David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
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davidmasnato.com
David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
@davidmasnato.com
620 followers 390 following 510 posts
🎲 Game Designer - #CampCharmwood
🎨 Art/Graphic Design - #Turncoats #PaxPenning
💛 I try my best - He/Him
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davidmasnato.com
David Masnato 🔜 PAXU @davidmasnato.com · Oct 12
Looks like pinned posts are live now so how about a re-intro?

I'm David! I make non-violent tabletop games with unconventional and thematic player dynamics. My main two projects are "Spell Week" and "Tiers of Joy". Sometimes I do graphic design for Matilda Simonsson.
A digital render of a slightly outdated version of Spell week. Various colorful tokens and cards cover a central playing area. Player boards and cards for each player surround the central playing area. A digital rendering of Tiers of Joy. Colorful tokens are clustered in a central area with small stacks resembling layer cakes placed around the outer edge.
davidmasnato.com
Printing, cutting, and assembly is complete on all three prototypes for #PAXU! Ready to go!

I'll be bringing...

- The first physical iteration of the brand new board layout for #CampCharmwood
- #OarDeal, a trick taker/shedder about a canoe trip
- #Saros, an 18 card game about the sun and moon
November 12, 2025 at 5:04 PM
davidmasnato.com
"LUX" by Rosalía has been on nonstop rotation for me over the last few days. Its ambition, scope, and execution is stunning. Pretty handedly the most beautiful album of 2025 and a must listen.
The album art for LUX by Rosalía. The art is a photo of Rosalía wearing a white outfit in front of a blue background. The word LUX is written over the photo.
November 9, 2025 at 3:10 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
lunarpunk.games
The Midnight Market is live.

The night is for indie games. 🌖
lunarpunk.games/midnightmarket
November 8, 2025 at 5:00 AM
davidmasnato.com
Everything is terrible so enjoy a selection from my new favorite YouTube channel.

Most of the videos are of a cat and a lamb trying to decide who gets to sit on the big rock. Sometimes they both get to sit in the big rock.

youtu.be/O12F4HkKMg8?...
Lamb And Cat Decide To Share The Rock
YouTube video by Lee Walters
youtu.be
October 30, 2025 at 12:35 AM
davidmasnato.com
I'm feeling so good about my lil trick taker/shedder that I've decided to pitch it at #PAXU!

Oar Deal is a game about going on a canoeing trip and trying your best to not fall out of the canoe. It plays 3-5 players in about 25 mins with just 54 cards.

DMs open to anyone interested!
A logo for Oar Deal. The logo has the words Oar Deal positioned around a paddle on a watery background. A digital rendering of Oar Deal. Four colorful cards surround three piles arranged in a central area.
October 7, 2025 at 12:28 AM
davidmasnato.com
The Shut Up & Sit Down review of The Old Kings Crown is excellent. No surprises there.

But can we talk about the cameo appearance of High Tide by @marcelineleiman.bsky.social hiding on the bookshelf? Review incoming?
A screenshot from the Shut Up & Sit Down review of The Old Kings Crown. Tom is seated at a table, mid explanation. Behind him is a bookshelf holding a few board games. One of them is High Tide.
October 4, 2025 at 12:38 AM
davidmasnato.com
A few weeks ago, I made a comment about how I often find trick takers difficult to internalize. I figured there's no better way to learn about games you don't understand than to just jump in and see how they work from the inside out.

So now I've made a trick taker and I think it's pretty fun!
September 27, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
unpub.org
🫨 We announced it in our September newsletter:

Unpub Festival Badge sales and reserved tables will open on October 1st at 12pm ET! 

More info: 
https://www.unpub.org/upcoming-events/unpub-festival-2026
Unpub Festival 2026 logo. It's so fun and new age!
September 24, 2025 at 9:09 PM
davidmasnato.com
Once sentence. Six words. Three proper nouns, each one a plot twist.
A screenshot of a photo and headline from Stereogum posted on September 13, 2025. The headline reads "Clipse Played Vatican City On Disney+". The photo is of Clipse performing.
September 14, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
jdragsky.bsky.social
good morning, i wrote a manifesto about a new direction for game design / play
possumcreek.medium.com/the-expressi...
The Expressionist Games Manifesto
“Work! Intoxication! Brain-racking! Chewing, eating, gorging, rooting up! Rapturous birth pangs! Jabbing of the brush, preferably right…
possumcreek.medium.com
September 8, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
gregisonthego.bsky.social
I put down some thoughts about game design, what it’s good for, and what it isn’t good for in this zine!

