Haole Boy Games 🔜 SpielMas
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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)
Pinned
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
Soccer 54 — Haole Boy Games
A soccer game played with a standard deck of playing cards.
www.haoleboygames.com
Here are the six #boardgames I want to unbox and learn in-person each day during the @SpielMas.com ⛄️ festival starting this Friday:

Diatoms
Deep Regrets
Knitting Circle
Isle of Cats Duel
Kabuto Sumo
Roll in One

#SpielMas ⛄️
December 23, 2025 at 9:06 PM
The #SpielMas ⛄️ festival begins this Friday 12/26 and runs through 12/31. Like you, I’ll already be playing #boardgames with friends and family, so printing a free display and celebrating will be easy!
December 23, 2025 at 5:22 PM
Can’t wait to share my #SpielMas ⛄️ celebration with you!
“How do I #SpielMas ⛄️?” It’s easy…just play a game and celebrate!

Share this “I’m Celebrating” graphic as a post or story to encourage more people to join the celebration.

Find out more below…🧵

#boardgames #tabletopgames
December 21, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Tuesday night in SF at @themisplay.com game night. We tested their latest prototype of “Tracing the Sky.” I got to playtest my unofficial two-player variant of Take 5. 🎲✂️
December 17, 2025 at 3:37 AM
Looking forward to joining Jason and Mark for their celebration!
We’re celebrating two years and playing two-player board games tomorrow if you’re nearby! We’d love to meet some listeners. 🎤🎉
December 16, 2025 at 3:01 PM
We play a four-person, best-of-two tournament with this variant to end our weekly online game night, and it’s a ton of fun. #boardgames
Want a great game that’s better with a variant you could learn for the upcoming #SpielMas ⛄️ festival?

Try: Can’t Stop ( @eaglegryphon.bsky.social ) - The second official variant is the best; it’s called the “forced movement requirement” on Board Game Arena.

Runners-up...

🧵 #boardgames
December 15, 2025 at 5:43 PM
So spicy!
Want a great game that’s better with an expansion you could learn for the upcoming #SpielMas ⛄️ festival?

Try: Sea Salt & Paper ( @bombyx.bsky.social ) - Definitely add the Extra Salt and Extra Pepper expansions!

Runners-up...

🧵 #boardgames
December 13, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Mission accomplished! 🎲✂️
December 10, 2025 at 11:01 PM
Playing Hugo with 8p well into November was a good sign it wasn’t just another annual Halloween game.

#SpielMas ⛄️
Want a great game for seven to eight players you could learn for the upcoming #SpielMas ⛄️ festival?

Try: Hugo (@amigogames.bsky.social) - We have played this for the last two Halloweens, but unlike other “holiday” games it keeps coming out in November and December.

Runners-up...

🧵 #boardgames
December 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
This morning at 09:57 am HST, the US Geological Survey lost camera V3. 🪦 It was covered in ash and cinder during Episode 38 inside in the caldera of Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. #RecoveringGeologist
December 7, 2025 at 1:15 AM
This Tuesday I’ll be playtesting 🎲✂️ a print display of the unofficial two-person variant I designed in 2022 for 6 Nimmt (Take 5). If this works my contribution will see time on the “local designers” portion of the shelf at Peoples Coffee in Santa Cruz CA.

Rules: boardgamegeek.com/thread/28939...
December 6, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Pixies, Sushi Go Party, and Challengers! Beach Party…all too much fun during #SpielMas ⛄️!
Want a great game for five to six players you could learn for the upcoming #SpielMas ⛄️ festival?

Try: Pixies (@bombyx.bsky.social) 2-5 players - This game’s artwork is so striking, but cozy goes out the window when you start to play. Very fast and fun!

Runners-up...

🧵 #boardgames
December 6, 2025 at 3:30 PM
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! #SpielMas ⛄️
Want a great game for two players you could learn for the upcoming #SpielMas ⛄️ festival?

Try: King of Tokyo Duel (Iello) - We love the base game, which you can also play on #boardgamearena, but Duel adds a lot of back and forth interactivity that’s so much fun.

Runners-up...🧵 ⤵️

#boardgames
December 1, 2025 at 1:50 PM
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
November 27, 2025 at 3:22 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!
November 23, 2025 at 4:39 PM
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
October 29, 2025 at 2:33 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! 🎲✂️
Physical Game Jams
physicalgamejams.com
October 10, 2025 at 9:18 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.”
September 16, 2025 at 9:03 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!
September 15, 2025 at 1:47 PM
This episode is a love letter to both @protospielo.bsky.social and the Golden Gate Gamemakers. 🎲✂️
September 3, 2025 at 12:00 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...
September 2, 2025 at 2:03 PM
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 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
After a furious week of online playtesting, I have printed, sleeved, and made ready the current prototype of Foosball 74 for IRL playtesting.

🎲✂️ #Soccer54
August 30, 2025 at 5:35 PM