J. Rey Lee

@jreylee

Boardgamer, writer, teacher, girl dad, recovering academic. Unsettling Catan: lookingglance.com/unsettling-catan/ The Looking Glance: lookingglance.com

92 Following947 Followers231 Posts

Bluesky

Is this your profile?Claim it and jreylee.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· 19d

Kept the steak alive! From "your rarest word is nonstandard" to "your rarest word blabbered," I always get a kick out of nonsense turning into sense. Also my first perfect game! 🎯

Another game summary from Smush showing my rarest word "blabbered" with less than 1% of players playing it.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· 21d

I think the analytics are trying to tell me something 🤔 (Something tautological, but still ...) #smush

Analytics screenshot from the word game Smush that states that "your rarest word" is "nonstandard" and that it was played by 1% of players.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· 26d

There’s no way to exactly quantify how much a writer waffles over a thorny topic, but it's indicative of how much I wrestled with “A Gamer’s History of the US” that so much got left on the cutting room floor. This isn't an unusual ratio for academic writing, but it’s a lot for an opinion piece.

Two snippets of the word count tallies displayed by MS Word. The published version weighs in at 13 pages or 4,982 words and the cuts weigh in at 74 pages or 21,704 words.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· 29d

Not a fan of silly start player rules in general, but this one may be my favorite. It changes game to game, is genuinely thematic (much more so than having visited a particular place), and is a cute way of making a legitimate public health announcement. #boardgames #forbiddenisland

Rulebook excerpt from Forbidden Island that opens the Order of Play section with the rule "the thirstiest player goes first."

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Jun 3

I see we've reached the point where #boardgame rulebooks are now openly making fun of cutesy start player rules. I can get on board with this. (the game is Recall, btw)

A snippet from the setup rules for Recall that states "Use a quantum randomizer to pick a random player. If your future self has still not found a way to deliver such a device to you, determine the starting player in any other way you find appropriate. The starting player places the time board to their right. Place the hourglass on the first space."

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· May 10

Just scored 42 points with 42 glide cards in my deck! #boardgames #firstinflight

First in Flight game board with a player marker on the 42 point space and 42 glide cards fanned out. Box in background.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Apr 25

Went to my second miniature painting event and I already see the appeal. *ominous music*

Close up of painted bard mini with dark skin and silver hair holding large panpipes with flowers and wearing a flowing green cape.

Magnificently painted bard mini with LEGO brick for scale. Mini slightly shorter than 2x4 brick.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Jan 7

In 2025, I reflected on how the boardgame Maracaibo cloaks colonialism in peaceful feelings by making it feel like bloodless economic advancement. If this doesn't seem relevant in 2026, I'll just leave this here. 👀 #boardgames

A map of Venezuela showing its second largest city Maracaibo sitting on the narrow strait separating Lake Maracaibo from the Gulf of Venezuela

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Jan 2

I'm going to be doing a book talk for Unsettling Catan with @ruelgaviola.com next Saturday at OrcaCon! If you're attending, drop by for a fun chat! tabletop.events/conventions/... @orcacon.bsky.social

The words "ask me anything" superimposed over an image of the book Unsettling Catan sitting on a Catan board.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Dec 22

While I don’t condone bullying, research suggests the “other reindeer” have a reasonable case for not wanting to expand their "reindeer games." Data pulled from the boardgamegeek.com database using bgbester.netlify.app #boardgames #xmas

Table comparing the number of 8 and 9 player games in the BGG database. In the top 200 games, there are 6 8-player games and 2 9-player games. In the top 500, it's 26 to 13. In the top 1000, it's 61 to 31. Across the entire database, it's 3246 to 1679.

Table comparing the number of games rated as "best at" 8 and 9 players by the BGG user community. In the top 200 games, there are 1 of each. In the top 500, it's 9 8-player games to 2 9-player games. In the top 1000, it's 18 to 2. Across the entire database, it's 731 to 207.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Oct 21

I immediately disabled the AI setting (which they defaulted to active without my permission), so the review should be deleted now. But it had just enough detail to make me think they have more than the blurb to work with. We're trying to figure this out now.

Screenshot showing the slider for "AI-enhanced Outputs" disabled in the user settings page for academia.edu.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Oct 21

Disappointed but not surprised academia.edu wants to peddle AI slop reviews of my book. Disappointed and very surprised they generated an AI review of a book that’s not out anywhere. The publishers and I have no idea what they based it on. #AcademicSky #AI #writingcommunity (1/5)

Screenshot of email notification from Academia.edu that reads "An AI wrote a review of your paper."

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Oct 9

Took a minute, but I finally cracked triple digits! #boardgames #railroadink @horribleguild.bsky.social

A screenshot of the Railroad Ink Challenge app showing a score of 103.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Sep 19

Just finished recording the audiobook for Unsettling Catan 🎤 There was definitely a learning curve but I had fun with it! If editing goes smoothly, this should be released alongside the print and ebook editions in November. #boardgames

A microphone in front of a computer screen displaying the manuscript for Unsettling Catan.

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Sep 13

Just got my advance copy! Unsettling Catan releases Nov. 4 lookingglance.com/unsettling-catan/ #boardgames @uofmpress.bsky.social

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Jul 5

When I talk about #boardgames not being immersive, that's relative to media designed for total absorption. This comic just wouldn't work for boardgames. *Panels from a chapter in "The I Wonder Bookstore" by Shinsuke Yoshitake, maybe my fav children's book author (though this one's for grown-ups).

An agent waving to a helicopter carrying a person reading in a bubble. The text reads "You can enjoy reading while taking in amazing scenery."

The agent from the previous image saying "Welcome back! How was it?" The bubble is being opened and the customer inside says, "Err. I got lost in the book and I didn't look outside at all!"

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Jun 6

This is actually a solid adaptation because it understands that #boardgames aren't just about strategic choices or simulating systems. Like the game, the characters just go from color to color marveling at how cool a candy world would be. Nothing wrong with that! (2/3)

Cover of Candyland, a Little Golden Book

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Jun 6

Thoughts on the Candyland Little Golden Book: 1. It makes the rainbow shortcut a choice instead of pure luck. 2. The characters willfully choose the longer path because it seems more fun. 3. It's fine to choose a suboptimal path for thematic reasons. Kids know what's up. #boardgames 🧵(1/3)

A page from the Candyland book showing two characters at a crossroads with the text "We had a decision to make right away. To the left was a rainbow-colored trail. To the right, a sign pointed toward the Gingerbread Plum Trees."

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Apr 11

Feeling unsettled by current events? Want to be unsettled by #boardgames too? Unsettling Catan, the first entry in a new series on Tabletop Games edited by @pbooth81.bsky.social and @aarontram.bsky.social, is releasing Nov. 2025. Link: press.umich.edu/Books/U/Unsettling-Catan 🧵(1/3)

J. Rey Lee@jreylee· Jan 20

I'm not much of a revolutionary, but I'm really sitting with this today. #martinlutherkingday2025