This is an archive from the Keeps Weekly, a newsletter that ran from April 22 to June 3, 2026.   Fine and Final Felicitations, all! And so the ultimate issue of the Keeps Weekly arrives. Next week's email will be exciting and wonderful, but not an issue of the Weekly. When everything at last comes together, isn't it odd how we must then part? Before shedding a tender tear, let's at least read it. PROGRESS UPDATES Our Kickstarter page is finalized, and—dare I say it—looking

As we near the mountaintop, it's time to turn around and see how far we've come. The march of progress leaves behind many footsteps. I thought it'd be cool to show you guys some of the old card ideas that have come and gone. These have each made it to different stages of development; I'll go in chronological order, so the first few have no art. I'm looking at the version history on a Google doc titled "PILES". Yeah, well, it's a game with four piles. Sue me. This is back when

This is an archive from the Keeps Weekly, a newsletter that ran from April 22 to June 3, 2026.  One wondrous Wednesday, my friends. Over here, we are in the midst of things. School is out and the science competitions are done, so I can finally turn the full breadth of my attention to Keeps. Which is good, because things are getting down to the wire. Let's see. PROGRESS UPDATES This past weekend was the 2026 National Science Olympiad competition at USC in LA. The Opening Cer

What proportion of game ideas find their way to fruition? How many fledgling flickers are halted at ideation, at prototype zero, at first playtest—or are eventually lost altogether in the winding weeds of life's responsibilities? I am humbled by the number of factors that helped keep Keeps in play over the prior year and a half. To name a few: First and foremost, the steadfast dedication of my sister Elaina has not faltered. Even disregarding artistic salience, she is a force

This is an archive from the Keeps Weekly, a newsletter that ran from April 22 to June 3, 2026.  A fine evening to all. It's rather difficult to think up a pun with the word "requisition", so you'll have to bear with me. Let's dive in. PROGRESS UPDATES The new prototype (it's version 8, for anyone counting) with the new box arrived, and it looks and plays great. We decided on spending an extra ten cents to get the inside of the box printed as well; the black interior feels m

It it possible for a game to be perfectly balanced, as all things should be? I think a good definition of balancing goes something like "Over many rounds, each player has an equal probability of winning under optimal play". The implication is that no one player has a preset advantage before the random setup. The game, then, is in figuring out just what that optimal play actually is—in a balanced game, the win would go to whoever plays the most optimally. One's skill in a game

This is an archive from the Keeps Weekly, a newsletter that ran from April 22 to June 3, 2026.  Salutations, good friends. A bit of a short one this week. Much work is being done, but it is less flashy-interesting stuff and more boring-logistical stuff—except the new box. Here goes. PROGRESS UPDATES Taking your feedback from Issue II, Elaina has settled on a near final box design. And WOW, is it amazing: Check out the Blog Highlight section to see her wonderful post about t

Greetings, Elaina here! You may have heard that I fractured my right hand, AKA my drawing hand, but I'm pleased to report I'm back to two handed typing again, so it's time for a blog post. First, thank you everyone that shared feedback on last week's box designs! The truth is, I was having some creative block so I broke my hand as an excuse not to draw for the next two months. Turns out this excuse actually really helped me to think out of the box ... for the box design! I'

This is an archive from the Keeps Weekly, a newsletter that ran from April 22 to June 3, 2026. Hark! One month now until the big launch and wheels are turning. Let's see what's in store this week. PROGRESS UPDATES I spent this past weekend in DC coaching for the National Science Bowl. Which seems unrelated, until you consider the confluence of teams from every state in a single conference center. Teams of people who are so into thinking that they do it for fun. So yeah, its

Do you prefer streets to be numbered or named? Would you rather live on 5th Street or Ocean Avenue? Which is more meaningful? Imagine a deck of 10,000 cards, numbered on one side but blank otherwise. With the right assignments, virtually every card game could be played with this deck. Map clubs/hearts/spades/diamonds to cards 1-13/14-26/27-39/30-52 and you have the standard French-suited playing cards, and every game that comes with them. You can even reduce most board games

This is an archive from the Keeps Weekly, a newsletter that ran from April 22 to June 3 2025. Hail and Well Met! The Keeps family rapidly grows. Issue I of the Weekly was lengthy, introducing things and setting expectations. Since we don't have to do that anymore, we'll keep it quick and dense for you all. Starting now! PROGRESS UPDATES The Preview Editions we've been spreading have a giant QR code on the front. Good for outreach, bad for looks. So we've been homing in on b

Why are so many little games in big boxes? Even cards games with <50 cards. I can imagine a few reasons; better shelf presence, more imposing feel, to fit a rule/scoresheet or tokens. But the more I think on it, the less I understand. A big box does not make a big game. Is it compensating for something? If the rulebook is the size-limiter, then the gameplay isn't rich enough. Many arbitrary rules do not make up for low playability. Think about a deck of 52 playing cards—there

Glad Tidings All! Indeed, I am quite excited to deliver the first issue of the Keeps Weekly. Before we get into it, I want to thank each of you who signed up for this. I am no stranger to the swift disregard of bulk emails; it takes a true friend to be reading this right now. Elaina and I will do what we can to ensure this is a recurring letter that you are excited to unwrap instead of annoyed to receive. And I'll start by...starting already! PROGRESS UPDATE With the weeks a

Way back when Keeps was but a collection of neural firings, I envisioned it a quiet, cerebral game. Boy was I wrong. What might be a useful system for defining types of player interaction in games? Perhaps someone might sit and work through the nitty gritty, might establish a taxonomy or set of metrics to dictate what "player interaction" entails (ok, it does sound kind of fun. A blog for another time). But you must recall my purpose in this pursuit and in life. The world nee

As people make the transition from beginner to seasoned Keeps veteran (though I am not sure even I have made it quite that far), they appear to undergo a kind of metamorphosis. And it is marked by distinct stages. A brand new player can be daunted by the fact that every card is unique. Just like any game, it can be frustrating not knowing what the optimal play is due to a lack of game knowledge. The good news is that joy of discovering the cards and their accompanying strateg

People keep asking me: "How did you come up with it?". I don't really know how to approach the question. I hope a story will suffice. For a long time, I had been meaning to sit and think up a novel card game for the standard 52-card deck. One night, at a friend's place for dinner, we got to the topic of running an internal boardgame-jam (yeah, that's the kind of friends I have). I recall the spontaneous base idea was that there should be different piles with different propert

This post is an excerpt from our Kickstarter campaign. If you like it, you can read the rest there! Early character designs. We decided to use animals to capture the personality (and therefore function) of the three non-mask characters. The Fool began and remained a crow. The count began an Ox and became a mountain goat, allowing for more ornate and less macho features. The friar, or vicar at the time, was more of a mystery. I explored a deer, then a lamb for vaguely religio

A moment for one of our hard-working interns, Lola. She spent long hours on the set of our first product video. And Atlas! Lucky to have talent of this caliber on the team 🙏

David and I have been siblings ever since he was born. We also have an older brother, Eric, who is a dedicated play tester and support we can always count on. Adventurous little children. I started making art more intently in middle school. I used to really like drawing dragons, then I discovered Mark Crilley videos and my life was changed when he showed me the way of the realistic eye. I went through many an era, eventually finding my way as a fine arts major in undergrad an