iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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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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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 30/09/2026

There is a ridiculous amount of cool stuff happening in the Bay Area right now, and I'm strapping my gas mask on and spelunking into the Meta Mines so you don't have to: www.coyotemedia.org/coyote-calen...

coyotemedia.org

COYOTE Calendar: October 1-October 7

This week we've got live mural painting, mushroom architecture, slow walking, and more.

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sailor mercury @sailorhg.com · 28/09/2026

@jzplusplus.com and i are hosting a kickoff for this year’s weird web october! (weirdweboctober.website) bubblesort studios 78 gough st, sf sun, october 4, 2026, 1-5pm

a vector drawing of internet browsers at a slant

the browser in the foreground has the text:

weird web october kickoff

bubblesort studios
78 gough st, sf
sun, october 4, 2026, 1-5pm

2000s style link banners say “web showcase from past years”
“make your own weird websites”
and “work on this years prompts”

there’s a halftone image of clouds in the background, a mouse with a cursor trail

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Lunarpunk Games @lunarpunk.games · 22/09/2026

The Color Jam Kickstarter is now live! 🖍️ We're very excited by the design work Gene Koo and Joe Kell put into this game, along with the beautiful art by Erin Laue, and are honored we get to share it with you. We can't wait to see the incredible art you make through this cozy, puzzle-y game.

kickstarter.com

Color Jam: A Print-and-Puzzle Coloring Game

Enjoy cozy and clever coloring at your next game night. Craft the story of each hand-illustrated picture with creative color choices!

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Heck @heckbrewing.com · 09/09/2026

🐟 Heck merch! Finally!! We're excited to share our first merch collaboration with artist and illustrator Joshua Noom, who designed these beautiful tees and hats for us: heckmerch.com

Photo of the back of a teal t-shirt with large green and white illustration of an anthropomorphic fish holding a stick and bindle, surrounded by flowers, also the fish is proclaiming the word “Heck” from a speech bubble at its mouth

Photo of the front of a heather grey t-shirt with a small green and white illustration, a fish head proclaiming the word “Heck” from a speech bubble at its mouth

Photo of two hats, one black one white, with a small green embroidered illustration, a fish head proclaiming the word “Heck” from a speech bubble at its mouth

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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 03/08/2026

Early on @coyotemedia.org made a list of dream bylines we'd LOVE to have on the site and @annaleen.bsky.social was one of the first on it for me. So stoked to see this piece about ~~speculative transit~~ and big dreams for the Bay Area. www.coyotemedia.org/funding-bay-...

coyotemedia.org

A Modest Proposal for Funding Transit Instead of AI

In the ’60s, the Bay Area almost got a high-speed train from Marin to San Jose. What could happen if we dreamed big again?

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Bez Bonnie-Beth 🇹🇭 🇬🇧 @stuffbybez.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Today is 1st August. Since 2017, I have 'released' a 'new' ELL deck game every year on this date. The ELL deck game for 2026 is SCRIBBELL. Check it out on the top of the google drive. drive.google.com/drive/folder...

drive.google.com

ELL deck rules directory. Most important at the top. - Google Drive

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Daniel Newman // New Mill Industries @dnlnwmn.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

reminder: you've got until 9pm eastern tomorrow to submit an application to be a vendor for the Indie Games Night Market! I'll then spend a couple weeks going over the submissions and let folks know by the 15th whether or not you've been selected! www.newmillindustries.com/ignm-app

newmillindustries.com

IGNM App — New Mill Industries

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Always Awake Games (Connor) 🔜 PaxU @connor.alwaysawake.games · 15/07/2026

Excited to announce the games for the PNW Tabletop Game Market at PaxWest! There’s a lot of really exciting stuff this year. The market opens at 7pm on 9/5. Hope to see you there! www.alwaysawake.games/pnw-tabletop...

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Jestin @jestinbrooks.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Ludocity has a bunch of games designed to play in public spaces ludocity.org/wiki/Categor... Schniper is a really fun one

ludocity.org

Category:Playable games - Ludocity

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Ted Mann Schaller @tedmannschaller.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Only 48 hours left to back Counterpoint and help make this game a reality! Come explore this whimsical world of classical chamber music and trick-taking! 💛🎻🎶 Link in bio! #boardgames #cardgames #chambermusic 🎲✂️

A glam shot of the Counterpoint box and the text: “Only 48 hours left! Kickstarter”

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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 17/06/2026

This week's edition of the COYOTE Calendar includes a joke that I had to ask my editor "is this too mean??" www.coyotemedia.org/coyote-calen...

coyotemedia.org

COYOTE Calendar: June 18-June 24

This week we’ve got Juneteenth, more pride, beaver puppets (not pride related), spelling bees, fog, bioplastic drum machines, and more.

