iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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ArtButMakeItSports @artbutmakeitsports.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Circus Performers, by Walt Kuhn, 1978, 📸 via @marisakabas.bsky.social

Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

I've never seen this panorama at Dulles before. It's a carnival that's been constructed right outside Union Station in DC, 1917. If I didn't have a flight to catch I could stand here and look at the details for an hour.

A panoramic photograph of a carnival set up outside Union station in Washington, DC. You can see sideshow booths, ferris wheels, carnival games, and Union Station peeking up in the background

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Deposit for the wooden resource upgrade kit is made, should have a physical sample in a few weeks to approve!

Digital rendering of the wooden resources included in the board game Cirque's upgrade kit. The mockup includes animal meeples, and popcorn and peanut resources.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

We came so so close to that final stretch goal. You know what? Close enough for me -- I'll upgrade the action tiles. Thank you immensely to everyone who supported the project, and I can't wait for you to bring it to the tabletop. 🎪🎪🎪 -Jeremy

Final funding screen for the Gamefound campaign for the board game Cirque showing $24,916 by 293 backers.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I...maybe, yeah bsky.app/profile/ceej...

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

We're now at $22.2k -- can we push it even farther in the last 24 hours? Unlock the next stretch goal even??

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Fantastic news -- we hit $20k with a few days to go!! Did you forget to pledge? 🎪🎪🎪 gamefound.com/projects/lit...

Screenshot of gamefound page for Cirque showing a total of $20,029 funded.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

Fantastic news -- we hit $20k with a few days to go!! Did you forget to pledge? 🎪🎪🎪 gamefound.com/projects/lit...

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I really wish BGG had more protections in place against accounts created in the past 2 weeks that exist simply to review bomb industry-wide.

BGG account rating list that shows over 1,605 out of 2,205 1-star reviews.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

We cruised past $15k this weekend -- on our way to the first stretch goal with still 2 weeks left in the campaign! 🎪🎪🎪 gamefound.com/en/projects/...

Screenshot of the Gamefound page for Cirque, a board game about the circus. The campaign has reached $15,463, and the first stretch goal is at $25,000

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

We cruised past $15k this weekend -- on our way to the first stretch goal with still 2 weeks left in the campaign! 🎪🎪🎪 gamefound.com/en/projects/...

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Jeremy Grossman @jerbaron.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

The Cirque crowdfund just cracked $9k -- we're almost to the goal, and with more than a month left! If you like board games, labor, and the circus, you should consider pledging 🎪🎪 bsky.app/profile/cirq...

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

The Cirque Gamefound campaign is NOW LIVE! Head over to @gamefound.bsky.social to back the project and secure your ticket to the Big Top! Today will be a whirlwind of outreach, community engagement, and excitement. We're so excited to see what you think :) gamefound.com/en/projects/...

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

After just a few days, we're already 85% of the way to the funding goal for Cirque! Thank you to everyone who has supported the project, and if you haven't, please consider! It's really a great game, I promise 🎪🎪🎪

Goal: $10,000 (85% funded)
Current: $8,563
101 backers
27 days left

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Tomorrow is the big day! After more than 2 years of work, the crowdfund campaign for Cirque will be live on Gamefound tomorrow. Today is the last day of the pre-campaign, which means that if you want to receive the follower gift, head over and give it a follow! gamefound.com/en/projects/...

gamefound.com

Cirque by Lithic Studios - Gamefound

A Euro engine- and tableau-builder with a wondrous circus theme. Cirque is designed around friendly competition, immense replayability, and appreciation for the circus and its craft. With 180 unique p...

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

gamefound.com

Cirque by Lithic Studios - Gamefound

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

It is officially 1 week to crowdfund!

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

The finest minds in phishing

Spam email text reads: Hi I just came across your indiegogo project and spent a few minutes checking it out. It looks like you've put a lot of time and passion into bringing it to life. One thing that really caught my attention was "The visual style immediately caught my attention."

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

A couple of large-ish updates as we approach two weeks prelaunch: 1. Tabletop Simulator mod is now updated and available to play on Steam! steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/...

steamcommunity.com

Steam Workshop::Cirque

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I am thrilled to announce that the Gamefound page for the Cirque crowdfund is officially live! The campaign hasn't started just yet, but it's followable (and definitely shareable!) gamefound.com/en/projects/...

gamefound.com

Cirque by Lithic Studios - Gamefound

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Jeremy Grossman @jerbaron.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

This has been, no question, one of the hardest and most gratifying projects I've ever worked on. I'm so excited to share it with the world and I would very much appreciate helping me spread the word about it!

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

gamefound.com

Cirque by Lithic Studios - Gamefound

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

The Cirque rulebook (beta, but in the sense that I just need to add a few things to the glossary, verify page numbers, and clean up formatting in places) is up for you to peruse! drive.google.com/file/d/1my_M...

drive.google.com

Rulebook_FINAL_5.1_compressed.pdf

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Reposted by Cirque

Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I'm thrilled to reveal the official Cirque trailer! This was a project in itself, and I hope you enjoy it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VtE...

youtube.com

Cirque: The Board Game Trailer

YouTube video by Lithic Studios

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

I'm thrilled to reveal the official Cirque trailer! This was a project in itself, and I hope you enjoy it: www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VtE...

youtube.com

Cirque: The Board Game Trailer

YouTube video by Lithic Studios

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 29/06/2026

imagine, if you will, a D12 the size of a circus ball....

