Elizabeth Hargrave
@elizhargrave
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17,329
Following
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Media
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Nature geek, feminist, board game designer (Wingspan, Tussie Mussie, Mariposas, The Fox Experiment, Undergrove). Mostly posting at @elizhargrave .bsky.social
Silver Spring, MD
Joined June 2016
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I would like to dedicate this video to every gatekeepery ubergamer who complained that Wingspan was too simple ❤️
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So, this happened...and even after everything Wingspan in the last couple years, it still means something to me. I remember daydreaming about my game being on TableTop when it first got signed, but then the show ended shortly after.
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I am feeling spicy about all the men I met this weekend who said "your game is my wife's favorite but she's home with the kids."
Maybe I should start writing notes when they ask me to autograph something for her. "Next year make Dave watch the kids."
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Feeling virtuous for deleting the reply I almost made to a Wingspan fan on BGG who didn't understand why "they" can't do Wingspan expansions faster. It is ME. I am the logjam. And no, I'm not going to go any faster.
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Just for the record, I have never (and will never) asked people not to back Tiny Epic Dungeons over their art.
And I absolutely will continue to raise issues like this. Because I think we all can do better. And I think more people will become gamers if we do.
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@todd_coleman
If that's the memory they carry with them for the rest of their lives about this pandemic, all will not be lost
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Hey Board Game Twitter, this would be an excellent time to follow (& amplify) black folks in this industry. I'll start a list. Please add to it. (Including adding yourself. No time to be shy.)
#Blacklivesmatter
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Y'all someone made an app that will scan a Wingspan card and play the bird's song.
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Stating that a slate of speakers is all white & male is not attacking white men
Pointing out that award nominees are all white & male is not attacking white men
It is a failure of imagination to think there need to be fewer white men to have more diversity
Grow the damn hobby
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Every time one of us says, in some way:
"IT IS HARD to be a woman/POC/LGBT+ person in board games"
There are people who say, in some way:
"THAT CAN'T BE TRUE, I have never seen a gamer/publisher actually be sexist/racist/homophobic."
Let's break this down. (Thread)
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Today
@stonemaiergames
made large-print versions of Wingspan cards available.
✅ No nonessential info
✅ Darker/larger icons
✅ Larger, higher-contrast text for bird powers
I had no hand in this but I'm excited to see the attention to accessibility!
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My secret mission with Wingspan was to turn gamers -> birders and birders -> gamers. It has exceeded my wildest expectations
@elizhargrave
Met a couple of guys while birding today who took up birding because they wanted to see birds in real life after learning about them from Wingspan.
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SO MUCH ANGER AND HATE IN MY HEART but I forgive myself
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If what's going on at Blizzard surprises you, you haven't been listening to women in games
The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has filed an explosive lawsuit against Activision Blizzard for discrimination. Some of the details in the complaint are horrifying
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Wingspan made
#1
for the People's Choice in Dice Tower's Top 100 Games of all Time.
Sometimes none of this seems real.
Thanks everyone who voted!
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Preorders for Wingspan Asia start in November direct from Stonemaier, and I'm sure your FLGS is also taking orders! Jamey just released the rulebook here:
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I agreed to be on 3 separate panels for
@originsgames
with a diverse group of presenters and panelists. Now many POC have withdrawn over
@TheGAMAOnline
refusal to say that Black lives matter. I stand in solidarity and won't do Origins Online without them.
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FYI Board Game Geek has a zero tolerance policy for shit like this and I, for one, am grateful for it
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Wyrmspan will feel familiar to Wingspan players, but it adds complexity...and dragons
From Connie Vogelmann, designer of Apiary (with some development by me)
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Oh hell no. Blockchain is an environmental disaster and I will never support a board game
@kickstarter
that uses it, let alone support the use of it for my own games.
Heads up
@buttonshy
@alderac
@Pandasaurusgame
I cannot overemphasize how heartbroken this news makes me. Environmental stewardship isn’t just a big part of my work, it is one of my core values as a person. I genuinely love Kickstarter. I strongly urge the company to reconsider this decision.
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10K followers! Reply in the next 48 hours w one thing that you personally can do to make board gaming more welcoming & inclusive. I'll randomly pick at least 2 replies to get
* a set of the new speckled eggs from SM, or
*a copy of Mariposas,
your choice.
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I would like to offer some data, not as criticism of the SdJ org, but as a criticism of the PIPELINE. Something is wrong with a system that leads to these pictures: 🧵
1. Nominees for the SdJ since 1999: 5 women, 103 men (& no other gender ID AFAIK). No women in the last 2 yrs.
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Hey y'all I'm bi and have lots of queer and trans friends and family and if you ever need a big virtual hug because someone's being a jerk over you being your queer-ass self, lmk
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One person's "not enough player interaction" may be another person's "finally, a game with no fighting"...
and the board game hobby should be big enough to embrace both of those people
@elizhargrave
finally acquired Wingspan. My daughter, who loves boardgames, said it was a fun game and finally one that did not involve fighting. I did not realize how many fighty games I have. Even ones like Orleans... Thank you!
