Last night saw the brilliant @loscampesinos.bsky.social live. Last time i saw then about two year ago my knees took a few days to recover. That was probably a wake up call to start losing weight. This time i was able to jump around much of the night and i don’t feel totally destroyed this morning!

I learnt Philharmonix. Its very rare i play a game as heavy as this blind from rules with 4 players, But i didn’t get time for a 2 played learn so we went for it. We didn’t have time for last round but i got enough flavour to know I like this game even if some parts are a little random. #boardgames

I learnt Tenby. A mix if cosy drafting, lots of ways of scoring. But its the drafting that makes this game for me. At first i thought it was Kingdomino turn order but i had i read rules a few times, it seems turn order is very crucial in this adding an air of interaction most ‘cosy’ #boardgames miss

Staring learning #boardgames from UKGE with Shakespeare Card Game from @alliesorenemies.bsky.social. A fun take on 2 player drafting with 3 different win conditions. I imagine the more i play the more ill be aware of not letting my opponent then witched and sneaking a victory on me!

#UKGE over and I’m back home. Everyone was really friendly this year. There were no difficult demos, no angry people (previous years there have been!) I do worry when I’m tired i can be a bit to excitable at games! But i had a great time. Got more games than I intended and always planning next year

Today at #UKGE until 12:45 ill by in @playtestuk.bsky.social area testing In Bocca Al Lupo. Come playtest a 15 min push your luck game about domesticating a stone age Wolf (actual game component) #boardgames

Its #UKGE time! I will be mostly demoing for @markr8games.bsky.social games on stand 3-502! Or generally wandering and in play testing zone. Come and say hello!

Also at approaching midnight. Last minute prep! The wolf is an essential component to this prototype.

@trzewik.bsky.social Are Portal games excepting game pitches? I cant find an email on the contact us section of your website.

Ive never been to London Palladium before. But i am very exciting to see a reformed Black Box Recorder. Im ready for an evening on minimalist misery. The audio is playing Kenn Dodd playing Happiness. It wont last 🙂

Played Acrigola for first time in years and it was an absolute miserable joy. What struct me is that a game i felt was really heavy 15 years ago felt daily quick and the rules book quite thin! Ill Try to not leave it so many years before playing it again! #boardgames

Played White Castle The Duel. Enjoyed this. Again i love that such a short game packs so many decisions. I would make many different decisions another game. #boardgames

Played Number Quest. A very old 90s game with a warped board. I played this maybe 18 years with a friend and it came back in conversation. Using all 4 dice to do a Countdown style sum. Wierdly this was a lot of fun and just enough game in it to not be totally maths #boardgames

Tonight i played Faraway again. I e had a few. Goes of it on BGA. For a such a short game i really enjoy it. Feels such a fun puzzle to solve everygame #boardgames

Today i learnt in Italian that the verb meaning “to invest” also means “to run over in a car”. What other fun example of verbs in any language which can mean two very different things?

Played So Clover. Aka a less tense and much lower stakes Codenames. I did enjoy this. Always feels some clues to more of the heavy lifting than others! #boardgames

Played Manhattan. Spiel des Jarhes winner 1994. Its so much fun to play these older game again. It remind me what got me into this hobby after growing up with monopoly/Cluedo. And i always enjoy games that are distilled passive aggression and player who underatand #boardgames are all fiction.

Played Caylus 1303. I tried out a very different strategy to what i normally do. Some how got a way with and snuck a win in a very close game. Only 14 points between first and last. #boardgames

Played Die Macher. Finally to the play the full length game. Such a classic. Once players of got through the firsr round it goes really quickly. I really want to play this much more. #boardgames

Played Santiago De Cuba. I always enjoy this. Scoring was nice and close today. Its to remember thar games can be good and enjoyable and 45 minutes long. #boardgames

Games day! Played Quoridor. A firm classic in the genre of ‘games i enjoy but I’m terrible at. #boardgames

Played Francis Drake. And older game we hadn’t okayed for year but again i really enjoyed. Only downside to me is the lack of real persistence (about from one small thing) of anything between rounds feels like playing one game three times rather than one game with three rounds. #boardgames

Played Castle Nightingale. An arymetric two player game that was a lot of fun. I do like a good ‘out guess you opponent’ game and this worked really well for me. #boardgames

Tonights #Boardgames started with Faraway. For a such a short game (just 8 turns) I felt there was oddly lots of planning and thinking a head. I quietly enjoyed this.

Back from Rome again. As my Italian keeps improving I’m noticing things i didn’t before, like that Rome seems to have an incredibly large amount of advert for funeral services. I could have photographed many more!

