iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 02/10/2026

I played this at PAXU last year and really enjoyed it! I need to buy a copy 1. because my group would enjoy it, and 2. so I can add to my grim reaper meeple (greeple) collection...

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 20/09/2026

Me: - owns ~250 board games - works in an office with a huge game library - constantly testing new prototypes and pitches - tries out new games with coworkers weekly as market research - in two game groups with some of the smartest designers in the industry - knows nobody who plays mahjong Also me:

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 15/09/2026

What you think Kickstarter launch day looks like vs What Kickstarter launch day really looks like

People staring anxiously at their phones

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 15/09/2026

Kart, the new downhill racing game from Leder Games, is now on Kickstarter! You're a rowdy tween bombing a homemade gokart through your neighbors' backyards. No brakes, no gas…every turn you go faster and faster, losing control (and spare pieces of your Kart) in the process. BACK IT: bit.ly/KartOnKS

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 04/09/2026

If you’re at PAX West, come to booth #4312 to demo Kart, our new chaotic downhill racing game! www.kickstarter.com/projects/led...

Kart, the newest game from Leder, on a table at PAX West.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 04/09/2026

Wow! Look who dropped by the Leder Games booth at PAX West…none other than beloved tabletop influencer @eizebasa.baby !! #starstruck

I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand

And I hope you die
I hope we both die

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 01/09/2026

Just looked up the original tweet and wow, you are truly pathetic.

The original screenshot said the tweet had 5.1K retweets and 40K likes, but in fact it only had 5 retweets and 40 likes.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 24/08/2026

I like to post fun little messages in the office Slack to cheer everyone up, and it's really worked: ever since I got here, the staff has gotten a lot closer to one another by bonding over how much they hate my fun little Slack messages.

This Is Just To Say

I have moved
the toner boxes
that were in
my office

and which
you were probably
saving
for recycling

Forgive me
they were in my way
so unwieldy
and so many

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 17/08/2026

The basement here has an oddly shaped cinderblock space up some stairs and off to the side. We lovingly refer to it as the Murder Room. I have list on my desk of potential videos/social media posts. For the last four months it’s only had one item on it:

Videos / Social Media
Potential ideas
- Something w/ the murder room?

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 11/08/2026

In April I moved from North Carolina to Saint Paul using just my Crosstrek. But that's not what this picture is. My car was only half this full then. No, this is my Crosstrek leaving Gen Con. That suitcase on the left is mine; everything else is games bought at the show by Leder Games employees.

A Crosstrek full to the top with boxes full of board games.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 07/08/2026

Our investigation uncovered that the Root Clockwork bots infiltrated our new downhill racer Kart. Luckily, they were immediately flattened by unruly tweens in ramshackle homemade vehicles. For future updates on this situation, please follow the Kart pre-launch page on Kickstarter: bit.ly/4vuuJqI

Root meeples absolutely wrecked by the Kart crew.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 31/07/2026

Just had breakfast with @gengelstein.bsky.social and he signed my copy of GameTek! (Why did he draw a raccoon though? Is this related to all those weird mask dreams I’ve been having the last seven years!?)

GameTek signed by Geoff Engelstein: “Johnny! [excellent raccoon drawing] Enjoy!”

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 29/07/2026

Meanwhile this is what I got. How did it taste? Great! How do I feel? Bad!

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 24/07/2026

Initial tests of the new Leder Games KartCam have been very promising. Though, as we say on social media, "watch to the end"...

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 23/07/2026

HE SAID YES!

$Five members of the Leder Games team playing Kart outside at a picnic table, clockwise from right: game developer Tyler, Kart designer Alita, creative director Liz, operations director Jesse, and inspecting the gameplay for any rules infractions: Scipio, VP of Head Scritches Kart is a chaotic downhill racing game for 2-4 players. The campaign preview page is live now, sign up to be alerted when the Kickstarter goes live in September! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ledergames/kart$

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 15/07/2026

COWORKER: So what did you do before you started working at Leder Games? ME:

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 14/07/2026

Everyone's always like "Now that you're 'Bluesky official' are you ever tempted to troll the fanbase with hints about fake projects?" C'mon, I don't have time for shenanigans like that! I have to put the finishing touches on our officially licensed Final Fantasy/Root crossover game.

