Unstable Unicorns   Gameplay Unstable Unicorns is an entertaining turn-based strategy card game, complete with unicorns of all kinds, many of which have special powers that can help you defeat your opponents. Everyone has the same goal: get seven unicorns into your Stable. Seems simple, but with Magic cards, Upgrade and Downgrade cards, and mischievous Magical Unicorn cards, it’s a lot harder than you think.   In the game box you’ll find 114 black-backed cards, 13 Baby Unicorn cards, and eight rules reference cards. Each player may select a Baby Unicorn to begin their Stable. Next, deal five black-backed cards to each player, then place the remaining deck in the center of the play area. Place the unselected Baby Unicorns nearby, this is now the Nursery.   Now, the game can begin. Each turn consists of four phases. Phase 1: Beginning of Turn Phase If you have a card in your Stable with an effect that states, “If this card is in your Stable at the beginning of your turn,” its effect is triggered in this phase. Phase 2: Draw Phase Draw a card from the deck. Phase 3: Action Phase Choose one of the following options: Play a Unicorn card from your hand There are Baby, Basic, and Magical Unicorn cards. Baby and Magical Unicorn cards have special effects that can help your gameplay (or harm other players’ gameplay!). Play a Magic card from your hand These have positive, one-time effects. After it’s played, move it to the discard pile. Play a Downgrade card from your hand These are added to other players’ Stables with negative effects. If, for some reason, you wanted to play it on your own Stable, you could. The only way to get these out of your Stable is to sacrifice or destroy it. Play an Upgrade card from your hand These can be added to any players’ Stable (including your own) with positive effects. The only way to get these out of your Stable is to sacrifice or destroy it. Draw a card from the deck Phase 4: End of Turn Phase Discard until there are no more than 7 cards in your hand.   Terms to Remember: Stable: the area in front of you in which Unicorn, Upgrade, and Downgrade cards are played. There is no limit to how many cards can be in your Stable. Discard: move a card from your hand to the discard pile. Sacrifice: move a card from your Stable to the discard pile. Destroy: move a card from any other players’ Stable to the discard pile. Steal: move a card away from any other players’ Stable to your Stable. Instant Cards can be played when another player plays a card, allowing you to negate that card's effect. The first player to get seven Unicorn cards into their Stable wins!   History Tee Turtle was founded by Ramy Badie in 2022. What started out as a t-shirt company based in Baltimore has since grown to include plushies (the Moody Reversible Octopus!), games, and accessories.   In 2017, Unstable Unicorns launched via Kickstarter to great success, which paved the way for Unstable Games, which is Tee Turtle’s dedicated game studio. They’ve designed games like Here to Slay, Happy Little Dinosaurs, and Twisted Cryptids, among others.   Variations There are a few different base games you can purchase, including Unstable Unicorns for Kids, Unstable Unicorns: Diamond Editions, and Unstable Unicorns: NSFW. There are also expansion packs you can shuffle into a base game for added fun. These include the Nightmares Expansion, Rainbow Apocalypse Expansion, Dragons Expansion, Adventures Expansion, Unicorns of Legend Expansion, and Christmas Expansion. There’s also a portable Travel Edition!   Reception & Awards Since Unstable Unicorns launched on Kickstarter in 2017, it has earned over $1.8M in sales! Then, in 2019, it was awarded the People’s Choice Award from the Toy of the Year Awards. It was also nominated in 2020 for the Gra Roku Best Party Game and in 2024, it was nominated at the Bulgarian Board Game Awards for Game of the Year.

Twisted Cryptids   Gameplay Welcome to Twisted Cryptids, a strategy board game in which all your favorite cryptids come out to play. Meet Mothman, Jackalope, Bigfoot, and Loveland Frog, the creatures that roam The Wilderness. Take on your Cryptid persona and compete against others to earn the most Myth and prove you are the True Legend.   Set Up There are a few types of tokens and cards to get acquainted with before you begin. Double-sided Myth tokens will help you keep track of your points in the game. There are 30 Human tokens: 10 of each Flavor: Hiker, Hunter, and Researcher. There’s a Sinkhole token that’s only relevant in a two-player game, and there’s a First Player token, which helps keep track of who the First Player in each round is. Finally, there are 12 Hiding Spot tokens, three for each Cryptid, that you will place in different Sites in The Wilderness.   The biggest cards in the box are the 4 Cryptid cards, which display a lovely illustration of each Cryptid as well as your Cryptid Power, which can be used during the game at certain times. More on that later. The smallest cards in the box are the 10 Hidden Trait cards, each of which has a challenge you alone will try to complete during the game to earn extra points at the end.   Next are the 36 Sighting cards (9 for each Cryptid). There are four different types of Sighting cards: Decoys, Hoaxes, Silhouettes, and Real Deals. Each Sighting card tells you how many Myth points you will gain or lose if certain Humans are present.   12 Event cards will prompt Humans to move around The Wilderness at the beginning of each round. Finally, Action cards, which will make up your hand, specify a number of Humans, Flavor of Humans, and specific function that will allow you to change the distribution of Humans in The Wilderness. There are four types of functions: Lure: Move a Human to the Site of one of your Hiding Spots from an adjacent Site. Scare: Move a Human from the Site of one of your Hiding Spots to an adjacent Site. Attract: Add a Human into the game from their Rest Area. Extract: Remove a Human from the game into their Rest Area.   Start by placing the Wilderness board within reach of all players. The Wilderness board is broken up into six Sites: Crystal River, Pinehill Park, Maple Lake, Scenic Swamp, Witch Ridge, and Crooked Chasm. Place two Human tokens into each Site—the Flavor of Human is specified. Near the board, designate Rest Areas, where Humans that are not currently in play reside. Also close by, place the Action cards and Event cards with designated discard piles.   