James Wallis
@jameswallis
Game designer (co-created SE!ZE with Charles Leclerc), publisher, teacher, critic, writer, player. FRSA. For my games, books, podcast, journalism, game design workshops, lectures, trade bodies &c., check my linktree
There are two kinds of game designer: there's the ones who have an idea for a game that needs 300 dice and go, "No that's ridicuolous," and then there's...
The comic strip Doonesbury has been in reruns for years, reprinting strips that are twenty years old, day by day. Here's today's.
The winner of the Spiel des Jahres 2026 is... Dito by Martin Ang, art by Untai Studio Surabaya, published by Game Factory.
The winner of the 2026 Kennerspiel des Jahres is Rebirth by Reiner Knizia, art by Anna Przybylska and Kate Redesiuk, published by Mighty Boards Absolutely deserved.
The winner of the 2026 Kinderspiel des Jahres is Mooki Island, by Florian Sirieix, with art by Seppyo, published by Scorpion Masque. Called it.
Can anyone identify this beauty, which I found on our bin-lid a few minutes ago?
Fascinated, not to say perplexed, to learn that Jarlsberg is the official cheese sponsor of The Devil Wears Prada The Musical.
Season 3 of Ludonarrative Dissidents is drawing to a slow close: our backers have just received ep.25, about DIALECT, a game abut 'language and how it dies'. Meanwhile ep.24 is now on general release, delving into SWORDS OF THE SERPENTINE, the RPG that answers the question 'What if Venice... (cont.)
Get yourself a games group that meets in a pub that serves food like this
Here we go, this is the hand-drawn card I got with my copy of CROWDS from Betonmond. If I'd commissioned it myself I couldn't be happier.
Babe wake up, new industrial band five-album discography just dropped
This is the Jesus College Cambridge first eight of 1947. The trophy at their feet is the Henley Grand Challenge Cup. It is one of the most prestigious prizes in all of rowing. If you look at the crew, you'll notice two have the same surname. They are John and Larry, brothers, and (cont.)
The drone attacks on Russian infrastructure in Moscow reminded me that we didn't commemorate the first use of a similar weapon 82 years ago: the Nazi V1 'Doodlebug', launched on 13 June 1944 and hitting a bridge in Mile End, London, killing eight civilians.
There's a whole sequence in Noel Streatfeild's 1949 book The Painted Garden, where four English kids on a long train journey across America basically invent an RPG.
Meanwhile our backers have early access to episode 24, Swords of the Serpentine, the swashbuckling-with-sorcery RGP set in a sinking city, all based on that well-known cinematic action system... Gumshoe?? Does it work, and if so how? We explore its dark corners. www.ludonarrativedissidents.com
The Ludonarrative Dissidents are at it again. Episode 23 is up, covering Chicago By Night, the 2018 version of the classic sourcebook for Vampire. Greg worked on an earlier edition and has Thoughts. Even if Vampire isn't your thing, this is a fun one. www.ludonarrativedissidents.com/season-3-epi...
To Oxted, for a talk on the history of motor-racing board games by Jon Male, with his fantastic collection on display