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Ted Mann Schaller @tedmannschaller.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Counterpoint is live on Kickstarter! 2 years ago I had a silly idea to mix two of my favorite things (classical music and games) and here we are after countless hours of prototyping, testing, simplifying, and reworking. Excited to hear your music! 💛🎻🎶 www.kickstarter.com/projects/squ...

kickstarter.com

Counterpoint: a Co-op Classical Music Trick-Taking Game

Counterpoint is a cooperative trick-taking game for 3-5 players where the challenges are based on different pieces of classical music.

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Andy McMillan @andymcmillan.com · 12/05/2026

📢 We’re raising a small pre-seed round for @heckbrewing.com as we head into the summer to support our first sales hire, grow our independent distribution, and introduce new quarterly seasonals: deck.heckbrewing.com Hit me up if you’d be interested in hearing more: andy@heckbrewing.com

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Always Awake Games (Connor) 🔜 PaxU @connor.alwaysawake.games · 08/05/2026

Also in this video: a snippet of why I think daniel.games isn’t a great place to be sending new designers.

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Jestin @jestinbrooks.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Is it about almanacs? because I want to know more about the history of almanacs now

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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 09/04/2026

April 9 is #LocalNewsDay! Bay Area alt-weekly journalism shouldn’t just be something we’re nostalgic for — it should be thriving, pulsating, alive!! So for today only, you can get your first month of COYOTE for only $4 (usually $8). 👉 www.coyotemedia.org/local-news-day — offer ends April 10.

A bunch of colorful cartoon coyote heads arranged in rows.

Start Local. Stay Connected.
April 9, 2026
Local News Day

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Laura Eek!! Hall @lauraehall.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Today, April 7, 2026, humans inexplicably stop aging, dying and being born (17776 or What Football Will Look Like in the Future by Jon Bois, 2017)

A conversation. 1: How long has it been like this? 2: On April 7th, 2026, people stopped being born. On the same day, people stopped dying, and people stopped aging. 3: Ham cheese. ham cracker. cheese cracker. ham and cheese cracker. ham and cheese. 1: Why? 2: We don't know. Nobody knows.

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Bez Bonnie-Beth 🇹🇭 🇬🇧 @stuffbybez.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

£25 for a table. Sell 20-or-so copies of a game on Saturday evening at UKGE. This seems like a great deal.

market.bastiongames.co.uk

Bastion Indie Market

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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 25/03/2026

This week in the Bay Area — free soup! Erotic ecology (?)! A hole party (not that kind of hole)! PLUS, we have news! Starting this week, our calendar is also in convenient email newsletter form. Sign up on our site so you don't miss a thing! www.coyotemedia.org/coyote-calen...

THU: 3.26
Millbrae BART Station → 4-7pm
BART Mart Artist Alley
If you think about it, the horse was one of the earliest forms of faster-than-human transportation. Come see a bunch of cool artists making transit-themed (both train and horse) work. And, if you know what Umamusume is (which I... totally do...) bring your phone and join in on some races.

FRI: 3.27
‘The Way Disabled People Love Each Other’ Reading
Disability Cultural Center, SF → 7-9PM
Come hear Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha read from their new book of poetry. Plus, Piepzna-Samarasinha will present the Disability Grief Portal Altar — an opportunity to grieve, connect, and celebrate. 😷 COVID SAFE (masks required)

SAT: 3.28
Hole Party
Ocean Beach, SF → 1PM
Show up. Dig a giant hole. Fill in the hole. That's... the party. I don't know man, but it sounds somehow both fun and symbolic. Sisyphus could never.

Spring Community Dye Party
Lakeside Park Garden Center, Oakland → 1–3:30pM 〰 $66+
Spring is upon us, and with this class you can emerge from your winter hole in a new, hand dyed garment like some kind of enlightened cult escapee. Learn how to identify plants that can be used to dye fabric, how to extract and use that dye, and how to upcycle garments you have or find. All materials provided, no experience necessary.

