Ludology

Erica and Sen talk with Dr. Tanya Pobuda about her groundbreaking research of representation in board games, the purpose of journalism, and her work in academia. SHOW NOTES 2m01s: Emma and Gil chatted with Dr. Mary Flanagan on Ludology 226 - Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo. 7m37s: Two seminal works in the theory behind fun and play are Johan Huizinga's Homo Ludens and Roger Caillois' Man, Play, and Games. 27m05s: Analog Game Studies provides an academic, analytic look at non-digital games. 39m12s: Leonard Anetta's research paper The "I's" Have It: A Framework for Serious Educational Game Design. 43m34s: Elizabeth Sampat's book Empathy Engines: Design Games that are Personal, Political, and Profound.

In GameTek Classic 275.5 - MENACE, Geoff discussed a simple machine that anyone can build that can learn how to play tic-tac-toe competitively. Here, Geoff continues the conversation, this time with modern researchers using a neural network to teach a machine to play a first-person shooter video game, and the tweak they needed to make to see their AI become competitive with human players.

Erica and Gil discuss Erica's time so far working at Spinmaster, making mass-market games for kids and families. How is it different from making games for the hobby market? SHOW NOTES 0m43s: We recently chatted with Sydney Engelstein of Indie Boards & Cards in Ludology 274 - Indie 500, and with Carol Mertz of Exploding Kittens in Ludology 277 - Combustible Felines. 7m28s: The Rubiks brand of puzzles, toys, and games, centered around the world-famous Rubik's Cube. And the legendary brand of Gund plush toys. 19m04s: Kinetic Sand 33m39s: The marvelous game designer Maureen Hiron. 42m00s: Splendor, 7 Wonders, Sushi Go 56m10s: Busen Memo

In this classic GameTek, Scott tells us about the history of Agricola, which sparked new life in worker-placement games.

Sen and Gil have a talk with game reviewer and critic Daniel Thurot of the marvelous game review site Space-Biff! about his distinctive style of writing, the difference between review and criticism, and theming in games. SHOW NOTES 4m48s: The Settlers of Zarahemla 5m26s: Roger Ebert was a movie critic; Gil remains a big fan of his writing. Also: Tom Chick (whom Dan interviewed on his own podcast), Tom Francis 14m55s: Fort 29m35s: The recent film Men 31m56s: Sen and Jay's game MIND MGMT 34m37s: Sen may be referring to The Long View Podcast 35m40s: Mike Barnes, There Will Be Games 44m06s: Frontierland is indeed a part of Disneyland (California), as well as the Magic Kingdom in Disneyworld (Florida) 49m12s: Dan's review of Heading Forward. We had publisher Amabel Holland on Ludology 262 - This Guilty Podcast. 50m27s: Pope Alexander VI, Antipopes 52m37s: Charlie Theel, Matt Thrower, Thinker Themer 53m04s: That's about 1.2x1.2x0.9 meters.

Geoff tells us about big changes in store for Tabletop Network 2022, and why he's so excited for it! This is an amazing show for game designers, and you can easily stay for BGG.CON immediately afterwards. Please consider attending!

Sen and Gil chat with game designer Carol Mertz, senior game designer at Exploding Kittens. Carol has worked on many Exploding Kittens games, like Hand To Hand Wombat, Exploding Kittens: Recipe for Disaster, and Exploding Kittens: 2-Player Version. She's also known for her own designs, especially the wildly creative HELLCOUCH, the only couch co-op that uses an actual couch. SHOW NOTES 2m28s: We chatted with Sydney Engelstein of Indie Game Studios recently, on Ludology 274 - Indie 500. 17m28s: But Wait There's More, Bad Medicine 25m40s: We spoke with Mike Elliot in Ludology 256 - You're Big in Japan, and with Justin Gary in Ludology 207 - Card Advantage. 39m26s: Inhuman Conditions 45m08s: Pass the Buck: A Game of Corporate Responsibility Management 48m25s: The Pixel Pop festival. 57m02s: Hellcouch, and the customizable hardware board Arduino.

Scott rassles up the tangled history of the Western-themed social deduction game Bang!

