Geoff Engelstein
@gengelstein
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Boardgame educator: The Universe Explained with a Cookie, Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design, The Expanse and Super Skill Pinball. He/him
Bridgewater, NJ
Joined April 2010
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Pinned Tweet
Me: Gosh, year N was bad. Looking forward to N+1!
N+1: Hold my beer.
(Just saving future me some time)
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This is horrifying.
I have personal experience with safety on doors. Since the early 1990’s I have been involved with the UL safety committee on garage door openers.
a thread with a bit of history 🧵
THE CYBERTRUCK TRIES TO CLOSE *HARDER* IF IT ENCOUNTERS RESISTANCE????
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That an engineering team would decide that when an automatically closing door hits an obstacle that it would KEEP TRYING WITH EVEN MORE FORCE is absolutely mind-boggling to me.
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I’m sorry this is so long. But having spent decades working to prevent children from dying, this really upsets me personally. I know that for some of you the idea of regulations like UL325 forcing manufacturers to meet safety standards goes against your libertarian ideals.
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The right thing to do – as both common sense and actual field data easily show – is to reverse to release the pressure, give some type of indicator that there is a blockage or problem, and wait for a human to deal with it.
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These and other safety measures have dramatically reduced the number of injuries from garage doors. Remember that 20 – 30,000 injury per year statistic? In 2022 there were 34.
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In the 1980’s about 50 children in the United States were killed by automatic garage door openers, typically by getting trapped beneath as the motor continued to try to close the door completely. 20,000 – 30,000 people were injured by garage door openers per year.
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Even over the last five years the UL safety team I am on has continued to add improvements (yes, “regulations” for those of you that think that’s a dirty word), and the injury rate has fallen about 13% per year over the last five years.
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And also I know that many of you think that companies only have nefarious motives – and sometimes they do. But I know that the garage door safety committee is staffed with people employed by manufacturers who are all committed to continuously making products safer.
END
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In 1993 the industry worked with UL to introduce new safety standards requiring non-contact sensors, like the infrared beams you probably have at the base of your garage door, as well as current sensors for the motor, so if there’s a spike in current it reverses.
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In cases where you really need the door to close and there is some issue, for garage doors we allow “constant pressure” on a button – meaning that a human needs to hold the button down continuously while the door is in motion, to make sure no one is getting hurt.
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There’s also typically a timeout that if for any reason the door hasn’t reached an endpoint by a certain time it reverses.
I’m a member of that UL safety committee.
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And the button needs to be located where the person pushing it can see the door closing (so you can’t do it from an app, for example).
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But I’ve seen first-hand how life-saving they can be.
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Until recently I never truly grasped that the fundamental social contract of Democracy is that the losers of elections accept the results and graciously cede power.
Board games are a critical part of teaching that lesson to children.
A short thread.
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I published my first board game at age 47. Nine years later, today, my eleventh title launched.
It's never too late to pursue your dreams.
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I will be boycotting and publicly shaming any tabletop company that ventures into NFTs.
They are a pyramid scheme preying on the vulnerable, and destructive to the planet for absolutely no purpose.
I will begin with
@CMONGames
. I am done with them.
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My wife couldn't remember our hotel room #, and I told her it was 3 digits and the first digit was both the sum and product of the other two digits and now apparently I'm getting a divorce.
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I'm sick of these "anti-vaxxer got COVID and says get vaccinated on their deathbeds" stories. The saddest thing I've come to realize as I get older is how many people just don't care until it affects them personally - COVID, LGBT, homelessness, etc.
Get an ounce of empathy.
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Hot Tip - because I still mention this to people when they show me prototypes and it surprises them: You can do a quick prototype of a hex grid without actually cutting out hexagons. Just use index cards and lay them out in a brick pattern.
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I am ::this close:: to starting an open source, project to develop a free alternative to the paid versions out there. Probably in unity.
I’ve got a ton on my plate, but if enough coders wanted to join in…
Tabletop Simulator’s steam reviews descend into culture war nightmare factory:
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I inadvertently have ‘self-quarantine’ as my home decor.
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I peruse a lot of game design forums and
NO ONE WANTS TO STEAL YOUR GAME IDEA!
🤦
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So sad to lose Klaus Teuber. What a giant.
Those of you not in the gaming world in the 90’s may find it hard to appreciate how hugely important Catan was to the global gaming community.
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I am excited to announce an initiative with
@elizhargrave
and
@SenFoongLim
: The Tabletop Game Designers Association.
TTGDA is a professional organization for designers that is advocates for the rights of designers and prof. development.
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Did not realize that the Golden Geek award is an actual big-ass medal! I was expecting a jpeg.
