#boardgames

Great news that the UK has backed down on encryption backdoors

Ars Technica

UK backing down on Apple encryption backdoor after pressure from US

UK officials fear their insistence on backdoor endangers tech deals with US.

Bottle Imp plays astonishingly well as a 6 player game. It is fast and has an easy rhythm. Lots of laughs when someone gets stuck with the bottle. Sadly I súck at it. #boardgames

Rival Cities Andreas Steding makes old-school euros like Hansa Teutonica and this is no exception. This is a quick, 2-player game that's easy to learn, but it's pretty involved. The board edge is a large rondel with interspersed preset and random actions. I haven't seen this before. There are four instant win conditions.You must keep your opponent in the mid-zone for the win conditions or they spiral out of control. I want to play again. Clever and original. #boardgames

Bottle Imp I have the original from the 90s, but the new version of this trick-taker is gorgeous. It's confusing and it explodes in your face, but that's the fun. #boardgames

Deep Regrets I feel mixed about this. On one hand, it's pretty original mechanically and thematically plus the art is lovely. On the other hand, it drags on for too long and I didn't find the decisions interesting. #boardgames

Your next gaming dice could be shaped like a dragon or armadillo

Ars Technica

Your next gaming dice could be shaped like a dragon or armadillo

Statistically, "the real behavior of a rolling object is largely a function of its geometry."

#boardgames

Rumis (Blokus 3D) Lovely little multiplayer abstract that you can play with non-gamers. It is the best physical version of Tetris that I have played. I have the original German game in wood. Blokus 3D is in plastic. #boardgames

It was great to get back to my regular games club after a long holiday. Modern Art has aged well. Pretty sure this was my first ever win. Lifeboats is player-driven chaos in a way that has fallen completely out of fashion. Good to see a new Kickstarter - https://is.gd/7c8a6v Both games seem much simpler 20+ years later. We also played 5er Finden. Throw 5 dice with symbols. Against the clock draw 5 pentominos with all 5 symbols on a grid and score points. Timed Qwirkle.. #boardgames

I woke up this morning in Doha. 😳 Good job we didn't miss our flight.

The Return If you liked the original Gladiator, but couldn't handle more than 5 minutes of Gladiator 2 then give this a try. Feels realistic in a disciplined way. #movie #film #cinema

I think this was the Ark whiteboard video that Paul Sztorc mentioned in the debate. @gladstein @Danny Knowles

Indonesian railways use face recognition instead of tickets.

I have a new favourite tennis player.

An Artist of the Floating World Gentle and beautifully written. Ishiguro can write in any genre. I prefer The Sleeping Giant slightly but only because the atmosphere is so special in that book.

An Artist of the Floating World - BookWyrm

I enjoyed this but there are a few too many philosophical tangents and he is merciless with his father. #books

A Death in the Family: My Struggle Book 1 (Knausgaard) - BookWyrm

I jailbroke my Kindle and I *love* it.

I bought a used game from BGG and the seller said he would accept #Ethereum I have a little for playing around with, rather than investing, so I went for it. Regular ETH payments only make sense on L2 networks because of gas fees, so mine is sitting on zkSync Era and his is on Loopring. The UX of bridging the two L2 networks via orbiter.finance was terrible. Dangerously opaque. I managed it in the end, but I honestly thought I had lost the funds. #Bitcoin maxis can rest safely for now. #crypto

Inspiring call to arms from Erik Voorhees.