iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 28/09/2026

Next up on my combustive solo adventure is to finish publishing the rules for all the wonderful people who purchased a copy of #PopokiGame 🐈 at @gamemarketwest. Mahalo!

This will be the front cover of the eight-page rule book that will fit perfectly in your box (orange cat meeple washing across recent lava flows).

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 28/09/2026

Both these statements can be true.

Jason teaching Under One Sky at the Guildhouse in San Jose CA.

Greg standing next to a picture of him in Hawaii from 1993 working as a wildland fire fighter for the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 27/09/2026

I got to research the color of the flame when methane gas ignites near lava flow. A: It’s why this D6 is blue. #Popoki 🐈

A blue D6 rolled to a four, representing methane gas in the game Pōpoki.

Methane gas burning from under a lava flow near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii in 2018.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 26/09/2026

One more sleep before @gamemarketwest.bsky.social in San Jose CA at the Guildhouse from 10a - 3p. #Popoki 🐈

Black D6 with a 1 represented cooled, hardened basalt

Game board with dice an an akamai card of Mana (spiritual power) which allows you to not lose any whiskers this turn.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 25/09/2026

Pōpoki, coming to @gamemarketwest.bsky.social this Sunday 9/27. More info: www.haoleboygames.com/popoki #boardgames

Promotional shot of cards, cat meeples, dice, and playmat in front of the game box.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 24/09/2026

Working on some stills before shooting a playthrough video. #Popoki 🐈

Eight dice, a deck of cards, two cat meeples, and two markers

Orange cat with several all in a horizontal row

White cat helping to score a journey marked by dice

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 23/09/2026

How it started / How it’s going #CraftWednesday I’m putting the ✂️🎲 finishing touches on Pōpoki for @gamemarketwest.bsky.social this Sunday. I laminated the playmats and tested with some of the components. #Popoki 🐈 #boardgames

Playmats inside their plastic sleeves ready to be laminated.

Laminated playmat with components including a black d6 and an orange cat

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 23/09/2026

Share an image that tells people how many years you have been online.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 22/09/2026

Last night at a playtest for @themisplay.com someone at the table asked about *my* upcoming game ✂️🎲 at @gamemarketwest.bsky.social. And they became the first “customer” outside my family to hold my first published game in their hands. 🫨 #Popoki 🐈

Me, holding the box:
Pōpoki (Hawaiian for cat)
A combustive solo adventure
Haole Boy Games

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 15/09/2026

Why read the book when you can watch the movie! #Popoki 🐈

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 15/09/2026

Here’s the live, unedited footage of Jason & Mark dealing with their podcast’s mainframe computer:

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 13/09/2026

Two more Sundays and I’ll be stacking these beauties in the shape of a Hawaiian shield volcano 🌋 at @gamemarketwest.bsky.social in San Jose CA. #Popoki 🐈

20 boxes of Pōpoki, a combative solo adventure

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 04/09/2026

Listening to this knowing you playtested a game at a 2022 @protospielo.bsky.social that I’m selling in three weeks at @gamemarketwest.bsky.social. And it will be my first. #Popoki 🐈

Page 8 of the rule book where I credit David: “First playtested at Protospiel Online in April 2022. Thanks to Jeff Grisenthwaite, Jay Little, Emily Fagerstrom, Tony Camilleri, Andy Juell, Heather Newton, and David Masnato.”

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 03/09/2026

A clowder of cats has arrived! I chose the colors based on my cats, Denali and Ginger. But in #Popoki 🐈 these cats are feral and living in an abandoned subdivision. Therefore, this would be a destruction of cats. Available at @gamemarketwest.bsky.social on Su 9/27: www.haoleboygames.com/popoki

A bag of white cat meeples, and a bag of orange cat meeples.