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Me waiting for people to sit down and try my prototype.
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Re: Kickstarter blockchain announcement - I received an interesting email laying out what may be behind this. Author requested to remain anonymous, but here are the details from them:
🧵:
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I'm considering doing a video series about rare, weird, unique, and oddball board games. Curious about how much interest there would be for that. And has anyone done it before?
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So my son was texting a girl via a dating app and she said she had heard of game designer "Geoff Engelstein" and asked if he was related to me and somehow they're still talking to each other and I'm not sure how to process this information.
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For those of you trying to defend NFTs because "they are just as bad as other things for the environment" or "there are ways to be environmentally friendly" - just stop.
Putting energy usage aside, NFTs are an absolute scam. You are buying vapor, hoping someone will pay more.
I will be boycotting and publicly shaming any tabletop company that ventures into NFTs.
They are a pyramid scheme preying on the vulnerable, and destructive to the planet for absolutely no purpose.
I will begin with
@CMONGames
. I am done with them.
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Wow! Ludology wins the Golden Geek for Best Podcast!
@gilhova
and I are really humbled and overwhelmed by this. Thanks to all who voted for us, and have listened over the years! This is an amazing going (not so far) away gift.
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Designed by Kurt Vonnegut.
Art by Bill Bricker & Ryan Goldsberry.
Published by me.
Coming in August.
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1. I apologize for once again leaving the realm of gaming and dipping into politics, but I need to express my deep and sincere concern for the mechanism of government in the United States.
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One of my more controversial opinions:
The US should abolish visa requirements completely. You can come to visit, live, work, or study and stay as long as you want.
If you're motivated enough to uproot your life to come here I welcome you with open arms.
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Big Announcement!
I believe that innovation thrives when people with a variety of perspectives add their voices to the mix.
With that in mind, I have partnered with
@TabletopNet
to launch The New Voices Scholarship. 1/6
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Based on this I have decided to step away from
@Blizzard_Ent
products, including
@BlizzHeroes
which I've been playing almost daily for a few years now.
I've got plenty of neat indies waiting for me in my
@steam_games
library.
Blizzard Entertainment said it was suspending a player of the online game Hearthstone for a year and was forcing him to forfeit prize money after he spoke out in support of the Hong Kong protests during a livestreamed interview
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News flash from GDC: Video game designers all want to do board games, and board game designers want to do video games 🙂
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I’m taking a bold stance here:
If the placement or orientation matters it’s a ‘tile’. If it just represents a quantity or status it’s a ‘token’.
Yea or nay?
So what’s the difference between a token and a tile? I kinda felt like a token was a small circle and a tile was rectangle/square of any size. I was stewing on it while bagging Darwin’s Journey and pow! A rectangle token appears.
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This is an embarrassment for Ohio, the US, and humanity. I’m sure the ones that voted for this are also the ones screaming about Sharia law.
If even a tiny part of you thinks this is a good idea, just fucking unfollow me.
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Designers! Get cathartic and share your negative reviews. My fave, about the Space Cadets series:
“I think they're bad games. I think they're poorly designed. It's not a matter of me not liking them, I think they're crappy games. And I don't think crappy games should be made.”
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@richsommer
Keep saying it. What if Michele Obama insisted on living in a golden tower in New York City?
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43 years ago I moved to a new town and met my dream girl. 30 years ago today I got to marry her.
Of all the great things that have happened in my fortunate life, this is easily the greatest (sorry kids). Happy anniversary Susan!
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Do not put the rules for the game on the back of the board.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
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Just finished recording my final episode of Ludology... and I'm an emotional mess. But I am very, very excited to watch
@gilhova
@emmalarkins
and
@mightybedbug
carry the torch into the future. 😀😢
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Assembling IKEA furniture with my daughter, and she keeps calling the instructions “the rule book”.
I’m very proud.
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Any chance of standardizing some game terminology?
I propose: Round > Turn > Step
A round is multiple turns, and a turn is multiple steps. 'Phase' could be used as a level above Round (e.g. the 'Ages' in Through The Ages).
Who's with me?
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An actual error message you can get in MS Word. Achievement unlocked!
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Announcement! I am thrilled to tell y'all that I have signed a deal with Harper Collins Australia to do a general release version of the GameTek book! Target pub date is February 2019. There will be some editorial changes to smooth it out and move away from the podcast ep feel.
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Criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitism.
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Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, and other classic first games are not about teaching strategy & tactics. They are about teaching the building blocks of games – taking turns, and being a gracious loser and winner.
And, not coincidentally, these are important societal lessons as well
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Stirring tribute to Iron Man in the opening scene of Falcon and the Winter Soldier.
