Board Game Beat just opened! There's a bunch of content there already, and I'll be posting more throughout the week...including Spielwarenmesse coverage, a survey, and a video. Thanks so much for all your support!

I've just completed the survey. This resource was invaluable to me when negotiating my first contract !

Le retour de l’impérialisme prédateur des États-Unis

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 🎲✂️

SKULL OF THOMAS AQUINAS: TAKE A LEFT NOW PRIEST: No, the GPS says we have to keep going— SKULL: I KNOW A SHORTCUT PRIEST: Do you remember the last ti— SKULL: FOR THOSE WITH FAITH, NO EVIDENCE IS NECESSARY; FOR THOSE WITHOUT IT, NO EVIDENCE WILL SUFFICE

Now do a football Nobel prize

This from @davidbatherwoods.bsky.social's biography of Schopenhauer is sending me

Played a couple games of The Old King's Crown this week after receiving my copy. We had a blast, @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social have crafted something truly special.

i’m not crying you’re crying xkcd: Fifteen Years

Netrunner Race for the Galaxy Ra Imperium Classics/Legends Dune Imperium Wizards of the Grimoire Res Arcana Unmatched Fantasy Realms Just one

🎮the people are celebrating the invention of a "steam machine." the year is 1804.

(et bien sûr, un Nutriscore TOTAL) linsolithe.ghost.io/proposition-...

2 Clowdus game reviews in a week ? What a treat

I didn't realise @weirdmedieval.bsky.social had a podcast ! Started listening from the beginning, excellent stuff

being a tabletop designer means sometimes you find an Untitled Spreadsheet and inside is just the numbers 1 to 100 in order

Back from a very intense couple days in Essen. Didn't even get to demo a single game 😅

Pubblo (selling themselves as a way for designers to meet publishers) is running a competition to coincide with SPIEL 25- if you sign up, you get free access to the site for the rest of 2025. Not sponsored, I'm just making sure the people who couldn't make it here know 🎲✂️ pubblo.com/spielpitch

My little pumpkins are appropriately scary now that they have started rotting from the inside

This presentation by Jonas Tyroller absolutely applies to boardgame pitching as well. 🎲✂️ Mechanisms aren’t what sell games. Focusing solely on “hooks” can distract you from what’s most important: making an appealing game that’s scoped appropriately (for its size/weight/gameplay, what have you)

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

This is REALLY worth a read! It avoids getting stuck on some quick surface level problems with AI art and gets to the heart of things. theoatmeal.com/comics/ai_art

Cet extrait vient de Groland. Mais quand tu compares avec la réalité, tu ne vois presque plus de différence sur ces histoires de remaniement et de nouveau gouvernement.

Played a classic last night

Well-deserved praises for @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social I've had the chance to playtest the game during its development and it's a real banger.

For today's article, I'm just griping about why "fun" is a bad word for critics. spacebiff.com/2025/09/30/a...

xkcd's what if? has a YouTube channel and I somehow only discovered it ? Excellent stuff ! youtube.com/@xkcd_whatif

If you're a non-french speaking designer and you want to meet with @spiraleditions.bsky.social during Essen, send me a DM :)

imagine if a family of beavers randomly showed up right now and finished whatever thing you've been putting off

Algorithmic feed is the original sin of social networks. It baffles me when I talk to smart people who either don't know or don't care that you can do your own curation (some platforms make this more difficult than others ofc).

New design challenge from @buttonshy.bsky.social …! Make an 18-card cozy game! Join us, all you 🎲✂️ folks:

Trouvailles de seconde main

First day of school for my oldest today. I was emotional, he was just excited.

first man to get disowned by both his physical and digital children

TRIBUNE - Produire, vendre ou acheter un jeu de société Harry Potter, c’est dire aux personnes transgenres qu’elles n’ont pas leur place à la table de jeu wp.me/pcxUi5-1mcv #tabletop #j2s

The leadership of the Tabletop Game Designers Association was disappointed to see the publisher CGE touting Codenames: Back to Hogwarts, a new Harry Potter-themed version of Codenames.

My happy place : eating cheese while testing some game prototypes

Innovation truly is a banger. Best box size to gameplay crunchiness ratio that I know of.

Je serai à Paris est Ludique ce samedi et dimanche. Dédicaces d'Ironwood le samedi à 14h au stand de Super Meeple et quelques rdv à côté pour montrer des protos !

Excellent episode, Jon Perry's perspective on the limits and comparative advantages of designing for video vs board games is particularly enlightening 🎲✂️

Got Dune Imperium Uprising back to the table last night. Still having a lot of fun with it, but damn these worms are swingy. My friend got 5 (FIVE) VP from a single conflict, demolishing us in the process.

Deus Ex, a sci-fi masterpiece, was released 25 years ago today! In a year's time, we'll have covered half the distance between this cyberpunk game's release and the events recounted in its story, set in 2052. 🤯

Panda manufacturing offers $25k in manufacturing for 25 folk with 2 or fewer published titles. I haven't looked deeply into this, but I can imagine it being helpful for some of my friends here. may be helpful or not pandagm.com/25-in-25/ 🎲✂️

The 5 stages of grieving, UK edition

I want this but for talking to a human as support resources are all moving to AI

Matthew is doing fantastic work explaining the day-to-day nitty gritty of making it as a board game designer in all his videos - if you're working on a game, or thinking about it in the future, you should absolutely check them out: