▪️ Efka and Elaine at No Pun Included have made a fantastically informative video called "Investigating Board Game Miniatures":
I appreciate Efka's perspective of recognizing that he wanted a particular miniature because of his experience with the depicted character in another media, then discovering that the miniature didn't deliver similar satisfaction.
That said, I feel like similar sensations drive board game purchases of all types, miniature-inclusive or otherwise, with us anticipating how we're going to play game X in this situation with these people...only for game X to sit on the shelf for far longer than expected and for it not to deliver on our expectations whenever it finally does reach the table.
▪️ On Boundless Play, Keri Blakinger writes about "Playing Dungeons and Dragons on Death Row". An excerpt:
For prisoners striving to hang on to their humanity, the options are limited. But what their dark version of reality cannot offer them, the fantasy world can. As wizards and elves, the men can rewrite their own stories and imagine other lives for themselves — lives in which they can save the world and be heroes.
▪️ Play the North is an initiative started by Canadian publishers and retailers to create "opportunities to discover, play, and engage with games developed close to home", including a dedicated event in Edmonton on September 25-27, 2026.
▪️ TrickyCon, a new trick-taking focused convention, will debut in Portland, Oregeon in September 2026.
▪️ Every gamer seems to love a giant-sized version of a game, so let's take a gander at IELLO's large-scale Athlètes de Compète, which is known in English as Magical Athlete.
Actress Florence Coste, perhaps best known from her time on the television series "Ici tout commence" ("Here It All Begins"), visited the IELLO office and got to roll giant dice in the most magicalest version of this Richard Garfield and Takashi Ishida design.
▪️ Submitted by a reader: In Inazawa, Japan, a fire chief received a one-month suspension "for misconduct that included coercing colleagues to participate in board games while on duty". The chief had created more than ten games of his own. An article on the suspension by Mayu Kikuchi notes that (via Google translate) "The firefighter chief has reportedly stated, 'It was intended as a form of communication. I deeply regret my actions.'"
▪️ Submitted by another reader: The March 24, 2026 newsletter from Arnold's Pump Club — as in Arnold Schwarzenegger — includes a "Why Your Brain Loves Game Night" item that features a stat you might have heard previously:
A 20-year study found that people who regularly played board games showed significantly slower cognitive decline and a 15% lower risk of developing depression compared to non-players.
Why might you already know this stat? Because that study was published in August 2013. It's interesting to see how studies like this get pulled into public awareness again and again as the years pass.
▪️ In late March 2026 on Medium, Kyle Puller, founder and director of advertising agency Pulling Power Media, published "The State of Tabletop Games Marketing", describing it as "a guide to marketing tabletop games, crowdfunding campaigns and common mistakes & pitfalls to be aware of".
The article is clearly self-serving — and Puller admits his bias a few times throughout the text — but it still might be of use to self-publishers who are considering crowdfunding, especially the "Not every game needs to be crowdfunded" section.
Side note based on my previous employer: Most of the advertising on BoardGameGeek is for crowdfunding campaigns not because crowdfunders necessarily spend more on their marketing than other publishers, but because there's direct feedback for ROAS, that is, return on ad spend. You know how much you spent on the advertising, and you can track how much financial backing that advertising brought to your campaign, so you have evidence that for every $X spent, you receive $Y in backing.
That's not the case when advertising a game already on the market. Unless you have a specific callout via a discount or promo item or something that can link the viewing of a particular ad with a particular sale, you can't gauge that ad's effectiveness, so you might not bother in the future.