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To flip Tolstoy on his head:
"All bad games are alike; each great game is great in its own way."
That's what
@SenFoongLim
autocritique crystalizes. Those that playtest a lot see the same issues over and over. It's not 'negative' per se. It's about evaluating your own work.
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Unsung example of great graphic design - the Scrabble board.
- Starting space is clear.
- Colors group types of bonuses (blue = letter, red = word).
- Spikes both indicate level of bonus (2 or 3), but also keep the bonus clear even when the square is covered by a tile.
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Resigning in a multiplayer game because you’re losing is always bad form. Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.
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Today my final episode of Ludology airs. Thanks to everyone for joining me on this journey! And I look forward to being able to listen to
@gilhova
@emmalarkins
and
@mightybedbug
.
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VERY EXCITED to announce that my new Pinball Roll & Write game is being published by
@wizkidsgames
this fall!
Title is still under deep and intense discussion, but I can reveal that the game will come with four different pinball tables - and here are the themes!
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44 years ago I moved to a new town and met my dream girl. 31 years ago today I got to marry her.
Of all the great things that have happened in my fortunate life, this is easily the greatest (sorry kids). Happy anniversary
@SEngelstein
!
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Someone made a physical Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes! This is the kind of crazy I can get behind.
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Finally spotted in our local Target! First time an Engelstein-designed game has been sold there.
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There’s a special magic when you play the production version of your game for the first time.
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Just recorded the final GameTek. What a wild ride it's been these past 15 years.
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A relative just dug his old Magic cards out of the cellar and asked me if they're worth anything. 😳
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Well done, Sandusky. This should be nationwide.
The small city of Sandusky, Ohio, has declared Election Day a paid holiday — by swapping it out with Columbus Day.
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They don’t have to be happy about it. They shouldn't be happy about it. But they have to accept it. Without that our democracy’s days are numbered.
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Democracy is the *voluntary* adoption by those in power of rules about taking turns, winning, and losing. It is the magic circle writ large – so large perhaps, that we don’t realize we are in it until we see people who break the unwritten foundational rules.
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We will not be gaslighted. There is objective truth. You are a liar and a conman and a criminal and not fit to serve this country.
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That's why they want to put this system in place as early as 2022, before the obligation of the European approval. Consumers will not benefit from this change. It's just Kickstarter bending the rules to avoid the European law.
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I AM BAD AT KEEPING SECRETS AND AM SO GLAD THIS HAS FINALLY BEEN ANNOUNCED!
Super Skill Pinball: Star Trek!
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I am starting an award for outstanding contributions to the advancement of game components.
It will be called the Nobel Piece Prize.
Nominations are now open.
(let's see how many followers I can lose from one tweet)
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We lost one of the giants in game design - Francis Tresham.
His two landmark games - 1829 and Civilization - set a standard for innovation and intricate design that lives on to this day. We all would be much poorer without his design genius.
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In the gaming world, Sydney was introduced as "Geoff's daughter".
Now I'm being introduced as "Sydney's father".
And it's pretty neat.
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Atlantic Chase, from
@gmtgames
, has the most innovative rules layout I've seen in a long time.
Here's a quick thread on what they've done, and why IMO it should be emulated.
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Last night I dreamed that I was playtesting an actual game I'm working on. We ran into a problem and one of the testers suggested a solution, which I remembered after waking and should actually work.
Thanks dream playtester!
Moral: If you have a problem ignore it and go to bed.
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I read this announcement three times and have no idea what problem they’re trying to solve. Serious question- can someone - maybe even someone from
@Kickstarter
- explain it like I’m five?
There's still so much more we can do together to make new creative ideas become reality.
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One year at Gencon someone had set up a booth that said "Tell me about your character - $5".
There was a line around the corner.
i know i am so obnoxious talking abt my dnd characters but 1. im aware it’s annoying 2. i don’t care 3. i’m not hurting anyone 4. i’m a 24 year old adult and i can do whatever the hell i want. i encourage you all to carry the same energy abt ur original work
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Got a sneak peek preview copy of this upcoming book, teaching advanced math concepts through tabletop games. Seems right up my alley!
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Hey! First copies of the new Harper Collins edition of GameTek are rolling off the presses! Official pub date is January 19th.
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My son is getting married. If I design a game about planning a wedding, I can write the whole thing off as a business expense, right? Right?
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My son
@BEngelstein
is getting married today! I’m sporting these dice cuff links! Yes, they roll. No they’re not statistically balanced.
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Solutions don't have to be 100% effective to be useful.
You can not smoke and still get lung cancer.
You can wear a mask and still get COVID.
You can tighten gun laws and still get mass shootings.
But incremental improvements add up. Why is this so controversial?
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