Brothers Denali (turkish angora) and Ginger (tabby). Ginger passed away in March at the age of 17.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 31/08/2026

I’m still working on the rules ahead of @gamemarketwest.bsky.social on 9/27, and the cat meeples came from another source, but Launch Tabletop really came through with the box, dice, cards, and cubes. Holding it in my hand is surreal! #Popoki 🐈

Twenty copies of Pōpoki in a cardboard box.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 29/08/2026

Page 1 of the rule book I’m designing for #Popoki 🐈 that I’ll sell at @gamemarketwest.bsky.social on Su 9/27. If you want to help proof the rules for grammar and clarity, DM and I’ll add you to the credits. Mahalo! 🤙🏼

Cover Art and graphic design for a rule book:

POPOKI
A combustive solo adventure
Designed by GREG POOL
Published exclusively for Game Market West by
HAOLE BOY GAMES
Copyright 2022. All rights reserved.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 17/08/2026

It’s been four years, but I finally got back to Limekiln State Park in Big Sur, California, to compare my 🎲✂️prototype with reality. The park has been closed for 3y due to slides on Highway One. Background: www.haoleboygames.com/blog/the-bat... #BatsofLimekiln 🦇

Holding up a prototype card with “creek, log, boulder, and moth” next to Limekiln Creek enter it enters the Pacific Ocean.

Holding up a prototype card with “moth, creek, and bridge” on a bridge across Limekiln Creek.

Building a short portion of the creek using four prototype cards on a bridge above Limekiln Creek.

The view west above Limekiln State Park out across the Pacific Ocean.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 09/08/2026

“This Gift” is particularly uplifting if you interpret it from a creator’s point of view, especially if you have any imposter syndrome to expunge from your soul, where you should be keeping songs as currency instead.

songs were their souls' currency, inspired by a Moya Cannon poem called “Carrying The Songs.”

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 07/08/2026

Crafting so my clowder of cats can walk across an active lava flow field at an indie market in September. 🎲✂️

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 06/08/2026

I have cats arriving later this month, and I’m putting the finishing touches on the top and bottom of the box. It will eventually hold cats, cards, and dice. 2/3

Email showing the expected date of August 27 when 40 wooden cats will arrive from Poland via Etsy.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 06/08/2026

My cats are coming to @gamemarketwest! I’ve started the production timeline for my solo adventure Pōpoki to sell on September 27 at an indie market in San Jose CA. #boardgames #Popoki 🐈 1/3

Printed prototype of the top of a box for the solo adventure game Pōpoki. Background is the digital template in Gimp on a Mac laptop.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 09/07/2026

Still my favorite slide from your summer class, and evergreen nightmare fuel.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 07/07/2026

I need to come up with a new tagline for Foosball 74: “Forsaken from the filth of FIFA.” #Soccer54 #USMNT #boardgames

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 05/07/2026

I may have playtested this new version a little too much. #boardgames

The box for the River & Stone deck of playing cards is falling apart on the its side. This is probably because we play “Palace: River & Stone” with it so much!

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 15/05/2026

My prototype listing for “The Bats of Limekiln” is now up. My first chance to test might come Saturday evening during @protospielo.bsky.social but more likely Sunday. Listing: protospiel.online/prototype-ga... 🦇

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 10/05/2026

Happy Mother’s Day! I lost my Mom in 2010, but she was an OG gamer. My Dad taught me how to play games but Mom taught me how to win them. We played a lot of Chess, but I seem to remember the endgame puzzles the most. Thus, my openings are terrible!

Greg staring across a chess board at the black Queen.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 04/05/2026

May the Fourth be with you. Always. 🖖🏼

Star Wars #1 fan but with the USS Enterprise in the middle.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 25/04/2026

Working out a new scoring rubric in Pōpoki by changing the starting health points for my cat. If I stay with nine health and nine whiskers (because nine lives), it seems to be a good enough challenge to both stay alive and succeed with all the akamai (smarts) gained. #ScreenshotSaturday #Popoki 🐈

Final journey in Pōpoki (cat): Two health points and five whiskers left. That results in a final score of seven, which is maika'i (good) in the current rubric.

Mahalo for reading this far!

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 23/04/2026

Episode 45 of the current eruption at Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island is Hawaii. 📺 This show keeps getting better. #RecoveringGeologist V2 camera: www.youtube.com/live/Tz5tPqR...

A tall fountain of molten rock pours into a short plain of lava flows in the summit crater of Kilauea Volcano. Time: 7:40 am HST.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 12/04/2026

I got to playtest Foosball 74 twice at a brewery after the 2-1 win for the #USWNT ⚽️ over Japan. We started with PK Shootout, which I lost 3-2. But they wanted to see more! First game ended 4-4, and the next was 3-1. Good feedback, including on substitutions, components, and blind testing. #Soccer54

Midgame of Foosball 74 with pizza and beer at Lonely Oak Brewery in Gilroy CA.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 02/04/2026

I was able to get in two playtests 🎲✂️ last night at Victory Point Cafe in Berkekey CA. "The Bats of Limekiln" was a leap of faith because it's not finished, but I got a lot of encouragement. "Foosball 74" ended 1-0 on a last second shot!

