Happy holidays everyone!

Many of us got our starts coming up with house rules and variants to existing games. This is a great win-win.

Some games I play and can immediately write about at SCM. They have a single, defining mechanism. Other games are so elegantly interconnected with theme and mechanisms that it's hard to do them justice in ~1200 words. Much harder (for me) to write about. Cross Bronx Expressway is one of those.

Fantastic video by Pam Walls on the increasing use of AI in board games, and the need (more than ever) to support artists, illustrators and graphic designers in the industry. youtu.be/Ci5pOjyJknI?...

Cross Bronx Expressway is the debut title from @nbsp1618.bsky.social. It is more abstract than its COIN/ICS peers, yet this is a game layered with difficult questions. It's a work that wants to be contended with. playerelimination.com/2025/12/15/t...

We are not backing down. Our response to @rockstargames.com's latest statement.

"Together, workers can transform their jobs, their careers, and their lives for the better." Our statement of solidarity with 5 other game workers unions in Europe including @stjv.fr, @csvi-cgt.bsky.social & @gwuireland.bsky.social www.gameworkers.co.uk/one-industry...

Had a great time talking with @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social about design, development, and science fiction: beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/1091807/epis...

Had a great first session of @bastionland.bsky.social's Mythic Bastionland today! Bit a snake, nearly got killed by crabs, 10/10 would knight again.

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/...

Sam Sorensen wrote a beautiful, albeit complex, roleplaying wargame called Cataphract, and I took the rules and mashed them into a sheer monstrosity. Set loosely in Britain in the Dark Ages, you play as competing warlord households in real time. I'm looking for people bad enough to play.

seedlinggames.com/blogging/ove... Wrote a bit about if O/U is a wargame. Also: - IC, OOC and a secret third thing - the role of violence in games with a small amount of violence - a comparison to games that are mostly about politics but not necessarily role playing #Over/Under

A really great analysis of #over/under that chimed a lot with my experience. I especially like the person/player/character distinction as an alternative to ooc/ic, but the whole thing is excellent and very rich. Read it!

I've added about 50 new images + variations to my public domain art pack. This set of images are all edits of the work of Johann Wagner and are mostly castles, ruins, and a few other structures like arches, bridges and towns. seedling.itch.io/modified-pub...

Oh I should probably actually link it It's here and currently completely free seedling.itch.io/the-sierra-e...

I'm struck by this clip of former Obama speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz saying Holocaust education has backfired in part because people Palestinians as victims: "They think the lesson of the Holocaust is…you fight the big powerful people hurting the weak people." www.reddit.com/r/JewsOfCons...

Come watch Pierre and I chat to @seedlinggames.bsky.social and @lukegearing.bsky.social about @samsorensen.bsky.social's ridiculously ambitious massively multiplayer rpg(?)-wargame(?) hybrid!

This afternoon, IWGB Game Workers joined together with unions from all over Europe, including @stjv.fr and @csvi-cgt.bsky.social to protest against Rockstar's union busting in Paris - on est là!

Over the course of the month I drew a portrait or 2(hundred) in #over/under and called them 🩸HEADSHOTS🩸 And @sean.tuesdayknightgames.com said he might put them in the Mothership app so now you can all apply gentle pressure to that situation too! lol drive.google.com/drive/folder...

Fourth game of Cross Bronx Expressway in the books. Finally a victory! Really flabbergasted by this one, but in a good way. The “interaction dynamic” is equal parts narrative and cut throat. Lots of smart little nuggets throughout. Super relevant given current events as well. Review later this week.

Tonight @joedewhurst.bsky.social, @patrickstactics.bsky.social and I will demo Combat Commander: Vietnam, the upcoming entry in @gmtgames.bsky.social series www.youtube.com/live/L_6AGDo...

what's up gamers I've barely posted about this since #over/under has eaten all of my time, but my space trucking Mothership Month 25 project, ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE, has just under 36 hours left, go check it out: www.backerkit.com/c/projects/s...

When companies think they can fire people to stop unionization efforts and try to get away with it, they teach the workers one of two things: 1. Don't unionize, or else you'll be fired. 2. Unionize even harder and take bigger, more powerful actions together. I know which takeaway I've learned.

