J. Rey Lee

As much as I love writing on #boardgames, I don't want my love of the written word to prevent me from exploring other media. So, I've started re-releasing my essays as new and (debatably) improved *video* essays.🎬 See where it all started . . . now with moving pictures!

If you at all appreciate these personal and philosophical reflections on boardgames, it would mean a lot to me if you would comment, share, and subscribe. I pivoted from academic writing because I wanted to directly engage with the gaming community, so you all are the ones who keep me going.

As much as I love writing on #boardgames, I don't want my love of the written word to prevent me from exploring other media. So, I've started re-releasing my essays as new and (debatably) improved *video* essays.🎬 See where it all started . . . now with moving pictures!

It makes me irrationally happy when an expansion box fits inside a #boardgame box. It's like a free, thematic organizer!

You likely already know @amabel.bsky.social for her innovative game designs and sharp video essays, but do you know about her book? Either way, you're in luck because Amabel came by to drop wisdom on Cardboard Ghosts, how #boardgames model and critique systems, and more!

This Labor Day, remember that meeples are people too! ✊ ...okay, not really. But neither are corporations.

So, I've written on how eurogames promote managerial detachment in the "Collecting Resources" chapter of Unsettling Catan.

This Labor Day, remember that meeples are people too! ✊ ...okay, not really. But neither are corporations.

Been playing this quiz game someone posted on BGG and I find it fascinating how after an abysmal first few rounds I started getting much better at it. There's a skill of being able to predict how a community will rate something that says a lot about how we create social consensus. #boardgames

I had no idea this was happening, but it's very cool to see this collaboration!

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

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.

We talk a lot about #boardgames with “pasted-on” themes, but what do folks think about so-called “theme parks?” 🧵

I get that it's easy to just put a fresh coat of paint on standard rides, but LEGO offers such a distinctive play experience that I was hoping to feel more of that reflected in the park design.

We talk a lot about #boardgames with “pasted-on” themes, but what do folks think about so-called “theme parks?” 🧵

It’s true that they do engage with LEGO by having neat displays of LEGO sculptures and areas where you can just build with loose bricks. But these moments of spectating and building didn't make the rest of the experience feel very LEGO-like to me.

We talk a lot about #boardgames with “pasted-on” themes, but what do folks think about so-called “theme parks?” 🧵

An important call to broaden “games” journalism to focus on “play” instead. “Games” draws lines and leads to inside-the-box thinking “Play” crosses lines and leads to outside-the-box thinking

For instance, I distinguish how videogames leverage the "gaze" from how boardgames leverage what I call the "glance." And my book on LEGO tried to articulate a media-specific theory of LEGO that showed that not all toys script children's play in the same ways.

An important call to broaden “games” journalism to focus on “play” instead. “Games” draws lines and leads to inside-the-box thinking “Play” crosses lines and leads to outside-the-box thinking