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Dan Thurot

@danthurot.bsky.social
4.8K followers 356 following 4K posts

I'm just some dude. A cardboard cowboy. I also write Space-Biff!, the world's first and only board game review site.

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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 10h
I just go with it. For the first play, nothing exists but what's in my hand. Later I'll play again now that I know what to prioritize.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 11h
Enchanted Ivy is a solitaire game about building an inn to house a bunch of fussy guests. It's utterly lovely. My review: spacebiff.com/2026/10/09/e...
spacebiff.com
A Place for All My Fussy Guests
It’s almost too obvious to state aloud, but there’s a lot to be said for the games we actually play. Case in point, Enchanted Ivy, the solitaire game by Sarah Joshua. When I sat down th…
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 13h
I haven't finished the second season, but the finale of the first season was one of the funniest things I've ever seen.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 13h
I adore it. No idea whether it would have been better with another publisher, but the version we got is a tremendous expression of the pains of producing history.
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BoardGameWire 🔜 Spiel Essen @boardgamewire.bsky.social · 14h
Once again - Dan is a blazing beacon when it comes to thoughtful board game discussion and reviews. Go read his stuff, enjoy, and then support his Patreon to help keep the good stuff coming.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 13h
Thank you so much for the kind words!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 22h
Once again, my quarterly newsletter covers the best board games, movies, books, and video games of the quarter. It's on Patreon, but it's open to all. Take a look! www.patreon.com/danthurot/po...
patreon.com
The Quarter Biff: Space Cadet (Q3 2026) | Dan Thurot
For much of September, I spent every morning in the hospital. I know, I know. What a lede. Short version: I was receiving hyperbaric therapy
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 21h
Thanks!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 22h
Once again, my quarterly newsletter covers the best board games, movies, books, and video games of the quarter. It's on Patreon, but it's open to all. Take a look! www.patreon.com/danthurot/po...
patreon.com
The Quarter Biff: Space Cadet (Q3 2026) | Dan Thurot
For much of September, I spent every morning in the hospital. I know, I know. What a lede. Short version: I was receiving hyperbaric therapy
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
oh shoot this link is borked, I think. This should work: boardgamegeek.com/thread/37112...
boardgamegeek.com
Ad denied by BGG due to religious beliefs? | BGG
I saw a concerning post on Reddit from the team behind [geekurl=/boardgame/470193/possess-me-satan]Posess Me, Satan[/geekurl] that their ad campaign was denied by BGG due to and I quote: To be compl...
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Well, that's nice to hear! I hope!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
Not long afterward, I wrote about a game called Witch Hunt, which resulted in some nasty emails: spacebiff.com/2026/06/02/w...
spacebiff.com
A Crack in the World
I wouldn’t wish to inflict board game drama on anybody who wasn’t already saturated in the stuff, so I’ll keep the details sparse, but the past couple of weeks saw a minor authori…
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 08/10/2026
This was a big thing a few months back. I'm on page 11 or something. boardgamegeek.com/thread/37112...
boardgamegeek.com
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
haha, I caught so much flak recently for writing about witches and demonic possession in a couple of board games. (Specifically, that they don't actually exist.)
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
LOL
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Yep. Part of adulthood is engaging in daily moral calculus. Which businesses you support. How you cast a vote. Which neighbors and friendships you prioritize. When to speak out versus when to sit down. It's bonkers to look at a historical moral decision and just go "nuh uh they didn't do that."
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
maybe if I buy the cross microbadge he'll take me more seriously, haha
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
But even some moral compromises are impossible for this guy to swallow.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
What's funny is that one doesn't even have to believe they were, like, huge jerks. They introduced laudanum to help the sick. Later, they stopped agitating against the opium trade because they believed it was a necessary evil to legalize Christianity.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Some guy on BGG wants to know why Christian missionaries increase the demand for opium in An Infamous Traffic. Me: Hey, I'm a professor of Christian history! I can answer this! Guy: I don't like your answer. I don't believe it. Those missionaries wouldn't have done that. ... okey dokey
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The E-TRAIN @erickblasco.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Such great writing and such a potent finale paragraph
