Very excited to be joining forces with The Seahorse & The Hummingbird for Quantum Train - a trick-taking game I designed. 🪐🚀🌌 Will be sharing more as this game matures through development and into eventual release, though TSH&THB have several games ahead of mine so don't get *too* antsy.

Very excited to be joining forces with The Seahorse & The Hummingbird for Quantum Train - a trick-taking game I designed. 🪐🚀🌌 Will be sharing more as this game matures through development and into eventual release, though TSH&THB have several games ahead of mine so don't get *too* antsy.

Hello-o-o-o-o-ooo #BoardGames World! It is a great pleasure to announce that The Seahorse & The Hummingbird has signed the trick-taking game Quantum Train by Taylor Shuss ( @drawnonward.bsky.social )! I'm excited to collaborate with Taylor and usher this brain-melter into the world.

Short notice, but do you have any burning questions for Alita at @leder.games about their upcoming project “Kart!”? #boardgames

Went to a playtesting event with a small local group and it was a hoot. So many great games at various points in their lifecycles. Realized once I got home that a whopping 80% of the prototypes I brought needed to be playtested in-person!

The Kickstarter for my game, Growing Groves, just launched! It's a trick-taker where won tricks are bids on trees that are gradually growing throughout the game. Bigger trees are worth more points, so you have to balance winning tricks vs. growing the trees. Check it out!

Went to a playtesting event with a small local group and it was a hoot. So many great games at various points in their lifecycles. Realized once I got home that a whopping 80% of the prototypes I brought needed to be playtested in-person!

Doing some cleaning of old prototypes and found these. Lovingly drawn in MS Paint for a Tic-Tac-Toe themed social-deduction game, with the mission track being a Tic-Tac-Toe board. Before I understood I had to be efficient with my time, especially with first drafts. It lasted all of one playtest. 🤣

Gotta love the frantic mad-dash updates right before a big day of playtesting! 😅

If you're going to Gen Con and have something special, consider showing it off to Leder!

I've referred to this as a guiding light for my designs - find what aligns with that + make it shine, and discard the rest. A great piece by @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social! Walkable City couldn't exist without this kind of vision from its earliest stages. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRFY...

Just got my 3rd game contract of 2026! 🎉🎉🎉

Played a game the other night with some truly atrocious rules writing. While the inside of the box had the (poorly) written rules for scoring, the summary card for the rules said "it just scores like cricket!" Game, I do not know the rules for cricket off the top of my head. Help me out here game!

If I release a game called Tenner or somesuch what are the odds it tricks people into rating it a 10 based on the name alone?

Being chosen as part of IGNM last year was an amazing experience. If you have an out-there game that feels ready I'd easily recommend you shoot your shot and apply below!

1/x Once again, I have to say this, bc even allies, even some trans ppl are being taken in by the rhetoric of "fairness in sport" to the point where they don't know how to respond when the topic comes up. So buckle up, it's another Crip Dyke megathread you need to read all of.

A big part of why I asked this is because I've heard designers should not chase trends. Once we identify them, they are often out the door. So while it feels obvious to many the industry is trend based on the publisher-side of things, as a designer I never work on a new game to hop on the bandwagon

Would you describe the hobby board game industry as trend-based?

opening a game from a random publisher: smells like cardboard & paper products opening a game from tokyo game market: smells like vanilla for some reason??? publishers are gonna have to step up their game on the smell front

I always start first drafts by going to game icons and grabbing whichever icons work best for my new idea. Don't bother doing it yourself or hiring someone (yet!), and instead grab some pre-made icons and get playtesting right away!

Now that I have a game about kaijus forthcoming, I can finally write this off as a business expense!

Heard the pitch for this at PAX Unplugged last year, and have been craving a copy ever since! Happy to hear Dan had a good time, as I cannot wait to give this a proper try - it sounds very much up my alley.

