Have your say on what game mechanisms we prioritise for our monthly board game, card game, or TTRPG releases! patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/poll-game-157149460?postId=poll-game-157149460

thank you for everyone that came down, we had a great time talking games and slinging zines

Zinefest is coming up today, come on down! #nz

Kirikiriroa/Hamilton Zinefest is tomorrow from 10am at the Hamilton Library! Come down and say to many amazing creatives including us. We'll be bringing our TTRPG, board game, and card game zines, and we're super excited to show what we've done since last year's zinefest. #nz #newzealand #zine

What’s you favourite main menu from a game? Looking for some inspiration! #indiedev #gamedev

it's been a while since we last put out a ttrpg, we've already released 9 but, you know, we could make some more...

Cheeseburgers is a special collab between 52 Pickup Studios and Cyuni from @in2games.co.nz! Check out this blog post written by the designer, Cyuni, talking more about the game. patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/designer-notes-157148639 🎲✂️ #gamedesign #indiedev #gamedev

a game is one good idea supported by 47 small ones

I wrote down some questions I like to ask when I'm designing a game (or making any piece of art) and I'm stuck on a particular problem. Maybe they help me jiggle my way loose and into a solution. Trying to blog more this year, let's do it.

Came up with a new abstract game. It all started with the board. It'll take some tweaking to get the rules just right, but it's an interesting starting point!

Viking-age gaming board (replica), from Ballinderry, Ireland. For the Viking war game ‘Hnefatafl’, the object of which is to drive the King piece into one of the corners. This replica at Roskilde Viking Ship Museum, Denmark. Original at National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. 📷 by me #Archaeology

Downtime is in the eye of the beholder... #boardgames #tabletop #ttrpg

If the proofread is good it usually finds something, that's the proofread doing its job, but it's also creating more work 🙃

Cheeseburgers is out now! A 1 player memory-puzzle card game from 52 Pickup + @in2games.co.nz. Standard deck only. Track the Cheese, build burgers, survive the kitchen. Base rules are free this month: patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/52-pickup-issue-156635383 #CardGame #Solitaire #Tabletop

Reminds me of this little chess variant game we made called Escape the Fluffy Black Cat!

The next issue of the 52 Pickup tabletop game series is coming very soon!

every one of my game prototype begins life as a beautiful idea, in a very ugly table, to be sorted later

Welcome to the club. ♣️ This month we’re renaming our Patreon membership tiers to better-suit our newly unveiled 52 Pickup branding. The new tier names are: 🎲 52 Pickup Club Supporter 🃏 52 Pickup Club Regular ♟️ 52 Pickup Club Insider patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/renamed-member-155336118

one of the perks of making tiny weird games is getting to have tiny weird problems

Oh shit, we blinked and we're four away from 350! Well I guess we will release some art for items, trinkets, and all the little - seemingly inconspicuous - things your character can buy and collect! Then, at 375, we'll be releasing some sketches for the map and new character earlier!

Do I have any mutuals that would be interested in running some danger rooms for my fantasy mech game with me?

Shroom Splicers is only free for 1 more week! If you're looking for a TCG game like Magic, or Yu-Gi-Oh! that plays with a standard deck of playing cards this one is for you! patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/52-pickup-issue-154206074 #cardgame #tabletop #indiegame

Looking for a new Sad Monster #ttrpg to play with your pals? Check out Nowhere Home! A #diceless game about wandering monsters whose only home is each other. Find #belongingoutsidebelonging! samrobsondmg.itch.io/nowhere-home

...and I would of gotten away with it if it weren't for you meddling kids! #indiedev #gamedev

Say hello to 52 Pickup E-Zines, a brand new digital reading experience that captures the feeling of reading our physical mini-zines. Now you can read all the 52 Pickup board game, card game, and TTRPG zines in all their glory on the go! patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/introducing-52-e-155335440

I do think more rulebooks should admit when they're a bit nervous

all art is suffering etc but specifically I mean proof reading tabletop game rules

one little rules pass and then, inevitably, another little rules pass

Big month for 52 Pickup, here's what's in the April edition of The Deal 🧵1/5 patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/deal-april-2026-155317161

game design remains a very dignified practice #gamedev #indiedev

Every month we mail out original tabletop games in the mail Yesterday we mailed out prints of 52 Pickup issue #36, 'Shroom Splicers', a 2 player standard playing card game. Players grow mushroom warriors onto their Fields, splice them into stronger forms, and send them to attack the opposing brood.

Mentioned in comments elsethread: Desire paths are, uh, pretty common in TTRPGs.

Check out this blog post from our game designer, Dylan, talking about the process of designing and testing what would ultimately become ‘Shroom Splicers’. Best of all, the game is FREE to download for the month of April! 🍄‍🟫🍄 patreon.52pickupstudios.com/posts/designer-notes-154720868 🎲✂️ #indiedev

For me it's "choose from a pool of 3". #gamedesign #indiedev #gamedev 🎲✂️

@semicoop.bsky.social been at this a lot longer than we thought

Playing more board games this, tonight my first play of Ark Nova. A close nail biter where I came second by a few points, beginners luck I'm sure!

52 is a great number! (Again!)

monopoly? battleship??? checkers????? you youngins and ur newfangled games, i cant keep up.. cant we play something classic everyone already knows for once?

Playing some age of sigma doubles tonight. The dice have not been kind. #tabletop

52 is a great number!

Shroom Splicers is the latest game in the 52 Pickup series and is currently free. A 2 player game, which uses a standard deck of cards, that pits two rival fungal intelligences against each other. Capture the feeling a TCG with just a deck of cards! patreon.com/posts/52-pickup-issue-154206074

Playing some Horrified tonight. #boardgame

We're giving away 5 printed mini zines from 52 Pickup. Free shipping worldwide. Like or comment on the linked post to enter. Want a specific issue? Tell us in the comments! Open to everyone. runs until April 1st. patreon.com/posts/mini-zine-153069413 #boardgame #tabletop #ttrpg #giveaway

A big problem you must overcome when designing games with regular playing cards is information. In a custom playing card game you can put the information on the cards, with regular playing cards you don't have that luxury. We mitigate this issue in several ways: #indiedev 🎲✂️ #gamedev

Did someone say FREE original tabletop games? ‘Echo City’ is a solo game where you fight your way up a skyscraper in a dark sci fi future. The base rules are FREE to download for just one more week! Link below 👇

Being out of work is such poo. At least I've been able to try and turn #ttrpg work into product design portfolio pieces. Slowly refining the Prophecy Prism and Solo Surveyor, two new TTRPG tools I've made for my portfolio. Your support means a lot! http://prism.monkeys... http://solo-surveyor...

I would prefer feedback via pigeon courier... #gamedev #indiedev #boardgamedesign 🎲✂️

Playtests of the Ungoli monster band for #drawsteel kicked off last week, and so far they've been loads of fun. Lots of interesting things are happening with the maps and encounters being designed for the band. The Arena encounter is getting some more testing this weekend with a new objective!

Periodic reminder that I have a cool deck of cards for sale

What if we put some of zine games in booster packs…