Plus, a short guide to help get you started making a game if you’ve never done that before: gregisonthego.itch.io/rulebooks-fo...

✂️ 🎲 ✊ 🔥
A photo of the cover of the zine, featuring a black protest sign with an icon of rolling dice on it. In the background are some board game boxes, including Bloc by Bloc: Uprising and Fog of Love
June 27, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
elizhargrave.bsky.social
Update to this chart that I share a lot. Not breaking news: Game design teams are still OVERWHELMINGLY all men. About 7% of the top 500 games have a woman or non-binary person credited as a designer. A 🧵of related charts: (1/6)
🎲✂️
Gender of Game Designers: Board Game Geek Top 500, January 2025 A pie chart: 92% of the pie is Designed only by men. They made 461 of the top 500 games. 6% of the pie is Designed by a mixed-gender group. They made 28 of the top 500 games. 1% of the pie is Designed only by women or non-binary people. They made 5 of the top 500 games. Data are for January 1, 2025, using the names in the Designer field on BGG. Not shown are 6 games in the top 500 that have uncredited designers.
September 4, 2025 at 10:09 PM
davidmasnato.com
If you're following along with today's board game/TTRPG discourse, the "genuinely cool stuff brewing behind the scenes" quote posted here is the incredible variety of games in development right now that blur the boundaries of RPGs and board games.

How about a thread of some of my favorites?
davidmasnato.com David Masnato 🔜 PAXU @davidmasnato.com · Aug 9
As much as the last few weeks of board game and tabletop events have sucked (with sprinklings of wins scattered between), there's genuinely cool stuff brewing behind the scenes!

I know it's hard to get excited when the news is terrible, but good things are happening as well! I promise!
August 28, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
lunarpunk.games
If you want to explore design territory that moves away from this focus on colonialist domination or capitalist productivity, start at the end: the game's outcome. What are players trying to accomplish and why? Do they really need to have the most, or is it reasonable to have enough?
xoe.gay Xo3 (it/its) 🐰🔪 @xoe.gay · Aug 28
Hey, if you found me because of the recent discourse about board games and their place in political/artistic expression, check out my video about how competitive games and victory points funnel the human experience through a colonialist/capitalist lens.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTKf...

🎲✂️
The Emperor's High Score
YouTube video by Knife Bunny
www.youtube.com
August 28, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
amabel.bsky.social
this is about how some ttrpg designers see board game designers but is also, depressingly, about how many board game designers see board game designers

it's changing, albeit slowly, and gosh I'm glad for that
jdragsky.bsky.social jay Dragon is recovering @jdragsky.bsky.social · Aug 28
i have a lot of empathy for my sisters in board games who struggle to have their artistic vision appreciated in a substantially more publisher-strangled world while simultaneously being dismissed by other designers who dont engage w the scope of their creative practixe
August 28, 2025 at 10:01 AM
davidmasnato.com
Sometimes a rulebook read through is all you need to know a game is going to be special.

High Tide packs so much puzzle into a delightful and compact package. It's every bit as good as you've heard.
A photo of High Tide. Pink, cream, and blue hexagonal tokens are arranged and stacked on a wooden table. Each token has a screen printed seashell on it.
August 26, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
connor.alwaysawake.games
So in October I’ll be launching my first ks! It’s a bundle of two spooky card games: Club Spooky and That’s the Spirit. I’ve talked about them before, but I wanted to finally do a proper introduction and talk about my goal for all this. 🧵1/6 www.kickstarter.com/projects/alw...
Coming soon: Club Spooky & That's the Spirit
The Ghost Party Bundle: A bundle of 2 spooky card games
www.kickstarter.com
August 20, 2025 at 4:14 PM
davidmasnato.com
I just finished Amabel Holland's book "Cardboard Ghosts." Anyone interested in game design should read it. It's wonderful.

The final chapter in particular nearly brought me to tears as validation of why the games I make and the games I'm inspired by are valid art. Moving and inspiring work.
August 18, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
marcelineleiman.bsky.social
This is such a supreme disappointment.
🎲✂️

Ultimate Guard, known for their popular game sleeves and deck boxes, are making a new line of Harry Potter themed products.

Only through collective, direct action can we start to see change.

Let them know of your discontent:

ticket@ultimateguard.com
rachelkendra.com rachel❌kendra @rachelkendra.com · Aug 3
i really like ultimate guard boulders and katana sleeves. too bad i'm never buying any of them ever again.
a set of four Ultimate Guard Boulder deck boxes, each themed around a different house from Harry Potter, a series of books written by one of the most outspoken transphobes in the world, who uses her immense platform and wealth to demonize and directly harm trans people.
August 14, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
425suzanne.bsky.social
Looking for tabletop gaming orgs that accept donations that benefit BIPOC in the industry.

