Also: ✅ Played Bohemians in Paris, (and, shown here, on the train from Paris to Lyons). Really enjoying this one. The theming is delightful. But @mattleacock.bsky.social keeps beating me!

✅ Played Carcassonne in Carcassonne

Sanibel made this "Top 10 of Essen" list from @polygon.com!

Game design is simple, actually. Except when it isn't. Here are the 12 things you need to know.

To my English board game bubble... The following question was raised by @brettministerium.bsky.social in my community: Is there a curated feed of English-speaking board game blogs, podcasts, and YouTube channels? Something like this site that we can use in Germany. #Boardgame #Brettspiel

I have friends from way back visiting me at Spiel today. What should we try to play/see, besides Sanibel? (They're gamers but none of us managed to do any homework on this question!)

I have been trying to figure out why I am so shaken by the imagery of the White House being torn down. I mean, obviously the huge metaphor...but this. Part of it is this:

Y'all Hasbro made me a BEACH in the novelties area. With ACTUAL SHELLS

Hey I'm at Essen, stop by the Avalon Hill/Hasbro booth in hall 7 to check out my forthcoming game Sanibel. I'll be there each day at 4. If you're press/etc I've got some time set aside that you can book through them, or just DM me.

This is the result of some discord shitposting, but I'll bet it applies to some of you here too 👀

🎲✂️ Howdy! @czamboni.bsky.social and I are looking to connect with TTRPG / LARP creators from outside of North America creating games that address oppression and resistance from a cultural perspective. We're putting together a list for potential guests for our podcast-in-progress! #TTRPG #LARP

halfway through this video I knew I was going to share it, because it's so good...but then he started talking about ME 😬😂 Looking forward to meeting you @matthewdunstan.bsky.social !

heartbroken to learn the pope sympathizes with the poor. how can i continue to believe in god

THIS IS IMPORTANT STOP SCROLLING AND READ THE WHOLE THING

Ugggh I hate packing so much and I am packing for a MONTH spanning Norway to Spain (highs in the 40s to 70s F) What are your packing tips?

Tariffs are putting US game companies out of business. (Note this is the US subsidiary of AMIGO, not the whole German company)

And most of the east coast, too.

DC folks: TODAY 12-5 at Brookside Gardens (in Wheaton MD) is the annual MAWDC mushroom fair. Bring mushrooms you want us to ID, look at the incredible diversity of the ones we brought in, take a guided walk, check out mushroomy merch, & more. I'll be demoing Undergrove!

In celebration of World Octopus Day, we wanted to revisit one of our favorite cephalopod sightings, the glass octopus — Vitreledonella richardi filmed during a month-long #PhoenixIslandsCoral expedition in 2021.

This was a great episode of Ologies: * interesting philosophical dilemmas * smart charitable donations & @givingmultiplier.bsky.social * Alie discovers Unitarian Universalism * at the end, how a game (Tango) could foster collaboration & mutual respect in ppl with differing beliefs and values

Many sea stars begin life as young fairy-like creature (called a brachiolaria) that float through the open ocean. Eventually, a small star forms within them (here in yellow). The fairy-like brachiolaria sinks under the star’s weight, and the star pops out! 🎥@the_story_of_a_biologist (on Insta)

starting soon!

Tonight!

omg I just figured out how to make Google Calendar show Germany times concurrently with US times so I don't have to toggle back and forth. Planning across time zones is still such a pain...

I'm giving an online talk for Mass Audubon on Wednesday. Register for free below, and check out their very cool fall lineup!

I watched "The Hobby" last night with a group of tabletop game designers, and what a treat! The film looks affectionately at board games from the perspective of pro and amateur designers, players, and influencers. It captures how much game design has itself become a hobby in the story of... 1/▶️

🎲 Looking for something new for game night? Why not try one of these fungus board games — forage, grow, and strategize your way through the through the fungal kingdom! Reviews in this #UKFungusDay blog by Jassy Drakulic @jassydrak.bsky.social: ukfungusday.co.uk/fungusboardgames

I've been promoting our next DMV tabletop game event, but this morning it feels wrong to post without comment. 🌸 Local communities belong to a place, and our place contains Washington, DC. Many game designers are federal employees or contractors by day. During a government shutdown, many of us 1/▶️

There are many more important reasons to be upset about the looming government shutdown, but I am scheduled to go bird banding and give a talk at Patuxent Research Refuge tomorrow morning 😭

It looks like Osmosis (2025) by Agnès Largeaud is the 1,000th game added to this list on @boardgamegeek.com! 🎉 Thanks to @mcfluffy.bsky.social for that one, and to several others who contributed yesterday, including @bartgamedesign.bsky.social and @sblendito.bsky.social! Keep 'em coming!

I just noticed this list is up to 988 games. Who wants to find the missing 12 that will get us to 1000? boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/297...

I’m part of Hasbro’s #WomenInnovatorsOfPlay event again. Learn more and register here: spark.hasbro.com/womeninnovat... Also launching that day is their WIP Design Challenge. Winners get $10,000, mentorship, and a trip to Hasbro HQ. (but this year they're esp looking for mass-market toy ideas.)

Update: loved it!

People in or near New Jersey: look at this amazing opportunity!

Yesterday I went to Blue Mash Nature Trail to see an American Golden Plover. I need to learn more about digiscoping, because it was gorgeous in the scope

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

I’m autistic. Not because of Tylenol. Not because of vaccines. Not because of some headline. I’m autistic because that’s how my brain works. Stop treating us like a problem. Start listening to us.

One more thing out of science fiction that has arrived in our lifetimes (or started to, at least). I mostly don't pay for power because of the solar panels on my house but it's even cooler to see at a utility level!

By the 00's I was never the only woman at a convention, but was regularly the only woman at a public game night with 20+ people. I will never forget someone being asked what it's like to get beaten by a girl. (I chose to hear it as admiration so I could keep devouring all the games)

I might play this as my alarm every morning for the next month

There's a chill in the air so we broke out Creature Comforts by @robertataylor.bsky.social . My porcupine family is ready to ice skate and toboggan, followed by a cozy meal of bead and soup. This game is so freakin' charming!

So many people have recommended this documentary to me that I'm going to pass on the recommendation to you before I've even gotten a chance to see it.

I try to avoid getting political on this account, but this post reminds me of something my dad said the other day. My grandpa (dad's dad) was a decorated flight engineer in the Army Air Corps in WWII. Per dad: "They had Antifa back then, too, but back then, it was just called 'the Army.'"

Antifa is not an organization, it's an ideology. Banning an ideology is textbook fascism. We should be anti-fascism. Pic: my anti-fascist grandfather, sometime around WWII.

People want everything to be a binary between dooming and “we’re so back” but I’ll just say this is both a really troubling attack on press freedom and an open admission that your regime is fragile enough to feel threatened by Jimmy fucking Kimmel

Game Design Lessons from the Emmy Awards! gametek.substack.com/p/game-desig... 🎲✂️

I can't believe it's only been 8 months. I am losing my faith that we will get through this.

I am transferring files to a new computer and just came upon a gem of a "next 2 years at some point" to-do list from 2018 Still to-do (out of 75ish items): * Send valentines * Make ginger ale * Make plans to go to Hawaii

Hey #fungi peeps -- @mawdc.bsky.social has $ available for students who need research support in mycology. Priority given to projects relevant to mid-Atlantic US. Deadline Oct 31. Please spread the word!

I can’t believe I caught this 🦋 Just before noon, I figured I better check again… the hangar bay was opening! Little out of focus for a few seconds, but I got the focus back- apologies- I was so excited & shooting w/ the sun on my viewer.