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Thank you for sending it my way, and more importantly designing it!
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David Masnato 🔜 PAX U @davidmasnato.com · 07/10/2026
When Dan asked for a copy of Pax Playground, I was just excited that someone I respect wanted to play it. This is the first time anyone has written about one of my games. And for that first outing to see the game with so much clarity and intention is a moment I'll cherish. Thank you, Dan!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Pax Playground is about childhood, but not in some simplistic sense. Between its challenging cardplay and open-ended victory conditions, it captures the ups, the downs, and the apprehensions of having your whole life ahead of you. My review: spacebiff.com/2026/10/07/p...
spacebiff.com
Tantrums in the Sandbox
Of the handful of things I appreciate about Pax Playground, the most significant is the way it reminds me of recess. Its very existence is playful — this is, after all, a Pax game that lasts twenty…
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I wish I could return to that blissful state.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
"Scott Alexander debates Stephen Pinker!" it's the singularity of stupid
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
which of you rancid hemorrhoids signed up my email address for the slate star codex newsletter
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Thanks, Paul!
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Pall Omen @paulowengames.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Yet another masterpiece column by Dan Thurot
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Thomas Prowell @thekingofnorway.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I always enjoy reading Space Biff's reviews and previews, this one especially so
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
GD it. Thanks!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Grabble. You can teach it in under 60 seconds.
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Taylor Shuss @drawnonward.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
That final paragraph is 👨‍🍳💋👌
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I'm relieved to report that the long-awaited second edition of An Infamous Traffic is even better than the original — in gameplay, in narrative, in clarity. My preview: spacebiff.com/2026/10/05/a...
spacebiff.com
Again, Opium War, Again
When Cole Wehrle first unveiled An Infamous Traffic way back in 2016, it was a scrappy little devil. Not only was it Wehrle’s second design, it was also the earliest releases from Hollandspie…
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
It's really compelling. Review next week, I think
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Ooh, Thirty Years of Misery looks intriguing!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Very nice!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Nice to have a busy week for a change. What did you get to the table?
board games: Grabble, Pax Playground, Satchel Quest, Braided Skies, Baba Is You, Bucket List, Wiñay Kawsay, Spot It!, Wilmot's Warehouse, An Infamous Traffic, Dale of Merchants, Mountain Goats Legacy, Dixit, Enchanted Ivy
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
Finance bro skipped his humanities courses and it shows.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Truly incredible.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
In high school, my Mormon friends were mad that Jackson's Aragorn had a beard, haha
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I didn't actually post the rating because I knew someone would take it seriously. Alas.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
I chickened out and said it was about an add-on or something.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Should I put up my rating of The King's Gambit or nah?
A rating of The Lord of the Rings: The King's Gambit on BoardGameGeek. I have rated the game 1 out of 10. My comment reads: "I didn't play this at GenCon, and it isn't that I have reasonable objections about the price like every other '1' rating. I'm just mad about the Black Aragorn."

This is satire. I hope that's obvious.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Let's hold an anti-SaltCon at my place that same weekend. No slop. Only good times.
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Satchel Quest gives you a bag of holding and asks you to go on a dungeon dive with it. The results are... mixed! Appropriately mixed, with monsters and potions all sloshing together. It's a smart puzzle that grows a little long in the tooth. My review: spacebiff.com/2026/09/30/s...
spacebiff.com
Satchel of Holding
There’s undoubted utility to a bag of holding, but I always imagine everything jumbling together like loose chicken parts. Magical tomes next to tavern dinners next to razor implements, slosh…
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
gasp!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
What's that?!
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
ICYMI: bsky.app/profile/dant...
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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Another before-school session of Grabble with the 7yo.
a bunch of components: bananas, traffic cones, lower-case letters, pigs, meeples, all hidden behind my hand
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