J. Rey Lee

And if you missed the first two design diaries, here are the links:

1. What Did I Just Sign Up For? lookingglance.com/2025/06/01/d...

2. Exemplifying Eurogames lookingglance.com/2025/08/01/d...

Unsettling Catan will release in print, open access (free) ebook, and audiobook versions in just one month.

lookingglance.com/unsettling-c...

So many mentions in this one that they needed another post!

@criticalplay.bsky.social @hopfka.bsky.social

Design Diary 3: The ‘C’ Words Controversy.  Love it or hate it, it’s become inescapable.  These days, it’s not just a handful of hot-button issues—almost any topic can become polarizing in a heartbeat.  Clearly, …

Can cultural criticism convince cardboard consumers to challenge colonialism and capitalism in Catan?

Find out in my newest design diary. CU there!

#boardgames @pbooth81.bsky.social @aarontram.bsky.social @uofmpress.bsky.social @beyondsolitaire.bsky.social @nopunincluded.com @stonemaiergames.com

Unsettling Catan Audiobook (PREORDER) NOTE: This is a PREORDER so the download link will only provide the preview audio until the book officially releases in November 2025. After that, the full audiobook will be available.This audiobook v...

Preorders for the Unsettling Catan audiobook are now live!

My narration honestly isn't going to knock anyone's socks off, but at least it's human. 🚫🤖🚫

You can listen to the preview for a sneak peek and the rest will release alongside the print and ebook versions in November.

#boardgames #catan

Deconstructing the language of boardgaming? The very definition of fun!

Promotional graphic for the book 'Unsettling Catan: Detached Design in Eurogames' by J. Rey Lee. The book's dark grey cover is on the left, with a featured rust coloured hexagon. The cover stands against the same rust coloured background with a faint hexagonal pattern behind. There is a featured endorsement to the right of the cover, reading 'a fun, eye-opening deep dive that unsettles the classic Settlers and other contemporary board games with detailed, thoughtful analysis. If you love board games, it’s an essential read!' and this is by Mary Flanagan of Dartmouth College. The University of Michigan Press is below this.

🎲 From UMP's exciting new 'Tabletop Games' series, 'Unsettling Catan' traces how Catan sparked the eurogame boom while questioning how its “peaceful” design masks power, conflict, & imperialist themes in play.
bit.ly/47Wj6k6
@uofmpress.bsky.social
@livunipress.bsky.social

Any thoughts on the so-called "momentum" system?

To me, by far the most interesting and innovative thing about this game is that you're trying to build a literally unstoppable perpetual motion machine

A microphone in front of a computer screen displaying the manuscript for Unsettling Catan.

Just finished recording the audiobook for Unsettling Catan 🎤

There was definitely a learning curve but I had fun with it!

If editing goes smoothly, this should be released alongside the print and ebook editions in November.

#boardgames

Reminder that this is open access, so no need to buy a copy.

If you do want to pre-order, you can get 40% off with code PREORDERS25

Author holding up copy of book.

Just got my advance copy!

Unsettling Catan releases Nov. 4

lookingglance.com/unsettling-catan/

#boardgames @uofmpress.bsky.social

I, Scientist Who doesn’t love a good science montage?  There’s nothing quite like scientists with furrowed brows hunching over microscopes, deftly operating futuristic machines, and holding up test t…

“I, Scientist,” my second post-pandemic Pandemic boardgame reflection is now up at The Looking Glance.

I’ve now been at it for half a year, which I believe counts as a decade in non-2025 years! 🎉

#boardgames #standupforscience #pandemic @mattleacock.bsky.social

Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.

"If your books were uploaded to LibGen/fed into the LLMs, add your name to the potential class action lawsuit by tomorrow." Details:

LibDem database: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...

Attorney form: www.lieffcabraser.com/anthropic-au...

(This information comes via a reliable Discord source.)

Like I suppose I could technically learn any new language, but I've tried for years and years and it's never sunk in for me the way other things do.

And if someone tried to encourage me by saying it's just not that complicated or I'm smart enough that I should get it, I don't think that'd help.

