didn't play or write as much as i wanted (or hoped) to in december, but excited to keep it moving and get more stuff to the table in the new year #boardgames #bgstats

got mildly hooked on warioware and mastered my first game on retroachievements

using AI for ideation, inspiration, concept art, or "filler text" in your game is genuinely embarrassing. have some respect for your artists and yourself. shoutout @jasonschreier.bsky.social for his always great reporting.

been playing a lot of tetris ds good game. i'm terrible at tetris though.

i know there's probably no easy solution, but i hope the nba can get rid of the fouling up 3 next year. it's not a fun watch.

i fell asleep to northernlion binding of Isaac videos for like two years straight (a couple years ago) and i still haven't found a suitable replacement since

I wrote a short lil review of my second @kevinwilson42.bsky.social game, a Gentle Rain. It got me thinking about the things I enjoy in tabletop games (and ambient music.) Read here: manaworm.com/2025/12/09/a... #boardgames

this video got me to back 52 duels. i love matthew dunstan's work, and "dice throne but poker" as a pitch sold me

some good stuff hit the table in november

Over the holiday, I replayed one of my all-time favorites, Bullet♥︎ . I figured it'd be fun to self-indulgently write a sweet little review. Bullet♥︎is so confident and sure of itself, it's hard not to love. Read here: manaworm.com/2025/12/03/b... #boardgames

played some mtg, bomb busters, and cascadia (pictured) tonight. coupla good games #boardgames

supported my flgs today (bought a board game)

accidentally joined a tournament on board game arena that involves playing in 11 games async at once... just clicking buttons at this point

In Tinderblox, you make a little campfire with tweezers and tiny wood blocks. It is adorable. Recently, when I have ten minutes before a bigger game or just want to play something small with family, it has been great. My review: manaworm.com/2025/11/26/t... #boardgames

got some good games in today: a couple more plays of tinderblox, a few rounds of bullet ❤️, and even a victory in cthulhu death may die (only one episode away from finishing season 3!)

My latest is a review of Landmarks, a sometimes-frustrating but often-good party game about navigating a cursed island via word association. Check it out here: manaworm.com/2025/11/22/l... #boardgames @floodgategames.bsky.social

tinderblox tonight. pretty good lil game #boardgames

i wish my basketball team wasn't losing every single game. alas

tried @playrelichunters.bsky.social on a whim and i've been really enjoying it. such a wholesome, well-written game. gameplay is killer too. this year has quietly been pretty good for my video gaming, even as i feel i've been playing less.

I reviewed Casinopolis, my first Button Shy game and one I've had my eyes on for a while now. With just eighteen cards, you build your own little Vegas by matching colors and creating runs. manaworm.com/2025/11/15/c... #boardgames

Nature is a game by @dcrapuchettes.bsky.social where you evolve nature's most un-huntable critters... and the animals who hunt them. It is beautiful. my review: manaworm.com/2025/11/10/n... #boardgames

I wrote about the first trick-taking game I ever played, The Fox in the Forest. It remains one of my favorites, and one of the few I can still get to the table. my review: manaworm.com/2025/11/04/t... #boardgames

My October plays. Got sort of addicted to Death May Die, but played a decent selection of other stuff too. What've you been playing? 🎲 #boardgames

I play a lot of word games but Things in Rings stands out. There's a facilitator who gets to have a good time, a cooperative variant that's actually fun, and a frivolous understanding of labels ready to be undermined. My review: manaworm.com/2025/10/28/t... #boardgames

as a pacers fan, it feels like a cruel joke to have our first game without tyrese be clutch moment after clutch moment. gonna suck not seeing him out there all year. #nbasky

Fear of the Unknown is the second standalone box in the Death May Die universe, designed by @ericlang.bsky.social, @robdaviau.bsky.social, and Marco Portugal. As the first "big" game I've really dove into, I didn't know what to expect. My review: manaworm.com/2025/10/21/f... #boardgames

@kennysun.com made one of the most criminally underrated rogue-lites ever in mr. sun's hatbox. ball x pit might be even better! so good

Flamecraft is an adorable game about building up a town square and getting heaps of points for doing so. I enjoy enchanting and making potions but I find myself asking, "Is competition really the driver of the dragon-latte industry?" My review: manaworm.com/2025/10/16/f... #boardgames

Please Don't Burn My Village! is a neat 20 minute market speculation, push your luck game. There is a weird dragon whose face I don't like. But I do have some quite positive thoughts on the game. My review: manaworm.com/2025/10/11/p... #boardgames

