In what ways can board games improve society? Xoe talks with @gregisonthego.bsky.social about the social lessons games can teach us and how they can start important conversations, often through the lens of his design Keep the Faith, and his codesign Bloc by Bloc! youtu.be/xDzYgaBJ11Y

We do this work because it’s meaningful to play in a world that shouts at us to stop and settle down, be adults. We do this work because of the joy it brings to people. Play is a tradition older than the concept of time itself. If this work lets us survive, that’s something to be proud of.

Got my submission in just under the wire! Love this contest. I’m looking forward to some feedback on my game Secrets, Secrets.

We are calling for an immediate stop to all purchases from Upper Deck. Their total lack of communication is distressing—so we call upon everyone to help us escalate. No purchases from Upper Deck. No media coverage or posts of their games. Upper Deck will only respond when it hurts their wallets.

Got some exciting games to the table. Tax the Rich by @kostby.bsky.social - thematic trick-taking with dynamic teams, plenty of gotcha moments too. Adulting by @ericdittmore.bsky.social - multi-victor semi-coop deck building, which was a really collaborative experience in our first game #boardgames

YIKES. Upper Deck (Marvel Legendary) just announced a CCG using the Harry Potter license. Fans of UD are rallying against this decision. Like the CGE situation last year, I’m asking for your help. Join us. Share your disgust and frustration, and help us push UD to retract their awful decision. 🎲✂️

Great game night tonight! Got Pacts and Persuasion to the table. I was blown away by both designs. So fresh and fluid. What a time to be a gamer! @xoe.gay @hollandspiele.bsky.social @enzyshade.bsky.social @dvcgames.bsky.social

In honor of the @cardboardedison.com 🎲✂️ contest, here are my 2-min. pitch video tips: 🪝 Push the hook(s) from the beginning 🧀 Be cheesily excited about your game 🫴 Show and tell, but mostly show 😲 Highlight the emotional highs 🪝 Keep everything connected to the hook(s) Script template below...

Love to see Adulting paired with some self-care drinks! These folks get it.

🎆 Pyrotechnics is officially available for sale! Start 2026 with a bang! Pyrotechnics is a two-player head-to-head card game that's quick and easy with just the right spark of strategy. #boardgames

I highly recommend submitting a game to this contest. It was a great motivator to tighten up my rulebook for Adulting last year and resulted in some great feedback that helped me make the game what it is today. And if you subscribe to their patreon, you get 1 free game submission each year!

It’s so awesome that the folks @cardboardherald.bsky.social are covering indie and self-published games now!! Go support them and show them you want more of this content by watching their thing, liking the thing, subscribing to the thing—do the thing!! ✨

What an amazing list of games! I’ve had the pleasure of playing most of these titles and am honored to see Adulting amongst such esteemed company.

Hey board game designers! Just SIX DAYS left until submissions for next year's Cardboard Edison Award open! Get your pitches and prototypes ready! cardboardedison.com/award

So cool to see Adulting being played by the DVC Games crew! And side-by-side with a Taylor Shuss game no less. Someone pinch me!

Adulting and Chasing Shadows, both great games by fellow IGNM alums @ericdittmore.bsky.social and @vawcer.bsky.social. So much fun!

Sent out my latest newsletter today. It includes a debrief of PAXU and what’s next for me. Read it here:

This is such a cool conversation about the intersection of TTRPG/story games and board games, journaling games, and open play. Chris is an inspiration to me, as are Xoe and Matt, so I'm excited to listen in. The discussion is live, now!

Thank you @jcw.gay for taking some amazing photos to capture my experience at the Indie Games Night Market! I’m so grateful to have these photos to remember what was a truly an amazing night. (Yes, I was smiling ear-to-ear for 3 hours straight.)

Building the Game did an episode talking with @ericdittmore.bsky.social about his experience with the Indie Games Night Market www.buildingthegamepodcast.com/episode-705-...

Nice writeup of IGNM from @gamingtrend.com! gamingtrend.com/editorials/p...

Came home to an amazing assortment of games from some truly wonderful designers! All praise to the Hollandspiele sale! @amabel.bsky.social @xoe.gay @rollplusfun.bsky.social @johndubois.bsky.social

Finally sharing my sizzle reel! If you're in need of video production work (or pretty much anything creative), hit me up, esp. at #PAXU! I don't ask for this much, but if you're in the #boardgames industry and like what I do, consider sharing this! I'm looking to book up 2026! linktr.ee/jcw.gay

Honored that you asked me to help sell Adulting at IGNM this year :) It's a great game and I think a lot of people saw it as the fun and charming package it is.

For anyone who is interested in Adulting but didn't make it to IGNM, fear not! The PNP version is here! While I'd love to print more copies, this will have to do for now. It is pay what you want; I really just want to get this game in as many hands as possible. Let me know what you think!

