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Game Over?

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COVID shut down the world and my drive

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OH MY GOD!!!

So where do I start this post? Conventions shutting down. Cities shutting down. THE WORLD shutting down??!! *sigh* Let’s just keep it light and game related, shall we. Going into February no doubt you had been aware of what was happening in the world. Pandemic. Global scale deaths due to a funky little mutated strain called corona virus (code name: COVID 19). Things really hit home when Ontario Premiere called for a state of emergency and shut down everything public related. No stadiums, no clubs, bars or restaurants, no conventions or gatherings of any sort. This meant the upcoming Barrie Game Exchange for Spring 2020 was closed. I was really looking forward to this one as I was legitimately prepared for another good day at the show. Then COVID busted that bubble. All the conventions for spring pretty much got tanked and so did my energy. Down goes everything.

Barrie Game Exchange

Now that everyone had to shift gears, and I was unemployed, it was hard to find time or drive for game design. Not to say I wasn’t still thinkering and tinkering on ideas, but full blown self publishing came to a halt. All my time then shifted to unfinished home and car projects. I made use of the new free time I had and put it into getting the Forester summer ready. Full clean, removed and repaired tons of rust, swap out winter wheels for low-pro shoes, the whole nine. It felt good finally having time to put in full days. Rearranged the garage while I was at it, and did a little gardening. Inside the home I was tidying up little painting and repair projects. Suffice to say I was far from bored during lockdown.

 

Game design, right. Let’s stay on track. So my blog stopped, my devlog stopped (but not due to COVID) and I had plans on posting more seeing as I had more time. I started a whole diecast scale model world with my son and he was totally into it. We started collecting cars from all over the place, and I was ready to start doing videos for everything. I created intros for Instagram and YouTube, and was preparing my ADL Interactive channel on YT and never got back to it at all. There are videos there now but nothing to do with what I really want to share, game design process, prototyping, my library showcase and family game nights. Still need to edit a lot of game reviews and playtests I’ve already recorded. Every time I start fiddling in Adobe Premiere I never finish or get sidetracked. Month and months later. Enough rambling though.

New game design each week

So what’s next for ADLi during this rise from the ashes of a worldwide pandemic? I don’t know. I truly don’t know. I’ve started posting my never before shared game concepts over on my FB page for creative exposure. I have more game ideas than I know what to do with. And honestly, if I can inspire someone else to take an idea and run with it, great! I always have ideas brewing and now I’m not shy about these kind of things. Part of many game design groups and never once shared my ideas. Note, they are not all complete but it’s something I now feel more comfortable about. Why shy? I don’t know. I eat too much humble pie sometimes. That’s it for now. Here’s hoping that the years of content I’ve created up until now provide some levity and growth for other designers and players alike. Ciao for now.

Temporarily out of service

ADLi is not dead

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*EDIT 120420 – This post has been drafted and edited too many times to count. As of this publishing, I’d lost my job of 8+yrs and dealing with a possible change in career. Not to mention a new year just started. Need to keep my head on right.

It’s been a hot minute and I feel terrible neglecting this site. I’ve just been sleeping on a lot of good ideas. My history on blogging and vlogging is a terrible one, wrought with inconsistencies and moments of inspiration only to fall flat on its face shortly there after. What is a busy guy to do?? Set a schedule reasonable enough to follow and stick to it? That would be a great idea and one that has cross my mind many times. Let me count the ways: One one thousand. Two one thousand. Three one thousand…

What do I do?

In the last half of 2019 I’d been updating and upgrading a few of my existing ideas. During the beginning of 2019 I had pretty much scaled back on design efforts and turned the focus on getting more of my developed and published games into the public’s hands. Hitting up conventions here and there withing a 100km radius.  Since cost is a major factor for us con exhibitors/vendor I wanted to be responsible enough to not spend hundreds of dollars on a table to only (hopefully) make $75 in profit on sales. Small cons offer small exposure but a better return on investment so far. Slow and steady, as they say. Some of the cons that I frequent here north of the GTA are Cottage Country Con in Orillia, Muskoka-Con in Bracebridge, the Barrie Comic-Con, and the Barrie Game Exchange. All of which I’ve done for at least 2+ years. More on the con scene in another blog. On to what I’ve been developing.

