remove as many Guests at random as there are players (3 players: take 12 Guests, remove 3 at random, leave 9).
- Time of Thieves — before putting the Barrels in the MARKET, remove as many at random as there are players (2 players: take 8, remove 2, leave 6). Family cards then take their Barrels from what is left.
- Dante’s Rush — a shorter, tighter game: add Shortcuts at random on stops without Diplomas — 1 more at 4 players, 2 more at 3 players, 1 more at 2 players.