iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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as always when this is posted, i have to fondly remember the time someone stole this tweet word for word, including using my name as the punchline, then claimed it was just independent discovery

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 6h

prototyping the card game about the funny lil guys

A mass of cards printed on card stock, with strips of discards and scissors in view.

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rax ‘levon honkers’ king @raxkingisdead.bsky.social · 6h

talking to rahm is like sex, it's bad. right? it's boring and bad and a waste of four minutes. right? it's like that for everyone? right?

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No Pun Included @nopunincluded.com · 6h

oh fucking fuck, there are legitimate reasons to critique kickstarters but racism isn't one of them, fuck the fuck off imagine being so inbred that you lose your marbles after seeing a black person in a board game woooooow

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a wear a mask iteration @an-iteration.bsky.social · 6h

I'm not in the space, so it's hard to judge how the communal re-evaluation of Isabel Fall is going these days. But it's remarkable to see in 2026 how pinpoint accurate she was on AI systems.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 6h

someone in my replies was blaming bad superhero stories on creators who hate comics, and I said I didn't think that was the case - that people who love comics can tell bad stories/have stupid ideas all the time - and it got me blocked by at least one comics professional whose work I quite like!

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an actual dog @devtesla.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

there's a thread on bgg about it where the designer keeps going on and on about how the other four genres are equally broad and that he had to simplify things to fit in a board game. this is true but one of these things is not like the other

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Abdul El-Sayed @abdulelsayed.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Mike Rogers is a corporate sellout who moves back to Michigan every few years to run for office to take another swing at the revolving door of corporate politics.

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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 15h

well I'm going to lose my mind over an incidental detail I ran across in a book I'm reading

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Josh Fruhlinger @jfruh.bsky.social · 18h

they DIDN'T REFUND her fucking TUITION?????

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Thembo @thembo.bsky.social · 17h

Banning fraternities forever is the moderate position

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Eric Lang @ericlang.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Was checking out the cool looking Kings Gambit Kickstarter (queens gambit as LOTR?! Please and thank you!) And didn’t even notice Aragorn was black until the racists showed up. You can always count on the racists to be annoying and boring.

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Ashcan @ashcan.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

i was tempted to check out pax ren recently, did some research on the rules, and some random reddit comment set me towards phil eklund's essay in the back of Neanderthal and i have sworn off of sierra madre/ion game design ever since lol

Animals do not recognize or identify with pictures or movies made of themselves. The very concept of a pronoun can’t be expressed in images, perhaps the reason why primitive tongues, for instance in the pre-Columbian New World, do not have the pronoun concept.

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Vylraz! @vulpethere.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

People are so weirdly insistent on it with games/leisure products/etc which has always been bizarre to me. By far that stuff is the easiest to cut out of your life if need be! The deference to public figures being awful in the name of consuming (specifically consuming) art/games is v frustrating.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

had to leave the cracking the cryptic discord server before I blew up at somebody over the jonathan blow thing "why are we focused on this guy and not the other people who made the game" because that's the guy who owns the studio and is gonna make a shit-ton of money

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issa 🍉 @issaissa.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

sometimes i forget how out of touch board games can be. the description of a game about music: “[…]across five iconic genres: African-American, EDM, Jazz, Pop, and Rock” (from pax musica, a game published by non-other than full on racist phill eklund’s ion game design

Born from a passion for music, Pax Musica takes you on a journey through its vibrant history - from the roaring the 1960s to the 2020s. Step into the shoes of a music producer and build your own path to fame.
Hit the auditions and assemble your dream team of future legends. Then crank out bangers across five iconic genres: African-American, EDM, Jazz, Pop, and Rock until the charts don't just notice you...
they surrender.

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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

10,000,000 smutty jokes we could be doing with "facial recognition" and we're too focused on how the surveillance state is garbage to get our shit together. what happened to us, bluesky. somewhere in his private cabana at Plato's Retreat, Alf is crying hot, sticky tears

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Mark Harris @markharris.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Digger, or, The Unexpected Virtue of Not Putting Movies on Oscar Prediction Lists Before You See Them

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

my hot* take is that pizza is actually best as a breakfast food (*- adding "chill overnight" to every pizza recipe)

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Throughout my adolescence I was obsessed with stories where girls became or dressed as boys to protect themselves, I even wrote some of my own, and it *still* took me nearly 40 years to realize this whole time I had been a girl pretending to be a boy.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

flashback to the trans gal 3 years ago who matched with me on a hookup app, not because she actually wanted to fuck, but as a way to pitch me her terrible board games I wanna say I appreciate the hustle but folks, I *really* don't 1/4

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 22/09/2025

Samhain: You can open it with your leg. (Lifts bare gorgeous leg to horizontally sliding window) me: I see, you're trying to seduce me Samhain: Yes, I know it's your kink when women have legs. "Those legs are so extant!"

