I wrote about why games have so many annoying little numbers: Numbers make people feel safe. feedbackloop.games/posts/safety_i…

Is the never-ending gauntlet of corporate IP games just because consumers want a cheap hit of dopamine? I’m not so sure. Recognizable IP solves 2 big problems: trust and marketing Core gamers underestimate how risk averse and not-online most people are

What separates political games from "edutainment?" Perhaps a willingness to fight. Dan Thurot profiles three recent political games with teeth August 8, 2024

From the depths of BGG: Uwe Rosenberg details the history and design philosophy of Bohnanza, perhaps the greatest game about beans boardgamegeek.com/thread/394148/… Posted March 30, 2009

People reject "educational" games. But all games teach. Tom Lehmann (Race for the Galaxy) on a deep moral lesson about luck: Good decisions don't always have good results. sites.google.com/site/ptlehmann… Feb. 22, 2005

How do you design a strategic card game that can sustain hundred or thousands of plays? Tom Lehmann details the development of Race for the Galaxy: youtu.be/JcyyeAww2wc Presented at GDC 2018

We will be at SDHistCon this November 💫

An analysis of 50 years of GenCon programs! Neal Baker finds that GenCon is all about education: GenCon events teach how to engage more deeply with the hobby and with fellow gamers, like learning to lead fulfilling RPG sessions. analoggamestudies.org/2024/06/50-yea… June 23, 2024

A great pleasure of handicap play: You get to see the reigning champ sweat. Richard Garfield on "Playing on Hard Mode." When the playing field is level, everyone brings their best game. boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/16418… Posted August 19, 2024

On bias in game reviews. “Unbiased reviewing” is a fantasy. What matters is whether our biases are handled in a fair and healthy way.

"May," "must"—game rulebooks often use these simple words in surprisingly precise ways. Confused? Fret no more: Internet Engineering Task Force RFC 2119 defines these words with such force as to be a brand upon the brain. datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc21… By Scott Bradner, March 1997

From the depths of BGG: What makes traditional card games great? Nate Straight says they are: 1. Fractal, games within games 2. Free-flowing, get you “in the zone” 3. Friendly, loose enough for chitchat 4. Frustrating, dramatic reversals of fortune boardgamegeek.com/thread/3363924…

How to share painful truths about history without turning people away? Laura Jedeed shares lessons from LARP-museum Colonial Williamsburg: "Only when people feel secure will they feel ready to grapple with realities that might upset them." politico.com/news/magazine/… Aug 31, 2024

From the depths of BGG: A deeply personal meditation on card games and philosophy by enigmatic pseudonym Marcus Ludicrus: boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/34367… Posted Sept. 29, 2024

Mats Steen suffered from a degenerative muscle disorder, but lived a rich emotional life in World of Warcraft. A remarkable true story about the power of virtual worlds by Ben Machell thetimes.com/article/5ecd28… Posted Oct 5, 2024

A poem about the game of go by Jorge Luis Borges. The original Spanish, 1978: borgestodoelanio.blogspot.com/2014/06/jorge-… Translation into English by abstract game designer Luis Bolaños Mures, 2024: boardgamegeek.com/thread/3319663…

Tim Clare on how playing games to promote brain health is like having sex to burn calories: it’s missing the point Posted Oct 28, 2024 theguardian.com/books/2024/oct…