Haole Boy Games 🔜 SpielMas
@haoleboygames.com
Greg Pool: Tabletop game designer, #RecoveringGeologist, and campfire busker. Curator of @SpielMas.com ⛄️.
✍️ Playtesting: Kamoamoa, Soccer 54, Bats of Limekiln, Pōpoki.
Try look: HaoleBoyGames.com (HOW-lee)
✍️ Playtesting: Kamoamoa, Soccer 54, Bats of Limekiln, Pōpoki.
Try look: HaoleBoyGames.com (HOW-lee)
Pinned
Soccer 54 — Haole Boy Games
A soccer game played with a standard deck of playing cards.
www.haoleboygames.com
Kick off! ⚽️ I’ve released the rules and a playtest room for #Soccer54
Perfect timing if you didn’t get enough Champions League this week or can’t wait for the Premier League this weekend. #COYS
🎩 to @weheart.games & @northwestgamelabs.bsky.social for the initial looks and advice.
🎲✂️ #boardgames
Perfect timing if you didn’t get enough Champions League this week or can’t wait for the Premier League this weekend. #COYS
🎩 to @weheart.games & @northwestgamelabs.bsky.social for the initial looks and advice.
🎲✂️ #boardgames
Eat. Play. Love.
Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃 If you’re playing a game today with family or friends, you’re doing it right! Keep it up through the weekend so you can call it a dry run for the upcoming, sixth-annual #SpielMas ⛄️ festival. And then celebrate the amazing privilege we all have this time of year.
#boardgames
#boardgames
November 27, 2025 at 3:22 PM
Eat. Play. Love.
I’ve wrapped up my college broadcast soccer season last week by then getting to attend the NWSL Championship in San Jose. Did I have a copy of #Soccer54 ⚽️ in my bag the whole time? Of course!
November 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM
I’ve wrapped up my college broadcast soccer season last week by then getting to attend the NWSL Championship in San Jose. Did I have a copy of #Soccer54 ⚽️ in my bag the whole time? Of course!
Drink up! 😵💀🪦
Going to a Halloween party this week? Need a short, strategic, simple, and shareable game to bring along? Use “In Vino Morte” from @buttonshy.bsky.social to spike the punch! 😵💀🪦
#boardgames
#boardgames
October 29, 2025 at 2:33 PM
Drink up! 😵💀🪦
I got schooled on whether there are game jams on Itch.io which “explicitly accept physical games, including board games, card games, and roleplaying games.”
This is me saying I was wrong, Courtney! 🎲✂️
This is me saying I was wrong, Courtney! 🎲✂️
Physical Game Jams
physicalgamejams.com
October 10, 2025 at 9:18 PM
I got schooled on whether there are game jams on Itch.io which “explicitly accept physical games, including board games, card games, and roleplaying games.”
This is me saying I was wrong, Courtney! 🎲✂️
This is me saying I was wrong, Courtney! 🎲✂️
Look for 🎲✂️ lessons everywhere
“Whenever you observe a system or an activity think about what the incentives are and how they are impacting player behavior and emotion.”
“Whenever you observe a system or an activity think about what the incentives are and how they are impacting player behavior and emotion.”
September 16, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Look for 🎲✂️ lessons everywhere
“Whenever you observe a system or an activity think about what the incentives are and how they are impacting player behavior and emotion.”
“Whenever you observe a system or an activity think about what the incentives are and how they are impacting player behavior and emotion.”
Reposted by Haole Boy Games 🔜 SpielMas
Brought to you by #SpielMas ⛄️!
September 16, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Brought to you by #SpielMas ⛄️!
Reminder: If you have the privilege of 🎲✂️, take it and run with it. I manage care for two aging relatives, and I have to put things aside for a few months to sell a house and rent another. I’m hoping to make Game Market West in the Spring and pivot to @spielmas.com as much as possible. See you soon!
September 15, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reminder: If you have the privilege of 🎲✂️, take it and run with it. I manage care for two aging relatives, and I have to put things aside for a few months to sell a house and rent another. I’m hoping to make Game Market West in the Spring and pivot to @spielmas.com as much as possible. See you soon!