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It's taking all my willpower to not reply to "direct popular voting for awards is profoundly broken" when I see it. I'll just get it off my chest once:
you know Wingspan swept most juried awards too, right?
The problem is not popular voting, it's badly-defined categories. 1/?
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Once again, kudos to
@boardgamegeek
and
@OctavianX
for taking both racism and harrassment seriously, and to all the people who call it out when they see it.
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Do you think your kids notice people's names on a
#boardgame
box?
I got a note from a dad who says his 10-year-old always mentions that Wingspan is made by women when she tells someone about it. "Her expression that she can do it too is amazing," he says.
#RepresentationMatters
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I'm super excited for my trees & mushrooms game, Undergrove, to Kickstart in Oct! I think it might be really good, y'all. Last week I got a 2nd "this is my favorite of all your games." (This is still with placeholder art, to be replaced by amazing
@beth_sobel
art) But... 1/
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I am not sure this particular commenter is arguing in good faith but sure... let's brainstorm all the possible barriers that might contribute to women having far fewer published games than men
@elizhargrave
So is there a systemic barrier? Who/what is stopping women from 1. making games 2.pitching games. You also mentioned publishers choosing games--do you feel they are intentionally overlooking women on the basis of their sex?
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Today is my birthday and the last day of 2019 and this has been one of the most remarkable years if my life. Thank you for being part of it.
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Here's an example of a game rule I just read that is a tiny, unintentionally exclusionary thing:
a) it assumes your players have travelled abroad (bad feels if they haven't)
b) it assumes couples won't play this game together (if they also travel together, this rule is useless)
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The Asia Expansion for Wingspan is coming soon!
I have a thing for wacky bills, so when
@jameystegmaier
let me do a reveal I picked the Hornbill. Its power is riffing on its factoid: These birds gather in flocks at fruiting trees.
Got ideas for fun powers? Send 'em my way!
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How many non-male
#boardgame
designers can you name off the top of your head? Take a look at this list of >100 women + NB folks w published games:
Please RT, follow them (thread below), and put them on your panels/podcasts/blogs.
#gamedesignisforeveryone
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ok someone shared the video clip with me -- this is not just a product placement, it is IN THE DIALOGUE
cc
@jameystegmaier
OMG.
Of all the things in my life that I thought I would live to see, the totally random product placement of effing 'Wingspan' the boardgame, in top British prime time TV soap opera 'Coronation Street' 5mins ago was not one of them.
cc
@elizhargrave
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Hey
@Twitter
,
@eric_lang
should be
@verified
-- and anyone & everyone who reported him should be looked into by
@TwitterSafety
for racist harrassment
The removal of
@eric_lang
due to the mass-reporting of
@robertburke
and his goons is absolutely wrong.
@TwitterSafety
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Annoying:
Asking if you should house-rule a game before you've even played it
100x more annoying:
Tagging the designer and asking *them* if you should house-rule their game before you've even played it
(What are the chances I'm going to say yes?)
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Hey
@TwitterSupport
it looks like
@Eric_Lang
is still suspended. It's fucked up that a bunch of gamergate trolls can manipulate your system to silence one of the most prominent black men in the board gaming community.
#FreeEricLang
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A year and a half ago, Wingspan won the Swiss Gamers Award. Despite a global pandemic and apparently quite an ordeal with customs, today I received this amazing hand-forged cowbell in the mail. Sound on!
Merci
@LudescoCdF
!
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So I finally found the point where my impostor syndrome kicks in, and it is right here:
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Next Wingspan expansion announced!! Do you want to guess the continent before you follow the link?
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Played some games
In my HOUSE
I love you, vaccine scientists
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Here's a link to slides from the presentation I did yesterday at
#TabletopNetwork
on women and boardgames. Thanks to those of you who sent me data or suggestions (even if they didn't make it in).
OMG My Wife Wants to Play Your Game:
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It didn't occur to me that there was something to aim for BEYOND being in the NYT but Margaret fucking Atwood retweeting said article might be that thing. Oryx and Crake is one of my favorite novels. I made all my friends read it and we have running inside jokes based on it.
She Invented a Board Game With Scientific Integrity. It’s Taking Off.