I agree that it's not about intelligence, but I don't want to understate the real cognitive burden some games place on players.

I absolutely think games privilege certain ways of thinking that don't come as easily to everyone. We're all different that way.

Agree that these are huge factors. To me, the biggest might just be enjoyment. People who have fun learning games learn easily and even smart people struggle when it feels like work.

But I've seen folks genuinely struggle with complicated games. It's not usually the biggest factor, but it's real.

Second, we need to nuance the conversation.

Only drawing lines that publishers shouldn’t cross isn’t enough. That teaches folks to tread carefully but not to think critically.

If we want better art, we need to get better about talking about #boardgames as art.

(3/3)

So, what can?

First, we need to expand the conversation.

The fact that both publishers expressed *surprise* and *regret* shows that the conversation isn’t reaching far enough. With better communication, they could have anticipated and avoided the problems beforehand.

(2/3)

I also have mixed feelings about the Devir and CGE wins.

I’m thrilled these boycotts brought about swift, concrete changes. But activism alone can’t create the future we want. Boycotts are too reactive, fleeting, and pragmatic to change the culture responsible for these situations.

🧵(1/3)

Welp, I got this one wrong for sure. The idea that they were trying to convey "strength" seems even less plausible but good on Devir for apologizing and pledging to do something.

In terms of boardgames, parody is never going to work if the mechanisms aren't also asking critical questions.

In terms of visual art, straightforward caricature is never going to work when it just imitates a long history of using caricature to promote racism.

(2/2)

This is so unsubtle that I'd guess they're going to try to call it parody.

But parody isn't offensiveness with a joking tone. Parody has an incisive, critical soul. It punches up instead of down.

Without doing any of that work, it's just plain offensive.

(1/2)

What Do We Do with the Art of Monstrous Men? by Claire Dederer November 20, 2017 –   Roman Polanski, Woody Allen, Bill Cosby, William Burroughs, Richard Wagner, Sid Vicious, V. S. Naipaul, John Galliano, Norman Mailer, Ezra Pound,

Thanks for the rec! I was looking it up and found the article it's based on. It's a fantastic read: www.theparisreview.org/blog/2017/11...

Design Diary: What Did I Just Sign Up For? Writing a book on Catan wasn’t my idea.  When Paul Booth and Aaron Trammell invited me to contribute a volume to a new book series on Tabletop Games, Catan just wasn’t the first thing that cam…

Thanks, Liz!

By the way, I’ve posted two design diaries (with one more on the way) for the book if anyone wants to learn more. Here are the links:

lookingglance.com/2025/06/01/design-diary-what-did-i-just-sign-up-for/

lookingglance.com/2025/08/01/design-diary-exemplifying-eurogames/

I DM'd you 😊

Thanks! My dad teaches in an MFT program, so I've thought about that a bit even though my work is more media and cultural focused.

I definitely think there's a connection between play and attachment theory. I wrote about this a bit in a chapter on The LEGO Movie (different book).

Liz is so easy to talk to! I had a lot of fun and the time flew by!

She probably also lulled me into rambling and saying something strange, but them's the breaks. 🤷‍♂️

Feel free to pick apart my choices and let me know what games you would have chosen instead!

Design Diary: Exemplifying Eurogames Catan is hardly an exemplary eurogame.  I don’t mean that it’s bad.  Catan is a classic, solid design that’s still beloved for good reason.  What I mean is that Catan is a bad exampl…

My 2nd design diary for Unsettling Catan is live on BGG and lookingglance.com.

I talk about why and how I chose six more recent eurogames to compare with Catan. Number 4 will shock you!

Image credit to @semicoop.bsky.social

@pbooth81.bsky.social @aarontram.bsky.social @uofmpress.bsky.social

That's a stance just as much as their press release is. It's not as bad as Rowling's stance, but it still merits critique.

It's telling that CGE is trying so hard to sell HP Codenames as thematic while denying it can have any ideological weight. That's textbook detached design.

(4/4)