This episode is a love letter to both @protospielo.bsky.social and the Golden Gate Gamemakers. 🎲✂️
September 3, 2025 at 12:00 PM
This episode is a love letter to both @protospielo.bsky.social and the Golden Gate Gamemakers. 🎲✂️
Button Shy has offered an 18-card cozy game challenge: buttonshygames.com/blogs/news-1...
My timing may work to further develop #BatsOfLimekiln 🦇 after @gamemarketwest.bsky.social on 9/21.
Here’s my 2022 🎲✂️ post, with video of the actual bats: www.haoleboygames.com/blog/the-bat...
My timing may work to further develop #BatsOfLimekiln 🦇 after @gamemarketwest.bsky.social on 9/21.
Here’s my 2022 🎲✂️ post, with video of the actual bats: www.haoleboygames.com/blog/the-bat...
September 2, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Button Shy has offered an 18-card cozy game challenge: buttonshygames.com/blogs/news-1...
My timing may work to further develop #BatsOfLimekiln 🦇 after @gamemarketwest.bsky.social on 9/21.
Here’s my 2022 🎲✂️ post, with video of the actual bats: www.haoleboygames.com/blog/the-bat...
My timing may work to further develop #BatsOfLimekiln 🦇 after @gamemarketwest.bsky.social on 9/21.
Here’s my 2022 🎲✂️ post, with video of the actual bats: www.haoleboygames.com/blog/the-bat...
I also love to teach games, but I’ve also taught high school and college. In contrast, teaching a guided play-through of your prototype is next level, and it’s a discipline unto itself that still challenges and impresses me. But it’s absolutely essential for a game designer to master. 🎲✂️
I am one of those people... at a convention if I see a table set up and reading a rulebook for a game I know? I'll just walk up and ask if they want me to teach them how to play. I'm not an extrovert (people exhaust me) but I trained myself to be outgoing and now I startle strangers with that. 🤗
September 1, 2025 at 11:16 AM
I also love to teach games, but I’ve also taught high school and college. In contrast, teaching a guided play-through of your prototype is next level, and it’s a discipline unto itself that still challenges and impresses me. But it’s absolutely essential for a game designer to master. 🎲✂️
I went looking for a nice in-hand solitaire game that uses a standard deck of cards and found Blackjack Lite by Brian Kinsella. I tested it in the backseat on an hour-drive to Shakespeare in the Park. Got beat the first x3, but finally won. Joker and Black Knight are a fun addition. #boardgames
[WIP] Blackjack Lite: An In-Hand Solo Card Game (Standard Deck) (Contest Ready)) | BGG
Hello, all.
- Submitted to the 2024 54-Card Game Design Contest (Standard Deck Category Winner)
👉👉[url=https://drive.google.com/file/d/1W3jcVTTPwoh7IknFAi9KEt5QxaoyoLPM/view?usp=drivesdk]Newest rul...
boardgamegeek.com
September 1, 2025 at 3:37 AM
I went looking for a nice in-hand solitaire game that uses a standard deck of cards and found Blackjack Lite by Brian Kinsella. I tested it in the backseat on an hour-drive to Shakespeare in the Park. Got beat the first x3, but finally won. Joker and Black Knight are a fun addition. #boardgames
After a furious week of online playtesting, I have printed, sleeved, and made ready the current prototype of Foosball 74 for IRL playtesting.
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
August 30, 2025 at 5:35 PM
After a furious week of online playtesting, I have printed, sleeved, and made ready the current prototype of Foosball 74 for IRL playtesting.
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
After a recent online playtesting burst last week, I’m going into the Labor Day weekend with only 3/4 of my original advantage suits (🎩 @ericdittmore.bsky.social) But that made room to IRL playtest corner kicks, throw-ins, tackles, fouls, and the offside rule. 🎲✂️
August 29, 2025 at 1:30 PM
After a recent online playtesting burst last week, I’m going into the Labor Day weekend with only 3/4 of my original advantage suits (🎩 @ericdittmore.bsky.social) But that made room to IRL playtest corner kicks, throw-ins, tackles, fouls, and the offside rule. 🎲✂️
Two worlds collided on Sunday. The ⚽️ season opened for my local college team where I am a play-by-play announcer.