I spent yesterday with my family, recounting my amazing experience at PAX and playing games. Highlight of my weekend was how happy my nephew was reading the “book” I wrote and playing with the cards ❤️

Indie Games Market last night was a rousing success!!!! WOW. I’m so impressed by all of the vendors organization and skill. I’m sure we’ll be able together get stats from the PAX team, but this year definitely felt way bigger 🧵 🎲✂️

Adulting sold out at the Indie Games Night Market! It warms my heart to know this game is out there in the world bringing people joy. Thank you Kyle for helping me run the booth, and thanks to everyone that made IGNM a reality!!

Got to watch a couple Oregon touchdowns before I head down to the night market. What a perfect day. Go Ducks!

Gah!! I’m so excited I can hardly contain it!!!

For PAXU, I’m staying with my sister who I originally designed Adulting for (it was her wedding gift). When I arrived tonight, she had her copy of the original out to welcome me. Adulting was born of love for my family and I’m so happy to spend the night here before I share it at IGNM tomorrow!

I made a How to Play video for Adulting, for those who aren't big rulebook readers. Not quite on Rodney level, but I did my best! youtu.be/ghcxh8CU2Es

Threw together a quick poster / flyer for the event this Saturday. Come check out some cool indie games! #paxunplugged #pax #indiegamesnightmarket

Pax Unplugged is right around the corner!! Looking back at all the IGNM coverage—I’m so proud and impressed at how much our community came together to promote these awesome indie works! There’s a game for everyone in this lot! Here’s a thread of all the incredible coverage of IGNM 2025: 🧵 🎲✂️

Seeing all the creativity coming out of these markets cemented something I’ve been feeling for a while. The “pitch to a publisher” pipeline as the norm really stifles game design. There’s so much creativity out there, it just needed an outlet.

It has been a wild two weeks! Thanks to SDHistCon, the forthcoming Indie Games Night Market, and my own game days, we've played some truly incredible games. And these are only the ones I can talk about! AMA.

I got to play @ericdittmore.bsky.social's Adulting recently and it was very solid. I love how it approached multi-victor and it might be one of the most dynamic deckbuilders I've yet played. Give this a look at next week's Indie Games Night Market at PAX Unplugged!

Check out Adulting, a 'cozy, engine-building card game about the mundane struggles of adulthood' from TTGDA member @ericdittmore.bsky.social during PAX Unplugged's Indie Night Market this Saturday night! Build a healthy balance of chores and self-care. Find more information at DittmoreDesigns.com

Such a stellar line up of games! I can’t wait to be a part of this in just a week’s time!

I ran a game design workshop at my local makerspace today. It was fun showing off the games me and my friends have made as a starting point. I loved that I could say, “you don’t have to make a thousand copies to bring your game to life.” Indie games rule!! @vickilanger.dev @xoe.gay

I love seeing people use the language of Adulting to talk about their real-life self care. I want nothing more for this game than for it to resonate with folks in this way and to help them reexamine the “grind set” that we can all fall victim to. Make space in your routine for self care!

Can’t wait to see this preview of some titles that will be at IGNM! I’m so honored to be included in this list of amazing designers.

This is a great time to pick up some Hollandspiele games! I’m picking up a copy of Sykes-Picot by @rollplusfun.bsky.social and Persuasion by @xoe.gay

This is a feed of designers bringing their games to Indie Games Night Market at PAX Unplugged 2025 next week. Right now, it is chock full of folks cutting, printing, boxing, and otherwise willing their games to life.

Friday 11/14 6PM ESTour Indie Games Night Market Special Preview goes up~ I’ll be active on here & on YouTube so feel free to ask any questions; I’d love to engage & chat about it~ Huge thanks to all of the lovely folks who contributed to make this happen~ (tagged below) @officialpax.bsky.social

Tomorrow is a big day... How-to-Play video day! I have my script ready. My wife agreed to lend a hand. I got a little tripod for my phone. Everything is ready to go. Any pro-tips for making a how-to-play video before I get to it tomorrow? 🎲✂️

Have you ever wondered how to phonetically spell out the sounds your farts make? This game has all the answers!

24 Hours remain! Don't miss your chance to catch these unique experiences! Games of harsh votes and reluctant concessions. Divisions and misdirection. Flashy duels of action, resource, & goal management. Introspective hunts for evils among friends. Silly competitions of pushing your luck and toots.

Zach Morris is a wonderfully inventive designer, and their game Duck, Duck, Choose! is a delightful multi-victor game about reaching consensus and sharing with others (or not). I’ve loved playtesting this one and can’t wait to share it with my game group!

I’m very excited about this online indie market. I’ve had the good fortune to playtest all of these games and can confirm that they are all bangers! Get em while you can!