iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

I've played a fair bit of Excalibur lately, it's fun. Reminds me of a lost Faidutti design.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

A better variation on this was the Tumblr that added Smiths lyrics to Peanuts comics.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

This is pretty similar to how the software industry did things in the 80s. The main thing that distinguished EA and Sierra was that they created distribution networks that smaller developers used.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The Browns are 2-1, and it makes me very happy. I do not like Deshaun Watson and I know they will almost certainly lose more than they win by the end of the year. But two wins in a row is something I have experienced so rarely. I treasure it.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

This is the single best D&D advice I've ever seen.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I like Highway 61 Revisited more than Bringing It All Back Home, but it's kind of a judgment call. I tend to find older protest-song Dylan less consistent on the album front, so before BIABH I'm more interested in individual songs. The stretch from BIABH to maybe Nashville Skyline is impeccable.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I will not stand for this Blood on the Tracks slander. I like Modern Times a lot too, for late period Dylan. But that's more a personal attachment, that's the first Dylan album I really got into as an album. Lots of others I like too, Oh Mercy, Tempest, Slow Train Coming.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Having recorded this a long time ago, my comment about the weird longevity of the original Bohnanza artwork aged badly by just a couple weeks. With the new Pandasaurus version we are getting new artwork! This is a good episode. I'm so thankful for both @giantbrain.co.uk and @mattthr.bsky.social.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

When Popeyes opened in the Philippines, they sold biscuits, but sold them with icing on them like they were a donut or something. Must have thought that was the way for biscuits to make sense to Filipinos. They didn't have red beans and rice though. Which was disappointing.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

My favorite Dylan albums are this one or Blood on the Tracks. I like the sound of this one especially, like the actual production. Not usually something I think about with Bob Dylan, but it stands out to me on this one.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I played Power Grid with a very old friend yesterday, and even won! I also played Can't Stop with my wife, because we are a couple of refined tastes.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Steelers-Patriots giving us some proper Yakkety-Sax moments.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I only got into War on Drugs through IDLHA, so I've been patiently waiting for new stuff for a while now. I loved "Who's That" (that solo tho) and I'm so pumped to see what comes next.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I'm always of two minds on their covers. On one hand, they often didn't admit they were covers, which is shady. But on the other hand they truly do make them their own. Page gets a lot of credit for his riffs, but I think he deserves more for his production. Such a rich heavy sound.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I love all of Zeppelin's albums, and while I think IV is their best (the boring but obvious answer IMO), I is very far up there. I like it better than either II or III, and I listen to it more than Physical Graffiti.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Probably pretty pleased, but I'm not sure I have the heart to explain the process by which he would get to this point.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This is literally the first time I ever noticed that the Hartford Whalers logo has a hidden H, and it tot brightens my day.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

A lot of the biggest AI boosters are very quick to confer humanity on whatever agent they use, while deny the humanity of certain actual humans, be they immigrants, trans people, etc. The Venn diagram there isn't a circle, but there's definitely some overlap.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The art in Bohnanza is medium bad, but almost 30 years on it's basically an institution. It's weird to think this wildly successful game needs a retheme and facelift this far in.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Why not both? I get how hard it is to rise above the noise in board gaming; I'm sure it's tough on publishers. But also, don't hassle anyone who owns the game maybe? Seems like common sense to me.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

It told me that my dialect was from Washington, a state that I've never been too. Either this test is crap or my upbringing in multiple countries and states has turned my English into an indistinct mush.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

I had a full wall of Kalax shelves when we were in Kenya, but when we came back to the US we needed shelving elsewhere, so one of those units became a bookshelf. So I have a lot of stuff stacked up, even before the new games I've bought in the last two years. It looks absurd.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

As I get older, the primary question for every new game is less “will I play this?” and more “where am I going to put this?”

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 01/09/2026

I played Lords of Vegas just this weekend, and it made me wonder why I don't push to get it played more often. The openness of the design is really starting to become obvious to me.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

One of the huge gaps in the hobby gaming scene is a lack of willingness to treat mainstream games like games that millions of people actually want to play, rather than slop that the unenlightened masses play for lack of something better. I'm really proud of how we've done that on CotO.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Normally I would say that I couldn't talk a whole hour about Jenga, but with @mattthr.bsky.social and @giantbrain.co.uk we pulled it off!

