A friend introduced me to the Korean card game Choson recently at a cosy local boardgame convention. Choson uses a deck with cards valued 1-9 with 1 card with value 1, 2 cards with value 2, and so on up to 9 cards with the value nine. Plus ten event cards for a total of … Continue reading Nine Kingdoms
Author: Frederik Jensen
Thoughtful Dane
SAGA Regional Qualifier, Stockholm on April 11th
I'm happy to announce that Folk Lab Hallunda will host this year's SAGA qualifier for the Stockholm region. SAGA is an annual Swedish boardgame design competition where designers showcase brand new games and compete to win one of two prizes, The Anvil and The Feather. The finals take place at LinCon in May. Enter the … Continue reading SAGA Regional Qualifier, Stockholm on April 11th
Winter
After New Year came snow. The cold grip of Winter got hold of my local neighbourhood with temperatures sometimes dropping to minus 20 Celsius. Even the dog agreed to sometimes wait until after 8 am for the morning walk. Lakes freezing over. Most days overcast and grey but every now and then we are blessed … Continue reading Winter
Gotlandia at Medeltidsveckan 2026
This is a game design post about Gotlandia, my game in development about Medieval Gotland. I will go through the latest changes to the game, including my reasoning behind making the changes and the process. So mostly of interest if you have played the game or if you are a game designer yourself. But first … Continue reading Gotlandia at Medeltidsveckan 2026
Brave New World
After reading 1984 and Kallocain, I picked up Brave New World from my public library. Aldous Huxley’s 1932 novel about a society 600 years into the future where everyone is engineered to be happy with their pre-destined place in society. Everyone is grown in a bottle and raised in batches of genetic twins. Through behavioural … Continue reading Brave New World
The world’s coolest job
I started a new job yesterday: I will help run a boardgame workshop for local young people ages 13-24 as part of Folk Lab in Hallunda. It’s play, it’s design, it’s construction. I will be working with Mats and Olle: They have run after school activities for the last couple of years for younger age … Continue reading The world’s coolest job
Feed a man for a lifetime — AI version
In a thread on a Swedish forum for tabletop role-players, someone asked for help with dice probabilities. A basic question involving two six-sided dice. Two replies came in almost instantly with a correct solution supported by mathematical/probability arguments. You can say they “gave a man a fish”, referring to the classic proverb. I was thinking … Continue reading Feed a man for a lifetime — AI version
Swedish hearing on computer games and boardgames
The Committee on Culture held a hearing this week on computer games and boardgames. A more fitting title for the event would be: How Swedish companies can make more money on computer games.
Time for the yearly salary adjustment?
It's a slow January morning after the holidays. A mail to all employees lands in your mailbox announcing the yearly salary adjustment. A fixed percentage that applies to everyone. Hands up if you have worked for a company that used this trick. One company I worked for sent out this mail the morning after the … Continue reading Time for the yearly salary adjustment?
Kungsträdgården
In my project to visit more stations of the Stockholm Metro in 2026, I made a detour to visit Kungsträdgården on my latest trip to Stockholm City. Kungsträdgården is perhaps the most exquisite of them all. To submerge your senses to the art of Kungsträdgården is like entering an ancient temple of a forgotten civilisation. … Continue reading Kungsträdgården