iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Derek Bruff

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

We have an exceptional podcast episode this month! I talk with Dylan Kistler of Kistler Games about designing games for players of diverse ages and abilities. It's a deep dive into board game design that's fun and fascinating. firstplayertoken.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

001

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

001

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Taught SETI to an old friend last night, and he loved it! And I hit my best score yet, 232. Oh, and the Arkhos aliens were lots of fun.

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

For Pete’s sake! The one episode they just made was amazing. Just do more of that! Sheesh.

021

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Trying to get controllers to pair with my Steam Deck just makes me want to play board games. It shouldn’t be this hard. Nintendo figured this out with cables in the 80s.

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Ever since I did that episode about the games of 2016, I’ve been wanting to teach the kids Istanbul. Tonight, it’s happening!

160

Reposted by Derek Bruff

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

We're out with a review of Trio from @happycampergames.bsky.social on the podcast today! Come for the deceptively simple card game, stay for the lively commentary from the 12-year-old and the 4-year-old! He's big enough for an actual interview now! www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

022

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

SETI’s weight, per BGG: 3.83 Sleeping Queens: 1.06 That’s a 2.77 difference for two games in my top ten for the year. Yes, I do have a 4-year-old.

000

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

022

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

It's the first of the month! That means a new podcast episode. This month the 12yo and the 4you and I review Trio from @happycampergames.bsky.social. It's just 36 cards! It plays in 15 minutes! And we have a surprisingly amount to say about it! Listen here: www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

Three of those were solo plays, but, yeah, it's really great! My favorite of the moment. Re: Unmatched, they've republished Robin Hood v. Bigfoot, and I had to pick that up! Hoping to try it out this weekend.

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

My August stats are not exciting, so here’s the year this far. I might have you all beat on weight range!

BG Stats 2026

Plays: 153
H-index: 5
Games: 74
New: 17
Players: 45
Locations: 12
Hours: 102
Days: 91

Sleeping Queens: 13
Trio: 13
SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence: 10
Wingspan: 7
Unmatched Game System: 5
Cascadia Junior: 5
Sushi Go Party!: 4
Duel for Cardia: 4
Apiary: 3

161 artists:
Vincent Dutrait: 6%
Beth Sobel: 5%
Franz Vohwinkel: 5%
Kwanchai Moriya: 4%
Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo: 2%.

370

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Also, our new-to-us kitchen table is the board game photography table I’ve been dreaming of!

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Did the 4yo pick Santorini to play this afternoon? Yes, yes he did.

160

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

I've been plugging away at Against the Storm when I have time. Last night, I beat the second seal (the lead one), but not after the Fishman Soothsayer did a number of my village. While working on it, I got +150 to hostility for every active scout--and I had a bunch! I hit hostility level 19. 😬

020

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Y’all, I played Splendor tonight. First time in 7 years! It’s still a quality game. (And I won against two newbies.)

040

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Also, my nephew. He’s a board game savant. First play of D:I and he wins!

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I did not seal the deal. The 15yo and I both had fantastic plays for the final combat—and tied. No points for us, and the nephew played an endgame Intrigue card for two points, and the win. This game, man.

120

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Teaching the nephew Dune: Imperium. Hoping to clobber him but haven’t sealed the deal yet.

060

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 03/08/2026

New episode! Sit with me in front of my board game shelves as I walk down memory lane and revisit my most played games of 2016. Which games are still hitting the table? Which ones should I dust off and bring to game night again? www.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

000

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Finished Dune tonight. The robot player continued to ruin our plans. I couldn’t win a combat, so I persuaded my way to victory, 11-9, with The Spice Must Flow cards and influence. “Ragebait” was the 15yo’s summary of the game, but I think he liked it. Can’t wait to teach this to the nephew.

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Ooh, I’ll try that. I also keep worrying that I’m playing the Hagal cards wrong. Maybe the app will help with that, too.

110

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Teaching the 15yo Dune: Imperium. It’s my first time with the robot player and he is a jerk. But the teenager is really digging the game. We’ve played so much Clank over the years… this is like graduating middle school and going to high school. (Which is what he did this summer.)

