Geoff Engelstein - The Universe Explained with Cookie out now!
@gengelstein.bsky.social
3.6K followers 240 following 840 posts
Boardgame enthusiast, podcaster, books: Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design, Universe Explained with a Cookie games: Versailles 1919 and Super Skill Pinball. He/him https://open.substack.com/pub/gametek
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gengelstein.bsky.social
Me: Gosh, year N was bad. Looking forward to N+1!

N+1: Hold my beer.

(Just saving future me some time)

(First posted in 2020)
gengelstein.bsky.social
Congrats to my alma mater, MIT, for rejecting the 'compact' the Trump administration asked top colleges to sign in exchange for 'preferential' treatment on federal research grants.

Original story here: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...
Reposted by Geoff Engelstein - The Universe Explained with Cookie out now!
ttgda.bsky.social
We were recently contacted by one of our members about a publisher missing a series of royalty payments on a popular game. We reached out to the publisher on behalf of the designer and were able to get them paid within a few days.

Learn more about the benefits of membership at ttgda.org
Tabletop Game Designers Association
Home page for the Tabletop Game Designers Association
ttgda.org
Reposted by Geoff Engelstein - The Universe Explained with Cookie out now!
philippegargov.bsky.social
Deux nouveaux bouquins dans la collection CRC Press Guide To Tabletop Games (dirigée par @gengelstein.bsky.social si j'ai bien compris) :

- Worldbuilding for Game Designers (Steve Dee) www.routledge.com/Worldbuildin...

- Playtesting Best Practices (Chris Backe) www.routledge.com/Playtesting-...
gengelstein.bsky.social
In the moment I enjoyed the Fantastic Four movie more than Superman. But I've thought about Superman frequently, whereas I barely remember anything about FF.
Reposted by Geoff Engelstein - The Universe Explained with Cookie out now!
gil.hova.net
I'm posting this too late, and it feels bizarre to be saying this, but:

I have a game going up on Kickstarter tomorrow. reserve.ferretfrenzy.com

🧵
Find out which of your friends need serious help in this wild party game of risk, reward & ridiculousness.
reserve.ferretfrenzy.com
gengelstein.bsky.social
As a tester on the changes (which were made by Paolo FWIW), I think they are definite improvements. But I completely understand that some people will prefer the older versions.
gengelstein.bsky.social
The Dogs of War campaign is over six figures! Check out this amazing design from the designer of Libertalia (one of my absolute faves).
gengelstein.bsky.social
As an importer, we subscribe to the Harmonized Tariff Schedule. We just got the 24th Revision of 2025, which is - a lot. Every time there's a new version we need to update all of our costing and import tables.

To get an idea of how extreme this is, I MADE A GRAPH. This is # of revs per year.
gengelstein.bsky.social
I don't know if ratings are even a thing anymore, but the ratings on this are going to be nuts.
nytimes.com
Breaking News: ABC said that “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” would return on Tuesday, ending an impasse that began last week. nyti.ms/3KAl4Np
Jimmy Kimmel sits behind a desk. He’s wearing a tie and a jacket. A headline reads: “Jimmy Kimmel's Show To Return to ABC on Tuesday Night.” Photo credit: Randy Holmes/Disney.
Reposted by Geoff Engelstein - The Universe Explained with Cookie out now!
kvermilya.bsky.social
@senfoonglim.bsky.social helped me distill the whole thesis of my documentary into a 35 second sound bite. So, thanks, Sen! And thank you, @ludologypod.bsky.social for this wonderful chat!
Reposted by Geoff Engelstein - The Universe Explained with Cookie out now!
exeunt.press
I played Dogs of War for the first time earlier this year and have been thinking about it ever since. The tug of war mechanism and game arc are just wonderful, as I wrote about here: www.skeletoncodemachine.com/p/10-more-le...

Glad I can finally get a copy of my own!

#boardgames #dogsofwar
gengelstein.bsky.social
You are awarded bonuses for the second race based on your position in the first. Finishing first gives you a strong position in the final escape.
Reposted by Geoff Engelstein - The Universe Explained with Cookie out now!
knoebel.bsky.social
Jerry from Ben & Jerry's has resigned after 47 years after Unilever silenced their politcal activism.
gengelstein.bsky.social
Anyway, that's the story! I'm sure if I hadn't purchased Magical Athlete in Tokyo 20 years ago it still would have gone global. Quality always breaks through.

But I'm tickled I had a small role in its success.
gengelstein.bsky.social
We also shortened the game from MAs four races to only two. And most importantly (IMO), the winner of the game is simply the player that wins that second race.

In Magical Athlete you earn points each race, and the player with the most points wins. I think the win condition in Breakout is more fun.
gengelstein.bsky.social
Interestingly both we and Garfield ditched the original MA draft mechanism. He went with a snake draft, we deal five Villains to each player, and you choose two pairs from that (plus an option to swap out). Both streamline that part of the game to focus on the chaotic fun of the race.
gengelstein.bsky.social
And here we are 20 years later with a fancy new version, given love by Richard Garfield of all people.

Plus, it was the inspiration for our new DC Breakout Game - but I think our game is better than MA as you run two characters per race as a team. So you create your own combos.
gengelstein.bsky.social
Magical Athlete was a staple with our group. Then I was chatting with Zev at Z-Man games and showed it to him and suggested he try to get the rights for an English-language version. He also fell in love with the game, and was able to make it happen.