Jack Rosen 🔜 Unpub

Thanks Tony! Hope to see you at Unpub 😄

It’s such an honor to be a finalist for the Cardboard Edison award this year! Some great games are on this list, I wish everyone the best of luck!

Echo those saying Friday Afternoon Tea (for a great indie tea store) and Adagio Teas (for a very affordable way to expand your collection). I’ll add Plum Deluxe since I think they specifically have good white and rooibos/honeybush blends. Happy to let you borrow/take anything next time I see you!

Gender of Game Designers: Board Game Geek Top 500, January 2025 A pie chart: 92% of the pie is Designed only by men. They made 461 of the top 500 games. 6% of the pie is Designed by a mixed-gender group. They made 28 of the top 500 games. 1% of the pie is Designed only by women or non-binary people. They made 5 of the top 500 games. Data are for January 1, 2025, using the names in the Designer field on BGG. Not shown are 6 games in the top 500 that have uncredited designers.

Update to this chart that I share a lot. Not breaking news: Game design teams are still OVERWHELMINGLY all men. About 7% of the top 500 games have a woman or non-binary person credited as a designer. A 🧵of related charts: (1/6)
🎲✂️

I think excitement in sports is defined and optimized around being a spectator, while in board games you are often actively participating. Imo exciting board games seem to correlate with dramatic moments. This can come from anywhere (cleverness, luck, etc), but too much drama can lead to frustration

Though I didn’t get to play this one, I’m glad at least got to watch a round of this game at the end of unpub. It was really fascinating and I hope to play it in the future!

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it, and congrats on being part of the first group of the weekend to NOT explode 🎉💥

For anyone at unpub I would highly recommend playing Jack's "Down to the Wire".

It's a tense coop where you difuse a bomb. It's the tightest game I've played so far. He's got a table on Saturday at noon. Don't miss it, especially if you like games like Hanabi, but wished for more communication.

Board with a dedcending track, two sets of cards beneath

Down to the Wire is a super engaging, cooperative deck-burning game by @jacktose.bsky.social. Really enjoyed playing it with @dcrapuchettes.bsky.social, @imamagnet.bsky.social, and @shadowobsessed.bsky.social. #Unpub2025

Thank you Connie 😁! This means a lot coming from you (a person whose games are great)

If you want to play any of these games, please come find me at Unpub this weekend!! I’ll have at least 2 out of them during my 12-4 block on Saturday, but the rest I’ll save for open playtesting. Excited to see everyone! 🧵(5/5)

A whole bunch of cards, tiles, boards, and other board game pieces on a table that are all related to archaeology

And finally, I will have Rome: Reconstructed. An archaeology game about reconstructing the past. This has always been the one to live beyond my comfort zone as a designer, but I’ve been managing thanks to guidance from the lovely designers of my design group. Excited to see how it goes! 🧵(4/5)

Potion shaped tiles aligned together with different colors and symbols on them. Nearby is a scoreboard with cubes on top and some stacks of spell cards.

Third, I’ll have Puzzling Potions. The driving mantra of this one has been “how can I take a weird and unfamiliar tile shape and make it feel natural?” and I’ve had a fun time taking on that challenge! Plus, I personally love the way the end product looks on the table. 🧵(3/5)

A board with 4 tracks 0-10 and 4 tokens in 4 colors each at various locations on each track. Nearby are 5 decks of cards labeled (Dogwood, Alder, Hemlock, Juniper, and Wildlife)

Next is Understory, a 20 minute simultaneous matching deckbuilder about growing trees in the understory of a forest. This one in particular has been a labor of love over the past 3+ years and, with the recent help of other incredible designers, it’s definitely in the best shape it’s ever been.🧵(2/5)

A board on a table indicating a timer going from 30 to 1. Near the board there is a large deck of cards, and two stacks of board (one blue, one red/yellow). There are some facedown cards with wire cutters of different colors on the backs.

In response to the kind words about my game from @roscoschock.bsky.social, I realized I should share the games I’m bringing to Unpub! First up, here is Under The Wire/Down To The Wire (name tbd) is a quick & tense co-op shedding game about defusing an actively ticking bomb before it explodes 🧵(1/5)

Thank you! Hopefully we can successfully *not* explode next time 😂. Backdraft was lots of fun as well!

I usually use Notion for things like this, and I don’t think it costs too much! They likely have templates that you can use for gantt charts as well

Any book recs as of late? Looking for some more non-fiction biology related reads

I do this too! Well, I recently switched to component studio, but until then I used Google slides for everything! (and I still make my icons in slides😁)

Had a great time at PAX! Saw some familiar faces and met some amazing new people. Also managed to sneak in a few informative playtests! Always impressed by how creative and welcoming everyone is in the board game world

Great thread! Love the idea of having a high benchmark for number of versions to make removing mechanics easier mentally. Thats something I used to struggle with 😅

Over the last few years, I've learned a lot about game design (and I still have a ton more to learn!). In the interest of helping others, I wanted to share a few key concepts that I've picked up. Note that this is geared toward pitching to publishers, and as with any wisdom, YMMV. A thread. 1/ 🎲✂️

Flocking Hell on Steam Flocking Hell is a turn-based strategy roguelite where you defend your pasture from demon legions. It blends calm exploration with auto-battler combat, offering a mix of easy-to-learn mechanics and de...

The Flocking Hell demo is now available on Steam!

Flocking Hell is a deeply strategic roguelite where you defend your pastures from demonic invasion. Why are you still reading this?! Go check it out! 🐑😈

store.steampowered.com/app/3236280/...

#Roguelite #IndieGames #TurnBased

First Monday in October Shape the judicial philosophy of the Supreme Court and advocate for or against famous cases in American history.

The Kickstarter campaign for First Monday in October is now live! www.firstmondayinoctober.com

I find that co-op games with open information can be more inviting, but fall into quarterbacking traps. One of the few examples I’ve seen avoid that issue is Daybreak, making players focus largely on their personal board to eliminate the problem. Still has the tense co-op feel on shared board tho!

A lot of tabletop game designers are here in the Washington, DC + Maryland + Virginia region!

Come follow us if you're interested in learning more: go.bsky.app/4iZLcCc

And if you're one of those designers, whether published or not, read on ⬇️

The DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) has a thriving community of tabletop game designers 🎲✂️. Follow us, join us, but don't ask us for a driver's license!
(hmu if you should be on this list)
go.bsky.app/4iZLcCc

Haha yes I have, but somehow that one flew right over my head when I read it ope😅

I’d say so! Thought it depends on the season haha (not sure how I’d fare in winter 😂)

- I’m an amateur board game designer, still figuring out where I fit in the space (and making endless prototypes)
- I love Cascadia, Heat, and really any deckbuilder
- Tree identification :) 🌲