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Cult of the Old - Jenga

Cult of the Old · Episode

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

This is no joke one of the most gorgeous war-games ever made. In physical production, yes, but also in its design and execution. Just a remarkable piece of work, one of the best to ever do it.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

I had a ball with P5R. For the 130 hours I spent on it, it was still perfectly paced. It is always introducing new characters and plot points that keep it fresh, and it balances those life-sim and dungeon-crawling elements flawlessly. A couple janky bosses notwithstanding, a 10/10 for me.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

I don’t know if it’s hated so much as forgotten, but I genuinely love Peter Jackson’s King Kong. It was a truly thrilling movie, just achingly earnest and big in an absurd way. PJ clearly loves the original, and it has the feeling of being a life’s work.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

A couple years ago we had to say goodbye to our cat, and it was the first time in my life I'd had to make that decision about a pet. It's very painful, and I'm so sorry for your loss.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Noah was a terrific movie. I felt that way when it came out, and even more so when I revisited it a couple years ago. It's so inventive. Treating those first few chapters in Genesis like mythology, rather than boring ol' history, makes the whole thing come alive in a bigger way.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

I had really high hopes for this one because thinky roguelites are something I enjoy. But I kind of bounced off of this one. I think it's a function of how many moves ahead you need to plan to be effective. Just doesn't jive with my brain at all.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

This week Cult of the Old released our episode on Lords of Vegas (spoiler: it's great). So I felt inspired to check out our very first episode on Agricola. In spite of some rough spots, we had the format down pretty well from the start! Thanks no doubt to @giantbrain.co.uk and @mattthr.bsky.social.

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Cult of the Old - Agricola

Cult of the Old · Episode

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Just Billy Wilder in general.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

A great film from each year of the 60s: 60 The Apartment 61 One Hundred And One Dalmations 62 Lawrence of Arabia 63 The Nutty Professor 64 A Hard Day's Night 65 The Sound of Music 66 Ebirah: Horror of the Deep 67 The Graduate 68 Oliver! 69 True Grit

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Reposted by Nate O.

Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 10/08/2026

@mattthr.bsky.social and @sanildefanso.bsky.social have both covered their favourite game on Cult of the Old and this season it is my turn. open.spotify.com/episode/7jqi...

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Cult of the Old - Lords of Vegas

Cult of the Old · Episode

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

This terrific video talks about old games, so it's totally speaking my language. Lots of common classics mentioned here, but some more obscure ones as well. It's a great watch.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

You included Cosmic Encounter, so this gets my certification as a Valid List. What a great video. I love when people talk about old games!

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

I wrote lots of content for a few years in the early 2010s. But I am the most proud of the work we've done over at Cult of the Old. I love working with @giantbrain.co.uk and @mattthr.bsky.social to do our bit to be historians for a hobby with a short memory. This episode is about my favorite game!

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Cult of the Old - Cosmic Encounter

Cult of the Old · Episode

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

That frog is brilliant. Happy birthday!

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Teenage angst has paid off well, now I'm bored and old.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

A lot of hobbyists don't want to admit the profound influence mainstream games have had on everything that came after. I'm really proud of how we have treated these games as genuine works to be criticized and analyzed, not just as shibboleths to be derided.

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Reposted by Nate O.

Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 20/07/2026

It's always a pleasure to get back in the podcast saddle with @sanildefanso.bsky.social and @mattthr.bsky.social. In episode 2 of our new season we look at a game where every card makes you do a double take: Innovation.

open.spotify.com

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

I am so thankful that @giantbrain.co.uk and @mattthr.bsky.social were there to help make the podcast I always wanted to listen to. Truly better together.

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Iain McAllister @giantbrain.co.uk · 20/07/2026

Cult of the Old came about from me interjecting in a conversation between @sanildefanso.bsky.social and @mattthr.bsky.social. 4 season later and we are still looking at older titles in a modern context. Here is where it all started.

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Cult of the Old - Agricola

Cult of the Old · Episode

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Stuff like this makes me think that Jeff Goldblum is just one Fatboy Slim video away from becoming Christopher Walken.

youtube.com

JEFF GOLDBLUM eating “Pocky” for the first time! #shorts

YouTube video by FLIP YOUR WIG

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

I'm really excited about the new edition of Tigris & Euphrates that started on Kickstarter today from @25thcentury.games, because it's a favorite of mine. Want to hear some more of my thoughts about this classic? You can on this podcast with @giantbrain.co.uk and @mattthr.bsky.social.

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Cult of the Old - Tigris & Euphrates

Cult of the Old · Episode

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Wow, the new edition looks a lot nicer than my version from 1964.

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Nate O. @sanildefanso.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Man, I really enjoy this one. I think with the right roll-with-it mindset it's a really fun take on a shedding game. Maybe my fav John D. Clair game actually.

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