New update for Walkable City backers - we are taking suggestions for our additional maps! Make your voice heard & fill out the form so we can see what cities have the most interest. www.kickstarter.com/projects/fow...

forgot how direct european publishers can be american publishers: sorry, the game wasn't a good fit for us european publishers: lol it was boring

So in Magic, there is a format called backdrafting where players intentionally draft bad decks and then at the start of each Round pass their deck to their opponents. The idea is to make the most with a bad deck. Is there a board game equivalent of this?

So in Magic, there is a format called backdrafting where players intentionally draft bad decks and then at the start of each Round pass their deck to their opponents. The idea is to make the most with a bad deck. Is there a board game equivalent of this?

Related story to this question - The time I was given brutally honest feedback and really had to rethink the first game I ever pitched.

How do you approach handing out feedback to newer designers on their games?

Related story to this question - The time I was given brutally honest feedback and really had to rethink the first game I ever pitched.

How do you approach handing out feedback to newer designers on their games?

can we all agree that diablo 2 is the best point & click adventure?

Gosh, I love this poem. I keep returning to one of my favorite Chesterton quotes. "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing badly." Please Use AI, via open.substack.com/pub/shawnsmu...

Tabletop enthusiasts, we need your help putting an event together for PAX Unplugged. Which of these event names would catch your interest? Assume no context; all you see is the title. Please share / repost -- we don't have any other way to poll people! ("We" = @tonytran.bsky.social & me & others)

Are YOU looking for a handmade copy of the strategy game LAVA WURM? Can't make it to any of the random cons I attend, you say? Fear not. I have THIS handy form to help you indicate interest while I ponder a more deluxe online order system: forms.gle/nQXv5LR87CeA...

Very soon, @am0.bsky.social and I will be booking travel for our class trip to PAX Unplugged, where our students will playtest their board games with @unpub.org. This is a trip that is always rewarding for them (and for us!). If your company wants to sponsor us, now's the time. DM me for details!

Finally starting my play of Blue Prince. Heard plenty of mixed opinions so curious where I'll land on it.

If you're a marginalized creator of any sort, any representation you bring to the table matters, even if it doesn't seem it. Think about your childhood self not seeing anyone or very few people that looked like them. Be that person for someone else. They are watching.

Happy Pride month! 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ This year has not been stellar for queer people, doubly so for my trans sisters & brothers. If you can, support us by buying our games & keep us in mind when opportunities arise! I am unfortunately looking for work still. How are you celebrating Pride this year?

Recently I've been trying something new when it comes to pitching online. Instead of putting all the info for a game on my sellsheet, I've been also making a video overview for each game and pairing them when I submit to publishers. I feel like this has two big advantages:

Recently I've been trying something new when it comes to pitching online. Instead of putting all the info for a game on my sellsheet, I've been also making a video overview for each game and pairing them when I submit to publishers. I feel like this has two big advantages:

GREG DAVIES: seems like a kind of a shit task. Everyone just seems like they're going home normally. ALEX HORNE: well before you say that let's have a look at how Odysseus did. cut to panel of AJAX, MENELAUS, AGAMEMNON, and DIOMEDES who are all staring at ODYSSEUS with his head in his hands

finally overcame that pesky bellcurve

Aight so I want to be sure I am not missing out on anything cool going on: Name an innovative designer working now and one of their games you found innovative?

Had a dream where @eizebasa.baby let me put on his raccoon mask. Now that I've experienced that high it's all downhill from here.

Remember to always have a control die so your other dice know how to behave!

As someone who has made the decision to work on games with odd & hard to acquire components, my advice to other designers is simply: Don't.

Someone at a convention once said to a friend who was working the booth with me that he liked my work but he wasn't going to buy anything because "Chris is successful enough and doesn't need my money". Anyway I'm no longer a full time game designer because I didn't make enough money to live.

to be totally fair to the BGG ads guy, i have also let other men help me with my jacking off problems

don't wanna keep talking about it but one thing that came up in The Discourse was "well this was a one time thing, BGG ran ads for Molly House" & I need those folks to understand that people only pull this shit openly when they think they can get away with it -- when their target is small enough 1/2

saw this on an ACT UP poster from 1988 at the Poster House museum today. the more things change :)