SUN: 3.29
The Great Community Soup Bowl
[bangs a pot] FREE SOUP! Bring a friend and your extra soup stomach and get down on a warm bowl featuring vegetables grown by participants in our Grow With Us program. Also featuring: DJ Tae spinning songs to soup to and endless good vibes.
Paradise Community Garden, Hayward → 11am–4pm

MON: 3.30
Trans Day of Visibility
Take a little lunch break and celebrate trans and gender nonconforming folks with some special guest speakers and important info about gender affirming care services in Santa Clara County. You can also tour the Wellness Center space if you're curious what's on offer there.
colleQTIve, San Jose → 12–1pm

TUES: 3.31
Erotic Ecology Workshop
My Earthy freaks, we picked this one for you. "This workshop explores erotic ecology as a framework for understanding the relationship between sensory awareness, embodiment, and the living world." Slow down, listen to yourself and the Earth, and "reflect on aliveness as a relational and collective experience."
The Alembic, Berkeley → 6:30-8:30pm 〰 $20

WED: 4.1
67th Ever Bay Area Pun-Off
Please don't ask me how long it took me to try to come up with a funny pun to use for the pun event description. I failed, okay. It's too hard! Besides, I'm pretty sure that every person reading this immediately knows whether they want to go to a pun-off or not. Show up, or don't; I'll be too busy pretending not to laugh at bad puns to notice.
The Faight Collective, SF → 7PM & 9pm 〰 $28.52

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Always Awake Games (Connor) 🔜 PaxU @connor.alwaysawake.games · 23/03/2026

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how so much game design advice that’s available is really just business/product advice. It’s got a lot of survivorship bias and as a result, it’s homogenising and dissuading a lot of what’s possible. So…I’m making a little vlog series about it!

youtu.be

Multiple Win Conditions: Welcome!

YouTube video by Always Awake Games

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Liz Davidson @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Did a little preview of Chicken Fried Dice, which was very cute! youtu.be/MBraQyQe-ww

youtu.be

Chicken Fried Dice | Preview

YouTube video by Beyond Solitaire

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Always Awake Games (Connor) 🔜 PaxU @connor.alwaysawake.games · 17/03/2026

I’ve been following the journey of this game for a while and I’m so excited it’s finally launching! A real time, roll and write sounds like it shouldn’t work, but it does and it’s so good! www.kickstarter.com/projects/urb...

kickstarter.com

Chicken Fried Dice

Run your own food truck in a fast-paced, dice chucking and plucking roll-n-write for 1-5 chefs

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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 05/03/2026

This week’s calendar is out! Curated by the great @pochoboymeetsworld.bsky.social, it features nefarious tales about Vallejo history, jazzy renditions of A Tribe Called Quest, and queer line dancing for beginners. www.coyotemedia.org/coyote-calen...

coyotemedia.org

COYOTE Calendar: March 5-11

This week we've got nefarious tales about Vallejo's history, jazzy renditions of A Tribe Called Quest, and queer line dancing for beginners.

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🥧 suzanne 🥧 @425suzanne.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Reposting with ALT because this kind of phenomenal disdain and disrespect from within the industry literally against two of their own titles and the designer who made them is important to recognize.

Ryan Dancey - Chief Operating Officer of Alderac Entertainment responding to:

Baffles me why people think AI should be included in any serious business when it's like the office four year old.

Ryan writes

Because three years ago, it was essentially nothing but a curiosity. Now it’s useful, but in limited cases. In a year or two it will be as useful as any new hire. A year or two after that, it will be used useful as an experienced employee. And any field. For a few dollars day in cost.

15 years ago the best humans could be any computer playing chess. 10 years ago a human checking the work of the best chest plan computer could be the best human. Today the best humans cannot beat a chess playing computer. This is what is happening with AI except the timeframe is months not years.

I have zero reason to believe that AI couldn’t come up with tiny towns or flip seven or cubitos. I can prompt any of several AI‘s right now and get ideas for games as good as those. The gaming industry doesn’t exist because humans create otherwise unobtainable ideas it exists because many many previous games exist feed into the minds of designers who produce new variance of those themes. People then apply risk. Against those ideas to see if there’s a product market fit. Sometimes there is, and sometimes there’s not. In fact, much more often than not. Extremely occasionally quotes twice in my lifetime (D&D and magic the gathering) a human has produced an all new form of gaming entertainment. Those moments are so rare and incandescent that they echo across decades.

Game publishing isn’t an industry of unique special ideas. It’s an industry about execution, marketing, and attention to detail. All things AIs are great at.

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Johnny Chin @gamemarketwest.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

One week until the Game Market West designer application deadline! It's a tabletop game market for indie designers to showcase and sell their games. Chat with special guest @mattleacock.bsky.social about your designs. Application: forms.gle/GzEWu6vbqpi8... RSVP: luma.com/en2wexcp #boardgames

forms.gle

Game Market West: Spring 2026 Designer Application

Date: March 22, 2026 from 10 AM to 3 PM Location: Guildhouse (San Jose, CA) Submission Deadline: Feb 23, 2026 Designers realizing their games and bringing them to life/print for the first time will b...

