Mac McAnally
@macaroobanzai.bsky.social
Game designer and general maker of things.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/455308/this-is-not-a-game-about-a-pipe
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/455308/this-is-not-a-game-about-a-pipe
For those following along, here's the bit from the ARS DMCA takedown notice sent to BGG that demonstrates one of the problems creating a weak public domain.
ARS doesn't have to identify the expiration of the copyright. They can continue to claim it as long as it's impossible to prove otherwise.
ARS doesn't have to identify the expiration of the copyright. They can continue to claim it as long as it's impossible to prove otherwise.
January 2, 2026 at 12:56 AM
For those following along, here's the bit from the ARS DMCA takedown notice sent to BGG that demonstrates one of the problems creating a weak public domain.
ARS doesn't have to identify the expiration of the copyright. They can continue to claim it as long as it's impossible to prove otherwise.
ARS doesn't have to identify the expiration of the copyright. They can continue to claim it as long as it's impossible to prove otherwise.
Ok, fellow game designers! Here's your opportunity to run with a theme that inspires you and is outside the industry zeitgeist!
Sadly, due to a need to focus on alternate employment, I won't have the time to participate in this year's jam, but I can't wait to see your new games using old themes!
Sadly, due to a need to focus on alternate employment, I won't have the time to participate in this year's jam, but I can't wait to see your new games using old themes!
Happy public domain day! Come join our jam "Gaming Like It's 1930" and make games that about or inspired by works from that year: itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
Gaming Like It's 1930
A game jam from 2026-01-01 to 2026-02-01 hosted by Randy Lubin & Copia Gaming. A new year means new material entering the public domain! Starting January 1st 2026, works from 1930 are free to use and remix (except for sound recor...
itch.io
January 1, 2026 at 10:42 PM
Ok, fellow game designers! Here's your opportunity to run with a theme that inspires you and is outside the industry zeitgeist!
Sadly, due to a need to focus on alternate employment, I won't have the time to participate in this year's jam, but I can't wait to see your new games using old themes!
Sadly, due to a need to focus on alternate employment, I won't have the time to participate in this year's jam, but I can't wait to see your new games using old themes!
Reposted by Mac McAnally
It’s time! SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2026 CARDBOARD EDISON AWARD ARE OPEN! Board game designers, show us what you’ve been working on! Deadline is January 31: cardboardedison.com/award
January 1, 2026 at 1:35 PM
It’s time! SUBMISSIONS FOR THE 2026 CARDBOARD EDISON AWARD ARE OPEN! Board game designers, show us what you’ve been working on! Deadline is January 31: cardboardedison.com/award
Fiscal Deduction Game (10 to 20 players)
Setup: All players secretly write down their total 2025 income tax on a piece of paper. A neutral party calculates the median of the group.
Setup: All players secretly write down their total 2025 income tax on a piece of paper. A neutral party calculates the median of the group.
I need everyone to make a shitpost game that fits into at most 3 posts on here before the end of the year otherwise thr sun will not rise again
Not enough shitpost games though
January 1, 2026 at 4:43 AM
Fiscal Deduction Game (10 to 20 players)
Setup: All players secretly write down their total 2025 income tax on a piece of paper. A neutral party calculates the median of the group.
Setup: All players secretly write down their total 2025 income tax on a piece of paper. A neutral party calculates the median of the group.
Ok, who amongst my NYC friends are fellow massive Taskmaster fans?
January 1, 2026 at 1:04 AM
Ok, who amongst my NYC friends are fellow massive Taskmaster fans?
Well, it was a nice run. I got this geekmail last night.
When I self-published This Is Not a Game About a Pipe, I thought, as many did, that The Treachery of Images was now in the public domain.
1/4
When I self-published This Is Not a Game About a Pipe, I thought, as many did, that The Treachery of Images was now in the public domain.
1/4
December 30, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Well, it was a nice run. I got this geekmail last night.
When I self-published This Is Not a Game About a Pipe, I thought, as many did, that The Treachery of Images was now in the public domain.
1/4
When I self-published This Is Not a Game About a Pipe, I thought, as many did, that The Treachery of Images was now in the public domain.
1/4
Reposted by Mac McAnally
Hey board game designers! Just SIX DAYS left until submissions for next year's Cardboard Edison Award open! Get your pitches and prototypes ready! cardboardedison.com/award
December 26, 2025 at 10:47 PM
Hey board game designers! Just SIX DAYS left until submissions for next year's Cardboard Edison Award open! Get your pitches and prototypes ready! cardboardedison.com/award
Krampus Live!