"Just after sunset, you wake to 'discover' the creek with echolocation as you fly downstream. You eat food, dodge logs, avoid boulders, and skirt the edge of the creek, avoiding owls in the redwoods. You pause at the end of the creek where it flows into the Pacific Ocean. Then you turn around and fly home before dusk falls. You have to race to make it back up the creek with as much food as you can eat!"

"Using six cards in your hand, challenge for possession to move a soccer ball up and down a 3x3 field in order to get the best shot on goal. Whoever scores the most goals wins the half. Play another to decide the match!"

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 01/04/2026

"Keep drinking, honey. Two more, and I'll have all the components I need for my prototype!" 🎲✂️

Six corks from margarita mix bottles. Gathered over months, not days. I love my wife! ♥️

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 24/03/2026

I'm brushing off an older prototype to playtest later this week. I was inspired at Game Market West to push Pōpoki as a solo game first, instead of struggling to make it two-player. #Popoki 🐈

Player mat. There's space for the six steps, six rounds, and scoring tracks.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 23/03/2026

At the Guildhall in San Jose CA, a cameraman for ABC 7 captured the indie game design scene at @gamemarketwest.bsky.social Source: abc7news.com/videoClip/18... 🎲✂️

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 22/03/2026

Listening to @themisplay.com podcast while heading up to @gamemarketwest.bsky.social today in San Jose. I’ll be there to watch and learn. I tried to be there last September as a seller. Crossing my fingers for next September!

Wearing a hat with a Hawaiian license plate and the word “HAOLE.”

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 17/03/2026

It’s my obligation each year to advise you all to watch “The Commitments” on St. Patrick’s Day. This year it’s free to stream on Peacock. So say it loud: I’m black, and I’m proud! 🇮🇪☘️🎺🎸🥁🎤🎶

The Commitments
Comedy, 1991, 1hr 58 min

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 13/03/2026

I found an old sell sheet for Pōpoki that features an orange cat meeple. It’s a tribute to Ginger, an orange tabby who I just lost after 17 wonderful years. #Popoki 🐈 💔

Sell sheet for the game Pōpoki (cat in Hawaiian), which features eight dice, 36 cards, and two cat meeples. One of them is orange, modeled after my cat Ginger, who just passed sway.

Ginger, in all his glory, guarding a prototype of a time travel game that uses a standard deck of cards.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 23/02/2026

I would learn to play Quacks. Is that Wingspan behind it?

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 19/02/2026

Love the “bingo” anecdote from @elizhargrave.bsky.social in this story.

“I had a friend who ran a rulebook through AI for proofreading and it hallucinated that people needed to shout ‘bingo’. Apparently that’s AI’s conception of board games right now.”

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 16/02/2026

Episode 42. The answer to life, the universe, and everything. Live cam: www.youtube.com/live/gXKuUyK... #RecoveringGeologist

The eruption of the Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 10/02/2026

I’m heading back to a public playtest tonight after a two-month hiatus. #BoardGamersLift

Name badge, ruler, scissors, playing cards, play mat, and pencil.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 10/02/2026

Heading to Santa Cruz CA tonight for a playtesting event, my first since early December before "life" got in the way. I've been able to print and sleeve a new deck for Foosball 74, my custom variant of #Soccer54. But Nick’s 🎲✂️ post is living rent-free in my head.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 23/01/2026

I was supposed to be cleaning a junk drawer, but all I could think about was “THESE COULD BE GAME PIECES!” 🎲✂️

Four Mac adapters for a power cord all in a similar position and orientation.

Four Mac adapters for a power cord all in different positions and orientations.

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Haole Boy Games @haoleboygames.com · 05/01/2026

Looking forward to the next @protospielo.bsky.social from Jan. 16-18. Even more proud that I’m opening for @themisplay.com on the 🎸🤘🏼 poster.

Jason Parmele listed above mine in the playbill.

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