iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Reviving catacombes after a break, and I'm buying a bunch of off brand lego to go to the 3rd dimension

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Off to Vegas for my annual check on whether I perform like a normal human or if I get lucky yet again.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

I develop a handful of games for a few different pubs and I'm always so interested in how differently advanced games are in their process when they get into my hands. I often try to explain development work to friends as tinkering with values and identifying exploitable patterns...

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Finished pulling together my prototype to pass to a publisher and the teaching video to go along with it. Pretty thrilled I've gotten here, I hope i can go just a little further!

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Had a great "aha!" moment in my playtesting yesterday. I was sharing my game with other designers and rather than soliciting open ended feedback, I shared what I was trying to accomplish and what was getting in the way of that.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Congrats to the Cardboard Edison winners. Obviously I'm a bit bummed that Catacombes didn't make the splash I had hoped for but I got some great extra feedback that will help me guide the future of the design. It might be a game that's simply too niche for publishers tho, so I'll have to debate fate

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

7 days into vacation and the compulsion to board game has grown immense

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

A bad rambling video about designing Catacombes de Paris, if you have 40 mins to burn youtu.be/2s6pyABLcKU?...

youtu.be

Blathering about my Cardboard Edison Finalist

YouTube video by Phoenicks

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

Amazingly, Catacombes de Paris was selected as a finalist for Cardboard Edison's design contest. I'm so thrilled! cardboardedison.com/award

cardboardedison.com

Cardboard Edison Award — Cardboard Edison

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 24/09/2025

Won the ring in lost ruins of arnak at #wsbg, proceeded to lose in the grand semifinal for a 3rd time. Mostly exciting news but very mixed journey for me

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 05/09/2025

I stopped applying to jobs a month ago. I'm still receiving rejections 3 times a week.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

Excited to share that I started a new job as a business game designer, which means I'll be focusing on serious games in my professional career, and I guess silly games in my hobby time

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Hired again!!! Thrilled to announce I'll be starting a career as a Business Game Designer soon

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 09/07/2025

I got my first publisher bite on Catacombs, which has just made my whole day

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 20/06/2025

Pretty much finished with my gag game, Whale Baron, and I'll make a video about it someday

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Reposted by Nick Henning

Connie @connievdc.bsky.social · 16/06/2025

Do folks have a good recommendation for simple software to create player boards / player mats? I use nandeck for everything with a repeating template, but (still!) don't have anything I love for larger "one-off" components. Would love your recs! 🎲✂️

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 04/06/2025

My latest live playthru on Lost Ruins of Arnak generated a ton of commentary even though I lost the game. I think the main reason is that it felt like one of those games where you couldn't just execute "the game plan" and the pivoting challenge was very real.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Today's playtest was fun for the players and had great critical feedback, the holy grail of test sessions

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 28/05/2025

Had a blast at the first Rookscon on MT. Now back to regularly scheduled life for a bit.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Double playtest weekend and spent all my Sunday funday putting catacombs on TTS. Exhausting but fun

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

Yeesh, that last rejection hurt. Really thought I was going to get moved forward. It's a mess put here rn.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 15/04/2025

This is mostly meant to be a games account but....if you're American, what's happening with deportations rn is sickening and I hope you educate yourself about it. Ideally, call your reps, flood the phone lines.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 14/04/2025

Played Catacombes de Paris 3 times this past week and folks continue to really dig it. I'm still grappling with the refill and ending but the core system is just so snappy and satisfying

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Got Catacombs de Paris in front of my partner last night and she seemed to dig it! I'm so pumped about this game.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

Recorded my first frosthaven video in over a year. Will go up tomorrow!

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

I chat about table talking in this latest video series: youtu.be/zVWbqvW1G5A?...

youtu.be

Table Talk Series: Premise & Ethics

YouTube video by Phoenicks

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 08/04/2025

Invited to a design test with a boardgame publisher. Fingers crossed for this one!

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 05/04/2025

Played the gaia project expansion tonight. Fun! Still very much the core game but includes some very relevant side boards that inflate the game economy without exploding it. Sadly no one played an expansion faction - oh well guess we'll have to try it again

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 02/04/2025

Finished Split Fiction. I enjoyed the whimsy and novelty of It Takes Two more, but I just love that there's a studio making co op platformers these days. More 2p games to play with my brother plz

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 30/03/2025

#unpub skeetstorm incoming about all the games I've played over the last 3 days and lessons or takeaways from each!

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Didn't get pictures on d2 but got in 4 (!) Games of catacombs of Paris with great feedback and some amazing enthusiasm. This game has some legs and I'm feeling really good about it

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

A little d1 of unpub. Starting d2 a little late today since I'll be there late tonight

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

#Unpub panels are killing it so far. Honest, concise salon style conversations with useful insights for absolutely newbies and vets

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 27/03/2025

Off to Unpub today! Bringing my paris of catacombs delivery game and a deckbuilder I'm helping develop

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 10/03/2025

Been jamming the Bazaar. It's definitely fun and the sleekest item based auto battler I've played, but it's certainly innovating rather than inventing.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 09/03/2025

Azul duel is super funky. I like the game but almost feel like being associated with Azul holds it back? It's far more complex and inelegant, but also neat in what it asks of you in sequencing.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

Perhaps my most serious and important video to date youtu.be/i8YqSztrRnQ?...

youtu.be

DEFINITIVE 2025 WSBG Tier List

YouTube video by Phoenicks

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Published a d&d one shot (free or pay what what you want) today! Shenanigans for a 3rd level party 🥳 www.dmsguild.com/m/product/51...

dmsguild.com

Dungeon Masters Guild

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Continued to run hot at prezcon with 6 (!) Tourney wins in scythe, gwt nz, age of innovation, arnak, brass b, and root. Also final tables in everdell and egizia. Pretty good week for confidence boosting just in time to get back on the job hunt

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Won the scythe tourney this morning with hyper mobile Crimea, winning a few slap fight style combats (and accidentally giving away a star along the way)

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 18/02/2025

Clean sweep at the WSBG precon at prezcon to earn 4 byes for the world series of boardgaming. Now if I can run this hot in my personal life I'll be golden for the whole year.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 07/02/2025

Been toying around with AI in my spare time and I find it interesting that I can rarely dupe it with complex topics but stacking multiple simple steps can lead to confusion. In a lot of ways i feel like I can only "beat" the model by talking circles around it.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 06/02/2025

I feel like I've been working harder at applying for jobs than having a job. It's not literally true but the perception of doing many little things versus singular tasks is definitely it's own kind of taxing

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 22/01/2025

Sadly, I was laid off by MachineZone today. That means I'm on the job hunt in a competitive market - so we'll see what happens. In the meanwhile I might try to expand what I'm doing with my channel or dedicate my energy back into boardgame design.

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 11/12/2024

You can catch me on the winter DT spectacular today! Here's yesterday's first game: www.youtube.com/live/Qbf_cVj...

youtube.com

YouTube

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 03/12/2024

I'm headed to PAX unplugged for just one day (friday) for the first time. Any recs on things to be sure to see?

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Nick Henning @phoenicks.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

Reviews are not my focus at all, but I had the chance to share about a solo deckbuilder game by Fryxgames. If that appeals, check it out: youtu.be/RlM-xRHDCak?...

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