Final Fantasy Rootbirth, coming soon I swear.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 08/07/2026

Now's my chance at last!

Two panels from Oglaf's labyrinth comic:

:| :D

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 07/07/2026

plz stop sending this to me

dril, 9/15/23:

pourring one out for all the middle aged men who tried to enter their Slut Era after getting riled up by likes and rewteets

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 05/07/2026

One week later, another geocache about a dozen feet over my head. How tall are these Midwestern geocachers!?

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 02/07/2026

Very excited to bust this line out at a future Leder Games staff meeting.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 28/06/2026

Geocache in Wisconsin about 14 in the air, on a tree without nearby branches to climb, all of it right on the edge of a pretty steep dropoff.

Zooming in a bit more to the top of the tree

Zooming in even more. What’s that towards the top?

Geocache hanging on a hook about 14 feet off the ground. No convenient branches to climb, either. Maybe some geocachers carry poles!? Idk

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 24/06/2026

"Johnny, that's not a restaurant, that's a world-famous hospital." lol, sure buddy, tell that to my lunch:

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 23/06/2026

I'm so excited for lunch! Ever since moving to the Twin Cities I've been driving past this sandwich shop and today I'm finally gonna try it. I hope they have a chipotle-lime aioli, that would really hit the spot in a turkey wrap.

Mayo Clinic. The joke is that "Mayo" is also a kind of condiment.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 23/06/2026

Saint Paul, Minnesota 10 PM CDT One day after the solstice

The sky over a brewery. Though it’s not daylight, the very last bit of sunset is still visible. My phone has lightened the sky a bit, but not too much.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 22/06/2026

Awwww @proptartmn.bsky.social and I have a shared appreciation for the South’s finest culinary achievements, so she bought me Moon Pie and Cheerwine inspired candy bars!

Moon Pie and Cheerwine inspired candy bars from Mast Store Provisions, via the candy shop Grandpa Joe’s.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 21/06/2026

“RoboRally doesn’t have enough player interaction, it’s basically multiplayer solitaire.” - someone (me) so bad at the game he’s spent the first five turns spinning in circles two squares away from where he started.

RoboRally board showing my piece safely way from danger, about three feet away from all other players.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 16/06/2026

“If you ever need anything, please don’t hesitate to come see me in my office.” My office:

A white lawn chair on the banks of a creek.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 04/06/2026

Post a picture of yourself to show the newbies what they’re dealing with

A cardboard box with a human printed on it. The hand hole or whatever it's called is exactly where her eyes would be, and a real live raccoon is in the box looking back out.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 03/06/2026

One of the things that’s surprised me most about working with our (excellent!) customer service team is learning how many support tickets we get that are a variation on “I never got my game!! Where is it!? PS: I didn’t give you my shipping information, should I have done that…?”

The “no take, only throw” comic chafed to “no info, only ship.”

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 30/05/2026

Street Band has withdrawn from the Freedom 250 Celebration.

Illustration from the Root card Street Band

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 29/05/2026

A nice thing about working here at Nerd Central is that I can leave a Do Not Touch sign in Latin and my coworkers get it.

A paper sign on a laptop that’s doing a long-running file transfer and can’t be messed with. The sign reads “Noli me tangere,” the Latin version of a phrase spoken, according to John 20:17, by Jesus to Mary Magdalene when she recognized him after the resurrection: "Touch me not."

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 27/05/2026

On clearance at Barnes & Noble. Thinking about picking it up as our next team-building activity.

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 15/05/2026

THE MOST "BOARD GAMES" THING I'VE EVER DONE: I came to Saint Paul with only one game, knowing my Leder coworkers have anything I'd want to play. That game? Sidereal Confluence (first edition) Today I went to @0sjw0.bsky.social's board game yard sale and bought one game. What was it? Well...

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Johnny Dale @johnnydale.com · 12/05/2026

Meeting the talented young team at @leder.games on my first day:

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