You: Describe your WIP in the worst way possible Me: players slander Marco Polo with dominoes

Victory for Ann on the Fukushima map in my monthly Age of Steam game. Loved this map! I was able to avoid taking any shares in the game and both my friend Matt and I earned a rare 25-value chip in income!

Lost by one point on the second tie-breaker in Between Two Cities, still my favorite Stonemaier game!

Victory via ring destruction in Duel for Middle Earth!

Carpe Diem! We had a bunch of low-value Score Cards so I needed this big red building for the win, but would have lost if it remained incomplete.

Taught a friend my all-time favorite 2p game, Dragonheart, on Friday. Now she wants a copy!

Got Black Forest off my Unplayed Shelf on Friday. It’s not as good as Glass Road, but I appreciate what it does different.

Learned Fight 5 on Friday. Nice little psychological tug-of-war / area control game. Probably at the whim of the draw too much, though.

The outfit I wore on Wednesday to testify against Nebraska's trans bathroom ban

If you've played but not yet rated Cretaceous Rails, now is a great time to do so! One more rating takes it past another Harry Potter game on the overall BGG rankings!

Played Crokinole on 2026-01-24. Epic game for Sunday family Crokinole with lots of lead changes and low-scoring rounds that resulted in eight rounds before I managed to squeak over the 100-point threshold! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/521

Played Gravity Superstar on 2026-01-24. This is a go-to game for my Saturday group when we have four players and 30-45 minutes to kill. Had to settle for a close second this time! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25...

Played Trio 4 times on 2026-01-24. Won the first hand for the first time in awhile and then my friend Matt proceeded to win three in a row! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35...

Purchased, learned, and got it this one to the table all within 24 hours - go me! Super impressed with it too! Fun dinosaur theme on a trick-taker with fantastic bakelite tiles as cards and a tile-laying element mixed in create a truly innovative take on the genre! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/43...

Played La Pâtisserie Rococo on 2026-01-24. Played this again with my Saturday group. Really enjoying it! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42...

Taught my class this last night. I like to demo this game early in the semester because it draws upon a shedding mechanic students are already familiar with in UNO while beautifully illustrating how adding interesting choices to a game creates a fresh experience. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26...

Played The Druids of Edora today. Fourth play of Druids of Edora in the last two weeks! I think this is a Top 10 Feld already! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44...

Played La Pâtisserie Rococo today. Oh wow, the sequel to Rococo is really good! Surprised this one hasn't been talked about more. Fantastic stuff! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42...

Played Jungo today. Nice little shedding game but after a play, I'm not sure it's different enough from other shedding games in the same vein to routinely play instead of those others. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42... #

Played Sea Dragons on 2026-01-18. Check another Christmas game off the Unplayed Shelf! I am really enjoying this smooth and beautiful pattern placing game! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37...

Played Takenoko on 2026-01-18. 15 years after its release, it's still a perfect 10/10 and Top 10 game for me. My mom friends had never played it before and got to experience the panda magic for the first time! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70...

Played The Druids of Edora on 2026-01-18. Had a board game afternoon with my wife and mom friends while our teens played a Magic prerelease. Started off the day with another play of this one! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44...

Played Telestrations on 2026-01-17. Had my best experience ever playing this with my trans women gaming group yesterday! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/46...

Played Blob Party 3 times on 2026-01-17. Always a blast - so fun! I need to get some replacement dough though! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/38...

Played We're Doomed! 3 times on 2026-01-17. It's not my kind of game, but it was okay with a good group. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/26...

Awww, today is the first day I got my Pride flag re-mounted and hung back up and my mail person saluted it!

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. 🎲✂️

Played Eight-Minute Empire on 2026-01-12. This is the first game I taught my game design class this semester. It's accessible, brisk, accommodates many players, and demonstrates many lovely design principles. Students must wait for a different game to win one against their professor, though!

Played Messina 1347 today. Enjoyed a win on Yucata as everthing came together for me! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/23...

Cretaceous Rails lands on Tom Vasel’s Top 100 Of All Time!

Played Crokinole on 2026-01-11. My wife wins Sunday family Crokinole this week! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/521

Played Fairy Ring on 2026-01-11. Taught my familyl this last night and we were all super impressed with it and had a fun time! Lovely art, innovative drafting and mancala mechanics, and wonderful tension as the hands of cards are depleted. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41...

Played Russian Railroads today. Enjoyed a 404-400 win online at Yucata in probably the closest game I've ever played of this one. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/14...

Played Naga Raja on 2026-01-08. #OutOfTheDust with 6 1/2 years of dust between plays. Got it for Christmas though and got it to the table yesterday with a friend! I'd forgotten it completely, but it's an accessible game that was quick to figure out again. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24...

Kramer and Kiesling almost always make me smile and learning this one yesterday had me smiling a lot. Loved how it played out!

Oh wow, LotR Duel is so good! Intense back-and-forth game with a friend of mine with many dramatic and exciting moments that had us exclaiming out loud! I finally won via region presence!

Learned Strange New World Above the Clouds yesterday. Very cool little spatial card game with lots of fun agonizing decisions!

I am filled with rage. I am filled with fury. That could have been me. That could have been my wife. That could have been any one of my beautiful friends. Justice for Good.

Played Magical Athlete on 2026-01-05. This was not overhyped. Good old fashioned goofy fun. The plethora of characters and interactions will keep the game fresh and interesting. I added it to my wishlist! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/45...

Played Black Forest on 2026-01-05. This has been on the top of my Want to Play list since it came out. I love revisiting the Glass Road resource wheel and the intersectional worker placement system is always fraught with fun decisions! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/42...

Played Crokinole on 2026-01-04. My wife wins one and I win one in Sunday night family Crokinole! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/521

Played Lightning Train today. Got this off my Unplayed Shelf today. I enjoyed a close win and it was a really cool and fun time! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44...

Played Hot Streak today. I am so bad at this game. I finished with only $5. That's why I don't bet on mascot races in real life, lol! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44... #bggplay

Played Age of Steam Expansion: Fukushima/Chernobyl today. My monthly Age of Steam game was on the Chernobyl map. It's a really fun and challenging map where half the tracks get blown up halfway through the game! boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexp... #bggplay

Played Point Salad on 2026-01-02. I'm 2-0 in an online BGA tournament after this play! 8-point cabbage concentration for the win! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/27... #bggplay via @boardgamegeek.com

Played CuBirds on 2026-01-02. Lost horribly on a BGA play. But it's a cute game that I always have a good time with. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/24... #bggplay via @boardgamegeek.com

Played Machi Koro on 2026-01-02. First #OutOfTheDust play for 2026. 4 1/2 years between plays of this one. Quickly fell into a familiar pattern, which is why I don't play it often, I think. I wish the online iterations included the expansion! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/14...

Played Nova Roma 1-2-26. My friend Warren taught me this yesterday and I really enjoyed it! I loved all the mini games in it, though there was one I never got around to trying out. Maybe that's why I lost, lol! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/37...

Played The Druids of Edora 1-2-26. I can't think of a better way to kick off the gaming new year than with a new Stefan Feld game! Yum yum yum! Delicious! Absolutely wonderful - I loved it! boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/44...

Final 2025 Board Game Stats: 762 Plays of 317 Unique Games! Here are my Top 10 Games Published in 2025 (not including my own, ha ha) Molly House and Vantage capture the #1 position for me for the same reason: for telling meaningful stories through memorable experiences