This week in 🎲✂️ I’ve been making a very large board. Tomorrow I’ll be using this board with 60 children. It’s going to be an interesting experience…

Puzzle adventure game (for ages 9-12) is in the final stages of design. Big playtest on Sunday. Actually, this will be the first playtest of all the pieces together.

New game thoughts! Rising like the tide.

Our good friends from @dissentgames.bsky.social have launched and already funded the excellent Loose in the Library on Kickstarter! Literary terrors in a cursed library, what's not to love! www.kickstarter.com/projects/dis...

Wooohooo, we’re at 100 backers on the Loose In The Library Kickstarter!

This week's newsletter: Loose in the Library We spoke with co-creator Jessica Metheringham of @dissentgames.bsky.social on pitting historically significant women against literary terrors, and dissenting through playing tabletop games. thegenerationsgames.substack.com/p/loose-in-t...

Yay! Well deserved! Check out my review and then head over to the crowdfunding campaign to get yourself a copy, if you think this game. 😀👍 tabletopgamesblog.com/2025/09/06/l...

Funded on Kickstarter! Woooo woooo!

Backed!

It’s on Kickstarter! Loose In The Library is finally live! Please do go check it out. We only need four more games backed to fund… www.kickstarter.com/projects/dis...

This photo is called: Where Is The Cumin? It’s brought to you by gram masala. But not by cumin.

I have eaten far far too much cake.

Bad move to be in Lidl just when the downpour started. Now I’m stuck.

I have so many fingers in so many pies that it feels like I’m wearing gravy-filled gloves. Anyone else?

Pears.

I’m looking for the best absurdist, tragic, weird stuff at Edinburgh Fringe. What would have starred Tim Roth (back in the day)? Where’s the new Berkoff or Brecht? Any Fringe recommendations?

I’m watching Star Wars with my kids. It’s their first time. I expected it to be magical. I did not expect child no.1 to ask questions incessantly.

I don’t like crossover games. I’ve just realised this. I like resource-heavy euros, and I like party games, and I like abstract classics, and I like bidding games… but actually I don’t really want something to span more than two genres. I think I like to know what I’m getting. 🎲✂️

Scoring my playtest yesterday — we just tucked our player cards under the contracts we’d won, and then added them up at the end. Worked beautifully.

Clarity! If you’re testing a new prototype you want to know if people like it. What works? What’s fun? You definitely don’t want players getting confused over your icons. The key message is simple: maximum clarity in prototypes means maximum testing of the actual gameplay. 🎲✂️

Yay! I received my prototype copy of Loose in the Library from @dissentgames.bsky.social today. I previously reviewed Library Labyrinth and this game is in the same "universe", but a very different game. Can't wait to review this in due course. 😃👍 #boardgames #prototypes

Today in game design 🎲✂️ Rule books. Very small rule books. I don’t mind writing rules. I do mind creating four A6 booklets. Argh, just put me out of my misery. Why did I create the game like this? Why?

Today we have mainly been making badges…

These photos are called “Jess has done lots of experimenting for the solo mode, but still not come up with answers, and so she definitely needs more tea”.

General reminder for political people in the UK (particularly England and Wales): we don’t know how many seats any political party would get under a PR system, because polling data only asks about a single vote. Under STV, how many people would put Green first and Reform second, or vice versa?

The House of Lords is now debating the amendment from Lord (Terry) Burns, which would cap the size of the Lords at 650 members and thereby limit prime ministerial appointments. Read the amendment 👉 bills.parliament.uk/bills/3755/s.... And use our thread to get up to speed 👇

Forbidden Jungle: a metaphor for headlice. They spread, they lay eggs, they hatch, just when you think you’ve got rid of them they pop up again…

Let me tell you about some of my current board game projects/experiments, and how they’re turning out… 🎲✂️

July's #IndieTabletopNewsletter is live! With fantastic content and upcoming crowd funding campaigns from: @atikingames.bsky.social @dissentgames.bsky.social Frozen Maze Games @lightninglakegames.bsky.social.... www.atikingames.com/newsletter/j...

Today I’m going to visit a primary school to discuss creating a game with Year 5. (That’s children who are 9 or 10.) I did a similar project with Busy Buses, but this year it’s a two form entry… yep, that’s right, 60 children! Bring on the creative chaos! 🎲✂️

Today’s market at Station Hill!

Ok, people in the USA — I missed something last week (or the week before) and now I’m confused. What’s the taco thing? No Kings I get, and I’m very much approving, and I see photos of protests and they look great! But somehow I missed how the reference to tacos came about.

My youngest is 7 tomorrow. Here’s the board game birthday card I’ve made for him. 🎲✂️ (If I’d started earlier, it could have been more than a rough draft. Might have time this afternoon to make it prettier before I print it.)

I’m designing a birthday card for my (soon to be 7) son. It’s his birthday tomorrow. Yes, this is as organised as I get these days.

Ok people, new game design time. The theme is BISCUITS. (By which I mean British biscuits.) Simple mechanics. Needs to be playable by 8-year-olds. Can be anywhere from 54 to 120 cards, but cards only. What games should I be looking at for inspiration? 🎲✂️

This puzzle is about the letters, not the meaning of the words. Find the X in each sentence and count from there.

Long weekend at UKGE. Thanks everyone who came and said hello!

Last puzzle of the weekend — and yes, it’s early. (Also, I’ve been discovering that word scrambles are much less well-known than word searches.) 🎲✂️

Who can do this puzzle? 🎲✂️

Another puzzle! This one’s easy. 🎲✂️

A puzzle for you lovely people. Find the (correct) hidden number. 🎲✂️

Not going to UKGE? Feel like you’re missing out? Maybe some puzzles will cheer you up? Here’s puzzle 1 of 5. The answer is a number. (Put all five puzzles together at the end to get the final number.) Who’s worked it out? 🎲✂️ #ukge

Look! T shirts for UKGE have arrived! We’re at stand 2-908, and we’ll have some free sheets of puzzles…

The 6-year-old (7 next month) has just beaten his father hands down at Alhambra. First time playing. (Not that surprising, really. I see many similarities between his game strengths and mine, and it is my favourite game.)

Here are your reminders about Proportional Representation. 1) We have no idea how many seats any specific party would get under PR, because there are no polls on second choices. 2) PR allows people to effectively vote against parties by simply choosing all other parties.

The kettle is broken (and it’s not the fuse) so I’m boiling water on the hob. So very uncivilised. Going to the shops today. I can’t boil water this way ten times a day.

We’re going to UKGE with this gem of a game - Busy Buses, designed by 10-year-olds! It’s a joy to play and is a genuinely accurate representation of the colourful buses in Reading. We’re at 2-908 at UKGE!

It’s Wednesday, which means #CraftWednesday time! I’m making a bus stop for UKGE. So far I have designed it and found a pole to put it on…

Confession time. I don’t really understand the attraction of getting take away food (“take out”? I think?) delivered to my house. I’m hungry then I want food asap, not in 30 minutes. An omelette or beans on toast takes 5 mins. Genuinely curious. Is my stomach different?

What am I bringing to Friday play testing? I’m bringing the earliest of early prototypes, a complete crash and burn… It’ll be fun, right? *hides behind hands and watches through fingers* 🎲✂️