It's Cardboard Time! Episode 126 is now live! (tinyurl.com/4ds32efp) On today's episode, Arwen and special guest Olivia Lothary (@olloplays.bsky.social) discuss The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop and our Top 10 "new to us" games of 2025.

Thanks to starting a new job last year I learned and played far fewer new games than I would have liked, which has made this list a little weirder than usual. Still, tradition must be upheld so here is my Top 7 New (to me) Games of 2025: www.stuartellisgorman.com/blog/2025-in...

I'll reflect on something I said for this Tuesday's episode. Queer people haven't gone traitor in a single game I've played of this, despite the in game consequences. There's something profound to be said about that.

The Mollies tearing up Molly House. ZERO COP RAID GAME all gay love no gay betrayal W/ @jojosey.bsky.social @developher.net @elleelle.goodgirls.online @plaidistic.bsky.social

i got to play a version of this at UKGE and it was a brilliant blast! jo has such a way of identifying the real dynamics at the heart of social relationships, cutting through the nonsense that people tell themselves to expose how systems actually work

We playtested this multiple times the other night and I'm hungry for more!

Hell yes; I cannot wait to check this out. And hey, If you aren't following Jo, you should fix that now.

FOLLOW JO they make impossibly cool shit, including the best board game released in 2025, Molly House

In 2026, I'm releasing my next game: WENDYBUXXX. Play as song characters brought to life by singer Wendy Miasma and forced to compete as lifestyle influencers to promote her new necrocurrency*, WENDYBUXXX. Gain the most followers by setting and following trends, while balancing controversy.

The best game I played this year was Wanderstop. You play as Alta, a fighter, stopped in her prime by an unexpected defeat and an insurmountable case of burnout. The setup invites you to imagine the game she wishes she were in - an action-packed gladiator fighting game. But this is not that game.

My final video for 2025 compiles the lessons I learnt about games design this year, from rethinking how I work, what I want to design, and the people who I couldn't have done without. Thank you everyone who has supported the channel this year, and have a wonderful 2026! youtu.be/62zLZONQc4Q 🎲✂️

An honour for Molly House to be included in Best Week! More than just that, it's really exciting to see there are enough great board games exploring interpersonal relationships to make a Best Week list from. I hope this is the start of something that will continue to grow.

I'm honored to see Molly House in such company! Congrats to @miasmacorp.bsky.social for their debut Best Week appearance and to all of the other ways fantastic games on the list.

6. Molly House Give me more historical games like this! I love the semi-cooperative nature of this one and the way it presents its setting in the mechanisms. One of the more opaque games I played this year but it gets better the more you play! @miasmacorp.bsky.social @colewehrle.bsky.social

BOARD GAME: The incredibly produced, lovingly researched, and just ludicrously FUN Molly House by @miasmacorp.bsky.social and @wehrlegig.games Play as queer 1700s Londoners trying to find queer joy while being pursued by fascists. Throw parties and go cruising, or betray your own people to survive

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

Endurance is a wonderful game that made me feel absolutely awful. I mean that as a compliment. If that sounds like your thing, I think you should buy it.

Many Nights a Whisper was absolutely one of the best games I played this year. It heaps you with responsibility that's impossible to shoulder, asks you to carry out an improbable task your character has spent years honing, puts fate in your hands, then has you questioning if it was worth it at all.

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

Let's talk about board game boxes and their role in selling a game, framing and contextualizing the experience, and creating meaning. www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgfV...

I really really think more people should play Wanderstop... It's one of my favorite games of this year... And it's got C418 music #art

Next Bristol Friday daytime playtesting event is on 28th November! Sign up on the Meetup event to join. @playtestuk.bsky.social www.meetup.com/playtest/eve...

Drew and I have been overwhelmed by the support for the reprint campaign. If you've been looking for a copy of John Company or Molly House, this is your best chance to get a copy and the way that most directly supports us and our further efforts. www.kickstarter.com/projects/col...

Great afternoon thinking about society and games (and the gamification of history) at the social justice and gaming workshop at KCL! Also most importantly finally got to play Molly House, explained by the wonderful @miasmacorp.bsky.social , which I've been hoping to play since seeing it at TIPC4!

Finally got my copy of The Old King's Crown (@theoldkingscrown.bsky.social) to the table. I first played a demo of it at UKGE, I want to say 3 years ago? It was already impressive then, but I can see it's so much more now. Absolutely spellbinding. Congratulations to the whole team.

Come join Drew and Jo, and I for a mid-day game of MH on the lovely new BGA mod. www.twitch.tv/wehrlegiggames @miasmacorp.bsky.social @wehrlegig.games

I'm going to be at a Gaming Social Justice event at King's College London on 14 Nov, running a Molly House demo and then talking with others including @baddeo.bsky.social and @maxhaiven.bsky.social - it's free but tickets are at this link: www.tickettailor.com/events/kings...

