Egizia: Shifting Sands and Botanicus tonight! Both feature one-way action selection tracks. Egizia asks, can you squeeze more actions in before that spot is taken? Botanicus is tactical, maybe you take a worse action now to go first next? Expect groans when players are pipped to actions #boardgames

Enjoying a full day of #Netrunner playtesting with @sarazaraki.bsky.social ahead of Worlds in Edinburgh next month

Not one but two packages waiting for me when I got home from my trip - the latest copy of @senetmagazine.bsky.social (always excited to read more words from @timclare.bsky.social) - and a copy of Nokosu Dice, via @travelgames.bsky.social, which I've heard nothing but great praise for #boardgames

Spent the last 3 days playing boardgames with friends! Including: Castle Combo, Faraway, SETI, Yro, Shipyard, LoTR Duel, Galactic Cruise, Tangram City, Ettin, Boitas, Joraku, Trickadee, Tzolk'in, Broom Service, Rebirth, Compile, Black Forest, Quashars and Watch... phew... #boardgames

Managed to get a copy of Trickadee by @coinflip.games, played first game tonight, and gotta say I think I'm in love with this inventive trick-taker in which you build flocks of birds. Winning can be good to get first pick, but losing gets you seeds to spend on abilities, a fun dilemma #boardgames

Inis! I hadn't played this in a while, but I have a friend who favours high player interaction games, so I suggested it. Went down well, and I've gotta get this to the table more. It's a very swingy game, but even though you might get hit hard, it always feels possible to make a comeback #boardgames

Really enjoyed my first play of Watch (by @dnlnwmn.bsky.social) tonight. The game squeezes you with a lot of pressure - you only have 12 turns, can you risk paying a bribe, what about player order, oh and don't forget the majority scoring! Every round is a really fun decision to consider #boardgames

Sundays are for the local board game club in the afternoon. Played some new games (Tulikko, Get on Board), and some fan favourites (Harvest, Harmonies) today #boardgames

Chuffed to have found the time to play several heavier games this week. Including first time plays of Botanicus (satisfying efficiency puzzle), and The Grand Trunk Journey (very much melted my brain with it's multi use cards), as well as a game of the ever fantastic Arcs. #boardgames

Spent the day playing couch co-op #Sunderfolk. It's a really delightful tactical digital boardgame and a lot of fun to play in the company of your friends. Took us a couple of attempts to beat the Act 1 boss Ogre Queen on Challenging, so it's no slouch on difficulty either #boardgames

Small box games tonight. The wonderfully funny and cutthroat Harvest and co-op word puzzler Alibis (particularly proud of linking Snowman and Wave with 'Erodes') #boardgames

The Game Changers hits the shelves in paperback today! Do YOU want to hear all about the intertwining histories & modern communities surrounding one of our greatest artforms, games? I flipping hope so, because I'm not good at reading social cues indicating a lack of interest & I like to monologue

Played Djinn tonight. Fascinating rondel adjacent (?) board where you're trying to engine build efficient loops of actions in order to capture djinn into bottles. Like a lot of other engine builders, it has a clear arc of developing before picking the right moment to pivot into scoring. #boardgames

Had a great time at ACNW this weekend 😁 New to me highlights were - Let's Make a Bus Route, Capt'n Clever and The White Castle with Matcha expansion. Also shared some of my favourites, and I found time to teach 2 separate groups how to play Arcs! Picked up a few new small box games too. #boardgames

Sending up the signal to all my mutuals and followers on here, I'll be at Airecon NorthWest this weekend, let me know if you'll be there - I would love to play a game with you!

Picked up a copy of Rumble Nation, after seeing @punchboard.co.uk share a photo of it. Possibly the most streamlined area control game I've ever played. It's lightning fast, but every choice feels impactful and you're always engaged. Play alongside Joraku for a Sengoku theme double bill #boardgames

Booked tickets to Travel Games' Hamish Con in November! I've been exploring and enjoying small card games, indie games and imported board games a lot this year, so a single day con focused on those sounds like a cosy time. Looking forward to meeting folks and trying new games #boardgames

Divest your game collections of problematic publishers and designers. I still got a lot of work to do in mine, but no game’s enjoyment is worth more than someone’s sentiment of feeling safe, valued, or seen.

Excited to have received my pre-ordered copy of Workworkwork in the post today from @letibus.bsky.social - joining it's excellent puzzle book siblings. Can't wait to get stuck into this later...

So... I'm making a new podcast with @ava.foxfort.net & @giantbrain.co.uk where we act as tabletop detectives / agony aunts / enthusiasts, solving listeners' game-related problems, answering their questions & wrangling with whatever thorny topics they fling our way. But we have no listeners! SO...

Played Quashars today and had a whale of a time. Having the bidding be based on conditions (e.g. win with a yellow card) is such a great hook. You're juggling whether and when to win or lose a trick - but how to win is just as an important decision. Excited to dig into this some more! #boardgames

Arcs night! I love this game. Had a new player at the table which disrupted our groups usual rhythm and led to a 20 point lead at the end of chapter 2. Due to an uneasy alliance between all the remaining players, we did still make it to chapter 5. #boardgames

Latest goodies from Travel Games. Missed out on Quashars during their first Tokyo Game Market drop - so I'm glad I managed to grab a restocked copy during during drop two! #boardgames

Friends brought some games to the table that I would like to play again. Pergola, a very pretty set collection game in which you get to decorate as you play. Deep Regrets, push-your-luck cosmic horror and fishing game, enjoyed the tension of balancing your madness versus other players. #boardgames

UK based folks who were after a copy, happy to report that Travel Games is now stocking Out of Sorts! travel-games.co.uk/shop/p/outof...

