Hail and wind damaged our roof, so we have guys coming out for estimates. I guess I'm hoping for an older, experienced roofer committed to the profession. A pro's pro. The ultimate, honestly, would be one that has shingles and who's got shingles. So we'll see.

Received my Cosmic Instruments VCO today! Now if my garbage electric co-op could get around to restoring power on a 60 degree day with a mild breeze, I'll be off to make a song with it. I also feel that Robot Face on the front should be running the electric utility. Some day! #SynthSky

Today I woke up extremely sad about the passing of J Nash of Amiga Power fame last year. And I think I am motivated to find everything that still exists that the man wrote and read it this week. Every Amiga Power review and article of his would be a good place to start, no?

This what a Game Narrative Kaleidoscope looks like 👀

Hahah! Oh no! Another all-star decision from the disruptors that brought us Springle the dickless forest mod and another round of hard-thinkin' morning breakfast potatoes!

Nice toss; guess Diggs is no longer the worst choker on the Pats m.youtube.com/watch?v=gBzJ...

It's a no-fees day on Bandcamp! Here is a link to a small recording I released last month. Hitting the "follow" button would be greatly appreciated by me. I am taking weekly piano lessons to improve at all this. crouch-echlineffect.bandcamp.com/album/death-...

Today I received the Atari Punk Console Eurorack module. In the next year, if you hear a new song that sounds like "Short-Fuze" from G.I. Joe put a 2600 in his mortar and fired it at your car's stereo, that's just me. Bzzzzzt!!!

TR-49: OUT NOW Narrative deduction / audio drama "Outstanding" - PC Gamer "Politically fierce" - Polygon "One of the best" - Thinky Games "I wanted to know everything" - RPS "Impressive - very impressive indeed" - Eurogamer $6.99 / ~6 hours Steam: tinyurl.com/2jvt9ewk iOS: tinyurl.com/4ucwx4s7

Is Wizardry II through IV on gog or Steam or something and I am just not seeing it, or is eXoDOS the way to go for those? In the CRPG Book, for the entry for Dark Heart of Uukrul, the author states that Wizardry IV is pretty good from a dungeon crawling perspective, so I gotta try it.

My favorite new game of 2026 is Booze Elroy -- a Pac-Man close that adds dozens of new gameplay options. Want new mazes? To play blindfolded? To play against 8 ghosts? This made Pac-Man feel new to me all ovre again. Tons of fun. pinback.itch.io/booze-elroy #retrogaming #itchio

Every week I post about new indie games that I think are really cool, often experimental and not on Steam. Maybe you'll discover a new game that you'll love. virtualmoose.org/2026/01/09/i...

Hot Tip: Hop on Booze Elroy before there's no Booze Elroy to hop on pinback.itch.io/booze-elroy

Pac-Man Fan Games - a rundown by @pinback99.bsky.social | www.caltrops.com/2026/01/01/p...

I'm starting 2026 by releasing some electronica / synthesizer music I made with my nephew. We are named after the time dilation effect seen in some CPUs before the year 2000: The Crouch-Echlin Effect. Cyrix was a lifestyle! crouch-echlineffect.bandcamp.com/album/death-...

My dear friend Pinback got a little into Pac-Man the last month. Well, the madman created a free-to-download, arcade-accurate version of Pac that he calls "Booze Elroy," after the characteristic of Blinky pursuing Pac (named "Cruise Elroy" in this mode.) It's out today. pinback.itch.io/booze-elroy

GAME STUDIES STUDY BUDDIES closes out the month, and the year, with a discussion of another documentary--this time following the twisty passages of history and medium with 2010's text adventure doc GET LAMP. rangedtouch.com/2025/12/31/8...

I have been trying to make electronic synthesizer music and found this new website: bare-minimum-theory.abhishekvash.xyz I do not have perfect pitch, this has helped a lot in just hearing what different chords sound like. Allows you to string them together and export MIDI, too!

Very limited edition Torn's Peaker MK2 which has a pregain and original texture control available via my reverb store (along with all other pedals in stock!). I'll be building these now and again based on demand.

Game 31: Zoo Keeper (Taito, 1983) It was the first "offbeat" arcade game I acquired. This article is more about the journey I had with it, though I do think it still holds up as a fun action game. www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

Confessions of a Grown Ass Man who Plays Pokémon Go | New article on the main page, by @commodork.bsky.social ! www.caltrops.com/2025/12/01/c...

Buffalo Zebra Moose Burmese Python Manta Ray Should have been able to add Loch Ness Monster to this list. I was right there, she outlasted me and I had to catch a bus.

@profanity.accountant OK, I gotta know, please.

I'm getting my DOS computer ready to work again, which means I saw this CH Products Gamecard III. It provided for two joysticks with two buttons. Thus was the height of technology for me in 1990. As in, the moon landings had a good solid 21 years at #1 but this was the new king.

I have Ian's PicoGUS soundcard for my DOS build & it has been a delight. As someone who has taken a blowtorch to a nail in order to "properly" "key" an old IDE cable in the past, I'm looking forward to what he is creating here. In unrelated news, I'll be soon be listing for sale one blowtorch.

