Strange Space Games

05/07/2025

I don't really like to advertise things, but my friend Gregory has launched his board game, Food Truck Race, and I think it's definitely worth checking out. Gregory started designing this game over 5 years ago and has spent a lot of time tweaking it and perfecting everything, and it really shows. It's already funded, hit Project We Love status on Kickstarter, and is very reasonably-priced for what you're getting. The page has a lot of details (and glowing reviews), if you're interested in knowing more.

Overcooked meets Catan! Step into the non-slip shoes of a chef - build out your food truck to plate your menu faster than your friends.

03/28/2024

Made a couple different custom 9-card golf decks of 216 cards, with fitted boxes, for myself and some close friends, with a tarot theme and suits and spooky, trippy face cards. All the cards show their game values, and all 72 face cards are unique. Won't be copyrighting these as they were made with (non-stealing) AI art, but still fun for a personal project/gift, and I'll probably put them up on the website at cost in case anyone out there and their friend group ALSO got weirdly obsessed with this game at some point. In the meantime, message me if you want one!

10/19/2023

ATX Protospiel is this Sat/Sun at Emerald Tavern! It's $5 to show up and playtest a bunch of upcoming games and meet other players/designers in Austin.
I'll be there with Cosmology both days. You can sign up online to reserve playtest spots at:

http://atxgamedesigners.com/protospiel/
Hope to see some of you there! 🌏☀️☄️

09/25/2023

Here's the 2nd of the 3 robot gum mini games: ⚡ Doublevolt ⚡
It's 2 players, VS, portable, and plays in about 10-15 minutes.
In Doublevolt, there's a deck of cards of 2 robotic circuits and a little pattern in the middle. Both players start with a hand of cards and each turn will draw one, then play one on the table to connect it to a similar color, THEN, if they have a card in hand with a pattern found on the board that they connected to that turn, that circuit has been completed and they can score that card and set it aside. First to empty their hand wins.
Sounds simple but it gets a little tricky as every card can only be played OR score points, so you end up trying to play the cards you don't think you'll complete, and save the cards you think you can score. You will need to adapt your strategy based on your opponent's plays, which can often block you or provide an opportunity to score a card you weren't expecting.
One more bot game to introduce, stay tuned! ⚡ 🤖 ⚡

09/19/2023

Ordered and assembled this giant 3d acrylic logo out of laser-cut acrylic pieces to hang up in the booth for conventions. Cosmo box for scale.
By 2024 we will have 7 games released and for sale, so I expect conventions/game expos will start becoming a regular thing and people will actually be able to meet me in person and see that I'm not just an advanced AI who communicates solely through the internet. ⚡🤖 ⚡
Ignore the terrible overhead lighting glares and imperfect pre-adhesive placement. I have some banners and other promo stuff in the works as well that I'll share when they arrive.

09/18/2023

Updates! Cosmology has now been finalized and is currently in prototype production, preparing to be sent out to reviewers in early 2024, with an expected KS launch of Q1 2024 (exact date to come).
I also have a group of 3 mini games to announce, which will be packaged and sold together. All of these games are 2-player, VS, play in under 15 minutes, and each is a small deck of domino sized cards that can easily fit in a pocket. Also, they're all themed as chewing gum for robots, because why not?
I'll introduce the others soon, but here's the first: Bubblebot!
In Bubblebot, each player has a row of 5 bots stuck in bubbles, and each turn they must choose which bots they hold back and which bots they let float away to be replaced, while trying to 1) beat their opponent's bottom row score, while also 2) creating sets and runs of numbered bots to be counted at the end of each round.
It's quick, engaging, and a fun (and adorable) little filler game. More to come!

09/05/2023

Finally redid the Strange Space website! Now you can find more info on released and upcoming games, including some preview info in the Latest News section (link in bio). In general it should be much more user (and mobile) friendly.
ALSO there's a contact form if anyone is interested in playtesting games in person in Austin, TX or online on Tabletop Simulator. I have a discord for organizing sessions and specifically I'm looking for Cosmology testers to help tighten up the rule explanations before everything is finalized. It's 2-4 players and 4 player games with mostly new players tend to take about 1.5 - 2 hours.
Reach out on the website or send me a message here if interested!

