I love these days of doing nothing in particular after Christmas. I have no plans, so I took a few minutes to write up a few thoughts from the year. If you're sick of doomscrolling and want something to read for a few minutes, head on over and have a look - punchboard.co.uk/a-year-of-pl...

I had an evening of games at a friend's place last night. Lots of games played but one of the highlights was Roller Disco from @huffnomore.bsky.social . A shedding game with a really neat twist. We immediately played two more games straight after. Keep an eye on this one.

My favourite book genre is a locked room mystery. I was fanboying hard when they referenced John Dickson Carr in the new Knives Out film. So I picked this book up as a festive treat to me. The Murder at World's End by @mossmontmomery.bsky.social . Halfway through and loving it, locked rooms rule.

Inspired by @gameminimalist.bsky.social mentioning what drew him into hobby games, I'd love to hear your stories of what drew you into the hobby. What was your turning point? Do you remember the thing that tipped you over the edge and down, down, down into the rabbit hole? Tell me about it.

Merry Christmas to me!

Opinion time! In before the rest of the world is sick of end-of-year top lists, here are my top few games for 2025. Read it, or don't, you're a grown-up now and can make your own decisions. punchboard.co.uk/game-of-the-...

Catching up on some games from the last year or so, and today was turn of Stamp Swap from @stonemaiergames.com .'I cut, you choose' mixed with set collection and tile placement. All kinds of friendly interaction punchboard.co.uk/stamp-swap-r...

My Christmas bottle of whisky from last year has just poured its last. Good job I'm heading down to the shop again on wednesday for this year's! This was delicious by the way.

I was lucky enough to get a copy of Railway Boom for me from Essen. I love it, and introduce it to anyone and everyone I can. I wrote a few words about what makes it so special for me, which you can read here - punchboard.co.uk/railway-boom... @okazubrand.bsky.social @ianotoole.bsky.social

There was a post on the Board Game Reviewers & Media Facebook group about a big channel taking a stance on not covering games with generative AI art. Most replying said 'Hey, good on them, that's a great stance to have", and I have the same stance. Some of the replies though... 🧵

I have appeased the owl. I will be spared this year. Hallowed be the Green One.

Lidl pyjamas. Fashion has peaked.

I've been playing lots of Ayar from @ospreygames.bsky.social @flopiano.bsky.social @mandelafg.bsky.social & @ianotoole.bsky.social . I've really enjoyed it, and written a full review which you can read right now. Head over and see what makes it tick - punchboard.co.uk/ayar-childre...

I learned the second of my railway game purchases from Gridcon - Lightning Train. I'm surprised it's not getting talked about much. Bag building, trains, and Paul Dennen (Dune Imperium, Clank!) - what's not to like? I really enjoyed the first play, looking forward to a 4-player game now.

I spent my weekend at GridCon, a convention organised by Paul from @gamingrules.bsky.social . You can read about what I played and what I thought of the event, along with my moaning about being poorly, right here - punchboard.co.uk/gridcon-6-20...

Day two of Gridcon in the bag, another fantastic day. Today I played Suburbia, Let's Make a Bus Route the Dice Game, Lepidoptery, Railway Boom, Bean to Bar, Tag Team, The Gang, and most excitingly of all, the top secret new game from @theoldkingscrown.bsky.social . Thoughts in thread 🧵

Day 2 of Gridcon! Woke up feeling like death, but it didn't stop me. I didn't take enough photos but played Molly House, Ayar, Origin Story, Panda Spin, Lepidoptery, Yokai Septet and probably something else. Good times!

A busy and thoroughly enjoyable day 0 of Gridcon 6. Magical Athlete, Idle Hands, No Thanks, Yubibo, Ayar, Start-ups - and the convention hasn't actually started yet.

Off to the last convention of the year for me tomorrow, Gridcon, in darkest Somerset. Haven't packed any clothing or toiletries yet, but I think I'm sorted for games. Trying to cover all bases and all occasions.

If you see this, post your getaway vehicle

Some people are just a bit too talented for their own good...

Reviews haven't come easily recently, thanks to real life kicking me in the balls repeatedly, but I'm back with another today. This is Leptioptery from @dnlnwmn.bsky.social , and it's a lot of fun. Find out why in my review, here - punchboard.co.uk/lepidoptery-... #BoardGameSky

Over the years, I have demoed quite a lot of games at a few different locations. So in this article, I want to share my demoing method, which can also be applied to teaching games in many ways. tabletopgamesblog.com/2025/11/11/d... #boardgames #thoughts #demoing #demonstrating #teaching

A two-handed learning game of Ayar from @ospreygames.bsky.social @flopiano.bsky.social @mandelafg.bsky.social & @ianotoole.bsky.social in the books. First impressions are great, I want to play again right away and do better sun scoring! Touches of Merv, Sankoré and others all over it.

