Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
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stickydoodler.bsky.social
Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
@stickydoodler.bsky.social
I make games that spark imagination and empathy. I also promote tabletop game designers based in the DMV ♦️🎲 (DC-MD-VA).
爸爸 to Big Sticky and Li'l Doodler. He/他/any.

🌳✂️ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/stickydoodler/the-bonsai-diary
Pinned
Hello friends new & old! I'm Gene, and I design games that evoke empathy and imagination. I enjoy exploring the uncanny valley between board and role-playing games, where one day I will discover Shangri-La. Until then, I post about my design journey and theories and avoid engagement farming.
I've fallen out of touch with mass market games, look at this new tech
November 27, 2025 at 7:36 PM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
seeking folks who may be interested in playtesting a new game. not ready quite yet, but soooon. lemme know

2 player ttrpg about a witch & puppeteer doing a ritual that breaks their souls apart into little bone puppets to escape the oubliette. little dice game, character building, character unmaking
October 15, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Over the years, Li'l Doodler and I have come up with a couple of games that help us pass the time when we're traveling. Maybe you'll find them fun when you're on your next road trip. Here's two of them:
1/▶️
November 26, 2025 at 11:53 PM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
As promised, here’s a chat I had with designer @marcelineleiman.bsky.social who wants YOU to make games for Indie Games Night Market. If you are looking to break into games, you’ll want to watch this interview.

youtu.be/-np-0dZWFPs
Designer Marceline Leiman wants YOU to make games for Indie Games Night Market - TCbH PAX Interview
YouTube video by The Cardboard Herald
youtu.be
November 25, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
Soliciting suggestions for solo journaling TTRPGs for someone who isn’t fully sold on the idea of journaling! They do enjoy strategy games and puzzles, so I’m looking for similar gateway games.
I’ve already recommended SPINE by @backwardsttrpg.bsky.social & Dead Belt by @acoupleofdrakes.bsky.social.
November 26, 2025 at 12:33 AM
Two people came up to me at PAXU to tell me how much BeTween moved them when they playtested it months ago.

Those words mean the world to me. For most of us, there's no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Just the rainbow.

(That's YOU. If you play games, you're the rainbow!)
November 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
Voidlight: A rules-bright sci-fi horror dungeon crawl where your only safety is a beam of light that shrinks every ten minutes.

farirpgs.itch.io/voidlight
November 25, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
NEW EPISODE! In this AP of @innocentgoblin.bsky.social's solo horror game Pirouette, @maddyisabstract.bsky.social must guide their protagonist Sylvie through the performance of her life.
Pirouette
Listen to your favorite podcasts online, in your browser. Discover the world's most powerful podcast player.
pca.st
November 25, 2025 at 10:21 AM
Chat, is cooking a form of necromancy, or alchemy?
November 25, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
I love the practice of making games from the components of other games. My duet game, The Same Beach, uses Timeline cards.

paulczege.itch.io/the-same-beach
November 25, 2025 at 3:32 AM
Here in the DC-MD-VA area we LOVE working with our local libraries to playtest (ty Artz Library, Frederick and Takoma Park) and showcase (ty MLK DC, Silver Spring MD and Arlington VA). So let them know how we can better work together!
November 25, 2025 at 1:31 AM
I made this journaling game last year to recenter my gratitude. I suddenly remembered it today, not only because American Thanksgiving is coming, but because returning from PAXU reminds me how much I have to be grateful for...
1/▶️
stickydoodler.itch.io/birds-of-you...
A Field Guide to Birds of Your Heart by Sticky Doodler
A Gratitude Journal Game
stickydoodler.itch.io
November 25, 2025 at 12:48 AM
It's Monday after PAX Unplugged, and I want you to know how kind, empathetic, accepting, inclusive, and welcoming y'all were, all weekend long.

I stayed with a classmate who was in that same space for a conference on AI for lawyers (or somesuch), and I guarantee you that I had the better time.

🌈💜🎆
November 24, 2025 at 1:43 PM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
I’m going to accept this as an appropriate sign off from the convention as I make my way home. See ya next year.
#boardgames #PAXU ♥️
November 23, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
Devour/Desire
a game for 2, play safely

1 is Phantasm
You wish for Flesh, to be corporeal
You need consent
You may: Announce, Search, Tease, Devour

2 is Flesh
You wish to be devoured, impossible to disentangle
You may: Run, Exhibit, Bait, Yearn

Find each other, willingly
November 23, 2025 at 6:39 PM
I have been pretty open with everyone I've chatted with at PAXU that 2025 has been a crap year for creativity. (To those of you who received this: I'm sorry)

So I was even more frugal than usual this year. Nonetheless, I found my spark of joy at the Indie Games Night Market, where my magpie
1/▶️
November 23, 2025 at 8:26 PM
So here's what makes having a game with Side Quest Books at PAXU so special to me: I lived in Somerville MA (Spring Hill 🤘) long ago, in 1999. 24yo me would never have dreamed of having a rad game store down the street, nevermind having one of my games for sale there.

Go get a signed copy there!
Before you get to the main expo hall, stop by the PAX Together Intersection Lounge in 201C - I spot some games Designed in the DMV here, from @greenintern.bsky.social, @playsamovar.bsky.social, and me!

Thank you @sidequestbooks.bsky.social for welcoming indie designers and games to the table!
November 23, 2025 at 6:42 PM
The long hex road to great games starts here at Unpub, up at the Terrace level of PAX Unplugged.

Come on up to shape the future of tabletop with @unpub.org !
November 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
It's day 3 of PAX Unplugged and your last chance to swing by @ipr.bsky.social. I want to highlight a few special games for your consideration:

If you have a young person in your gaming life, get a copy of Making a Tabletop RPG for Your Particular Kid by @ttrpgkids.com...

1/▶️
November 23, 2025 at 1:52 PM
So exciting to see people enjoying Color Jam!!
If you're looking for something different when it comes to games, @lunarpunk.games is coming out with some wildly different concepts in victorless and multivictor games.
Color Jam sees players coloring in a board using crayons in the matching slot, with the rest sliding down after one is used.
November 23, 2025 at 4:34 AM
No better proof than to see this game in action 🛫💜💜🛬
November 23, 2025 at 1:32 AM
Reposted by Sticky Doodler ⏮️ PAXU
INDIE GAME NIGHT MARKET

We already sold over half of the copies of Medusa’s Garden designed by @mistergross.bsky.social and Jono from Team Jasper! Super exciting!
November 23, 2025 at 1:04 AM
A lot of Designed in the DMV artists distribute our games through @ipr.bsky.social. We love how they rep us at conventions like @PAXUnplugged that only some of us can attend.

Valiant Horizons by @binarystar.games
Fear and Panic by @lymerpg.bsky.social

1/▶️
November 22, 2025 at 9:44 PM
Be sure to check out PAX Rising for the up-and-coming games that will own your table like Uh Oh, Dino! by @ludoliminal.bsky.social and Toppings by @ludamusgames.bsky.social (which Big Sticky and I had the pleasure of playtesting).

They're in booth 3143!
November 22, 2025 at 8:47 PM
So many journaling games! So many indie zines! So much drama in books and boxes!

Go find @ipr.bsky.social on the floor at PAX Unplugged and get your hands on the latest, freshest games, some even have plants instead of dragons
November 22, 2025 at 6:19 PM