The pre-launch page for Cascadia: Alpine Lakes is up! Click that button to be notified when it goes live. @flatoutgames.bsky.social @fanfactories.bsky.social @boardgameghee.bsky.social @bethsobel.bsky.social @dylanmangini.bsky.social

I would like to ask a question in my local reddit group, but I have never posted on Reddit and have zero karma. Is there an easy way to gain a bit of karma that is also fairly authentic interaction?

Every time I think about the Point Pleasant WV Mothman statue I am amused. 🍑

A) I am deeply grateful to have gotten my covid & flu vaccines yesterday! B) Gosh I feel like garbage hahahah ew

Today we teach a classic card game! Hearts Of course using the lovely River & Stone deck from @bethsobel.bsky.social ! youtu.be/HRKq3EDg5eA

I will always repost this from what we sang in choir 6 years ago S

Lovely Gregory Alan Isakov anniversary concert

Two hours into hearing aids and it sure is weird hearing yourself talk!

22 years married to the best human. What an absurdly lucky choice to make at 23! I love him so much. He is so good.

For someone who has to manually pay taxes every year as opposed to having them withheld and getting a return for what is paid in excess (due to freelance), I sure get approved for a lot of loans against my tax return via text!

The joy of puzzles with a cat!

Did you know you can make nacho cheese super easily out of milk, cheese, and sodium citrate? I did not until a few days ago and it blew my mind. Test batch for tomorrow's nacho bar hosting duties. SO much easier than a roux!

In my town there is a law firm, Belcher | Swanson, and in my head that is Tina Belcher and Ron Swanson and I shall not entertain any other options.

Great to see such high level coverage of board games again, and seeing Cascadia: Alpine Lakes in their list of the top 5 from Gen Con is pretty cool! @flatoutgames.bsky.social @bethsobel.bsky.social

🥺💙 Truly, librarians are among the best of us. May their rolls be crits.

If you'd like to read Shadow Jack, it's up at @giganotosaurus.bsky.social for your pleasure giganotosaurus.org/2025/05/01/s...

Back to back Ethel Cain and Hozier was amazing

Anyone know a fun PNW writing discord? Let me know! 💖 (local pals! Local pals!)

Worldcon line is really lining!

Absolutely. It’s the same answer for folks who ask “so I can’t make a game about xyz?!” Of course you can. Just take the extra (relatively easy) steps to ensure you’re treating your game’s contents, subject matter, and players with care and respect.

If you are a white illustrator, you will not get diversity right every time. I certainly haven’t. It’s scary to think about harming marginalized groups with your ignorance, but I cannot stress enough that diversity and inclusion is a critical part of illustration.

First babies

As folks are criticizing reviewers who didn't call out the racism in Ace of Spades... and as I'm editing the next @saltandsass.bsky.social ep... I had the thought - @613mandi.bsky.social and I have been podcasting for nearly a decade together and advocating for inclusive gaming longer than that.

I am not greek, but I am adopted, and my dad's family is greek. The whiteness and non-greekness of greek retellings is sad. www.khoreomag.com/non-fiction/...

As an adopted person, I feel qualified to offer this expert option: Adoption is so weird sometimes.

The leadership of the Tabletop Game Designers Association was disappointed to see the publisher CGE touting Codenames: Back to Hogwarts, a new Harry Potter-themed version of Codenames.

JKR is funding life-destroying legislation. When you license HP and put it on your product, the money you pay to do that is literally ruining lives. This isn't ambiguous, it is direct, measurable harm. I will never give a penny to a company who chooses money over the lives of my friends.

Vermont is gorgeous! That said, can a Vermonter help with why only the wheat has shadows on the flag? Are the tree and cow floating? Magic! #vermont

Check out our review of the newest preorders from New Mill/Little Dog from @dnlnwmn.bsky.social youtu.be/axQ-aTE-uT0?... Very excited to share our thoughts on this one, including my final score on Crisps! by @shreesh.bsky.social & @saibep.bsky.social @bethsobel.bsky.social #tricktaking

First, no one has done this to me, which is why I feel able to speak about it! I do know folks who it happens to, though, so: When you see a cure for type 1 diabetes in the news, please don't send it to your t1 pals! They nearly all require rejection meds which is a medically complex trade.

Bye forever, WeTransfer.

What even counts as alive if a wood frog can freeze solid for over 200 days and be functionally dead but then thaw out and revive. I get that it's important organs don't freeze due to urea and glucose but they also aren't moving!

The casual use of AI sure is disheartening.

So yeah it's Monsters day! Inject direct into your ear holes at www.audible.co.uk/pd/B0FGDJ5X1M

Can’t believe this is only 1.5 hours away

I am adopted, and my birth certificate lists my adoptive parents, as is, I believe, standard. I know my bio father was an American citizen but how would one know one way or another without (in my case genetic) bio fam confirmation?

IF YOU ARE IN ONE OF THESE DISTRICTS PLEASE MAKE A CALL RIGHT NOW DOES NOT MATTER IF YOUR VOICE SHAKES CALL AND SAY YOU OPPOSE BBB Scripts here: 5calls.org

Sometimes I feel like people who do not believe in science should not be allowed to use any benefits of science until they take a few courses.

What timing Beth! Look at what I’m playing. 🐶♦️♥️♠️♣️ (“Worst In Show” trick-taking game.)

In case you missed it this morning, 5 new games are up for preorder on www.newmillindustries.com! Worst In Show - a new edition of Iyados by Mashikamaru with good good dog art by @bethsobel.bsky.social Tezuma Trick - a new edition of Tezuma Master by Hinata Origuchi with updated scoring rules

Some dogs, like me, don't do super well in structured contests. www.newmillindustries.com/store/p/wors...

The cherry tomatoes are taller than me now

If you are an able bodied person, please think about disability in this context: you are not disabled, yet.

SOAPBOX & CALL TO ACTION: So many vids from YouTubers this past few weeks about the unviability of the platform as a revenue stream. This gang of smart, thoughtful young documentarians and essayists are producing often extremely high quality content for what amounts to poverty wages or less. 1/8

Seeing that NatGeo article about how quickly diabetes can be 'reversed' again makes me with T1 and T2 had entirely different names, as they are entirely different diseases, that just happen to involve the same organ. T1 is autoimmune, unpreventable, and has no cure.

My husband and I are married because his dad has an unusual name. I wrote a letter on a friend’s rec asking for a copy of his music and just sent it to the Sobel in Tucson with the best name, figuring they were all probably related.

In looking up the steps to paint on copper, I learned a traditional prep step was to rub it all over with garlic! Fortunately for the air quality of my studio room there are also other options...

In the FAQ on the campaign, it does say that they're using AI art. They're pretty shady about it, too.