YouTube video by Varietopia with Paul F. Tompkins
youtu.be
December 25, 2025 at 2:07 PM
@tricktaking.bsky.social agrees with a comment I've heard from other reviewers of "This Is Not a Game About a Pipe".
It's a hard game to talk about. Being the contrary sort that I am, I actually really love that.
youtu.be/pJby0ltmvbI?...
It's a hard game to talk about. Being the contrary sort that I am, I actually really love that.
youtu.be/pJby0ltmvbI?...
This is Not a Game About a Pipe & Dealer's Tarot (Day 11 of Trickmas!) ~ Taylor's Trick-Taking Table
YouTube video by Taylor's Trick-Taking Table
youtu.be
December 23, 2025 at 4:22 PM
@tricktaking.bsky.social agrees with a comment I've heard from other reviewers of "This Is Not a Game About a Pipe".
It's a hard game to talk about. Being the contrary sort that I am, I actually really love that.
youtu.be/pJby0ltmvbI?...
It's a hard game to talk about. Being the contrary sort that I am, I actually really love that.
youtu.be/pJby0ltmvbI?...
I know we have an incredibly fractured media landscape and the world is on fire, but how is this not the primary media story in the world right now. This is Sputnik.
youtu.be/nVQo76iEoms?...
youtu.be/nVQo76iEoms?...
CRISPR Just Saved a Baby’s Life… Millions Could Follow
YouTube video by SciShow
youtu.be
December 22, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I know we have an incredibly fractured media landscape and the world is on fire, but how is this not the primary media story in the world right now. This is Sputnik.
youtu.be/nVQo76iEoms?...
youtu.be/nVQo76iEoms?...
@amalelmohtar.com in the wild. Stack of books at a family vacation rental house.
December 21, 2025 at 4:07 AM
@amalelmohtar.com in the wild. Stack of books at a family vacation rental house.
Reposted by Mac McAnally
Board game designers: In just two weeks we open submissions for the 2026 Cardboard Edison Award! cardboardedison.com/award
December 18, 2025 at 11:03 PM
Board game designers: In just two weeks we open submissions for the 2026 Cardboard Edison Award! cardboardedison.com/award
Reposted by Mac McAnally
Just two weeks until the start of our public domain jam "Gaming Like It's 1930" – hope to see you there!
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
Gaming Like It's 1930
A game jam from 2026-01-01 to 2026-02-01 hosted by Randy Lubin & Copia Gaming. A new year means new material entering the public domain! Starting January 1st 2026, works from 1930 are free to use and ...
itch.io
December 18, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Just two weeks until the start of our public domain jam "Gaming Like It's 1930" – hope to see you there!
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
Reposted by Mac McAnally
Night Soil is about more than moving and disposing of poop. It's also about unseen labor, contract work, and why indoor plumbing is amazing. Mostly, though, it's about the poop. My review: spacebiff.com/2025/12/17/n...
I Don’t Wanna Do Your Dirty Work
Whenever someone gets rosy-eyed about “the good old days,” it’s a surefire sign they’ve never cracked a history book. Ahh, the good old days, back when men were men, their e…
spacebiff.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Night Soil is about more than moving and disposing of poop. It's also about unseen labor, contract work, and why indoor plumbing is amazing. Mostly, though, it's about the poop. My review: spacebiff.com/2025/12/17/n...
Q for fellow game designers. Context: You work for an organization whose product is not games and in a role that is not game design and are asked to create a game-like activity for an internal event. How do you feel about setting the boundary that game design is not a skill they're paying you for?
December 11, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Q for fellow game designers. Context: You work for an organization whose product is not games and in a role that is not game design and are asked to create a game-like activity for an internal event. How do you feel about setting the boundary that game design is not a skill they're paying you for?
Reposted by Mac McAnally
We got to play This is Not a Game About a Pipe at BGG.CON thanks to @wericmartin.bsky.social. Fell in love right away so we frantically texted friends who’d be at PAXU, where it was being sold. Thanks to @panda8ngel.bsky.social and Jon H for nabbing four copies for us!@macaroobanzai.bsky.social
December 10, 2025 at 11:26 PM
We got to play This is Not a Game About a Pipe at BGG.CON thanks to @wericmartin.bsky.social. Fell in love right away so we frantically texted friends who’d be at PAXU, where it was being sold. Thanks to @panda8ngel.bsky.social and Jon H for nabbing four copies for us!@macaroobanzai.bsky.social
December 8, 2025 at 4:13 PM
Reposted by Mac McAnally
We just sent an announcement to our newsletter subscribers: The remaining 20 copies of Houdini's Last Act are now available on our website! cardboardedison.com/houdini
December 8, 2025 at 2:06 PM
We just sent an announcement to our newsletter subscribers: The remaining 20 copies of Houdini's Last Act are now available on our website! cardboardedison.com/houdini
What a wonderful surprise that This Is Not a Game About a Pipe was a con highlight for someone at BGG.CON too!
