Yes please!

Very excited for this series. Connor was a huge inspiration to me when I decided to take Adulting the the indie market last year. Not all games need to have huge print runs, or even be published at all! I can play music for the sake of the art, why not game design too?!

Hawk and Dove

Two weeks ago, we announced our existence to the world. People have been super supportive, and I genuinely appreciate everyone who has shown us kindness.

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That’s the Spirit was a big hit! We had a full group of five and made it through enough rounds that we saw all of the different causes of death. Folks really loved the different flavor of abilities for each cause of death. Well done Connor!

@connor.alwaysawake.games
I’m eager to get That’s the Spirit to the table with this group. They are gonna love it.

Board games selection includes Pacts,That’s the Spirit, Ito, Cloud 9, Adulting and my prototype, Secrets, Secrets.

Excited about the selection for game night tonight!

I cancelled my trip to Unpub this year because the basketball team I coach made it to the Queens Championship! We lost by just 6 points. It was a great experience. Feeling lots of FOMO about Unpub, but grateful to have so many great things going on! Maybe next year I’ll make Unpub happen.

Congrats Gene! I had a wonderful time with the Bonsai Diary. Thanks for designing such a thoughtful game. I’m glad to see you get your flowers!

Social Shifting - Dialogues at Dusk YouTube video by Lunarpunk Games

In what ways can board games improve society? Xoe talks with @gregisonthego.bsky.social about the social lessons games can teach us and how they can start important conversations, often through the lens of his design Keep the Faith, and his codesign Bloc by Bloc!

youtu.be/xDzYgaBJ11Y

This looks great! As a fellow car-based city dweller, I love this theme, but also relate to the playtester who called it sci-fi.

We do this work because it’s meaningful to play in a world that shouts at us to stop and settle down, be adults.

We do this work because of the joy it brings to people. Play is a tradition older than the concept of time itself.

If this work lets us survive, that’s something to be proud of.

Super cool! I love that this reviewer highlighted those specific touches that help make the theme feel thoughtful and integrated into gameplay. It’s so easy for this to be overlooked, but it really makes a difference!

I just snagged one of the last few of these before it sold out. My wife and I just spent our morning playing multiple games back to back. Great game, thank you for designing it!

My wife loves climbing/shedding games. Excited to try this one out!

This design was heavily inspired by @mildamatildagames.bsky.social’s Pax Penning. I love the victory-stealing ending in that game, and was inspired to design a more casual game based entirely around that mechanism.

Got my submission in just under the wire! Love this contest. I’m looking forward to some feedback on my game Secrets, Secrets.

We are calling for an immediate stop to all purchases from Upper Deck.

Their total lack of communication is distressing—so we call upon everyone to help us escalate.

No purchases from Upper Deck. No media coverage or posts of their games.

Upper Deck will only respond when it hurts their wallets.

I love the caveat that progress doesn’t always mean moving forward. A lot of my game design feels like I’m fishing around for the right mechanic/card effect/turn structure. Those searches don’t always feel like steps forward, but they are progress!

A hand of cards from Tax the Rich, there are 4 different coloured suits running from 1-12 representing different social ranks.

A hand of attitude cards from Adulting - including Stress, Caring and Fun cards which you play to activate self-care and complete chore cards.

Got some exciting games to the table. Tax the Rich by @kostby.bsky.social - thematic trick-taking with dynamic teams, plenty of gotcha moments too. Adulting by @ericdittmore.bsky.social - multi-victor semi-coop deck building, which was a really collaborative experience in our first game #boardgames

YIKES.

Upper Deck (Marvel Legendary) just announced a CCG using the Harry Potter license.

Fans of UD are rallying against this decision. Like the CGE situation last year, I’m asking for your help.

Join us. Share your disgust and frustration, and help us push UD to retract their awful decision. 🎲✂️

It has been done! There is now an A4 size file as well. Let me know if there are any issues with it and I'll get them fixed ASAP!

Game boxes of Pacts and Persuasion

Great game night tonight! Got Pacts and Persuasion to the table. I was blown away by both designs. So fresh and fluid. What a time to be a gamer!
@xoe.gay
@hollandspiele.bsky.social
@enzyshade.bsky.social
@dvcgames.bsky.social

Yes, that makes sense. I think maybe it’s because I’ve been working on a lot of games with hidden information, and I struggle to pretend like I don’t know what I know. It’s also an attention thing. I just lose attention after a turn or two and struggle to really analyze a game when I’m in this mode.

Sure! I’ll work on that this weekend and reply here when it’s done.

I really struggle to playtest games multi-handed. I admire designers who say they are able to play as multiple different players with varying strategies.

I think that when you test something new and janky, you need to be hyperaware of how the players are feeling and prepared to end the test early. I make it clear that it is an early-stage prototype and might fall apart. In a test like that, I’ve usually seen what I need to see a few turns in anyways.

In honor of the @cardboardedison.com 🎲✂️ contest, here are my 2-min. pitch video tips:
🪝 Push the hook(s) from the beginning
🧀 Be cheesily excited about your game
🫴 Show and tell, but mostly show
😲 Highlight the emotional highs
🪝 Keep everything connected to the hook(s)

Script template below...

I’m excited to see what you’re cooking up! This is an exciting area of game design. I’d love to see more games that encourage the player to really think about what the mechanics mean, and to allow that to be up to interpretation.

Love to see Adulting paired with some self-care drinks! These folks get it.

Pyrotechnics - The Seahorse and The Hummingbird Pyrotechnics is a fast, two-player card duel packed with strategy and sparks—easy to learn, quick to play, and endlessly replayable.

🎆 Pyrotechnics is officially available for sale!

Start 2026 with a bang! Pyrotechnics is a two-player head-to-head card game that's quick and easy with just the right spark of strategy.

#boardgames