It’s all bling to me

This is a new game idea that I had just started developing this year. Only about 5 months ago did I start a poll on my Facebook and Instagram accounts to try and find out what people preferred – Candies or Gems. It was an interesting experiment and in the end I think the results were pretty accurate. Candies beat out gems as a preferred option. The idea for this game derived from a hunt for stock illustrations. I noticed that candy and gem designs were indistinguishable to the search engine and it’s changeable in some instances. I decided then create a war between the two, leading to a pole and ultimately questioning peoples faith in what is better. The results weren’t as interesting as I had anticipated.

Boing boing boing

Shortly before I drafted this post I was working on a game for my son’s 7th birthday party. It originally was supposed to be a corn hole toss game. Along with a ladder golf game these were to be built and played outside. 2 days until the party find out that is it going to rain on that Saturday so the party was to be held inside. I start working on inversion of the corn hole toss for indoors but then feel the need to customize. All the creative mind. What a wonderfully complicated web it weaves. I decide to add more holes and starting to think on what objects can be used to toss onto the board. As I was looking around it came to my surprise that with the beer cups I’m using as the pockets under the board I’m essentially replicating a version of beer pong. So a ping pong ball should be more than suffice, where would I get one at sucht short notice. It just so happens that I have a game cup pong. Long story short you toss a ping pong ball in a variety of styles into a cup place in a variety of locations and score points. Yay! I have ping pong balls at my disposal. So the night before the party I finished this inverted beer pong / shuffleboard / corn hole toss game out of foam core. As I’m designing it I figured why not add Christmas lights to light up the back of the cups and the rest is pong pong Shuffle history.

Convention time

It’s 2020 and ADLi has its eyes set on a few conventions this year. I had started this post a good while before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. I’m sure, aside from statisticians and scientists, no one thought it would leave China at the rate it did and infect the whole world. Being here in Canada, North American in general hurried to slowing the spread by social distancing and self isolation. Suffice to say all conventions across the country, or rather any group gatherings in general, have been X-nayed at a federal level. This has left the convention season stranded for the foreseeable future. Hopefully when things die down over the summer fall shows may creep their weary way back in society. After social distancing and isolation I know social gatherings will be in high demand.

In the hopper

I always have games in mind and something, somehow always triggers neat ideas or concepts for player interaction. The first thing I look at is ‘can this be played with an achievable goal’? And by that I mean, is it more than just a puzzle. Not to say puzzles aren’t fun. At the end of the day almost all abstract games are a puzzle – be it for one or multiple players, but I digress. With the unfortunate/fortunate abundance of time provided during this pandemic I’ve been slowly toiling away at concepts I’ve have floating around for a long time. Here’s just a short list of active ideas:

  • Card-based (and board) tennis game
  • Head-to-head close quarters combat tile game
  • Dice and card based system for simulating racing games (different vehicle types)
  • Custom solitaire RPG with inventory, power ups varying opposition/team ups
  •  Abstract concepts like a tile capture grid game
  • Time traveling RPG zine for 2 or more players
  • Real-time musical chairs with numbers board game

Game drafts, demo play and notes will be released here on ADLi as they develop beyond the written concept stage. Something to definitely look out for.

With all that’s going on I’ve also taking liberties to set aside time for my crafting passion. I love working with my hands which lends to my knack for creating prototypes. I also create accessories, jewellery, trinkets and other small collectible items. My sister and I are working on little blank or custom painted vinyl figurines. We’ve been doing this for decades and it’s never really gone anywhere due to distance and time constraints. Now that she lives 10 minutes from me we have more time to collaborate on ideas and put together prototypes. Creating is fun and that is the true reason behind my passion. I don’t care to make a living out of creating games. I just want to share the fun I have with others, and have them share that fun with other. A pandemic of entertainment beyond the digital world is something the world requires again, and the winds of change are here. I’m just going to let it sweep me away and I hope you do to. Now, on to designing.