And it was @protospielo.bsky.social weekend, where I was still playtesting Foosball 74.
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
And it was @protospielo.bsky.social weekend, where I was still playtesting Foosball 74.
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
August 27, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Two worlds collided on Sunday. The ⚽️ season opened for my local college team where I am a play-by-play announcer.
And it was @protospielo.bsky.social weekend, where I was still playtesting Foosball 74.
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
And it was @protospielo.bsky.social weekend, where I was still playtesting Foosball 74.
🎲✂️ #Soccer54
Reposted by Haole Boy Games 🔜 SpielMas
GMW Fall 2025 Countdown - Soccer 54: Premier by Greg Pool
Playing soccer with playing cards! Using six cards in your hand, challenge for possession to move a soccer ball up and down a 3x3 field for the best shot on goal. Whoever scores the most goals wins!
#boardgames @haoleboygames.com
Playing soccer with playing cards! Using six cards in your hand, challenge for possession to move a soccer ball up and down a 3x3 field for the best shot on goal. Whoever scores the most goals wins!
#boardgames @haoleboygames.com
August 21, 2025 at 6:31 PM
GMW Fall 2025 Countdown - Soccer 54: Premier by Greg Pool
Playing soccer with playing cards! Using six cards in your hand, challenge for possession to move a soccer ball up and down a 3x3 field for the best shot on goal. Whoever scores the most goals wins!
#boardgames @haoleboygames.com
Playing soccer with playing cards! Using six cards in your hand, challenge for possession to move a soccer ball up and down a 3x3 field for the best shot on goal. Whoever scores the most goals wins!
#boardgames @haoleboygames.com
I have taken the advice a recent playtester in the pub and will retheme this game to "Foosball 74. Table soccer...on your table!"
The core game remains the same for playtesting this weekend at @protospielo.bsky.social but this should lower the barrier to entry a bit. #Soccer54 🎲✂️
The core game remains the same for playtesting this weekend at @protospielo.bsky.social but this should lower the barrier to entry a bit. #Soccer54 🎲✂️
August 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
I have taken the advice a recent playtester in the pub and will retheme this game to "Foosball 74. Table soccer...on your table!"
The core game remains the same for playtesting this weekend at @protospielo.bsky.social but this should lower the barrier to entry a bit. #Soccer54 🎲✂️
The core game remains the same for playtesting this weekend at @protospielo.bsky.social but this should lower the barrier to entry a bit. #Soccer54 🎲✂️
TFW Jason at @themisplay.com drops your name at 8:36 because you wanted to find a time to playtest each other’s digital prototypes. 🎲✂️
The Real Gen Con Debrief
We're back in studio and give a more complete Gen Con debrief and share highlights from playtesting in the First Exposure Playtest Hall. We cover a BoardGameGeek contest we entered and our recent Unpu...
themisplay.com
August 20, 2025 at 1:16 PM
TFW Jason at @themisplay.com drops your name at 8:36 because you wanted to find a time to playtest each other’s digital prototypes. 🎲✂️
Reposted by Haole Boy Games 🔜 SpielMas
Nominations aren’t until October, but already “High Tide” from @underdog.games & @marcelineleiman.bsky.social looks like an early candidate for recognition in the 2025 Frosties during this year’s #SpielMas ⛄️ festival. #boardgames
August 17, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Nominations aren’t until October, but already “High Tide” from @underdog.games & @marcelineleiman.bsky.social looks like an early candidate for recognition in the 2025 Frosties during this year’s #SpielMas ⛄️ festival. #boardgames
Very helpful discussion about sell sheets by @thedarkimp.bsky.social and @fertessa.bsky.social 🎲✂️
BtC – Fertessa Allyse on Sell Sheets – The Game Design Roundtable
thegamedesignroundtable.com
August 16, 2025 at 9:39 PM
Very helpful discussion about sell sheets by @thedarkimp.bsky.social and @fertessa.bsky.social 🎲✂️
I heard this NPR piece on 8/13/25 and instantly thought it needs to be a #boardgameidea 🎲✂️
🔊 Listen Now: A lock of hair may have just changed what we know about life in the Incan Empire
All Things Considered on NPR One | 3:52
one.npr.org
August 15, 2025 at 10:35 PM
I heard this NPR piece on 8/13/25 and instantly thought it needs to be a #boardgameidea 🎲✂️
I would do this with a group of 🎲✂️ board game designers but to discuss the game in the context of how the it was made, what makes the gameplay unique, the quality of its components, what they would take/leave for their own designs, etc.