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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 11/02/2026

Aided by genAI models like ChatGPT, “writers” hoping to get paid for fake stories have become an even bigger problem for publications big and small. One such writer almost pulled one over on COYOTE — until @soleilho.com, who is a nerd, spotted a key idiosyncrasy.

coyotemedia.org

How COYOTE Almost Got Slopped by AI

The sordid tale of the freelancer who never was.

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Andy Baio @andy.baio.net · 12/12/2025

Please enjoy my top 10 free browser games of 2025: 1. Type Help william-rous.itch.io/type-help 2. Dragonsweeper danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper/ 3. Clues by Sam cluesbysam.com 4. Stimulation Clicker neal.fun/stimulation-... 5. The Collector split82.itch.io/the-collector

william-rous.itch.io

Type Help by William Rous

The Unsolvable Mystery

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Jestin @jestinbrooks.bsky.social · 08/12/2025

Do the boxes include white crayons?

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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 05/12/2025

Just added 10 more markets to this list so it's now 60+. Please shop locally! It genuinely makes a difference to artists. Also you'll find amazing stuff you can't get anywhere else. www.coyotemedia.org/the-coyote-g...

A map of the Bay Area with colorful dots on it. On the top is a green starbust that says "50+ entries" and below it says "COYOTE Guide to Bay Area Holiday Markets." In the background are lots of words of things you can find at these markets like baskets, vintage clothes, jewelry, photographs, paintings, tattoos, fiber art, ceramics and more.

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Reo Eveleth @reveleth.com · 03/12/2025

I compiled 40+ holiday art markets in the Bay Area just for you. And I'm getting a bunch of new submissions so I'm adding more! Go find cool shit from local artists!

coyotemedia.org

The COYOTE Guide to Bay Area Holiday Art Markets

Fuck Amazon, shop local. Here’s where.

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JC @jcw.gay · 19/11/2025

Finally sharing my sizzle reel! If you're in need of video production work (or pretty much anything creative), hit me up, esp. at #PAXU! I don't ask for this much, but if you're in the #boardgames industry and like what I do, consider sharing this! I'm looking to book up 2026! linktr.ee/jcw.gay

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Lunarpunk Games @lunarpunk.games · 25/11/2025

Conviction by @xoe.gay is now available. A stable stalwart and an intrepid idealist vowed to live in harmony forever. But now, the two find themselves in a grim quarrel. You must decide if they cooperate, separate, or one dominates the story of their lives. The night is for mediation. 🌙

lunarpunk.games

Conviction | Lunarpunk Games

the night is for mediation . . . Conviction is a two player tabletop game about resolving a grim quarrel with your partner.

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BoardGameWire 🔜 Spiel Essen @boardgamewire.bsky.social · 18/11/2025

Really wonderful to see such a high-profile and thoughtful reviewer as Dan continue to cover not just big board game hotness, but small indie and even unpublished games too - there’s huge treasure to be found out there, great to see someone in major board game media take the time to check them out

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Jestin @jestinbrooks.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Yeah, I'll be testing in the unpub area from 12:30-2:30 on Sunday

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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

Today I'm covering three more upcoming Indie Games Night Market titles! Fold & Fly!, Coupon Clipper, and Paper Pencil Stencil are all tactile treats. My reviews: spacebiff.com/2025/11/17/t...

spacebiff.com

Paper Planes, Coupons, Stencils

We’re only a few days away from the Indie Games Night Market at Pax Unplugged. Funny how time gets away from us. Don’t worry, that’s less a plaintive cry about my fading youth tha…

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Jestin @jestinbrooks.bsky.social · 17/11/2025

I'll be playtesting some additional content for Paper Pencil Stencil at PAXU on Sunday if you want to play it.

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david malki ! @davidmalki.com · 08/11/2025

my extremely dumb vanity metric here is: can this project get up to 436 followers on its Kickstarter prelaunch page??

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Lunarpunk Games @lunarpunk.games · 08/11/2025

The Midnight Market is live. The night is for indie games. 🌖 lunarpunk.games/midnightmarket

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🥧 suzanne 🥧 @425suzanne.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Please check out this great campaign. I'm in on Club Spooky 100% - a delightful set collection game with a light auction element that I got to play the prototype of recently.

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Dan Thurot @danthurot.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Only two days left to back Club Spooky and That's the Spirit!, two indie games by @connor.alwaysawake.games.

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COYOTE @coyotemedia.org · 22/10/2025

While this federal administration has been busy empowering ICE to become, essentially, an extrajudicial militia allowed to disappear people from our streets, the Bay has been organizing. We will not be beaten down.