Monopolist Complex

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Monopolist Complex

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This is a long one so get a tea/coffee, grab your salt shaker and park your keyboard warrior ego for a few moments.  I have a story to tell.

I have a love hate for Monopoly, as to many, but my issue with the game isn’t really about the game at all. It lies with the fact that Monopoly, as a whole, is greater than the sum of its failures. Any modern game designer or theorist will babble on about PAPI and the equilibrium to the game. How Monopoly fall short on the core concepts, but excels at teaching how the capitalist concepts molded modern society (in the US at least). How you waste money, abuse power and ultimately bully your way to victory. How luck can work in and not in favour – Luck has no bias. How house rules have warped a generally boring player experience for the “better”. The National Post has a very interesting article on why we continue to perpetuate such a loathsome board game. Give it a read when you get a chance. This article isn’t necessarily about Monopoly in history. It’s more about how it’s spun off many favourable, and in one case a very unfavourable, spin-off.

Monopoly is now more or less synonymous with terrible, unbalanced, rage inducing, friendship ending engagement. Anyone who plays the game either loved it as a kid and now hates it, hated it as a kid and still hates it, or loved it as a kid and tolerates it now because they know what to expect. Casual gamer or not, Monopoly is one of those games that hold a deep meaning in all our hearts. Hence, we keep re-themeing it to make it “better”. Let’s dive in, shall we.

Ruined Friendships

The great

  • Playing with friends/family
  • Picking the game pieces
  • Owning properties and tacking chances
  • People really getting into the spirit
  • Revel in making money
  • Crushing one’s opponent without remorse
  • Easy to learn

The hate

  • People really get into the game (offensively so)
  • More money usually equates to less risk
  • Roll & Move board games are passé
  • There is no catch up mechnism
  • Whomever controls property control the game (which is the point)
  • Incurring more debt by borrowing money
  • The sorrowful parallels to real life

Spin-offs

Monopoly has and still has a list of spin-offs using the ‘Opoly’ form factor (licensed and unlicensed). This has definitely kept a tired and outdated game in fashion for so long. People don’t always remember the game but they do recall the feelings and memory of playing the game. I think a lot of it’s charm comes from the experience more so than outcome. Win or lose, you were always involved, always righting against the odds and always fretting where you will land. Paying up is such a bitch. All of this made for a foundation for many themes people found to be more exciting than playing ‘Get Rich – The board game’.

12 Shit Monopolies that can’t possibly exist, but they do

Some of the fun little opoly games I’ve found on my travels.

Hasbro has capitalized on the fad of custom Opolies with their own spin-offs. I’d say the majority of the fun comes from the unlicensed, homebrew games. Ones created by those who love the format and slap on a wacky theme. Even when Monopoly was at its height (which varied with each generation) it was always seen as a entertaining game that provided hours and hours of fun for those willing to customize the experience.

The next (de)generation

There is something to be said about releasing an ‘Opoly game that actually annoyed people. It was such a big deal that Monopoly released a statement calling out all the haters while still being respectful. Yeah, I totally see it as a

“We created Monopoly for Millennials to provide fans with a lighthearted game that allows Millennials to take a break from real life and laugh at the relatable experiences and labels that can sometimes be placed on them.”

(conversation depicted below is purely fictional. Any resemblance to actual people and actual things said are purely coincidental and not to be take as truth)

Lunch Room:
Nixon, Cresta and Jo are sitting around reminiscing about their childhood when Jo brings up that her mom found the old Monopoly board in the cellar with a bunch of stuff being packed up for good will. Jo remembers playing the game when she was younger.

Jo – Oh. My. God. The amount of times my cousins would beg to play every time they came over. I got sick of that game so fast.

Cresta – I know, right?! I only played it when I went to camp. I was like, I don’t know, like 8. The counselors would either break that out or Snakes and Ladders or Checkers. Games back them aren’t like they are now.

Jo – Totally. There are so many interesting copies of Monopoly out there. You know, the customised ones with crazy themes.  I played this one called Weedopoly once. Absolutely hilarious when you’re a little high.

