I had a great time talking to Pablo Clark of @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social about the gorgeous The Old King's Crown.

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL! We hope the big guy makes all your board game dreams come true! Lots of festive love from us all here at Eerie Idol Games x

The Old King's Crown by @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social finally on the table! A seemingly complex game which is very intuitive once you get going, with plenty to discover here - I suspect we'll be unlocking tactics in subsequent plays, or at least I hope so given my middling score! #boardgames

Continuing the annual tradition of immortalizing the year's reviews. As a bonus, I can use a dry-erase marker to plan out Best Week!

"So, rather than set out to make this big, sprawling strategy game as a first time designer, the game and I sort of grew up together." @aguaspoints.bsky.social talks to Pablo Clark about creating the board game The Old King's Crown:

It was a lighter week round these parts. What did you get to the table?

This is a PERFECT example. Thought, care and development, resulting from a kernel. Lingering on an idea, interrogating it, that is how you make something of value. Ideas are easy, solutions are hard.

All I want for Christmas is more games of The Old King's Crown with such worthy opponents 👑 (and for the expansion to launch asap) @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social

If you want to watch my very timely* review of Warhammer: Chaos in the Old World, featuring the marvellous @tombrewster.bsky.social of @shutupshow.bsky.social, then you can! Just follow this link! *only late by a decade and a half (or so) youtu.be/zLiUcwRULx0

The madness of King's Crown

Take Time to play a game with your friends and family this Christmas. One comment suggesting I've under-rated this, what do you guys think? www.ign.com/articles/tak...

2. Old King's Crown Perfect fantasy vibes. Spikey interaction. Asymmetry. Wild swingy shenanigans. This is to 2025 what Arcs was to 2024. I will blind purchase any games in the future from @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social because they seem to have gamers EXACTLY like me in mind as an audience.

1. Hot Streak My most played new game in 2025 and the best party game of the year. A riot with the right group. The chunky decisions @perryjon.bsky.social put into this silly game are so fun and the resolution of it all is just hilarious. Memorable experiences every time I bust it out.

LOOK AT THIS The guy WILL NOT quit at drawing the BEST FREAKS in all of TABLETOP TOWN.

Just put up my last Patreon newsletter of the year, and top-tier patreons get my monthly release roundup tomorrow. Hope you all enjoy, and if you want to get on board, or you're feeling festively generous, it's only $1 for gaming goodness in your inbox every week! www.patreon.com/posts/this-w...

Corto Maltese by Carlos Dearmas

PERFECT

It’s PERFECT

Want to know the best Kingdom Cards to be on the look out for during your next session of The Old King's Crown? Well look no further than this incredible tier list and break down by @jaffles-gaming.bsky.social of all 51 Kingdom Cards in the Base Game www.youtube.com/watch?v=c49S...

Whenever I see a game designer/publisher say they "need" genAI "art" I want to point them to one of the greatest (and most influential) games made this century.

Absolutely incredible

"The more I play The Old King’s Crown, the more I become enamored with it. Which is saying something, given that I’ve been playing it for something like five years..." I could never have hoped for this when I first started designing the game, & I couldn't be happier. spacebiff.com/2025/12/10/t...

Incredibly happy to see Hot Streak mentioned on this list of board games! It's also a really well curated list, written up by some people in the community who really know their stuff. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle...

And just like that our eighth issue has a title

Metal Gear Solid / Print ad / Konami / 1996

Queen of Spies is live! Go back my first game with @djackthompson.bsky.social to make it to print. We are so proud! @saltandpeppergames.bsky.social gamefound.com/en/projects/...

The next Bristol daytime playtesting event is on 19 December! Sign up on the Meetup page: www.meetup.com/playtest/eve... @playtestuk.bsky.social

"The more I play The Old King’s Crown, the more I become enamored with it. Which is saying something, given that I’ve been playing it for something like five years..." I could never have hoped for this when I first started designing the game, & I couldn't be happier. spacebiff.com/2025/12/10/t...

Hiro Isono, Bai’s Forest, 1993

Lovely little thread!

After many delays so I could keep playing it, I've finally gotten around to writing about The Old King's Crown, an astonishing freshman debut that is lavish in production and gameplay alike. My review: spacebiff.com/2025/12/10/t...

Tiny reindeer from a map of Norway in vol.1 of Joan Blaeu's 11 volume Atlas Major, 1662 #Christmas #Maps

This is an excellent gift guide from @senetmagazine.bsky.social. I've played or own half of them. If you're looking for board games this Christmas this is an excellent place to look. #boardgamesky 🎲

THE Old King's Crown is LIVE tonight, 4-player, for your viewing pleasure! 1915 EST, we hope y'all join us and interact! Should be an enjoyable evening of intrigue and back-stabbery! www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0W4... Hope to see y'all tonight!

Tonight my wife and I played a 1v1 match of The Old King’s Crown (our second time playing period) Clans vs Uprising and It was really fun especially as we started learning some of the real tricks and maneuvers that the factions could perform #theoldkingscrown #boardgames #boardgamegeek

I hardly ever preorder anything, so I'm thrilled to make an exception for such a work of art. A good call also as it's already sold out in Poland! Now let's hope we'll be able to squeeze in some royal blitz before Christmas. Congrats @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social

We're publishing Queens Domain! Inspired by Dark Souls progenitor King’s Field, it's a damn brutal and stylish retro-fantasy RPG DEMO OUT NOW - Fly with your Holy Sword - 50+ melee weapons - Eat delicious food - 100+ enemies, mini bosses & bosses to defeat - Explore a mysterious labyrinth island

Ahh cool Wilmot's Warehouse made the Guardian's 30 Best Boardgames for Christmas! Loads of other great stuff in there too..

@zachbunn.bsky.social Hey Zach, I was wondering, would you be interested in having a look at our board game, The Old King's Crown? I realise it's a bit removed from the pure card games that you usually play/feature/get smitten with, but it's essentially a big, mad strategy card game.

SO GOOD.

Some Loop Hero portraits

A half memory clings like a scrap of flesh on carrion. Once upon a time, in another life, the path you walked was that of a…

Check out this festive Senet/Guardian collab. Full of awesome board games.

…and here it is in digital form: the Senet/Guardian collab with all the best board-game recommendations.

Morning hive mind. If anyone has a physical copy of yesterday's Guardian newspaper they'd be willing to sell me, I'd like to buy one. RT's appreciated.

IT’S THE ANNUAL SHUT UP & SIT DOWN BOARD GAME GIFT GUIDE! Your one-stop shop for all manner of gift material for literally any person you could think of… so long as they have at least a passing interest in board games. That’s probably important. Enjoy! www.shutupandsitdown.com/videos/2025s...

Also so glad to be in the company of the amazing @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social on both lists!

Really surreal to see Molly House included in both The Guardian's 30 best board games to play this Christmas and NPR's 50 best board games of 2025! What a year. @wehrlegig.games @colewehrle.bsky.social

Carlos Ureta's illustrations for Queen of Spies are gorgeous, with each one telling a story. But this is my favorite combo: Alice the spymaster training her protégé, Sophie. @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social @saltandpeppergames.bsky.social gamefound.com/en/projects/...