I love drafting games, but those games tend to be razor-sharp. Let's Go! To Japan offers a cozy alternative. It's a game for those who love reading Wikipedia articles and restaurant menus, basking in the anticipation of a well-planned trip. My review: manaworm.com/2025/10/04/l... #boardgames

🎲 Got some good plays in this September. A couple of new favorites, too. #boardgames #bgstats

FlipToons takes the formula of Luck Be a Landlord and shrinks it down into a 20 minute small box card game. A great deckbuilding 101 style game, with a pretty good solo mode, too. My review: manaworm.com/2025/09/27/f... #boardgames

shocking: local man finally tries out slay the spire board game and it's... really good. people really weren't kidding about how well it's adapted, huh

In Duel for Cardia, tactical losses compound to gradual wins. It is a clever treat, albeit one that may have trouble standing out. My review: manaworm.com/2025/09/23/d... #boardgames

With the second printing and retail release of Leviathan Wilds, I finally got a chance to claw my way up the side of all these behemoths. Here's my review, an ode to these sick leviathans and the heights they reach: manaworm.com/2025/09/18/l... #boardgames

Sky Team is one of the easiest two player games to recommend to just about anyone. I wrote about how good it is, even if the theme of two pilots who can't communicate is a little... strange. manaworm.com/2025/09/12/s... #boardgames

the running joke in my family is that I always *always* get a rule wrong that makes the cooperative game we are learning way harder to win. i just saw someone explain the rules to the lord of the rings trick taking game and realized i did it again. #boardgames

I wrote about Blade Runner-inspired roleplaying board game Inhuman Conditions. It's about, among other things, Being A Normal Chill Guy. My review: manaworm.com/2025/09/05/i... #boardgames #ttrpg

🎲 Here's (most) of what I played in August. A very co-op, fairly light month. #bgstats #boardgames

I love @dom2d.bsky.social's art, deduction, and not blowing up. A lot of people seem to agree. My review of Bomb Busters: manaworm.com/2025/09/01/b... #boardgames

I wrote about Alibis, a new game by Allplay about exonerating villains with one-word clues. If you want a new Codenames-adjacent game, you should give this one a try. My review: manaworm.com/2025/08/25/a... #boardgames

Kinfire Delve is a very cool take on the "one deck dungeon" style of smooshing a dungeon crawl into a tiny box. There's a lot of offerings in the Kinfire universe but for 20 dollars, this seemed like a good place to start. My review of Callous' Lab: manaworm.com/2025/08/19/k... #boardgames

Ahead of the new Extra Pepper expansion, I reviewed Sea Salt & Paper. It's a game that allows you to be very annoying to your partner by taking all the stuff they discard and some cards from their hand, too. #boardgames manaworm.com/2025/08/14/s...

New review! I wrote about Santorini: Second Edition, how intimidating 1v1 abstracts can be, and an abundance of plastic. It's a good game, too. #boardgames

Rounding out my launch lineup of reviews, I wrote about Canvas, a game with a neat gimmick of slotting transparent pieces of art into card sleeves. The resulting paintings are funny, cute and, hopefully, brimming with victory points. manaworm.com/2025/08/05/c... #boardgames

That's so far out of fucking line, I'm kind of stunned. Then I thought, wait, if they represented Black people this way...And sure enough, got ourselves a glowing-eyed Indian with steer horns. JFC. Devir, this is way beyond "oops". This looks intentional. Leave Natives out of your products.

In Top Tier, you will argue which historical or fictional character would best lead the Mighty Ducks to a championship. It has potential, but falls short of party game greatness. You do get to make some funny tier lists though. My review here: manaworm.com/2025/08/05/t... #boardgames

I reviewed Nanatoridori, a quite good and simple card shedding game about well-dressed birds. It's a sweet treat where you get to do a lot of the cool cardsgame-y things you probably like to do. It's coming to North America soon, too. #boardgames manaworm.com/2025/08/05/n...

I wrote about Faraway and the rarely gamified parts of long journeys; saying goodbye to the people you've met and coming back home. It's also about picking up rocks. #boardgames manaworm.com/2025/08/05/f...

I started writing about board games over on a new blog! I'll be sharing my reviews/essays/etc. on BlueSky when I publish them. There's a couple already on there and they're pretty good, I'm proud of what I have done. #boardgames #boardgamesky manaworm.com