Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
@stoichamster.bsky.social
Almost award-winning tabletop game designer, musician, photographer, father of two, possible descendant of pirates
Pinned
A Cooperative Card Game Where Every Number Counts
We're officially halfway through our Road to Gen Con and it's time to say hello to Beasts, a compact cooperative puzzle game filled with clever cardplay, rising tension, and one very specific rule: pl...
pandasaurusgames.com
Finally! I've been dying to talk about my newest game, Beasts! This might be my best design yet. It's definitely my most elegant. It's a co-op "cards with numbers" game that should appeal to fans of The Game. More details and the rulebook are here: pandasaurusgames.com/blogs/pandas...
Sometimes, like today, game design is wondering what the plural of "platypus" is
November 6, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Sometimes, like today, game design is wondering what the plural of "platypus" is
Squirrel Away design diary complete! 😮💨
I always super-underestimate how long it takes me to write these. Somebody teach me to be less verbose!
I always super-underestimate how long it takes me to write these. Somebody teach me to be less verbose!
October 28, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Squirrel Away design diary complete! 😮💨
I always super-underestimate how long it takes me to write these. Somebody teach me to be less verbose!
I always super-underestimate how long it takes me to write these. Somebody teach me to be less verbose!
Had such a fun time at another stellar Lawrence concert tonight
October 26, 2025 at 5:23 AM
Had such a fun time at another stellar Lawrence concert tonight
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
Come get nuts with us at Spiel Essen 2025, Hall 3 3P200
October 24, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Come get nuts with us at Spiel Essen 2025, Hall 3 3P200
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
We are live! And we funded in 15 minutes! Amazing! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lud...
October 14, 2025 at 2:30 PM
We are live! And we funded in 15 minutes! Amazing! www.kickstarter.com/projects/lud...
Lies and falsehoods
Here’s a primer on ‘primer.’
It’s pronounced ‘PRIMM-er’ if you mean “a small book” or “a short informative piece of writing.”
It’s pronounced ‘PRY-mer’ if you mean “an initial coat of paint.”
It’s pronounced ‘PRIMM-er’ if you mean “a small book” or “a short informative piece of writing.”
It’s pronounced ‘PRY-mer’ if you mean “an initial coat of paint.”
October 10, 2025 at 2:43 AM
Lies and falsehoods
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
heyyyyyy did you know i like doing podcasts? have me on! i can talk to you about designing trick takers, or publishing small batch games, or indie games night market, or going to japan for tokyo game market, or learning japanese, or seeing 2-4 movies in the theater a week, or nerds gummy clusters...
October 6, 2025 at 10:04 PM
heyyyyyy did you know i like doing podcasts? have me on! i can talk to you about designing trick takers, or publishing small batch games, or indie games night market, or going to japan for tokyo game market, or learning japanese, or seeing 2-4 movies in the theater a week, or nerds gummy clusters...
Just realized that there will be 6(!) of my games on the floor at Essen - Beasts, Squirrel Away, the German editions of the Merchants of Magick expansions, and the German editions of Chomp and the Flyers and Scavengers expansion. boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/...
SPIEL Essen 25 Preview
Hundreds of new games will be introduced at SPIEL Essen 25. This preview covers games debuting at that show or recently released or (for smaller publishers) released since 2024.
boardgamegeek.com
October 7, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Just realized that there will be 6(!) of my games on the floor at Essen - Beasts, Squirrel Away, the German editions of the Merchants of Magick expansions, and the German editions of Chomp and the Flyers and Scavengers expansion. boardgamegeek.com/geekpreview/...
"I think Beasts offers some interesting flexibility and strategic play that is wholly unique from The Game, but perfectly reasonably compared to it. For one thing, Beasts has infinitely better SEO than The Game” 🤣
Eric gets it! And I will never get how "The Game" got approved as an actual title.
Eric gets it! And I will never get how "The Game" got approved as an actual title.
it's another cool art week at What's Eric Playing?, but it's almost always cool art week
heeeere's beasts
http://whatsericplaying.com/2025/10/06/beasts/
heeeere's beasts
http://whatsericplaying.com/2025/10/06/beasts/
October 6, 2025 at 1:43 PM
"I think Beasts offers some interesting flexibility and strategic play that is wholly unique from The Game, but perfectly reasonably compared to it. For one thing, Beasts has infinitely better SEO than The Game” 🤣
Eric gets it! And I will never get how "The Game" got approved as an actual title.
Eric gets it! And I will never get how "The Game" got approved as an actual title.
I cannot make my brain pronounce "ichor" the way it's supposed to be pronounced
October 3, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I cannot make my brain pronounce "ichor" the way it's supposed to be pronounced
I just backed Wizard Community College on Kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/161...
Wizard Community College
A hilarious 20 minute roleplaying card game of magic and mistakes
www.kickstarter.com
October 1, 2025 at 4:14 PM
I just backed Wizard Community College on Kickstarter www.kickstarter.com/projects/161...