Je lu les règles de Molly House (merci @canardpc.com pour l’avoir rendu visible) et c’est une réussite de fusion thème/regles. Et quel thème ! La communauté queer du Londres du 18eme où on sent la menace de la corde à chaque fois qu’on fait la fête. 1/2

would you like to own two of the best games yet made? yes. and you can.

We are now live! If you want to grab a copy of the new printings, now's your best chance. www.kickstarter.com/projects/col... This is also a bit of a strange campaign for us. To be honest, I don't even think I've ever been as nervous about a launch. I suppose that needs some explaining 🧵

Happy Indigenous People's Day! ᎠᏁᎯᏯ ᎤᎾᏤᎵ ᎢᎦ! May all my indigenous family, friends, coworkers, and colleagues be recognized as they should be. If you'd like to support a Native business, we've got Winter Rabbit on sale just for today. www.absurdistproductions.com/product/wint...

This game was made by a good friend of mine. I've played it a lot, and if you'd enjoy a comic book narrative and wide variety of puzzle and dexterity minigames in your escape-room-style game, I'd highly recommend it. (also you may recognise someone in the video) www.kickstarter.com/projects/min...

hi i'm getting a kickass set of new genitals installed in 2 weeks from now !! isn't that fucking cool ? i could use a little bit of help with medical bills + housing expenses during recovery and so i've set up a little gofundme! gofund.me/394dc2e93

I'm constantly blown away by the things people write about Molly House. This one feels especially powerful.

Hey heads up, The Game Changers paperback is on the shelves in most good UK bookshops right now. If you would like some positive reading about how we are all deeply connected as humans, & how games build communities in the darkest times, you might find something of value in it.

💣 A royal secret is out… 👑🕵️‍♀️ Queen of Spies is our next game! From the brilliant minds of @beyondsolitaire & @djackthompson . Follow the Gamefound campaign here 👉 gamefound.com/en/projects/...

Molly House will have a little spot at Essen this year 🎉 If you can spare a thumb on BGG, we just got it listed on their preview page. Help our heavy queer party game climb the ranks! boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/...

If your courtship game has you competing with other players to have a higher stat to attract the attention of an automated partner, then your courtship game has the ideology of incels. Maybe it isn't as sexist, but it shares the same mindset as people who think dating is a metrics game you can win.

🚨 The John Company & Molly House Reprint Kickstarter campaign launches October 21st, 2025. www.kickstarter.com/projects/124... /🧵

this is absolutely electric. here's some first thoughts about jay's inclusion of Molly House in this manifesto (I was nodding along while reading and honoured to see it mentioned!) and how we sort of stumbled into this approach.

I'm overjoyed by this Molly House review from @mattthr.bsky.social in the latest @senetmagazine.bsky.social! It's a wonderful thing when a reviewer gets it, and Matt definitely gets it. Thank you. @colewehrle.bsky.social @wehrlegig.games

For research reasons I'm trying to get hold of scans/photocopies of Sid Sackson's columns in Strategy & Tactics, particularly the ones from #45 through #48 (looking for a specific item which would have landed in one of those issues), published in late 1974 and early 1975. Feel free to share this.

Accidentally came 1st in the Kniziathon yesterday! The metrics for ranking were arcane and mysterious to me but the leaderboard can only tell the truth

I’m doing victory laps in my kitchen right now!!!! 💃🏼 CGE just announced they are going to be giving away 100% of the profit from their Harry Potter game to pro-trans charities!! www.instagram.com/p/DNG48n-IVP...

What a Gen Con! Molly House + John Company are sold out in the US right now, so this year was wild and wonderful. We saw lots of folks and old friends, ran a 50 person John Company journaling TTRPG megagame, and i even played a synthesizer for an Oath puppet show. 10/10 @leder.games

During Gen Con, I will have 250 of these zines with me. The goal is to inform normies about what’s going on with CGE and a call to action to join the blacklist. No buying, pitching, or covering CGE games until they give the community a proper apology and response on how they plan to make good. 🎲✂️

I gotta say, it feels like my announcement yesterday went over a lot better than theirs! Turns out things go smoother when you're not knowingly funneling money to anti-trans hate, who woulda thunk it??

Reviewers including No Pun Included and Shut Up & Sit Down are boycotting Codenames publisher CGE for releasing a new Harry Potter-themed game while ignoring JK Rowling’s anti-trans rhetoric: boardgamewire.com/index.php/20...

Meet me at Gen Con! I’ll be demoing my game High Tide all weekend long!! Come visit me through Underdog Games, Diana Jones Award, and Outset Media!! Events linked in the thread! 🧵

I don't see my stuff in the wild often - that's the cost of doing direct sales on demand - but when I do see one of the Rio or Capstone releases it's always a delight (even if the name on the box is usually wrong). And the first time was a special thrill. ♥️ Happy for you, Jo!