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Commodity speculation in Soda Jerk
Exploring how Soda Jerk by Chris Yi uses hidden information, stock manipulation, and influence vs. control in a game about combining soda flavors. Also…
Dec 23
10
4
Circus Flohcati: a push your luck card market
Exploring how Reiner Knizia's Circus Flohcati makes an open draft card market feel dynamic without the usual incentives and discard mechanisms. Also…
Dec 16
10
10
Let me know what you think! SCM Reader Survey 2025
The third annual Skeleton Code Machine Reader Survey starts now! Let me know what you want to see more (or less) of, which game you loved this year, and…
Dec 15
11
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Public domain art resources
Apr 4, 2023
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Exeunt Press
162
17
31
Make your own one-page RPG (Part 1: Introduction)
Jul 21, 2024
88
16
8
More public domain art resources
Jan 30, 2024
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Exeunt Press
74
12
9
Get creative with one-page RPGs
Feb 25
83
17
7
Don't ask these playtesting questions!
Apr 8
54
21
8
What kind of fun are you having?
Oct 10, 2023
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Exeunt Press
55
11
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Tumulus 05. "Step into the fairy ring." 🍄
The latest issue of Tumulus is shipping now, packed with game design inspiration and exercises. Fairies, soup, dark forests, fey contract law, somatic…
Dec 10
14
5
2
Make your own TTRPG bookmark
Exploring the different types of games that can fit on a bookmark, and how books can be used as part of tabletop mechanisms. Also, three new bookmark…
Dec 9
39
18
9
🎁 Skeleton Code Machine Gift Guide 2025
Gift ideas for those who love tabletop board games and roleplaying games, collected from this year's Skeleton Code Machine articles.
Dec 8
25
3
2
Everything is pointcrawl!
Exploring hexcrawls, pointcrawls, and other crawls to see if everything is actually just a pointcrawl. How we can reduce the illusion of choice and…
Dec 2
59
27
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Fair (and fairy) cake-cutting in Pacts
Exploring how the divide and choose ("I cut. You choose.") mechanism in Pacts from DVC combines with area control to create tough choices and meaningful…
Nov 25
24
7
2
Revisiting SPI's 1981 Dragonslayer and what it can teach us
What can we learn from the board game adaptation of the 1981 dark fantasy film Dragonslayer? Quite a bit, both from what it does well and how it might…
Nov 18
25
4
2
Skirmish Week is coming and I need your help.
Which skirmish games do you love? Do skirmish games need minis? Let me know what makes a game a "skirmish game" and which games you'd like to see…
Nov 13
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Exeunt Press
14
18
Using blackjack to raise the dead
Exploring Necromancer Heretic by Junk Food Games and how traditional games can be modified and recontextualized as the basis for modern board games and…
Nov 11
26
7
2
Who's behind Skeleton Code Machine?
It's me. I'm the person! Learn a little more about me in an interview I did with TTRPGKids where we talked about my background, teaching at libraries…
Nov 5
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Exeunt Press
19
3
1
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Skeleton Code Machine
Spark your creativity as a tabletop game designer or enthusiast, and think differently about how games work. ENNIE-nominated!
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