I'm doing some dev work on Flintlock!, the new game in the Blitzkrieg series of 20-minute 2-player wargames. I'm coordinating some digital playtesting that's happening over the next few weeks. Any mutuals interested in helping out for the promise of a free copy of the game when it's released?
September 29, 2025 at 2:44 AM
I'm doing some dev work on Flintlock!, the new game in the Blitzkrieg series of 20-minute 2-player wargames. I'm coordinating some digital playtesting that's happening over the next few weeks. Any mutuals interested in helping out for the promise of a free copy of the game when it's released?
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
Convention planning via 3D modeling is pretty fun. I think we'll be doing up a booth something like this at PAX Unplugged
September 28, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Convention planning via 3D modeling is pretty fun. I think we'll be doing up a booth something like this at PAX Unplugged
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
Hey board game designers I made a list of Pax Unplugged publishers: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
"Would need to ask", means website and maybe contact, but their site doesn't mention submissions.
Leave a comment if I need to fix something up.
"Would need to ask", means website and maybe contact, but their site doesn't mention submissions.
Leave a comment if I need to fix something up.
Pax Unplugged Publisher List 2025
docs.google.com
September 28, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Hey board game designers I made a list of Pax Unplugged publishers: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
"Would need to ask", means website and maybe contact, but their site doesn't mention submissions.
Leave a comment if I need to fix something up.
"Would need to ask", means website and maybe contact, but their site doesn't mention submissions.
Leave a comment if I need to fix something up.
This hurricane forecast is art
September 24, 2025 at 5:37 PM
This hurricane forecast is art
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
I'm looking for anyone interested in interviewing me about my upcoming game Twisted Trumpets which is being published by Play to Z Games and will be available to purchase at Essen and in retail shortly thereafter.
September 24, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I'm looking for anyone interested in interviewing me about my upcoming game Twisted Trumpets which is being published by Play to Z Games and will be available to purchase at Essen and in retail shortly thereafter.
"It was insane how such simple mechanics could lead to, just a hysterical time"
Audio-only, but first full review I've seen for Squirrel Away!
youtu.be/pOnrt8sKDE8
Audio-only, but first full review I've seen for Squirrel Away!
youtu.be/pOnrt8sKDE8
Reviews: Squirrel Away
YouTube video by Board All the Time
youtu.be
September 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
"It was insane how such simple mechanics could lead to, just a hysterical time"
Audio-only, but first full review I've seen for Squirrel Away!
youtu.be/pOnrt8sKDE8
Audio-only, but first full review I've seen for Squirrel Away!
youtu.be/pOnrt8sKDE8
I was skeptical at first, but these were pretty great!
September 24, 2025 at 1:09 AM
I was skeptical at first, but these were pretty great!
The hype is real. Hot Streak is soooo good! Immediately added it to my wishlist.
September 21, 2025 at 3:28 AM
The hype is real. Hot Streak is soooo good! Immediately added it to my wishlist.
Board game career paths can be pretty weird. Just learned the VP of game development at Exploding Kittens came from academia where he wrote a PhD dissertation on French colonialism in the 1600s.
September 18, 2025 at 2:56 PM
Board game career paths can be pretty weird. Just learned the VP of game development at Exploding Kittens came from academia where he wrote a PhD dissertation on French colonialism in the 1600s.
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
Pretty much anything anyone ever cites as "always bad in game design" I will fight them on. The longer I've designed games, the more I've come to believe that context is ALWAYS King. ALWAYS. There is a situation in which EVERY "Never do X" rule for game design should be broken.
Thoughts on why downtime isn’t always a bad thing and why constant engagement isn’t always desirable
What’s up downtime?
Reviews often share certain assumptions about what makes good gameplay. Despite the old claptrap that all quality is subjective and that objectivity is only possible when comparing cardboard thickn…
lestmyopinions.com
September 17, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Pretty much anything anyone ever cites as "always bad in game design" I will fight them on. The longer I've designed games, the more I've come to believe that context is ALWAYS King. ALWAYS. There is a situation in which EVERY "Never do X" rule for game design should be broken.
It was humbling tonight to teach one of my lighter games, Chomp, to a table full of chemists who kept getting confused about several rules and saying "this is complicated!" But also, they asked to play again 3 times in a row... so I'm calling that a win!
September 17, 2025 at 1:43 AM
It was humbling tonight to teach one of my lighter games, Chomp, to a table full of chemists who kept getting confused about several rules and saying "this is complicated!" But also, they asked to play again 3 times in a row... so I'm calling that a win!
Reposted by Clarence Simpson 🔜 PAXU
Back home after a fantastic (1st annual?) GDofNC game jam! We had 19 designers in 5 teams. And even the jam constraints were gamified. Each team took turns drafting components, mechanics, and themes from the list. It was a blast, and my team is going to keep working on our game, Kazoo Prodigy.
September 14, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Back home after a fantastic (1st annual?) GDofNC game jam! We had 19 designers in 5 teams. And even the jam constraints were gamified. Each team took turns drafting components, mechanics, and themes from the list. It was a blast, and my team is going to keep working on our game, Kazoo Prodigy.