Setting sail. Like this ship, in early September 2016. That was The Year of the Monkey. A year full of departures into the unknown, breaking with well-established routines. Changing course, in the book holding the same name, authored by Patti Smith, as in real life.
Setting sail. October 2018. The start of a countdown, which may not have existed without the preceding events. All dots connected. Heading (back) to the land of games. It all started by bringing together words, photos, games, and languages. Things I enjoy. Shaping a blog. With a vague notion of wanting to be more involved in the world of board games. Without much of a plan. Just wandering around. Craving for the journey. Even with no safe shores in the horizon.
Over 50 rule book translations, increasing accessibility, with a fair number for MasQueOca and for TheGeekyPen, including games such as Concordia and Pavlov’s House. Thank you, José Antonio and Jo Lefebure, for the initial opportunity and the continuous trust!
Interviews with Dávid Turczi, Sabrina Miramon, Sarah Shah, and Don Woods, who so kindly accepted to give some of their time and to share insights on board games with a small audience blog.
Short stories for presenting The Isle of Cats, courtesy of Frank West when kindly reaching out for small content producers, and Welcome to Sysifus Corp., thanks to Wonmin Lee.
The lore for Ynaros Fallin’ main story and scenarios, thanks to the trust and creative freedom provided by Ugo Tomasello, and the very professional way of running his very first game design and production. A game soon hitting Kickstarter.
Judge and coach in The Board Game Workshop Design Contest, aimed at games under development, thanks to all the work of Chris Anderson, and the welcoming environment created.
Learning from Paul Grogan, always welcoming and willing to share his knowledge and approaches, and being able to make some minor contributions in the backstage of Gaming Rules! An invaluable opportunity for someone who loves rulebooks and rulebook-related work in its different forms.
Collaborating with Orlando Sá in the final development stages of Rossio and Pessoa, always open to opinions and to share his vision and expertise, which also lead to other conversations, far beyond games. Thank you for your friendship!
Playtesting games such as The Smoky Valley (Claude Sirois, Spielworxx), Lanzerath Ridge (David Thomson, Dan Verssen Games), and That Others May Live (Brad Smith, Hollandspiele – upcoming), amongst others.
A talk at LeiriaCon, the most international Portuguese boardgame convention, courtesy of Micael Sousa, where I covered over 50 years of (my) games in not much more than 10 minutes!
A board game exhibition, at the University of Aveiro, Portugal, thanks to Margarida Almeida, who made me think about games as a collection and how to display it for benefit of larger audiences. An unexpected and rewarding challenge!