Had an amazing time demoing Cross-Bronx Expressway for two tables at @sdhistcon.bsky.social this morning. Thanks to @alexknight.bsky.social, @yoyoni.bsky.social, and Justin DeVries (and, not pictured, @mirikuski.bsky.social, Damani Pant, and Nathaniel James) for playing!

Rockstar union workers have set up a solidarity fund to help our fight after 30 of them were fired in an attempt to destroy the union. Help us fight back! Anything you can donate will massively help our efforts to hold Rockstar to account. actionnetwork.org/fundraising/...

#OVER/UNDER a bit proud of this one

There are different stages of an organizing drive - early on you want to be VERY hush hush and only talk with people you trust. Later on you widen that to people you know and trust less. Sometimes you take collective actions (petitions, protests, etc) as a way to rally and organize more people. 5/

Can you believe this is the first Halloween to fall on Friday the 13th in 666 years? #spooky

Rockstar: not only making history in terms of profits, but in enacting the most brazen act of union busting the games industry has ever seen.

This is one of the most blatant union busting efforts I've ever seen.

This is the most ruthless act of union busting in the history of the UK games industry. Yesterday, @rockstargames.com unfairly fired over 30 employees for union activity. We won't back down, and we're not scared - we will fight for every member to be reinstated.

Love this take on #over/under as the 2020s cyberpunk we deserve!

An excellent article from the BBC on the situation at Build A Rocket Boy. IWGB Game Workers stand shoulder to shoulder with Ben, Isaac, and Marg, who have demonstrated enormous courage in speaking out against corporate mismanagement. This is what solidarity looks like. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

A day in the life of a space station threatening to tear itself apart. #OVER/UNDER injectorseat.wordpress.com/2025/10/17/m...

I have been loving #OVER/UNDER SO freaking much. I love my little newspaper...

Something so cool about #OVER/UNDER is how faction asymmetry leads to players leading totally different lives. Today, I heard about folks preparing powerpoints for their boss, the church is organizing art grants, the union is holding internal elections, and the hackers are shitposting.

I stayed up way too late for the launch of the #mothership megagame #over/under last night. I immediately signed up to the teamsters union and accidentally started replicating my real-life political activities: joining a mutual aid collective, agitating internally, and scheming behind closed doors 😂

Alright, let's fucking go. The lobby for OVER/UNDER by @samsorensen.bsky.social is now live. Come help make history on the Dream. discord.gg/FDJ7T4C2Sm

I finally tried CC:Vietnam, currently on @gmtgames.bsky.social P500, with @joedewhurst.bsky.social the other day and I am VERY excited. I plan on doing a stream about it soon to spread the love.

People are spontaneously posting up near any laborers or street vendors they spot. Just saw a rapid responder guarding a man working on a building exterior. Many things are terrible today but lord, this stuff matters.

on Tuesday, October 14th, as a part of Mothership Month 25, I'm going to launch another real-time play-by-post wargame, open to the public, called OVER/UNDER. the server will open to players on Monday the 13th, but in the meantime you can read about it here: samsorensen.blot.im/mothership-m...

Do you teach boardgames? We have just launched a survey asking about your experience! It takes about ten minutes to complete - please share! Survey link: go.unimelb.edu.au/45qp

To celebrate the 8k subs milestone I'll do a very serious "Ask Me Anything" stream on Thursday night at 8pm GMT with @pierrevj.bsky.social and @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social - please feel free to join us and ask your most serious questions 🥸 www.youtube.com/live/7y2n9Ew...

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram. Community action works. Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

"ZA/UM union workers will be represented by the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain. Studio management has recognized the fledging union and will meet regularly with a committee of elected workplace representatives." Work in the UK games industry? Join us today: iwgb.org.uk/en/join/game...

Parts of this analysis really resonated with some difficult experiences I've had in activist spaces recently, especially the idea that the purpose of some speech-acts is just to make people feel better about themselves, and the idea that we should focus more on concrete actions ("put up or shut up")

@boardgamegeek.com was kind enough to let me publish a designer diary for #crossbronxexpressway boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogp... @gmtgames.bsky.social

Longshot: does anyone in the UK have a copy of Square Mile (MB Games, 1962) that I could have a look at?

The tabletop freelancer survey closes on Monday, if you want to make sure IWGB has the info to fight for fair freelancer wages share it and fill it in now! forms.gle/efLP5CLxskse...

Wonderful admission from the cops that non violent action is effective and really really makes them sad.