Gil and Sen sit down with game designer and chronicler Aaron A. Reed to talk about his project 50 Years of Text Games, in which he covered one important game for each year between 1971 and 2020. The project will be made into a book. SHOW NOTES 2m21s: The Oregon Trail 3m13s: Gil mentions a bunch of games that Aaron wrote about: Adventure, Hunt the Wumpus, games made with Inform and Twine, 80 Days, Fallen London. 9m22s: Sen's childhood PET computer, Gil's childhood Panasonic computer 10m24s: The game Adventure, the company Infocom, and the rise of Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs). 14m16s: You can probably add board games like Gloomhaven to this list too! 17m28s: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy game, with the infamous Babel Fish puzzle. Here is the text of the Infocom hint guide for that puzzle. Click "Next Answer" for the next step. Each step has spoilers, obviously! Also, Gil was wrong, it was "only" 30 steps. 18m33s: Myst 20m07s: Infocom's "feelies." Several fan sites have information on them; this is one. 20m38s: Infocom's game Suspended had a ridiculously cool cover; a plastic injection-molded face with cut-outs for the eyes. The eyes you see on the cover are printed on cardboard beneath the face. Because the images for the eyes are recessed, they will seem to follow you if you walk past the game on the shelf. 22m54s: Robert Lafore's "Interactive Fiction" 26m46s: St. Bride's School 30m45s: The Oz Project 33m09s: The digital game Façade. 36m00s: Adventuron, Choice of Games' ChoiceScript, Inkle 37m00s: So Far, Photopia, Galatea, Trinity 42m01s: The harrowing dramatic film The Sweet Hereafter, which was an inspiration for Photopia. 44m46s: The seminal ARG The Beast, created to promote the film AI 49m47s: Here's the article Gil was talking about. Also, Porpentine's game With Those We Love Alive 52m35s: PixelBerry's interactive romances Choices, of which The Freshman is a story in the game. 56m10s: Ludology 151, where Geoff and Gil discuss what a game actually is. 57m57s: Aaron's book Subcutanean, which is different for everyone who buys it. 58m51s: Sen is likely thinking of Cain's Jawbone, a puzzle released in 1934 by Edward Mathers, under the pseudonym Torquemada. 1h01m27s: Archives of the Sky 1h03m03s: The short IF game 9:05. It's really quick; play it if you can! 1h04m10s: Star Saga One: Beyond the Boundary. 1h05m05s: Above & Below, Near & Far, Tales of the Arabian Nights 1h06m02s: Aaron's 50 Years of Text Games book

Geoff tells us about MENACE; not Phantom or Dennis, but the Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine, which Donald Michie designed in 1961 as a relatively simple AI that would allow anyone to see how a machine could be trained to get better at a task.

Erica and Gil chat with returning guest Banana Chan and our own Sen-Foong Lim about designing their game Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall. What's it like making a game about a specific demographic, and who is this game for? SHOW NOTES 0m54s: Banana was last on the show in Ludology 228 - The Roles We Play. 4m56s: More information about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. 18m31s: James Mendez Hodes discussed cultural consultation with us in Ludology 247 - Orc-kay Computer. 31m25s: Jason Morningstar joined us on Ludology 161 - What's the Story, Morning Glory? 40m33s: "PBTA" refers to a game with the Apocalypse World game system, aka "Powered by the Apocalypse." 46m08s: Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 joined us in Ludology 252 - Crazy Rich Storytelling. 53m15s: The Paranoia RPG.

Scott takes us through the history of the classic word game Scrabble.

Gil and Sen chat with game designer, developer, and polyhedral dice addict Sydney Engelstein of Indie Game Studios about how to pitch your game to a publisher, the process of designing and developing Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition, coming up with new narrative for Aeon's End, and what kinds of theater would best be adapted into a board game. SHOW NOTES 8m28s: Obsession 19m07s: Race for the Galaxy 56m16s: Noises Off! 57m44s: Sen is making a reference to the game Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity War. Then Sydney refers to the early Uwe Rosenberg game Mamma Mia. 58m46s: Gil is thinking that the game Sydney mentioned is Hamlet!

Geoff chats with Mikael Le Bourhis of Asmodee Research and Game In Lab about the work they are doing studying the impact of tabletop gaming on society and life. You can find out more information from Game In Lab here.

Erica and Sen chat with localization expert, "gaming handyman," and occasional street busker Matthew Legault of Scorpion Masqué to discuss what it takes to move a game from one language to another. SHOW NOTES 25m03s - Here's the bonus episode we did about the production and translation of Agricola. Scott Rogers also did a Biography of a Board Game about it. 30m36s - Guy LaFleur was a legendary ice hockey player who won 5 Stanley Cups with the Montreal Canadiens. 49m57s - Strike, Team Team, Stop Thief, and Sen's game with longtime friend and collaborator Jay Cormier, Mind MGMT, based on the comic book.

In this classic Biography of a Board Game, Scott takes us through the sweet history of the kids' game Candyland.

Gil and Erica sit with game developer and new music fan Brenna Noonan to talk about her experiences developing games with her development company Quillsilver Studios, her experiences working on the smash hit Everdell, and the intersection of music and games. SHOW NOTES 2m59s: Everdell, Roll Player: Adventures, Dog Park 6m14s: Erica and Scott chatted with the Laukats about making games as a family in Ludology 251 - All In the Family. 10m17s: Gil and Geoff discussed ludonarrative dissonance in games in Ludology 190 - Diabolus in Ludica. 11m22s: The sequence in question from the documentary Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse. 12m33s: Sorry, spoiler alert! Hitchcock's Psycho had a legendary twist. 18m32s: Brenna mentions the productivity apps Toggl and ClickUp. 35m35s: A good sample Colvini brainburner is Carolus Magnus. Also Samurai, Sharang's episode Ludology 230 - Design Re-Verb, High Society 36m47s: The New Complexity school of music, Brian Ferneyhough, Conlon Nancarrow and his wild player piano music. (We should also mention the more recent phenomenon of Black MIDI music, like this MIDI version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody with 2.06 million notes.) 41m06s: Coherence, recommended by Banana Chan in Ludology 228 - The Roles We Play. 44m04s: Brenna's 3 composers she'd have over for dinner: Kaija Saariaho, Giacinto Scelsi, and Frederic Rzewski 45m13s: Gil was close! It was Charles Ives, at a performance of his music. The exact quote: "You goddamn sissy... when you hear strong masculine music like this, get up and use your ears like a man!"