#Birds
#gaming
#eggs
@NatureCanada
@SafeCatSafeBird
@BSC_Ontario
@BirdLife_News
@Audubon
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Big news! The Wingspan OCEANIA expansion is coming later in 2020. In honor of the heartbreaking wildfires, thru Jan 22
@stonemaiergames
is donating $1 to Aussie wildlife org
@WIRES_NSW
for each person who signs up to be notified when preorders start.
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IN CONCLUSION:
* I want gaming to be awesome for everyone.
* I want more interesting games designed by people from diverse backgrounds.
* I want the industry to grow massively.
And I believe those 3 things are inextricably linked.
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I'm exhausted but I have some things I want to say before I'm on an airplane all day tomorrow. This year has blown me away -- the Kennerspiel is the icing on an already pretty amazing cake.
(thread starts w thank yous but there's other stuff too)
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It took me weeks to go get this pic: a testament to how amazing the last couple years have already been. Thanks everybody.
Once I was
@Target
, it took me 15 min to find my game: the "new boardgames" end cap is hidden behind a pillar, & Wingspan is on the ground. 🤷
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I have been dying to share this: Stonemaier's next game is Apiary, designed by my friend Connie Vogelmann. I'm SO EXCITED for you to try this thinky worker placement game about space bees! Sign up for notifications & SM will donate to pollinator orgs.
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Art of women can show a lot of skin and not be hyper sexualized. It can also completely cover their skin and still be all about t&a
Who tf would ever shoot a bow like this? Can you find me a picture of a man in this pose?
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I have been alpha testing this on Steam. It is beautiful and addictive.
Wingspan puts you and your friends in the role of bird enthusiasts trying to attract birds to your networks of wildlife preserves.
You can join our discord server if you'd like to know more. :)
#wingspan
#Gamescom2019
#birds
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I played Pax Pamir 2E by
@colewehrle
last night with a friend who grew up Sikh. I cannot overstate his giddiness at seeing Sikhs in a board game. What a delight.
Representation matters.
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@rsdancey
"Life in that gap consists of a lot of rejection."
OR...it CAN consist of criticism mixed with PEOPLE HELPING YOU GET BETTER. This is my biggest hope for moving forward. It's something you could do.
If you assume women can't hack it, you're biased against their pitches.
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People are starting to play my game! Does this feeling ever get old? I hope not.
(You didn't miss anything; retail release isn't until August 28...but review copies are starting to get out there.)
Haven't had much time to play, but enjoying this Friday evening with Mariposas (and some much needed wine, it was a long week!)
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Nintendo just announced that Wingspan is coming to Switch! I've been playtesting on Steam and it's so good, y'all. Direct your questions to
@monstercouch
- I'm just a playtester 🦉🦆🦅🦃
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We played Dominion Intrigue (2009) at the end of last night. Out of 10 cards on offer, the only women on the table were in a harem. I guess that seemed like a fine possibility to the same people who wrote the card text assuming all players were men?
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We sold out of 630 copies of Wingspan this morning in 3 hours. I'll still be at the booth to say hi, sign things, take selfies, etc. 10-12 and 3-5 each day. Natalia Rojas will be selling prints on Saturday. Come say hi!
#Gencon2019
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It's women's history month & the 15 games in the BGG hotness sidebar all appear to be designed by men.
🔥Comment here with a link to a game with a non-dude designer (besides me) that SHOULD be hot right now! 🔥
& please RT to spread the word!
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I just got an email from the SECOND woman who I may have converted to being a boardgame designer by inviting her in as a playtester.
Sometimes all it takes is pulling back the curtain (no magic here, just hard work) and helping someone see themself in a new context.
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Me: "Go ahead and back TE Dungeons if you want, I just thought we should talk about the art"
Worked up dude: "You are censoring people just like a government organization that arrested and tortured hundreds of thousands of people"
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Hey Board Game Twitter, a few weeks ago I suggested this would be an excellent time to follow & amplify Black people in this industry. Here's a cleaned up version of that crowdsourced list. Please RT & add!
DESIGNERS:
@eric_lang
@OmariAkil
@slousondesigns
@MarcusRoss
(1/7)
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By my count, 4 of the 50 games on the BGG Hotness right now have a women as part of the design team. (This appalingly low # is ~consistent with the ratio of top games designed by women for the last several years. But let me know if I missed any!)
Besides Wingspan, check out: 🧵
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Publishers, STOP DOING THIS.
Instead:
"Choose a captain...Give the Captain 5 Coins"
"If any Explorers grumble, they should have been Captain"
"Starting with the Captain each player takes a sheet and places it in front of them"
IT'S NOT HARD
(Oh Captain, published 2017. )
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When you hear "the 30s" as a time period what do you think of?
Today I heard someone from NASA use the term "the early 30s" to refer to something 10 years from now and...that is not a thing I was ready to hear.