@rosegauntlet.bsky.social does the foundation take donations?
@ttgda.bsky.social you have a grant program, right?
August 11, 2025 at 10:15 PM
davidmasnato.com
I'm sad to close out 2025 not being able to attend any Protospiel Online events, but if you can make this one, do it!

@protospielo.bsky.social and @breakmygame.com continue to be the most inclusive and supportive online playtesting spaces and it's not even close.
protospielo.bsky.social Protospiel Online 🔜 Jan 16-18 @protospielo.bsky.social · Aug 9
2 days left to get early bird admission for Protospiel Online August 22-24 2025!

Doors to our online board game playtesting convention open Fri Aug 22 at noon US Eastern. 60 solid hours of playtesting and networking! 🎲♟️🃏

protospiel.online/badges 🎲✂️

#boardgamedesign #tabletopdesign #playtesting
When I attended Protospiel Online for the first time, I didn't quite know what kind of thing I was getting myself into. From the very first minute I joined, the host in the room was incredibly welcoming and helpful, and everyone was positive and supportive throughout. It was great to experience such a wide variety of games in such a short space of time, and to talk to more experienced designers in between games. ~Nik Silver
August 9, 2025 at 11:25 PM
davidmasnato.com
As much as the last few weeks of board game and tabletop events have sucked (with sprinklings of wins scattered between), there's genuinely cool stuff brewing behind the scenes!

I know it's hard to get excited when the news is terrible, but good things are happening as well! I promise!
August 9, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
blockcollectives.bsky.social
Our official response:
Last night, the organizers of the trans boycott of CGE read with delight CGE’s third public announcement related to the publishing of content that actively harms trans rights globally. Their long awaited apology is very welcome, as is their alignment with trans rights as human rights. In this moment where our legal rights are under attack more than ever, such a statement is fundamental. We also recognise and appreciate their commitment to donate 100% of the profits of this game and look forward to working with them to help repair the relationship with their trans fans and to build new relationships with the trans movement in Czechia. We completely understand that many trans people are still hurt and don’t yet feel safe in this environment. The way that CGE initially responded to the problem, blocking hundreds of trans people, created an enormous amount of pain and mistrust. It will take time to build those relationships back again. We do not see this as a perfect situation. We would have hoped that by now, all of our favourite publishers would have known not to publish something that puts money in the pockets of someone who is trying to destroy our right to a peaceful and equal existence. But now that we are in this situation, and now that CGE is listening, let us turn to the job of making our own magical world: a board game hobby space that cherishes and protects all of the people in it, including the trans ones.
August 9, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
marcelineleiman.bsky.social
You can now follow @blockcollectives.bsky.social!

Join the discord and become an official Blocker!!
marcelineleiman.bsky.social Marceline Leiman 🔜 Indie Games Night Market @ PaxU @marcelineleiman.bsky.social · Aug 7
#BlockCollective is a volunteer-run community with the united goal of sharing resources and information, disrupting bigoted spaces, and serious engagement on the topic of trans rights.

Please join us as we help shape the boardgame industry into a safer and inclusive space. 🎲✂️

discord.gg/D7E6gqwrRF
Block Collective logo.
August 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
Reposted by David Masnato 🔜 PAXU
ttgda.bsky.social
TTGDA statement about sensitivity around art depictions in games.
Recently the leadership of the Tabletop Game Designers Association became aware that the new game from Devir, Ace of Spades, contains offensive and disturbing artwork of minority groups in the American West. While the industry as a whole has made progress in being more inclusive and sensitive in depictions of people, this demonstrates that there is still much work to be done. We urge all publishers to use cultural consultants to review artwork, language, and other aspects of games to help guard against these issues and protect against the blind spots that all of us have in certain areas. Also, generally, it is fraught when slavery and other serious issues are used as ‘window dressing’ or stereotypes. These issues are worthy of inclusion and exploration in games, but need to be engaged with in a thoughtful way for a reason, not just for period seasoning. TTGDA will also now strongly recommend that all contracts contain a clause that gives designers the right to review art prior to publication, and remove their name and likeness from a game if they have issues with the artwork, theme, or mechanics changes implemented by a publisher. This will be part of our standard review template going forward. As an industry we need to continue to strive to do better.
August 8, 2025 at 2:47 AM