Ive said this before and ill say it again. If Italian McDonalds can make a #glutenfree burger surely the same can be done in UK?!

Evert time I’m in Italy i have to try new flavours of Gelato. This it was olive oil and vanilla. This one i’ll put down to rubbish for tourists. Taste of vanilla and little else.

As part of my #Italian studies I’ve been studying Pinocchio. 4 chapters into this children’s story and there been two fights, an arrest for kidnapping, and a murder. I guess the world of serialised children’s story in 1880s Italian newspapers was a very different time!

Played For Sale. Another game i enjoy but never do well in! One days id really like to make a “2 part game” like this. Everytime ive tried its always been edited out. #boardgames

Played Spyrium. Still one of my fave games of all time. I had a very odd game with no real points engine but stil managed to eek points around the olace to finish 4th in what ended up a very close game. #boardgames

Played Wolves. I still really enjoy this. I think today was first time i ever won! New players are always taken a back by how quick the game actually goes! Especially in the end when players start chaining all the extra action tokens. #boardgames

Played Flip 7 with a Vengeance. Its the same as the base game with a bit more chaos. #boardgames

Played Ra followed by Ra and Write. Ra is a classic, I enjoyed Ra and write but its not Ra. I think if it was something totally different it would stand out more rather than be compared to other game. Both were enjoyable though it felt Ra and Write needed a deck preparing rule! #boardgames

Games played yesterday… Die Macher. 4 player game took 2 hours including teach. It seems the reputation of previous version precedes it as people thought it would take many hours longer. I still want to try the full length version one day. #boardgames

As someone with #Coeliac this article has annoyed me but not the way you might think. The owner of this kitchen did everything right. Its _incredibly_ common for food places to flat out tell you if wouldn't be safe for me to eat there. I prefer to be told the honestly www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Finally played Torchlit. I thought Cat in the Box was mind be bending but this trick taker was such a twisty thing i was lots of fun to play. Only down side was there were maybe 50% of turns where you had one card and had to follow suit so no choice to make. #boardgames

Played Endeavour: Deep Sea. The more i play this the more in liking it. It just feels such a satisfying puzzle to solve but most importantly this isn’t completely solitaire. We irritate each other in a fun game sense. #boardgames

Played more Bomb Busters. Even after maybe 50is scenarios with still a whole box to open its still feels fresh and innovative with only one dud mission. Surely there must be an expansion for this day. #boardgames

Played Brass Birmingahm and did appealingly! Everytime i play this i regret all my choices and everytime i want to play again. #boardgames

Yesterday learnt Oathsworn as weve “finished’ Frosthaven. This felt like two very different games in one box. One half is a ‘go to locations, get clues, go somewhere else, story experience. The other half was a very cut down hex fight game lasting barely 30 mins! Still enjoyed it though #boardgames

Finally played Harvest. A very quick mix of “take that” and match 3. For 5-10 mins of filler i quite enjoyed this. #boardgames

Played The Gang with increasingly silly variants. I often forget not everyone plays as much poker as me and things like burn cards and tapping the table before dealing look strange to people. But i will die on the the hill that ‘trips’ and ‘a set’ are not the same thing! #boardgames

Played a Decktective game. Quite enjoyed this one shot puzzle. We failed! “Moreover” I also think I’ve been been studying italian a lot when a few specific things on one clue felt very ‘this is an italian designer who’s not been to UK’ #boardgames

Today I learnt Arkwright. I do something enjoy a beige spreadsheet Eurogame and this was incredibly beige and incredibly spread sheet. I would play again depaite it being very slow. I think i just prefer Smartphone Inc which felt similar but more of a game going on. #boardgames

Finished the day with Letter Jam. Always one that should be “Relooked” at #boardgames

Player Mytikas. Fun little old school style eurogame. Nice twist of moving resources to the location the want to use them to build. This i would like to try with more than two players! #boardgames

Played Amerigo. This is one of my fave Feld games though a weird map with no large islands. Maybe the expansion volcano! It meant there wasn’t thar much competition on islands. Still always happy to play this again.

Played Codename: Duet. I acquired a copy of original code names second hand so lots of new words to play with now! #boardgames

Played The Beeching Axe 2 player. This is definitely the least tested olay count and definitely some balance issues. Trying a few other ideas after Tests at Airecon that look like they will stay in the game. Think i need to make a new prototype! #boardgames #playtesting

Played Ark Nova. I do enjoy this but don’t ever want to play with more than two players. The end game scoring feels strange still. A chunky euro game and finishing on 4 points! #boardgames