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I’ve been thinking about whether/how to comment on Ryan Dancey’s tweet beyond what I said in the moment. For me the biggest whiplash was the impression he gave that AEG thinks women don’t make publishable games - because that clearly isn’t true in practice.
1/
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People are still pot-stirring, so I'm going to say it one more time:
1. There is a difference between an artist's freedom of expression and a commercial product's choice of art.
2. Commenting on how either art OR a commercial product makes me feel is not censorship or bullying.
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Dear content creators, I used to oversee interview scheduling as part of my job, and I am now frequently on the receiving end of interview requests. There are some things that MANY of you do not do that I think of as basic professionalism. A THREAD:
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Do you have any boardgame-related airport security stories?
My KdJ trophy just got a solo trip through the X-ray machine at RDU, and a thorough wipedown for radioactivity. You'll be happy to know it's healthy.
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I would just like to confirm that when asked "what do you do" at a holiday party, "I design board games" leads to a much more fun conversation than "I do Medicare research"
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Ah, BGG forums.
Me: yay for women depicted on box covers, but how about with a little more respect?
Replies literally include:
"I don't care if the game designer is black, white, purple..."
"Where’s the widespread women’s movement to have women sign up for the draft?"
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Ok I'm not an expert on armor. Has there ever been a culture (other than games) where armor was more protective of people's limbs than of their internal organs? Maybe my understanding is just totally off about how armor is supposed to work
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Sometimes I forget what's out there, you know? It's nice to forget
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I've gotten so many notes like this in the last week. It is time to give up on the trope that playing games is inherently more attractive to men.
@elizhargrave
We run Learn to Play D&D events which are consistently around the 50% if not more women and non-binary people. Offering an inclusive environment is one of the most important things for us! Women are interested in d&d, they've just never had the chance to play
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Just popping in for shameless self promotion at this point
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Also, remember that you can't read most of the worst comments because they get removed or are in DMs. In the last 3 days I've been called b*tch, c*unt, idiot dumbf*ck, and more.
(But far more supportive messages than attacks. Thank you.)
"But the gatekeeping racists and sexists are not common in gaming."
I invite you to read the comments to any woman or POC tabletop game content creator on social media.
Once you've picked your jaw up from the floor, I invite you to support them financially. They deserve it.
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Here we go!
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Ready for my next career as an 80s rapper. I did not realize they would be so chonky
@BoardGameGeek
!
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Do you know a woman who designs games, or who *should* design a game?
encourage her
babysit her children
playtest her games
order her takeout
throw cold water on her impostor syndrome and toot her horn
help her get ready for this November deadline:
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Oh hey this is TODAY
Another platform is coming! Wingspan is nesting on Android on November 9, 2021. Play with your friends cross-platform wherever you are.
Pre-order Android version NOW:
#Reveal
#mobilegaming
#boardgames
#Wingspan
#gamedev
#indiegamedev
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So when I see people trolling I've taken to going to their "tweets & replies" tab and reporting stuff that's hate speech and bullying before blocking them. So satisying:
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What a way to wake up this morning! Thanks all for your kind words. I'm visiting family right now (including the cutest 2 year old on the planet) so I'm not going to respond to everyone individually right now, but thank you.
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Stonemaier is taking big steps to use less plastic in Wingspan and their other games. This is a pretty major update including changes to trays & eggs. Hopefully their work with Panda will help other manufacturers follow suit.
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Update: COVID Day 11. Took a rapid test out of curiosity and it is still strongly positive. I don't have the energy to go anywhere, so I don't actually need to figure out the conflicting information about whether I'm allowed to.
Stay safe everyone. You don't want this thing.
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🤣🤣🤣
(It's a bird joke)
@BCookstra
@elizhargrave
Is no one talking about the hypocrisy of Elizabeth Hargrave complaining about visible cleavage in board games when her much-lauded /Wingspan/ contains several cards depicting nothing but tits?
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Thanks to everybody who voted! I didn't expect Wingspan to win some of these categories either 🤷♀️
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I'm pretty sure "THE top-selling board game" isn't true (mass market far outsells hobby games) but still...it is pretty awesome to be on
@NPR
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But I'm not queen, and I know it's a lot of work to make something like the Golden Geeks happen, and a lot less work to complain about them on Twitter.
And I am truly grateful for all the Wingspan love, in whatever imperfect categories people want to express it in. ❤
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TFW a boardgame you made is coming to Kickstarter in a couple weeks, and you know reviewers are out there, playing it, somewhere...
Ugh let's get this part over quickly please!
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I'm giving a talk this spring where I want to talk about this phenomenon. Do you have stories for me?
(h/t to Jacob Bruner, who posts weekly Wingspan memes in the Facebook group)
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