Passing out Toblerone "Oops! All Gaps!" tonight. Disappointed, Leonardo?? Welcome to the real world, jackass

One awesome thing about Ernie Clement being in the World Series is hearing that Rochester accent for interviews, which is pretty rare for us, I love it. Philip Seymour Hoffman and John Lithgow kind of dropped it and they waited until after Susan B. Anthony died to invent the microphone. #bluejays

New movie review! TRON: Ares is Officially the best TRON Movie by @commodork.bsky.social www.caltrops.com/2025/10/27/t... Check it out! #tron #tronares

Here’s my second installment describing a few details of how I created the assets for the PCjr’s 40th animation. whitaker8088.wordpress.com/2025/10/07/i...

Game 30: BuGS (Rand-Emonium Software, 2021) An awesome recreation of the arcade game Centipede for your Apple IIGS. Having been squashed once by the full-size arcade cabinet, I found this version to be pleasant and painless. #arcade #Apple #atari #appleiigs www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

Game 29: My Friend Pedro (DeadToast Entertainment, 2019) www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

I'll also give my regular shoutouts to DOS Game Club for talking about DOS games (they're playing Halloween Harry right now) www.dosgameclub.com intfiction.org for interactive fiction And Adventure Game Hotspot just launched a forum now that Adventure Gamers is dead adventuregamehotspot.com

I am bad with directions. I use Waze every day. I appreciate it. For me, it's a miracle. An "I got it from here" toggle where it shuts up when you're within 5 miles of home, instead of it dutifully announcing the turns I do know, would be wonderful.

I uploaded Dinosaur Jr. vs the 1960s by Devi Ever to the Internet Archive. archive.org/details/dinojr

Game 28: Banished (Shining Rock Software, 2014) While well-reviewed, Banished made more reviewers angry than I would have expected. I went in on the easiest level, clicked around my little forest and enjoyed my time. The world created anger, Banished didn't. www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

If you're a fan of the movie Sneakers, the late Robert Redford (RIP) or just geeky things, you can ssh into [email protected] and watch the movie in glorious 24-bit colour ANSI :) Enjoy!

I had some copies left over, so I thought I would try this an experiment. New physical copy of Cryptozookeeper for sale over at eBay. www.ebay.com/itm/13644044...

Vectrex Major Tom (Boxed) Brand new, Vectrex Major boxed game with manual and overlay. Written by Scott Huggins with graphic design work done by Stephen Gros and Scott Ross. . vectrexmulti.com/order2.html#... . #Vectrex #MajorTom #Major #Tom

Game 27: Shadows Over Riva (attic Entertainment Software GmbH, 1996) Possibly the worst UI decision in computer game history has me unable to engage in combat tactics, this is one of the best looking games of its time. Everything else about it is perfect! www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

Game 26: Dino Pop (Primetime Amusements, 2012) Every redemption arc starts with a quality redemption game, what kind of reputation does Chuck E. Cheese have in your town, BlueSky? www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

Baseball Reference's feature for the next start for a pitcher hasn't worked in a bit - here it is saying that the deGrom is going back to back today - but I do hope at some point that a pitcher was out carousing all night only to shockingly see that he's supposed to start that day OH SHIIIIII

I didn't blog about a game this week, but I wanted to note the CRPG called Jettatura. If you liked the original Wizardry and want to play a game in the same style, this the game for you! Fun, while understanding that hey, someone else, ahhh, did the design. store.steampowered.com/app/2023440/...

Got a Jaguar or Jaguar CD in need of some work? I offer services for both! I'm planning on adding all 3 of Zaxour's Jag mods to my selection once I get them in the shop for install in my personal Jaguar! jeffsretrogaming.com/product/jaguar-services/ jeffsretrogaming.com/product/jaguar-cd-services/

Game 25: Paper Sorcerer (Ultra Runaway Games, 2013) Paper Sorcerer has really sweet art direction & music and captures the vibe of a #CRPG perfectly. www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

Game 24: Meteor! (Edward T. Ordman, Andrew Fluegelman and Nancy Miller, 1981) Meteor! is a BASIC DOS game that I played as a child when I was just happy to be playing anything for our home PC. I often wonder about similar games for the C64, Atari and such. www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

The #ChambersBeneath is out today! Delve into the dungeons to battle monsters, gather loot, and search for an important treasure for the ruler of the city. Runs on the original IBM PC and compatibles, on DOSBox, and on Windows. cyningstan.itch.io/the-chambers... #ibmpc #msdos #cga

There are 12 opening logos to click through when starting "Dungeons & Dragons: Neverwinter Nights 2 Enhanced Edition."

Game 23: Forbidden Forest (Paul Norman, 1983). Released by Cosmi for the #Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit, it still plays great and sounds wonderful. It's flawless on a MiSTer, and it'd be the first game I get if I buy one of those new C64s being developed. www.joltcountry.com/index.php/fe...

I am on episode 299 of Topic Lords, which dropped today! Along with @hamsterdisco.bsky.social and mogwai_poet. Many topics were discussed, along with micro-topics viewable at the link. I was thrilled to participate; I hope you listen in and have a few laughs. topiclords.com/skin-fortres...

If you recall #eXoDOS, allow me to point you to the recently released eXoIF - 876 individual interactive fiction titles, with multiple ports for each title. Over 50 platforms are represented! More here at the link. #Infocom #textadventures www.retro-exo.com/if.html