Barb, MeeplePhD (she/her)
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meeplephd.bsky.social
Barb, MeeplePhD (she/her)
@meeplephd.bsky.social
79 followers 120 following 85 posts
Board gaming astronomer who sees the stars in everything I do. #Astronomy #TableTopGames #BoardGames #SciComms
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meeplephd.bsky.social
Unwound after another stressful day (nothing new, just the constant chaos) with some familiar and comfortable games.
Photo of a player's tree in Kodama: The Tree Spirits. The tree has a large card as the trunk. Smaller cards have branches drawn on them and several are laid out to form long and short branches sprouting from the trunk.
August 29, 2025 at 2:44 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Lots of games this weekend! The LOOP, Wingspan, Deep Regrets, Dominion, Lost Ruins of Arnak, and Wishland. Whew!
Photo of a hand holding a card from Deep Regrets with their player board in the background. The card has a weird looking fish-like creature with long, spider-like legs. The card is titled Skitterfin."
July 21, 2025 at 2:00 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Squeaked out Employee of the Year in the L.A.S.E.R. Centrifuge scenario of The Loop tonight, even though we had two vortexes pop off on the third turn (!!)
The Loop board game on the table. A green figure stands on a circular board. The board has a number of red cubes, green cubes, and cardboard disks scattered around. I. The center the board is a purple cube tower.
July 19, 2025 at 2:10 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Just a reminder to find the light when you can.
A black cat looks up to the left. Sunshine bathes him from behind.
July 17, 2025 at 1:29 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
CALL FOR ACTION!
The presidential budget request cuts NASA next year by about 25%. Hardest hit is science, with a 50% cut. Along with other science cuts across the government, this is an extinction-event for science in America.

More from the Planetary Society: www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc...
Purple slide with planets, stars and asteroids along the edits. Text reads: Save NASA science. The presidential budget request cuts NASA by 25% overall, but science takes the biggest hit with a 47% cut. This, along with other cuts to NSF and NIH, will put the US behind by decades. Purple slide with a planet and asteroids in the corners. An image shows a multwavelngth view of the Crab Nebula. Text reads: NASA science isn’t just about pretty pictures Among many other achievements, technology development for X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes has led to advances in medical imaging like faster or portable scanners. Purple slide with planets in the corners. A large graphic shows many small squares arranged in a 16x18 grid. This represents the overall U.S. budget. One of the squares is colored in - it is the NASA budget. Text reads: Cutting NASA’s science doesn’t save much money, and does more harm than good to our technological future. Purple slide with asteroids, a planet and star. Text reads: What can you do? Contact your members of congress https://bit.ly/NASAAction Let others know Get more information https://bit.ly/SaveNASASci
July 3, 2025 at 12:28 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Got in a little mid-week gaming tonight. It's a much needed break from...well, everything.
A player's final tree in Kodama:The Tree Spirits. A central card serves as the trunk, and many other cards are played off of it, each depicting a branch and a few different icons which include clouds, stars, caterpillars, flowers, fireflies, and mushrooms. One tile shows a white creature on a swing with "50" on its belly.
June 25, 2025 at 1:55 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Could you accidentally turn a game box into a black hole? I looked into that a couple years ago for #BlackHoleWeek!
May 8, 2025 at 11:33 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
We had to pull out Planet Unknown with the black hole board for #BlackHoleWeek. HAD to!
A player board for Planet Unknown on the table. It features a black hole with an orange accretion disk. There are polyomino tiles on the board, surrounding the black hole. To the left is a corporation board with lots of tracks.
May 7, 2025 at 11:26 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
A couple years ago for #BlackHoleWeek, I looked at the black hole cards in Stellar and found some results they reminded me of.
May 6, 2025 at 11:58 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
It was so refreshing to get out and enjoy spring tonight. We checked out the Spring Illuminations at the Maryland Zoo, and it was magical, especially after sunset.
Illuminated lanterns in the shapes of flowers. One of the flowers has a bee on top of it.
April 28, 2025 at 2:00 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Enjoyed an afternoon of games with my honey this afternoon!
Photo of a player's park in Dice Theme Park. Hexagonal tiles show different attractions and several have dice or giraffe mascot tokens. A player's park in Tenpenny Parks, which has polyomino attractions and wooden tree tokens.
March 30, 2025 at 2:28 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Monday cat break.
A black cat lies on a colorful pet bed bathed in sunshine
March 11, 2025 at 1:39 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Got an old favorite to the table tonight...my suburb didn't have the best reputation, but that was by design.
A player's finished city in Suburbia. Hex tiles with green, yellow, gray, and blue borders make up the player's city, each with art and text too small to bed legible. A hand holds a circular tile between two fingers. It is a goal tile from Suburbia. It has a small meeple at the top that says +20. The center indicates the player wants the lowest reputation, and the title is "miscreant."
March 7, 2025 at 3:57 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
We got in some gaming over the weekend...nice to decompress from the sh*t going on all around us
Photo of a player's board and tableau in Wayfarers of the South Tigris. There is a line of cards representing land and sea with another line of cards above showing astronomical observations.
February 25, 2025 at 2:13 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
There were some candle lit games last night after we lost power due to high winds. Luckily it came back around 3 am
Three candles dimly light the action tiles from Spots the board game.
February 18, 2025 at 2:53 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Our five year mission ultimately succeeded, though we may have bungled a few rules early on. But we had fun, and that's all that matters!
A display of cards showing screen captures from Star Trek The Next Generation. The bottoms of the cards have spaces for dice with a variety of numbers and the colors red, blue, yellow. One die is placed on one card.
February 16, 2025 at 3:21 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Got in a game of Dinosaur World last night. My park had more dino attractions -- like triceratops ring toss and T. Rex jet ski -- than paddocks. That seems about right.
Photo of a player's park on Dinosaur World. There are 9 hexagonal tiles depicting different theme park attractions laid out with plastic dinosaur figures on several of them.
February 15, 2025 at 4:03 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
I've been playing way more hours of Hello Kitty Island Adventure than I probably should.
Screenshot from Hello Kitty Island Adventure showing a bunny character in a room with colorful tiles on the floor.
February 8, 2025 at 3:27 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
A Thursday night game and conversation with a friend are good for my soul ... Even if the game wasn't going as well as it could
The LOOP game board with a lot of duplicates scattered around the various eras.
February 7, 2025 at 1:45 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Did I play this card because it's a cute robot? Maaaaybe... 🤖
A hand holds a card from Creature Caravan depicting a cartoon robot.
February 3, 2025 at 3:41 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Got in a game of Flamecraft today (among others)!
Two playing cards held in a hand. The cards depict colorful dragons.
February 2, 2025 at 4:35 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Spend a chill day cuddling the cats and letting my headache win.
A tuxedo cat lounges on a fluffy pillow with her front leg drapes over the front.
February 1, 2025 at 12:39 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
We took on the Daleks tonight!
Player set up for Dr. Who: Time of the Daleks with painted minis of the fifth doctor and K-9.
January 31, 2025 at 4:14 AM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Sorry, can't board game...I've been captured by the opposition.
Calico cat sitting on a blanket-covered lap
January 26, 2025 at 8:33 PM
meeplephd.bsky.social
Finally got back to the loom -- I'm hoping these will be kitchen towels, but I'm experimenting with the size, so we'll see!
July 17, 2024 at 1:13 AM