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

conversely, this is an opportunity for y'all to do the funniest and most amabel-coded thing imaginable

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Gretchen Felker-Martin PRE ORDER CHIMERA 2.16.27 🍉 @scumbelievable.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

in the words of my friend Grace, arguing about who does and doesn't get to use the word "lesbian" is for people who aren't having lesbian sex

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A Tea Walks Home Alone at Night @teaberryblue.net · 28/09/2026

TRANS and INTERSEX students. When it impacts TRANS and INTERSEX students consequentially more than it does LGB or A students, just say the words.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

I talk about this a bit in the book, but every once in a while it sneaks up on me that coming into contact with Erin Escobedo completely changed the course of my work and my life 🏳️‍⚧️ the entire theoretical basis of my work - everything I am known for - spins out of a post on her now-lost tumblr

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

not to besmirch composer Robert J. Walsh but I wouldn't be surprised if his X-Men theme was written while waiting in line to order lunch "Magneto's hordes are on their way to pillage, burn and plunder/ but there's one team that will not yield, the team that strikes like thunder" is splendidly dumb

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I stg this clip has been playing in my head all this last week

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I can't believe I have to say this, but here's a pro-tip for people sending game submission prototypes to a publisher: don't do "signature required" for delivery to a PO box

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

was reminded this morning of this video I did a couple years ago about the films Resolution, Storytelling, Something In The Dirt, Lake Mungo, and We're All Going To The World's Fair. youtu.be/-d7GdgiZs4I

youtu.be

The Horror of Being a Story

YouTube video by Hollandspiele

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

I am reminded of the time, pre-SCG, when a large French distributor reached out to us but put "Amabel" in quotes and when I asked what that was about they said it was to let me know that they knew it wasn't my real name They were really surprised when I told them where to stick it

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

"... and we are not past the one minute mark. Amabel, do you like it when I have money?"

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 13/09/2025

Samhain: They banned my boy. My beautiful boy! Samhain: Ooh, Monkey King. Look at that fucker. Samhain: Earthshaker! Look at him! Would you smooch him? me: no Samhain: Amabel! Look at that critter! That's Grandma Snapfire, she's an old lady with a shotgun and she rides this critter.

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Of what turns out to be ~10K titles, so far I've found about 80! You can support my research, and the video essays documenting my more interesting findings, through my patreon. patreon.com/amabelholland

patreon.com

Get more from Amabel Holland on Patreon

video essays about the future & history of board games

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

recent discourse reminded me of one of the stupidest comic books I ever read, in which an ashamed Captain America is berated by a reporter for being out of touch with normal people because he didn't watch nascar or know who won American Idol

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

today on the stream, we're playing Wayfarers of the South Tigris! www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Cgv...

youtube.com

SB And Amabel Go Beyond The Hourglass

YouTube video by SB

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Lunarpunk Games @lunarpunk.games · 27/09/2026

That's a lot of 9s! Only $1 dollar to go and we're officially (color) jamming!

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I'm always the dumper, never the dumpee, and I remain on friendly terms with almost all my exes, in part because I worked to make those partings amicable & empathetic - even in cases where I was being mistreated or harmed. I removed myself from that harm. But here's the thing:

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Gretchen Felker-Martin PRE ORDER CHIMERA 2.16.27 🍉 @scumbelievable.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

"your books oversexualize the LGBTQ+ community!" wrong I am a gay slut and I hang out with gay sluts, you just can't hang

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Caræsten 🇵🇸 @cara.city · 27/09/2026

happy 25th anniversary to whatever this was

RogerEbert.com

Zoolander
COMEDY
90 minutes PC-13 - 2001
Roger Ebert
September 28, 2001
4 min read
There have been articles lately asking why the United States is so hated in some parts
of the world. As this week's Exhibit A from

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Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Stop calling people who wear masks and take Covid precautions the “forever covid” crowd. We’re literally the only ones trying to eliminate the virus. It’s not gone. It’s not over. It’s still disabling. People who deny this reality are the “forever COVID” crowd.

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Deerposts @deerposts.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Mmmm chippie #deer 🦌

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Saga, sighs queen @saga.iam.bi · 27/09/2026

look I made this *incredibly* cursed image only to realize that I probably wasn't the first yet my work must not go unnoticed so look upon my works and despair

Elizabeth Holmes in the new Nathan Fielder doc where she's doing the wide-eyed "why would I deceive you?" bit but I've put the Cinnamon Toast Crunch face on her

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I've had a couple of dates where they'd describe something as a "special interest" and then when I said "I love to hear other autistic people talk about their special interests, teach me about it" it turns out she knew almost nothing about the topic & had not thought about it at all absolutely dire

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

I am not really up in theory so I don't have the vocab. I think there are overlaps btwn the things you describe and "rules as play" but also some differences, as I feel the latter is common to all games just with different weights of emphasis

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Amabel Holland @amabel.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

current favorite lower third

Still from the big project I'm working on, which identifies me as "Amabel Holland (she/her) yet another trans game designer"

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erratrix @chiptune.gay · 26/09/2026

it's my birthday! I'm at least 40. if you want to do something for me, share my music around. the new one is kinda popular, but I think the older one is better erratrix.bandcamp.com/music

erratrix.bandcamp.com

erratrix

I want worse sounds, at a lower bitrate, with less polyphony tracked by queerer people, paid more to write less and I'm not kidding.

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