210

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Emily and I loved it, btw. It’s remarkable how they’ve deconstructed the original game into something structurally much simpler, while preserving the same engine-building vibe. And I expect that she and I playing two-player would knock this out in 15-20 minutes easy.

000

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Four-player Wingspan Pocket with two players who haven’t played much Wingspan and tend to wander off when it’s not their turn, after a two-hour family bike ride… lots of fun, but not a short game. But, yeah, shorter than Wingspan.

140

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

The 4yo figured out how to add this week! His preschool teachers have been showing the class finger addition, and it clicked for him. So we broke out Sleeping Queens last night, where knowing 3+5=8 is part of the game. I’m really proud of him.

100

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

I picked Deep Sky Survey for my org, and I drew two quick start cards that gave signals and data. So my strategy was set: scanning sectors and analyzing data. The other co-winner played Orbital Dynamics, so he was all about probes and landers. But we both cross-trained—he scanned, I landed.

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Four-hand SETI last night, first time with the Space Agencies expansion. The organizations we played were great fun, and only having four rounds was plenty of time to get stuff done. We landed on almost all the moons. And we had a tie for the win at 213 points!

191

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

The 15yo got the well deserved win playing as Long John Silver! He played a very bold bluff early in the game that sent us all on a wild goose chase. He’s a pirate, that one.

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Treasure Island again tonight with the kids. Such a fun and very different game.

120

Reposted by Derek Bruff

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Hey, it's my 75th episode! This month on the podcast, the 12-year-old media correspondent and I review Fit to Print, a delightfully stressful real-time game about putting together newspapers in a charming woodland town. firstplayertoken.buzzsprout.com/2292265/epis...

151

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

151

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Walked into an ice cream shop in a small town south of Birmingham and saw a shelf of games—with Carcassone: The Castle! That was unexpected. The other games are Apples to Apples and Monopoly and the like.

040

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

It was a two-games-in-the-mail day yesterday! My copy of the second printing of Burn the Fort came in, a game I ordered two years ago when I just missed buying a copy at GenCon. And I picked up a secondhand copy of Dune: Imperium. The nephew (a huge Clank! fan) is going to love that one.

010

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

I definitely had one gamble that didn’t pay off. I placed two traces on the second alien, hoping to get some power cards when it was revealed. I did not! It was the alien that gives endgame scoring goals, which did not help my early-game engine. I should have put those traces on the first alien. :/

000

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Taught SETI to the nephew and played with him and the 15yo. They rocked it, finding all kinds of scoring dynamics. I had my worst game yet—just 120 points to the nephew’s 181. I’d like to think that I used all my brainpower making sure the kids followed the rules. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

100

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

One guy dropped out, so now we’re looking at five players total for SETI night. Not ideal! Maybe I can find a replacement. Or another will drop out and we’ll have a 4-player game. Meanwhile, the 15yo and I got a game of SETI in over two nights. He liked it! And I got to play a new-to-me alien.

000

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I invited five friends over on July 10th to play SETI, hoping at least two of them could make it to have a proper game. All five can come! We’re gonna break out two copies and have two tables of SETI at the same time!

130

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Very fun game of Raiders of the North Sea last night! Five players with the Hall of Heroes expansion, which I’ll never play without now. Just two points separated first place from third place! So tight.

070

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

All the Wingspan cards! Base set plus all expansions (with fan art versions where available) plus the fan-designed packs. So many birds

000

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

All done! I alphabetized my Wingspan cards from the base set and first three expansions, then replaced all the ones that have fan art versions. That was tedious. But now I’ll be able to play with all the Wingspan cards!

110

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

I’m going to replace the cards that have fan art versions with those fan art versions. The alphabetical order will make it easier to find them for replacement. Also we’re on a four hour road trip with my wife driving so I’ve got the time. Although I’m not done yet.

120

Derek Bruff @firstplayertoken.bsky.social · 16/06/2026

Did I just spend an hour alphabetizing my Wingspan cards? Yes, yes I did.

150