Dean Ray Johnson ⚪
boardgametextbook.com
Dean Ray Johnson ⚪
@boardgametextbook.com
Indie video game, music, and board game nerd. AuDHD. Dedicated rulebook hater. Author of Every Board Game Rulebook is Awful.

www.youtube.com/@BoardGameTextbook
boardgametextbook.com/EBGRIA.pdf
Much like confused parents in the 1980s referred to any video game as "a Nintendo," we should refer to any EDM that isn't house music as "a techno."
December 15, 2025 at 11:46 PM
I saw someone say "the coolest number in the world is 68±1" and I'm angry about it
December 15, 2025 at 11:29 PM
It's so interesting that To Arms! is closer to Dominion than to Dream Quest. I don't know another deckbuilder off the top of my head where you start each fight with basic cards and need to purchase cards to use for just that fight.
December 15, 2025 at 10:54 PM
On v1.0 of To Arms!, I had a delve run that went ~60 levels deep, only lost due to the secret time-out counter.

I found the designer on Facebook, said "nerf nuns" and showed him my run. He went "wtf how". I got a thank-you in the credits of a later version for giving a list of balance suggestions.
December 15, 2025 at 10:52 PM
I also spent a horrible amount of time on To Arms!, one of the first mobile-only deckbuilders after Dream Quest (Play Store says it debuted in 2015, sheesh). And that game was just a grid of static pixel people.
December 15, 2025 at 1:04 AM
But also are there any other deckbuilding roguelikes where the enemy also has a deck of cards? And you play 1v1, almost M:tG style? Forcing the opponent to discard or run out of mana is still unique to Dream Quest, I think.
December 15, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Yup, I assumed that's how that thing was gonna go in the end. No way it would end like the other way. Those last bits of lore were definitely a thing for the commenters to pick over for three months, though.
December 15, 2025 at 12:53 AM
IIRC Moon did in fact go in the None category
December 14, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Gotta love that the red one just gets a gigantic fuckin' sombrero though
December 14, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Why don't they put this much effort into the games
December 14, 2025 at 4:09 AM
It's fair to roll your eyes at tryhards during like a game of Time's Up. (You're really just gonna quick-skip all the hard clues to get through the easy ones quickly? 🙄)

It's weird to hear someone called a tryhard during League of Legends or some other game where all people do is care too much.
December 14, 2025 at 4:07 AM
In high school when I was one of those nerds who quoted Monty Python way too much, my mom asked if I was excited to see that new Python film called "The Full Monty"
December 14, 2025 at 4:01 AM
So putting Wuthering Waves at the end kind of reframes the discussion because China and Korea are different cultures—especially more patriarchal cultures.

This Moon Channel essay seems to know more than I do about the topic.
Gacha Drama and the Korean Gender War
YouTube video by Moon Channel
youtu.be
December 13, 2025 at 11:09 AM
Stephanie Sterling calls them "outrage tourists." They don't play the games or watch the movies that they defend. They're just looking for a fight. The fight against woke degenerates is the only thing they truly believe in, the only culture they truly love.
December 13, 2025 at 10:52 AM
But what's fascist culture? We know what Nazi propaganda looks like, but what's Nazi music, literature, fashion? The Volkswagen and a couple sellout fashion designers?

The biggest inventions of modern conservative culture are the tradwife fetish and some standup comedians who don't tell jokes.
December 13, 2025 at 10:52 AM
A lot of fascist propaganda begins with tearing down the self: you are tainted by Bolshevik degeneracy, you are not a special snowflake, the people who love the common culture are sheeple who can't think for themselves. And when you love nothing, then you may as well love being a fascist.
December 13, 2025 at 10:52 AM
I think the Occam's Razor here is that Gamers™️ don't care that much about remaking culture in their own image. It's more that they want to remove the commies and degenerates from society. They don't promote what they love — they need to destroy what YOU love.
December 13, 2025 at 10:52 AM