Every player must choose a Cryptid and take the corresponding Cryptid card, Meeple, and Sighting cards. Each player is also dealt five Action cards to make up their hand and two Hidden Trait cards. Study them and choose which challenge you want to complete. Return the one you don’t choose to the box. Keeping your challenge in mind, players must now divide their Sighting cards into three equal Stacks. Each Stack will correspond to one of your Hiding Spot tokens. You may refer to these throughout the game, but keep them hidden from the other players.   Players must place their Hiding Spot tokens into different Wilderness Sites. You can’t put more than one of your own Hiding Spot tokens into the same Site. Now, we are ready to begin.   Gameplay A game consists of five rounds. Each round consists of four phases: Dawn, Day, Dusk, and Night. Dawn: Humans will leave from, arrive to, and move about The Wilderness of their own accord—as directed by the round’s Event card. The First Player will draw the top card from the Event deck and place it face up for all to see and then resolve the listed effects from top to bottom to the best of their ability. Day: Cryptids can move Humans around the Wilderness in attempt to increase their Myth. You can do one of three things—listed below—and players will cycle through this three times in player order. Play an Action card from your hand. Discard an Action card from your hand to use your Cryptid Power (this can only be done once per round). Pass your turn to the next player. Dusk: An Encounter occurs at one of the Wilderness Sites! To determine where the Encounter occurs, find the Site with the most Humans that also has at least one Hiding Spot token. If multiple Sites tie for the most Humans, the First Player chooses which of those Sites the Encounter will occur. In player order, if you have a Hiding Spot token in the Site of the Encounter, reveal the top Sighting Card of your corresponding Stack. Now, calculate how much Myth you will gain or lose based on the Flavor of Humans that are in the Site. Then resolve the effect of the Sighting Card, set it aside, and place your Hiding Spot token on top of the Stack. If, during Dusk, you reveal the final Sighting Card in one of your Stacks, return the corresponding Hiding Spot token to the box—it will not be used for the rest of the game. Night: This is when the preparation for the next day happens. If you do not have a Hiding Spot token on one of your Stacks, you may move one of your Hiding Spot tokens to a new Wilderness Site. If you do have a Hiding Spot token on one of your Stacks, place it in a Site different from where the Encounter just occurred. Now you can discard any number of cards remaining in your hand and draw until you have five cards. Do this in player order, and then the First Player passes the First Player token to the player to their left, and they become the First Player. Repeat this process for five rounds. Then flip over the remaining Sighting cards in your Stacks and your Hidden Trait card. You get +7 Myth for each Real Deal card that was not revealed during the game. You can gain bonus Myth based on your level of completion of the objective on your Hidden Trait card. The player with the most Myth wins! That Cryptid is the True Legend.   History Tee Turtle was founded by Ramy Badie in 2022. What started out as a t-shirt company based in Baltimore has since grown to include plushies (the Moody Reversible Octopus!), games, and accessories.   In 2017, Unstable Unicorns launched via Kickstarter to great success, which paved the way for Unstable Games, which is Tee Turtle’s dedicated game studio. They’ve designed games like Here to Slay, and Happy Little Dinosaurs in addition to Twisted Cryptids, which was released in 2025.     Variations There are two different expansion packs you can purchase and integrate into your base game. The Cryptid Culture expansion introduces Jersey Devil and Lizard Person as new playable cryptids. You can also start a cult! Enlist one of six cults to help do your bidding. It’s represented by a token in the Wilderness that can migrate around the board, gaining you Myth points and recruiting humans to unlock new abilities to help get ahead.   There’s also the Ness is More expansion, in which Nessie and Chupacabra join as Cryptids! New effects are also introduced: Strong Lure and Big Scare, which allows you to reach humans far across The Wilderness.    

Many of you know professional inventor Bruce Lund—and if you don't know Bruce personally, you certainly know the toys and games he has brought to life over the years.   When Bruce lived and invented in Chicago, his office was legendary, complete with secret doors and surprises around every corner. It was exactly the kind of place you'd expect from someone whose career has been built on creativity, curiosity, and play.   I've read several of Bruce's books and always come away with new insights, plenty of laughs, and a few stories I can't wait to share with others. Over the years, we've featured excerpts in the Bloom Report, and readers have loved his unique blend of wisdom, humor, and hard-earned lessons from a lifetime of inventing.   Now, with the publication of his fifth book, we're delighted to share all five titles for your reading pleasure. Whether you're an inventor, entrepreneur, creative professional, or simply someone who enjoys a great story, Bruce's books are filled with inspiration, practical advice, and memorable adventures from a remarkable career. -Mary   First, a revised version of Bruce's original book. “Everything I know about Business (and Life) I learned playing with Toys.”   Everything I know about Business (and Life) I Learned Playing with Toys   “We Be Toys”. Photos and descriptions of almost all of our products that hit the retail shelves.   We Be Toys   The rise from poverty to being a millionaire by virtue of 40 years of inventing and licensing hundreds of toys and games throughout the world.   Third, “People You Should Know”. Ordinary people whose lives can be quite extraordinary. I highly recommend reading about them and be inspired.    People You Should Know   In school, business, travel, working one meets all manner of people who have lived some extraordinary experiences in their lives. Here are many Bruce has known!    “Letters to Santa”. Each year we would put out our marvelous, animated, talking mailbox out in front of our office. Kids of the area would put their letters to Santa inside. The letters came from toddlers, elementary and middle school kids, and many teenagers as well. Thoughtful, appreciative, full of hope, and wishing for the magic that is part of being a child. Santa is a big part of that magic.    Letters to Santa