2025 has been a great year for playing and creating games. Games in this context are boardgames and roleplaying games, played face-to-face with real people around a table. In this post I look back at my gaming activities in 2025 and how this leads into 2026.
Revisiting the classics
I dusted off some older games in my collection to introduce these to my oldest who is 13 and start to enjoy playing more complex games. He still prefers playing online and with his friends, but I can persuade him to play a game or two with me occasionally. Stone Age, Ticket to Ride: Europe, Saint Petersburg, 7 Wonders Duel, Carcassonne — and latest — Eclipse: Second Dawn for the Galaxy, a real dice fest.
I’m playing less to win and more to have fun now. It’s also fun for me to return to games I played a lot a long time ago. Do they still hold today? What would I change? What do they do well? Reflecting on the classics influenced design decisions in games I create now.
A friend introduced me to Swedish boardgame classic Drakborgen. I had fun failing to escape the dragon! I understand its nostalgic allure even if it never made it to my childhood gaming table in Denmark.
Creating games
I created two new games this year: Holmgang and Draw Stranger. Both had been lingering in the back of my brain until a spark triggered their realisation. Both are fun, short micro games for two players. They exist as print-and-play and as prototypes on my shelf and in my pocket. Game design completed, they are both great games at what they do.
Two earlier designs saw further development in 2025: Gotlandia and Mediterranean Metro.
Gotlandia is a Euro game for 2-4 players. It’s by far the most challenging game design of the four. The core game works, what I am working on now is teachability. How can I make it easier to learn the game when playing first time? To achieve this I am working with the visual design of the components together with concepts and terminology. I made good progress in 2025 and soon I have a next version ready to playtest with new players (let me know if you want to play!).
I plan to enter Gotlandia and Draw Stranger at the 2026 SAGA competition. Winning would be a good next step towards a commercial release but the main goal is to have fun by sharing my games with more people. Regardless if Gotlandia makes it to the finals, I will host a session of Gotlandia at LinCon 2026. I’m also contemplating offering Gotlandia at Medeltidsveckan.
I was inspired to bring out Mediterranean Metro for refinement. I iterated changes through two playtesting sessions at AlphaBar and I think it went from ok to pitchable. Mediterranean Metro is a family card game about building a metro in a city with an ancient past.
Roleplaying games
I had two runs of The City in 2025. One session with friends in Malmö and one at LinCon. The City is a steampunk drama about what we do to fit in for one GM and four players. I’m very pleased with the game. I published with a Creative Commons license, check it out.
At the end of the summer I ran two sessions of Dragonbane for my kids and their friends. Dragonbane is the 2023 remake of the Swedish TTRPG that beat D&D to the Swedish market in the 1980s. Fun to dive in and play straight from the box. So much competes for the attention of young kids these days that we haven’t gotten back to the game.
Finally, I ran Dogs in the Vineyard for a new gaming buddy, fellow geek & blogger. Dogs in the Vineyard is Vincent Bakers 2004 game about religious teenagers with guns in the old west. On the surface it’s an investigation game (find out what is wrong and fix it), but under the surface it’s a much more interesting game about what is right, what is wrong and who gets to decide. For the session I created a new town, Willards Fork, check it out.
Game conventions
Visiting SPIEL in Essen in October with my kids was amazing! I’ve visited a couple of times before and being able to return this year with my kids was a dream come true. I also revisited Dreamhack, LinCon and SmashCon again this year and none disappointed. This week I submitted three events for LinCon 2026 so expect me to return next year.
I didn’t make it to any game conventions in Denmark in 2025 though I did get to play with long time friends at a couple of occasions. Maybe next year I will make it down for Viking Con. Time will tell.
What’s next
2025 is not over yet and I expect to get a few more games in over the holidays. Even if not, I had a nice run of gaming in 2025. My backlog of ideas is running dry but inspiration can come from anywhere so who knows what new games pop up in 2026?
For 2026 I want to continue creating and playing games for fun. Four games are inching closer to commercial publication, but I’m also happy for the games to exist as they do now as prototypes and print-and-play. Producing and selling games are a different beast than creating and playing games and I’ve decided that I rather want a fun hobby than going full time commercial.
I also want to help others create games of their own. I did some of that in 2025, I want to do more of that. Let’s see what 2026 brings!