Keiko was supervising our #netrunner games with friends tonight. Enjoying the extra install action efficiency of Magdalene.

Great day at the local board game club today - Featuring some spicy trick takers in Homalet, Trickarus & Nendorite. As well as the combo maze-building & racing game Hedge Maze! #boardgames

Everyone needs to become a trick taker pervert. It's such a fun genre, with such an interesting history, & so accessible

Exciting delivery day from Travel Games! #boardgames

Got to try a friend's copy of Steam Power tonight. Stripped back and elegant rules, with lots of player interaction. Limited actions mean you are constantly just shy of doing what you want, forcing you to take a gamble and then waiting - nervously watching other players take their turn #boardgames

Had a really fun evening playing some small box games. Joraku, a trick-taking area control game. Typeset, a push-your-luck word game. Photograph, a hand-management game. These are all wonderful little games, and I will be happy to play these again and again. #boardgames

A lovely package of games from @dvcgames.bsky.social arrived here in the UK today, cannot wait to give both of these a go #boardgames

Played games with friends today, including Scribbly Gum & Ito. We also played lots of Mario Kart World, and I introduced folks to My Favourite Things. What other game has you playing where the cards played into the trick are 'Arcs', 'Reading a Book', 'Susie from Deltarune' and 'Frieren'. #boardgames

Played some more Gibberers today, we did much better than last time (from 22 > 33 points) and we also successfully guessed the Level 5 word with only one enlighten token. Everyone at the table erupted at that, what a magical game! #boardgames

After throwing myself into lots of modern trick-taking #boardgames I have been learning Bridge with the partners parents. It's good! No spicy takes here. I'm barely touching some of the mechanisms - like the full complexities of both the bidding and scoring... but I'm enjoying playing for contracts.

Gibberers! Played this UKGE purchase with some friends tonight. It's very hard to describe this tricky language game. It's very fun to create new words and (struggle) to explain them to your friends in a stilted alien language - we're excited to try again and hopefully do better #boardgames

news boys... News Boys... NEWS BOYS! I love #boardgames that feature strike action as a mechanism.

Trying some friend's UKGE purchases - played Sierra tonight. Has a really interesting team mechanic where you can win individually from your team members. I like the push and pull that comes from working with your partner, the fact that you score separately but from the same tableau #boardgames

Playing some #netrunner with new Elevation cards! Having a lot of fun with Sable Deep Dive, only had one complete whiff so far this evening, which is good for my luck.

Tim pulls the words together beautifully, describing what feel like incommunicable feelings in my brain, when I think about games, people, and this last weekend at UKGE.

After playing a lot of games with @timclare.bsky.social this weekend at UKGE, no prizes for guessing my final purchase of the weekend...

Every time I come away from a #boardgames convention, this time #ukge, I am reminded that having a good game on the table helps, but the people you play with are the real special sauce. I'm so grateful to have got to play games with new and old friends this weekend!

Finishing assembling my print & play copy of @connor.alwaysawake.games's Out of Sorts and played at my local club today. Really enjoyed the frenetic sorting of the books, followed by the tension of the sorting phase. It's very funny when you misplace a card - "We said that was a cat?!" #boardgames

Had a good time trying #Daggerheart tonight, playing in the Beast Feast campaign frame and due to some ice magic related shenanigans, we're having Red Ooze Gelato for dinner. Really enjoying the narrative structure, and the freeform combat, feels flexible and easy to tweak to your own preferences.

Lowlands! I absolutely adore this game. The semi-cooperative dam building mechanic forces it to be constantly in tension with your own goals. You're focusing on farming? Uh-oh... better hope the other players don't let the dam break and your sheep points be washed away in the flood! #boardgames

Trans Rights Are Human Rights. Shout out to trans designers, artists, players, and other members of the #boardgames community. You'll always be welcome at my table. Your presence in this hobby, and in the world in general, makes it a better place for everyone 🏳️‍⚧️

Went back to Autobahn. I enjoyed it a lot more on this play - it does still feel like it's fighting you with some fiddly rules and bad icons/graphic design - but there is a satisfying and interactive game under the awkward bits. #boardgames

Tried Autobahn. I think there are really good ideas in here, with inspiration from heavy hitters Brass and Concordia. But there is so much going on, spoiling the experience with shallow mechanisms. Or maybe it's just the confusing graphic design, where the incoherent icons muddle players #boardgames

New and old games over the last couple of days. I really enjoyed Mesos - having to select how many cards you want to draft, but the more you want the later you get to actually choose them builds tension nicely. And Concordia, a classic, from which I always come away wanting to play more! #boardgames

The boardgame & card game industries are looking like they'll be devastated by tariffs. Games mean so much to me. They have got me through tough times & have been a consistent refuge of joy & connection. Designers & publishers: for what it's worth, your work makes the world a better place.