Nixon – Playing any game high is fun.  Weedopoly sounds hella fun. What’s popular in mainstream media now? We could design a Monopoly around, let’s say, Trump’s presidency. Trumpopoly. A game around his whole empire.

Jo – Oh my god. Totally. The Presidential election alone would be a theme for the game. Become the next president. I would play that game.

Cresta – How about Farmopoly? Or Caropoly, based on the automotive industry? Those concepts have range. Anything to do with managing money and fuking over the next man.

Nixon – Pimpopoly, bitches! Manage yo hoes and make dat monay!

Cresta – YES!

Jo – Totally!

Cresta – How about a Monopoly around having no money. The Oppositopoly. Like, my life. Just burning cash as I run around, existing. Jesus.

Jo – Oh. My. God. I got it!

The next day a very lengthy email is sent to Greg, the 25yr veteran developer over at Hasbro. He has a laugh and dismisses it as a joke. It is not a joke. His manager is involved, then their superiors, and holy bujesus it’s green lit. Monopoly for Milliennials is produced. Greg smacks his forehead, the trio all high five each other over lattes and scones.

‘Monopoly for Millennials’ causes outrage among Generation Y on Twitter

Oh, you know Hasbro had to do it to ’em. I kind of get why certain people would get up in arms about it, but enough so to berate the brand for poking fun at a very common (and understandable) mindset?

And the second in a supposed slue of parody Opolies from Hasbro, here comes Ms. Monopoly.

Ms. Monopoly
Ms. Monopoly is meant to celebrate women’s empowerment by giving women a head start in the game.

Read more about Ms. Monopoly

Bah. I can understand if they made a game themeing the American Dream – oh wait! That IS what Monopoly is. How about living in a communist country? Oh wait! That exists too.

The Waiting Game

cover with designer's "thanks for your help" note ;)

Standing in queue is what you do. The game generally describes the Poland at the tail-end of the Communist era. Play is simple: players send their pieces different stores on the board to buy the items they require. The trick is you don’t know what items will come up in what store and certain things may be short on supply, therefore you may never get it. Product deliveries are uncovered (by turning over face down cards) and there will be only product for the lucky few who happen to be in line when deliveries drop. Players can use certain action cards to manipulate their place in line, like “Mother carrying small child”, “This is not your place, sir”, or “Under-the-counter goods”. It’s quite interesting and I think for anyone who loves an Opoly spin-off, though not directly a copy, would like this game inspired by such.

Read more about The Waiting Game

Socialists Unite

Monopoly Socialism

In this Hasbro Official spin-off players move around the board working together to make a better community. The new cooperative game play leverages teamwork to and , in a way, forces players to succeed together, but no one said teamwork was easy. Flipping over Chance cards presents players with controversies and complications they have to work out. Issues like annoying neighbors and failing community projects, you’re constantly voting to shake things up. The goal is to contribute all 10 of your chips to win the game, unless the Community Fund runs out of money and everyone loses. Good luck with that. To “do or die” by no power of your own. There is always a catch.

Read more about Monopoly: Socialism

 

It’s okay to poke fun at the rich but not the poor. If you think about it Monopoly kind of does both. The whole concept of Monopoly is to benefit from setting up a financially stable set of assets. Basically, get rich off the backs of others. If that’s not the capitalist America the world has come to know and love/hate then why make such a big deal about these spin-offs? I guess everyone’s got a right to complain. I know I do, but before this post turns into a segregation of mindset vs. matter I’ll close by saying: It’s just a game. Get over it and find something you love playing. And if you love Monopoly the more power to you.

Just try to keep the board flipping to to a minimum.

Blah Blah

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Time for Change

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I’ve been thinking, and I’ve been blinking. It’s time for some change.

Today I’ve decided to reluctantly move all my previous dev logs on Tumblr over to the site. Now, it won’t be all posts as Tumblr will still retain live development recordings. Any completed game dev entries will be moved over here to the site and a snippet will remain over at Tumblr. Any concepts or work through entries will stay on Tumblr. It’s a great place to dump my progress. Plus it’s a great way to have another blog for SEO purposes.

