You know how the saying goes: When it rains, zip horse.

B.ENO I have been informed that Mr. Eno has now seen this. “Very amusing” was the verdict. I get up to all sorts on Patreon.com/frasergeesin if you fancy it. My comics are also “Very amusing” and cheap from Frasergeesin.com

what do you mean hamnet isn't about pig internet

Doing some research and came across a mysterious latin play called "LUDUS DE ANTICHRISTO". A moment of realisation that I might accidentally be in the first act of John Carpenter's "Prince of Darkness". archive.org/details/derl...

One for you @maffrj.bsky.social

Biffa bins offer just two types of zone. Choose wisely ♻️

London & London commutable playful folks… the CAR BOOT CASINO will soon be opening its doors once more! If you’ve a homebrew card or bluffing game you’d be up for showcasing & running a table then drop me a line

Need to share what will likely be my lifetime's finest #boardgame victory, but will be utterly incomprehensible to explain: We were playing 13 Beavers (boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42...), and not only did I correctly get through the "Tempting Tunnel", to win I had an 11, chose HIGHER, and drew a 13.

A bunch of interesting games at the IGGI Game Jam this week: itch.io/jam/iggi-jam... Highlights are the (3!) Qualtrics games, as well as Hemomaxxing, a game where you try and increase blood flow to your face, and "i believe in you my idiot son" where you build a son to be proud of.

Had a great time with the @iggi-phd.bsky.social jam this week. One of the suggested constraints was to use Qualtrics (survey platform) as a game engine, and it piqued my interest so I put a small game together. It's called Research Survey - benkirman.itch.io/research-sur...

happy 40th birthday to this top lad. he's still h̖̠͎̩ṳn͎͎g̗͙̟r̥͓͔̻͕y͓̟̮͙

People aren't wrong about Home Assistant being the most haunted platform to tinker with. The clothes dryer keeps switching on whenever the Red Arrows fly past.

If you see this post, you are blessed with a prize from the FUN CHICKEN

Big fan of game rulebooks that forbid shitty people from playing. Just a couple of sentences in the preamble setting out the most basic rules in case anyone forgot. (Hope is for the Dead by Wird Designs)

If you fancy doing a "little" puzzle (that will take HOURS) I can recommend this: thomaswc.com/2025.html Sort 2025 things into 45 categories of 45 items each. Very USA-centric but clever how it pans out, it gets easier, then a lot harder as you go.

My nephew saw this at a buffet, his eyes went really wide and with awe and delight he whispered "gravy fountain"

A blessing on folks that have out of office messages like "I'm out of the office until X. Bye." with no apologies, no alternative contact, and especially no promise to "read your email when I return". ✨

Got this little bugger working again after ~15 years. He's gone the colour of a pub ceiling and mainly speaks french, but his ears still work! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabaztag

I only know Mayday through the card sleeves that I will now never buy. But the pattern of deception here is cartoon villain stuff. Getting customers to "return" faulty items to the next person who buys one...

A neat little quiz game: Is a headline homophobia from the 80s-90s or transphobia from the 2010s-2020s? Because it's all the same bullshit, repackaged for the hate du jour haveigotphobiaforyou.com

CFP for a special issue of Eludamos. What are antifascist games? Proposal deadline is December 19. eludamos.org/index.php/el...

This made me think of the next level for your mean dice: carving them out of cheese.

That sinking feeling when you are reading an interesting article and then the screen fades to the popup and you realise that it is on the newsletter platform that hosts and promotes nazis. No, I won't even continue reading for free.

🚀 NEW MAGAZINE ⌨️ Back in the ’80s there were printed mags of BASIC programs to type in, we’ve brought that back but for web pages! 10 amazing games, toys, puzzles and utilities, no coding knowledge needed vole.wtf/doctype/

Just had to ssh into a pumpkin because it was playing amen break too frequently

Decolonisers of Catan (with dice that only roll 7s) #boardgames #catan

I zine-ified Screw That: A Resource Scarcity game this morning. oliverbates.itch.io/screw-that It's a (very) small frustrating game/LARP sort of thing about a future where your plumbing stops working for some reason. #zines #games #indie

Games to play during protests and sit-ins. www.protestgames.org

from the Dog Internet archives. WHAT DO THEY KNOW?

Sometimes dice in tabletop games are a bit "swing-y". I designed and made this full set of dice for people who prefer more consistent results. I call them Mean Dice. benkirman.itch.io/mean-dice #ttrpg #boardgames #dice #gamedesign #statistilols

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

Hunting a vampire in Tragic Castle Obsession, unfortunately my wooden crucifix caught vampirism and enthralled me. Theres a lesson here somewhere. #morkborg #solitarydefilement #solorpg 1d105.itch.io/tragic-castl...

Three (3) new postdoctoral game studies positions are now open for applications. These are related to the exit phase (2026-27) of the CoE-GameCult, and positions will situated in the Tampere University Game Research Lab, COMS/ITC, Tampere University. tuni.rekrytointi.com/paikat/index...

Looking forward to this event on social justice in tabletop games. Come see/play some games (inc Billionaires and Guillotines, Daybreak, Molly House) and explore the topic, it would be cool to see you there (London 14/11) www.tickettailor.com/events/kings... #gamedesign #gamesresearch

i did it you can stop thinking about it, i just solved The Male Loneliness Epidemic downpour.games/~doruk/solut...

Walked past a bunch of film students on their way to a lecture, and thought it was cute how many of them were wearing movie t shirts. Dune, Jaws, etc. Chuckled to myself and then realised I'm wearing my "Escape the Dark Sector" board game shirt on the way to my teaching...

CÖRK BØRD is "a MÖRK BORG compatible game of police procedural horror". (I don't know much about it, but what a name!) www.kickstarter.com/projects/all...

Next Thursday (September 11th), join @florencesn.bsky.social & myself in discussing #game archaeology and speculative #fiction in relation to my latest novel! The presentation starts at 6 PM at Village Bookstore in Leeds (UK): >> villagebooks.co/blogs/blog/w... <<

Age caught up with me and I've joined glasses gang. I wasn't prepared for the weird pageantry vibes of the opticians. Like a medical coronation.

york folks, i'm starting to run weekly workshops about alternative, low-tech digital tools. running the first, trial session monday next week. come by, play and make a zine!! sign-up here: www.eventbrite.com/e/make-and-b...

bloody eck

The compulsory scam-awareness training uses as an example phishing email of "You are getting a raise", and assures me that my employers would never ever send me such an email.

This week at fractals.coop we’re launching our new service: Games for research, engagement, and impact. Want to turn your research into an engaging and impactful experience? We bring games design, play and immersion. You bring the research. fractals.coop/blog/games-f...

Me, Caleb, and @kierancutting.bsky.social have been working to evolve Meal Deal from research through design artefact to a something we might sell. Find Caleb and enjoy the latest(ish) version! Sadly kieran and I can’t be there this year. Og version is here: oliverbates.itch.io/meal-deal

I feel like you could replace "AI coding tools" with a lot of things and the graph would look the same - "Refactoring Codebase", "Using new Javascript framework", "Switching IDE to Dark Mode", "Making your own Mechanical Keyboard"

Great news from a kickstarter project that's collecting fart noises

Played Thousand Year Old Vampire and was killed in a sunlight-related incident at age 34 ⚰️

Agree with Joe, great to see so many people responding. alt.chi was the heart of culture at CHI and the conference is diminished now.

"Jessica... what fucking size shoe do you have?!" - best line from the horror film Clown in a Cornfield (2025)