A screenshot from within Blender. There is a wooden table and a spread of the board game Cirque, and a D12 the size of....you guessed it, a circus ball.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

I know I should be getting content of the state fair in DC that is like a mile from my house but I've seen the pictures and I can't bear to do it. There's no joy or wonder in it.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

After lots of travel, we're back in town and working hard to finalize materials for the crowdfund. Meanwhile, I spent a good chunk of this weekend enhancing and balancing solo mode. If you like solo play, I think you're going to like it!

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Status of the world's smallest game room (storage room) in preparation for upcoming Cirque videos. Yes that's a drum throne, no I do not organize my shelves according to any logic, yes it is getting very hot in this tiny room. And no Aya does not yet know I did this.

Truly the world's tiniest room. There is a table kitted out with a bunch of lights and a camera, and the board game Cirque is sitting on it. It's pretty janky but the video is going to be great FYI

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Just landed back in the US. Very excited to use the factory sample of Cirque to update product shots. Final tile art incoming soon!

Product shot of (most of) the Cirque components

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Choosing a D12...I know which one I like for Cirque.

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Reposted by Cirque

Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

And of course, a new Ringleader: The Collector

This month's Ringleader Archetypally, the Collector is the curator of her Wunderkammer, the cabinet of curiosities that patrons of the circus pay good money to see, and that are reflected among some of the performer cards carrying the "Curiosity" discipline in Cirque.

Mechanically, as you might imagine, her toolkit encourages set collection as a win strategy. She earns points for both Curiosities and Allure tags, and she is allowed to draw for these card elements at the beginning of the game and during Rest periods. There are only 25 Curiosity cards in the game (26 if you include the Collector) and Allure tags are the rarest tag in the game, so really pushing her scoring in this regard is often high effort/high reward.

The character herself is a person with dwarfism originating from India. As the next section details, dwarfs or little people were a central part of the Indian circus, vital to its form and reputation. They were professionals with developed skills in their field.

At the same time, individuals with dwarfism were to social stigmas associated with notions of freakism, narrowing their status as people and, as a consequence, their professional opportunities. As Betty Adelson writes in her essay on the subject, "the exaggerated identification of dwarfs with the circus was so powerful that a number... one even recently communicated to me that their obstetricians 'broke the news' about their child's condition by saying, 'You have given birth to a circus dwarf.'"

That reputation connects directly to the longstanding treatment of dwarfs as jesters or clowns. For example, Peter the Great, who himself was something like 6'8", very famously kept a troupe of dwarfs and little people. With the emergence of what we know as the modern circus, it is not surprising that dwarfs were often relegated not only to being circus clowns. In John Irving's well-known novel "A Son of the Circus," set primarily in Mumbai, Irving both captures and sometimes challenges that history. It's not a perfect treatment of the subject, but one thing it does well is to communicate the centrality of dwarfs, as professionals, to the success of the Indian circus.

One of the tough decisions I made in designing Cirque was not to include people with dwarfism in any of the Clown card illustrations. On the one hand, it's important to highlight the contributions they have made to the history of the circus. On the other hand, in modern times (particularly in the United States) the demeaning stereotypes associated with dwarfism and circus clowns have created a stigma against the practice within some of the dwarf community. I felt that, without additional context that would have been impossible to include, some players might have felt that I was reproducing those stereotypes.

So I decided instead to make one of the Ringleaders a person with dwarfism -- someone who collects and curates non-fetishistically, who finds value in uniqueness and shares it with others.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

This month's Cirque newsletter is out! Inside is the animal action mini figures reveal, the latest ringleader card reveal, and some other good stuff. Details from the China trip will be in next month's, since we're still here. Details in this thread ⬇️ Subscribe here: mailchi.mp/social-intel...

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I commissioned two pieces of box art for Cirque, with two different artists, with two different creative briefs. Both came out amazing, and I let my community of playtesters weigh in on which cover felt more like the game they were playing. They chose the cover you've seen, and I agree completely.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

I promise that Cirque is nothing like this

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

We're in China! And we officially have a sample copy of Cirque in our hands 🎪🎪🎪 Unboxing video when we get back, stay tuned.

A copy of the board game Cirque lying on a wood table surface

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

We're in China! And we officially have a sample copy of Cirque in our hands 🎪🎪🎪 Unboxing video when we get back, stay tuned.

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tami lam @cuppy.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Kinda blows my mind that in 2026 people can watch the Kentucky Derby and not see anything fundamentally wrong with it. Animal abuse aside, no one notices all the people of color/immigrants grooming and caring for the horses, and all the filthy rich white people dressed up and betting on them? Weird

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riding hell for leather @drpepsi.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

It is a matter of record that Achilles and Ajax got so fixated on a board game during the Siege of Troy that they were overrun and required the direct intervention of Athena herself.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

May Newsletter is out! (A day early because who sends an email out on a Friday...). Sign up here: mailchi.mp/social-intel... As I prepare for our visit to the factory in China in just a few short weeks, the final game assets are being finalized so that we can finalize components. In this issue:

mailchi.mp

Cirque Playtester Signup

Cirque is a Euro-style tableau and engine builder where each player is tasked with managing their own circus. Indie-developed, self-publishing, and 100% AI-free.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

This is a particularly important part of the newsletter this month.

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Cirque @cirquegame.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

mailchi.mp

Cirque Playtester Signup

Cirque is a Euro-style tableau and engine builder where each player is tasked with managing their own circus. Indie-developed, self-publishing, and 100% AI-free.

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