I’ve also been slacking on posting to the site, primarily due to the massive renos happening in my office and home. It’s also partly due to very limited time in the evenings and weekends, but who’s life isn’t filled with stuff. I’m bad at keeping on time frames when it comes to my own stuff because I don’t hold myself accountable. I hope I’m not alone. I wanted to start updating the site but figured why not wait until I rebuild it. Rebuild it, you gasp. Yes! I’m rebuilding ADLi so it supports a cleaner navigation to the important bits. Game Design, Products, Blogs and Multimedia, the four branches of this brand. The current site is an ever changing blog and product site that, I feel, has lost its way.

Changes are on the way, and hopefully through the year end holidays I can bring ADLi into the New Year with fresh digs. Until then there will be posts here and there plus the migrated Tumblr content. If you’re new or haven’t been privy to the Tumblr blog give it a look-see.  This site will be up and down, spotted with maintenance warnings and potentially broken pages. See you folks on the other side.

Angry PC Lad

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Yuzo Related Posts plugin got me jacked

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In a span of 24hrs I just got one of the biggest scares in my digital existence…

ADL Interactive Got Hacked!!!

Short recap: I went to bed last night after I finished touching up some posts and publishing a new post. Still trying to figure out what site builder I want to use. One that doesn’t override my theme’s posts types and other features but still gives me responsive, manageable columns and cool widgets to use on page. But that’s beside the point. After I had logged off I crashed.

Night time … sleep

After finishing up my Friday work I jumped right back into my account to continue to put a dent in my Pending list and create graphics for my drafts. Lo and behold when I refreshed my homepage I got a redirect that prompted me to accept a desktop notification. I chose Never, as usual, but then it refreshed. Refreshed the browser’s URL by appending a 1 subdomain and prompted me again. I declined… again! Refresh. Amend. Repeat. I was like WTF??!!

I instantly jumped into my account, looked through my Wordfence settings and performed a scan. Everything was gravy. I’ve seen this behaviour before, so the first thing I though was injection. I instantly went to Sucuri Site Check website and ran a test. Aaaaannnnnd I was right. Sucuri output the injection code and I jumped into phpMyAdmin. Now, not everyone has access to their hosting cPanel or know how to dig for these things, but if you do it’s best to stay educated on how to help yourself. The wonders and hindrances of self-hosted WP sites. I would recommend finding someone you know to help with things like this because paying a service could cost you a pretty penny.

Get outta here you

I found the string with a full database search, hiding in the wp_options table. I open the table and there it is bright as day. YUZO. I removed the text that Sucuri had identified and saved, then promptly deactivated the plugin and deleted it completely from my install. I took a screenshot of my database results showing the affected, or in this case, infected plug to send to them. As I jump in the forum, bam! Yuzo this, and exploit that. It was old news. Well, time to read what this is all about. After a little digging, Google sleuth style, I found the history on this plugin development and how this whole issue had been a thing since April. I’m such a fool. I don’t keep up with the WP community or the Security Forums that are out there. So much information to sift through it can get overwhelming. For those interested in the developer’s view on the situation, read what Lenin has to say.

I No YUZO

A cautionary tale

I feel as though I dodged a bullet, and for two reasons:

  1. If I had not been actively working on my game blog the last 2 days I would have not picked this up. All the visitors I was getting would have just locked down the tab and never come back again.
  2. This could have been around for much longer (I do find myself taking hiatus more often than not), and there may have been more than just a redirect script injected.

Brush up on your php skills, get access to your cPanel and keep an eye on the forums. There’s always a storm brewing. Don’t get caught in the rain.

There is no other way - Showdown

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Candy vs Gem – The Battle Continues

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This may all seem a little silly but it is a true dilemma when it comes to design. Two things that are relatively similar in many ways, yet different enough to evoke a distinct preference. The battle in my mind continues…

Candies VS Gems

It’s always blue

I’m always in the eye of the ‘design storm’ when it comes to colour and elements. I have my set of favourites and I believe a lot of people gravitate to a particular colour or colour range. Blue! Just so we’re all clear, blue is my absolute favourite. Any type of blue, that is. I seem to gravitate to it. From the rich, vibrant electric to the cold, hard slate. But enough about my blue fetish. Candy vs Gem. This topic goes beyond colour. Colour, surprisingly enough, is one main similarity these two share. Moreover, the shape and presentation of candy (gummies more so) have mimicked gems down to a tee.