I'm a big Stefan Feld fan, so I was very happy when The Druids of Edora landed on my doorstep. I like it a lot, despite the terrible translation job and missing things from the rulebook, but luckily there's an FAQ (linked to in the review) punchboard.co.uk/the-druids-o... #boardgames #boardgamesky

I have appeased the owl. My soul is my own for another day.

A great way to spend your dark winter evenings, now that the clocks have gone back.

The collaboration I never knew I needed New Mr Poirot and Little Miss Marple books to be published | Books | The Guardian share.google/Rqw2CP1dwmn1...

I can almost hear the midi music from the menu screen...

I installed Omarchy on an old SSD. Runs fast, looks nice, and I can even play Overwatch on Linux nowadays. Times have changed for sure!

What could possibly be in this, I wonder...? Hmmm, new a new Stefan Feld game to get stuck into, I'm excited to see what it's all about.

I done gone wrote a review about an Uwe game. Not many reviewers would think of Rosenberg Ripple as an ice cream flavour, but here you go - punchboard.co.uk/kanal-review... @ulible.bsky.social @hachettebguk.bsky.social #BoardGameSky

Both of these are great. Go take a look, I'll leave links to my previews in the comments.

It's hump day, and if you need a little pick-me-up to get you through and be a day closer to the weekend, let Ned's Atomic Dustbin do it. Still one of the greatest feel-good, upbeat, happy songs ever www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqGz...

Trick takers - who on earth likes those?! Turns out it's me. I do. I like them. I've been playing a very good one called Idle Hands from Fukutarou of @fukuroudou.bsky.social and @dnlnwmn.bsky.social , so I wrote a bunch of words to tell you all about it. punchboard.co.uk/idle-hands-r...

I taught myself The Coil from @amuristudio.bsky.social after their Kickstarter fulfilled super fast. What a clever game. You use your faction's dice to constantly one-up everyone else, aiming to claim cards from all players according to secret agendas. Very pretty too!

@cmyk.games Magical Athlete's recent reprint has been making waves, so I bought myself a copy from @travelgames.bsky.social and have been playing it a LOT recently. I wrote a review all about it, which you can read here - punchboard.co.uk/magical-athl... #BoardGameSky

I picked up The Roottrees Are Dead in the current Steam sale. It's set in the 90s and you're trying to piece together a huge family tree, using a lot of very early internet sleuthing. I'm in love with it at the moment, it has proper Return of Obran Dinn feels. store.steampowered.com/app/2754380/...

This is the very gorgeous Small Folk from @rocnestgames.bsky.social . A full preview to come, but for now just look at this ♥️

Keep your eye on this

These games arrived courtesy of @dnlnwmn.bsky.social . Tonight I learned Lepidoptery and Greasy Spoon. I really like the Connect 4 mechanism of Lepidoptery already :)

It's that time of year again. Even the mental health equivalent of a Shawshank escape this week won't stop me making my Christmas cake. 10 weeks of feeding it brandy start tonight, and the house smells amazing.

Another new game from @unfringedthings.bsky.social is hitting Kickstarter in a couple of weeks, and I've been playing it. I think I might even like it better than the headliner, Fetching Feathers 😅 Curious? Read my preview of D.O.T here - punchboard.co.uk/d-o-t-previe...

I solved the daily Clues by Sam (Sep 24th 2025) in less than 7 minutes 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟨🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 cluesbysam.com

Astraios tonight. Very obviously from the same mind as Acornism, but different enough to have both for sure. Clever little tile layer with glow in the dark printing! @phantomlab.bsky.social

I solved the daily Clues by Sam (Sep 20th 2025) in less than 12 minutes 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 cluesbysam.com Nailed it today.

So Acornism from @phantomlab.bsky.social is gorgeous. Simple tile layer trying to surround animals with the correct number of acorns to score points. The definition of a cosy, autumnal, coffee table treat.

I've had some pretty horrible anxiety & depression this week which has stopped me functioning for the most part, but one bright spark was this KS fulfillment arriving from @phantomlab.bsky.social

Rival Cities from @pegasusspiele.bsky.social & Andreas Steding learned tonight. I really enjoyed this, I like those duelling Euro games like Targi, so this is a treat.

I solved the daily Clues by Sam (Sep 11th 2025) in less than 11 minutes 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟠🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩 cluesbysam.com