05/23/2022

Another Cosmology primordial! I needed this specific color to be as colorblind friendly as possible and standout from any red and blues, but there isn't really a "purple" element that fits (though someone did float the idea of grape Gatorade), so this guy ended up representing kind of a stormy, tempestuous, generic "chaos", hence the lovecraftian art.
As I've said, all of the primordials have not only different requirements, but also different personalities that affect other aspects of the game. The chaos primordial is the easiest to lure to a system, needing only 2, 3, and 4 planets, but is worth less VP than most of the others.
This causes a couple of interesting interactions. Early in the game, many players will often intentionally avoid planets that will attract them, as they're waiting for higher VP primordials to show up. This can cause a bit of a showdown, where these guys clog up a primordial slot while players try to "get ahead" in placing planets for bigger ones, eventually forcing a player who MUST place a sun to give up and reluctantly take this smaller guy. However, when it's getting difficult to finish perfect systems late in the game, these guys go like hotcakes, because at that point it could be this guy or nothing.
And of course some cautious players choose to take them as soon as they appear, early in the game, since it's guaranteed VP, and then they can spend their time focusing on larger ones in the outer rings. There are merits to every playstyle, and though sometimes I worry it might lead to a bit of analysis paralysis for those who want to optimize every turn, there really is a lot to consider as you place your tiles - rarely is there a perfect option that satisfies all of your objectives (though when this does happen it feels SO GOOD).
The "purple" type is also the most common found on all OTHER primordials, which can create a scarcity of the purple tiles in the pool even though they're not often needed for the purple primordials themselves, which balances things out for anomalies and design building.

05/16/2022

Another Cosmology primordial! In honor of our recent lunar event, here's the wood token for the primordial(s) people have been calling the Moon Bats 🌒. This primordial is unique in that it doesn't require specific planet types - it only wants barren, lifeless moons.
This is different because all planets are on double tiles, where each hex of a double tile is a different planet types. Most of the game is choosing the double tile with an ideal combination for your play each turn so that you can work towards primordials, designs, while also making groups of 3 similar planets for anomaly points, all at the same time! 😬
However, on your turn, instead of playing one of the available double tiles, you can always choose instead to play a moon tile, of which there are countless available, but there's a hitch: the moons are single tiles, meaning you'll fill 1 less hex during your turn than usual. At the end of the game, you're penalized for the # of empty space left in your galaxy, so taking a lot of moons can cost you in the long run.
You'll have to determine whether it's worth it to fall behind to grab these primordials or use them for designs. It's a guaranteed type you can always count on, but slow, and you really need to plan ahead before tossing them all over. There are a few double moon tiles as well, but you won't be able to rely on them appearing as they're mixed in with the other double tiles and revealed each turn.
Sidenote, moons and suns are the ONLY single tiles available, meaning they're the only tiles you can use to fill single gaps as the game goes on and this can really hurt you in the endgame if you didn't leave enough spaces to use double tiles and have to waste two turns of single moons instead of being able to play one double tile.

05/09/2022

Here's the wood screen-printed token for Cosmology's fiery primordial 🔥🔥🔥. I tried to have a different type of animal represent each one, and this here is the insect themed one.
Janette did such an amazing job of giving all of these primordials such a physical presence, while also appearing made of energy and otherworldly force that is affecting the area around it. The idea is these primordials are what brings the spark of life to a planet once the conditions are right for it to happen, and that's your primary goal as an ethereal being tasked with creating a new galaxy: setting it up for success, AKA life.
Also, so far this has been most people's favorite art and token. Maybe they like bugs, or maybe secretly they love fire - hard to say.

05/04/2022

I've been so bad about posting! To make up for it I've got a bunch of detailed posts about the Cosmology components and such coming up, starting with the wooden screen-printed primordial tokens.
There are 7 types of primordials, and 3 of each (with slightly differing requirements). Each one of the tokens is an inch tall, and shaped like the element/resource that primordial represents. When you attract one of these to a system, you'll take the card for VP, then put its token on that system's sun to show it's been used up (only enough room in each system for 1 primordial - they don't get along).
So to start, the water primordial token is shaped like a little wave 🌊, with a simplified, screen-printed icon of Janette's primordial art on each side. The 2 colors on each also match the 2 colors of that resource icon (in this case, water).
I'm not going to talk about how long it took me to trace Janette's art and turn them into vectors that also fit inside an appropriate element shape, but I am happy with the final results.
I'll continue posting the others this and next week!

01/31/2022

Have been doing a lot of Cosmology playtesting on Tabletop Simulator to make some final tweaks to some VP amounts.
All of the art and graphics have been finalized, and I'm currently finishing up the final rules draft, and then we'll open this up to anyone who's interested in trying it out on Tabletop Simulator while we start the pre-Kickstarter tasks.
If you're interested in playtesting on TTS, whether joining one of our groups or trying it out with your own game group, please send me a message on here, or email me at [email protected], and we can organize something. You will unfortunately need to own a copy of TTS on Steam, but it's definitely worth the investment.
More stuff to come soon!