The proof is in the prototype

The artwork for the game I’m working on will be either one or the other. I think I’m leaning towards gems, but will keep the art vague enough so I can get feedback on what play testers think the tiles should represent. Now, die cutting the pieces would be sweet sweet whichever way a lean. For the prototype I will just use square chipboard tiles that I always use. Just add a shape and colour to the tiles. Both shape and colour are part of the mechanism for this game. You may be thinking Bejeweled or Candy Crush inspired, and you’re not that far off. Though this game can be developed the same way with different elements, the shape and finish of the pieces cater more to the theme I’m going for.

I’m running an ongoing poll, through Instagram and Facebook, on which object people prefer. Might add a poll to Facebook as well, if I can figure it out.  It’s a small thing but opinions matter, especially to a designer. You can contribute to this tally by voting on my Facebook page.

Only one can win.

Blah Blah

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Site just got hacked

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Injection code into a good deal of my pages has not F***ED up my damn evening. Hopefully I can get into phpMyAdmin and irradicate this SOB. Rrrrrrr. One thing that is ultra annoying about owning a WordPress site. Even with all the security features and plugins, there are small holes plugin developers may not see until it’s too late.

ADLi_snapshot_BGE2019

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Barrie Game Exchange 2019

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Give credit where credit is due

First off, I’d like to send a big THANK YOU to Barrie Game Exchange (BGE) for putting on another outstanding show. My first time visiting this amazing event was when I exhibited back in fall of 2018. I’ve seen and heard about it for years but never thought it was going to be anything more than a game swap. Boy was I wrong.

I’d also like to thank the board and video gaming community for coming out and supporting such an awesome show, the various vendors (like me) and giving Barrie something unique to celebrate 2x a year. Yes! You heard correct. This show happens twice a year. One in Spring, the other in Autumn.

What’s new with ADLi

Traffic was slow for me at BGE 2019, and I know a large part of that has to do with the fact that I don’t have any industry recognized media or merch. At a glance I’m just some guy with a Go/Checkers looking game and a bunch of words on cards. The thing I’ve come to accept with the 20+ years of game and fan conventions (on both sides of the table) is that a glance is all it takes. In that moment, can I capture an interest. It’s either provide something people have seen and love, or something so abstract they can’t help but take a closer look. I don’t offer neither so that is my challenge.

The show itself offers a lot. The vendors there range from full on games shops to collectors unloading stuff from their basements. The amount of people I saw selling game manuals, game cases (no games included) and empty console boxes was insane. Yes. People buy empty boxes for retro consoles. It’s a thing. That’s all on the video game side of things. There were also retro and vintage collectors hawking their old board games, clocks, electronics, dishware (I know) and anything else the geek culture would find fascinating.

On my end, as an indie designer with unique unknown games, I’ve been surprised at the general interest I’ve received. Yes, it’s primarily a video game swap but there are a lot, and I mean a LOT, of tabletop enthusiasts who visit these shows. Games are games and I believe I’m in the right place. Providing a more general interest in merch is my current goal for 2019. Some of those items include more novelty ideas like custom coaster, shot glasses, vinyl stickers, better keychains, wearables/jewellery and more. Keeping them in the realm of tabletop or maybe expanding into the video games may help get more bodies to the table. Then I can hook them on the wonders that are StormGate and Word•a•Bout.

There are more conventions to come this year and I can’t wait to get behind the table again. BGE 2019 is a refresher every year. The next big show is the CottageCountryComicon (CCC) in Orillia on May 19. For more info check out their site. Below is a little gallery showing some of wares created for the show. Here’s to a successful and delightful 2019 season. Check out more social posts at my Facebook page and Instagram (@adlinteractive). OH! And keep an eye out for PostPlay Novelties. I’m finally getting into the accessories and merch game with up-cycled and tabletop inspired goods.

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