What if you host a #boardgames “book club” meeting in the middle of the sixth annual #SpielMas ⛄️ festival?
1. Pick a shareable game you’d like to learn (ex. Parks on Board Game Arena).
2. Everyone watches a play through video, scans the rules, or plays the tutorial on BGA.
3. Come back…
🧵
1. Pick a shareable game you’d like to learn (ex. Parks on Board Game Arena).
2. Everyone watches a play through video, scans the rules, or plays the tutorial on BGA.
3. Come back…
🧵
August 13, 2025 at 4:25 PM
I would do this with a group of 🎲✂️ board game designers but to discuss the game in the context of how the it was made, what makes the gameplay unique, the quality of its components, what they would take/leave for their own designs, etc.
Save the date! 🎲✂️
On Monday 8/25, Jason from @themisplay.com and I are going to host the first virtual playtesting event sponsored by Golden Gate Gamemakers.
On Monday 8/25, Jason from @themisplay.com and I are going to host the first virtual playtesting event sponsored by Golden Gate Gamemakers.
August 12, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Save the date! 🎲✂️
On Monday 8/25, Jason from @themisplay.com and I are going to host the first virtual playtesting event sponsored by Golden Gate Gamemakers.
On Monday 8/25, Jason from @themisplay.com and I are going to host the first virtual playtesting event sponsored by Golden Gate Gamemakers.
I printed a prototype that uses a custom deck from Soccer 74, the game based on the free print and play version called #Soccer54. I tested the PK shootout using the 32 shooting and saving cards. The digital version is ready to go for @protospielo.bsky.social starting on August 22. 🎲✂️
August 10, 2025 at 10:46 PM
I printed a prototype that uses a custom deck from Soccer 74, the game based on the free print and play version called #Soccer54. I tested the PK shootout using the 32 shooting and saving cards. The digital version is ready to go for @protospielo.bsky.social starting on August 22. 🎲✂️
I've been 🎲✂️ building up for the August @protospielo.bsky.social by creating a custom deck of cards based on #Soccer54 that now includes 74 cards, advantage suits, colors, and directions to move the ball after a battle for possession. This eliminates a ton of rules and speeds up play.
August 8, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I've been 🎲✂️ building up for the August @protospielo.bsky.social by creating a custom deck of cards based on #Soccer54 that now includes 74 cards, advantage suits, colors, and directions to move the ball after a battle for possession. This eliminates a ton of rules and speeds up play.
Reposted by Haole Boy Games 🔜 SpielMas
I have removed the link to Codenames on www.spielmas.com/play in support of the #BlacklistCGE boycott until @czechgames.com:
1) Recognizes trans lives matter as much as any life.
2) Donates some profits made from "Codenames: Return to Hogwarts" to the @trevorproject.bsky.social.
1) Recognizes trans lives matter as much as any life.
2) Donates some profits made from "Codenames: Return to Hogwarts" to the @trevorproject.bsky.social.
August 7, 2025 at 6:37 PM
I have removed the link to Codenames on www.spielmas.com/play in support of the #BlacklistCGE boycott until @czechgames.com:
1) Recognizes trans lives matter as much as any life.
2) Donates some profits made from "Codenames: Return to Hogwarts" to the @trevorproject.bsky.social.
1) Recognizes trans lives matter as much as any life.
2) Donates some profits made from "Codenames: Return to Hogwarts" to the @trevorproject.bsky.social.