Thanks to @wericmartin.bsky.social for sharing it with others!
Thanks to @wericmartin.bsky.social for sharing it with others!
BGG.CON: What we played, what we liked, and why we liked them.
Plus: What's next for The Board Game Quiz Show!
www.goinganalogshow.com/article/312/... #boardgames
Plus: What's next for The Board Game Quiz Show!
www.goinganalogshow.com/article/312/... #boardgames
December 7, 2025 at 2:56 PM
What a wonderful surprise that This Is Not a Game About a Pipe was a con highlight for someone at BGG.CON too!
Thanks to @wericmartin.bsky.social for sharing it with others!
Thanks to @wericmartin.bsky.social for sharing it with others!
Adulting and Chasing Shadows, both great games by fellow IGNM alums @ericdittmore.bsky.social and @vawcer.bsky.social. So much fun!
December 7, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Adulting and Chasing Shadows, both great games by fellow IGNM alums @ericdittmore.bsky.social and @vawcer.bsky.social. So much fun!
Reposted by Mac McAnally
This is very good, incandescent with well-justified fury theshot.net.au/uncategorize...
Hyperwealthy pedophilic genocidal dickweeds versus the rest of humanity - The Shot
It really is the 1% versus the rest of us. The stakes couldn't be higher. And the enemy could not be more depraved. Still, we'll win.
theshot.net.au
December 6, 2025 at 10:16 AM
This is very good, incandescent with well-justified fury theshot.net.au/uncategorize...
Reposted by Mac McAnally
This exchange on r/boardgames, in reference to the review I wrote yesterday, raises a whooooooole lot of emotions for me. Bear with me as I work through them.
December 5, 2025 at 5:59 PM
This exchange on r/boardgames, in reference to the review I wrote yesterday, raises a whooooooole lot of emotions for me. Bear with me as I work through them.
WIP: Meeple Who Need Meeple. A push your luck game. Playable prototype by next week.
My unfocused brain can't help to extrapolate the idea to a compilation of games called "Meeple Mixtape" with other games such as Meeple Are Strange, Everyday Meeple, and Shiny Happy Meeple.
My unfocused brain can't help to extrapolate the idea to a compilation of games called "Meeple Mixtape" with other games such as Meeple Are Strange, Everyday Meeple, and Shiny Happy Meeple.
November 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
WIP: Meeple Who Need Meeple. A push your luck game. Playable prototype by next week.
My unfocused brain can't help to extrapolate the idea to a compilation of games called "Meeple Mixtape" with other games such as Meeple Are Strange, Everyday Meeple, and Shiny Happy Meeple.
My unfocused brain can't help to extrapolate the idea to a compilation of games called "Meeple Mixtape" with other games such as Meeple Are Strange, Everyday Meeple, and Shiny Happy Meeple.
Reposted by Mac McAnally
Someone in a Discord playing my game tonight. Meanwhile, I'm playing This is Not a Game About a Pipe
November 26, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Someone in a Discord playing my game tonight. Meanwhile, I'm playing This is Not a Game About a Pipe
If you're curious about the origins of This Is Not a Game About a Pipe, it started at last year's Gaming Like It's 1929 game jam!
Already working on my entry for next year.
Come on, fellow designers! Let's light this thing up!
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
#PublicDomain
Already working on my entry for next year.
Come on, fellow designers! Let's light this thing up!
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
#PublicDomain
Gaming Like It's 1930
A game jam from 2026-01-01 to 2026-02-01 hosted by Randy Lubin & Copia Gaming. A new year means new material entering the public domain! Starting January 1st 2026, works from 1930 are free to use and ...
itch.io
November 25, 2025 at 11:38 PM
If you're curious about the origins of This Is Not a Game About a Pipe, it started at last year's Gaming Like It's 1929 game jam!
Already working on my entry for next year.
Come on, fellow designers! Let's light this thing up!
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
#PublicDomain
Already working on my entry for next year.
Come on, fellow designers! Let's light this thing up!
itch.io/jam/gaming-l...
#PublicDomain