Geoff runs us through the Hypergeometric and Binomial functions in a spreadsheet application like Microsoft Excel. Don't be intimidated by their names; they're actually pretty easy to use, and invaluable for game designers. You can find Geoff's GameTek newsletter on this subject here.

Erica, Gil, and Sen have a roundtable discussion about their experiences with contracts. What are things designers should look for when negotiating their contracts? Note that none of us are lawyers, and at no point in this episode do we give out actual legal advice. If you need legal advice, please consult an actual lawyer! SHOW NOTES 25m46s: Here's the Meeple Syrup episode on localization, with Mike Raftopolous. 38m18s: "Spin" is SpinMaster, the game publishing company that Erica works for. 43m01s: If you're not familiar with the story of the rock band Van Halen and brown M&Ms, here it is.

In this classic Biography of a Board Game, Scott takes us through the history of the classic deduction game Scotland Yard.

Gil sits down for a one-on-one with game designer, teacher, and lecturer Marc LeBlanc to discuss some of his game design ideas, especially his 8 Kinds of Fun and the Mechanics/Dynamics/Aesthetics (MDA) framework. NOTE: Towards the end of the episode, Gil's mic cable started to get unhappy. Apologies for the static! SHOW NOTES 0m50s: Looking Glass Studios, Ultima Underworld II, Thief, System Shock, Defense of the Oasis, Heroes Welcome 4m30s: Marc's 8 types of fun: Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression, and Submission. 9m31s: Wildermyth 11m28s: Nicole Lazzaro's 4 Keys to Fun, Self-Determination Theory, Quantric Foundry's Gamer Motivation Model, Jason VendenBerghe's Engines of Play 12m46s: Tim Fowers was on Ludology 165 - Fowerian Slip. Gil also mentions philosipher Roger Caillois and his book Man, Play, and Games. 23m52s: Reiner Knizia's classic auction game Ra. 31m34s: Spy Party 33m39s: Geoff discussed the Incan Gold experiment in GameTek 213.5. 36m46s: Gil's talk at Tabletop Network has been lost to tech gremlins. Fortunately, he gave the same talk online during the pandemic. 38m01s: Any mention of Caylus would make Ludology co-founder Ryan Sturm happy. 39m34s: Sharang Biswas was on Ludology 230 - Design Re-Verb. Geoff discussed his most recent game, Super Skill Pinball, on Ludology 268 - Pinball Wizard. 47m21s: 7 Wonders 51m08s: Slay the Spire 54m38s: Alan Moon's Oasis vs. Reiner Knizia's Through the Desert 56m05s: Return to Dark Tower, the Through the Ages digital adaptation, Pokemon Unite, Titan, Zach Gage's really bad chess. 1h00m02s: The Lynx web browser.

In this GameTek Classic, Geoff tells us about the strategies behind "Jeopardy" James Holzhauer's amazing run on the TV game show Jeopardy, in which he won 32 consecutive games between April and June 2019, earning $2,464,216. What does James do differently than everyone else?

Sen and Erica sit down with Matthew Dunstan and Dave Neale to discuss how they work as a team, working on a wide variety of games, working on a narrow group of games, and what it's like making a game based entirely in sound! In this episode, Matthew mentions Postmark Games, his PNP project with Rory Muldoon. At 37m31s, Sen mentions Piaget's Characteristics of Play. At 44m15s, Matt mentions Ludology 265 - Hold Onto Your Hats!

In this classic Biography of a Board Game from 2017, Scott tells us the origins of the massively popular card game Uno.

Gil and Sen are delighted to welcome Geoff Engelstein back to the show to discuss the making of his hit roll-and-write game Super-Skill Pinball. What calls did he make when designing the game, and how much did it change from his original vision? SHOW NOTES 3m29s: Take It Easy 5m38s: Limes 6m12s: Matt Wolfe joined us for Ludology 157 - Come Scale Away. Welcome To... 9m09s: Versailles 1919 25m58s: Yes, Games Magazine is thankfully still with us. Merchant of Venus 28m00s: Ares Project, the 1980 arcade game Crazy Climber 35m00s: MIND MGMT

Geoff tells us about the curious effect of endowment, and describes how both the game show Deal or No Deal and the video game Portal use it to enormous effect.

It's an annual Ludology tradition to invite The Podfather of Gaming, Stephen Buonocore, to the show at the start of each year to discuss trends in the industry. As always, Stephen flashes his business acumen and deep insight into what he thinks the industry is in store for in 2022.

In this re-air of a Biography of a Board Game from September 2017, Scott slices open the history of the game Operation. Note: Even though Scott has stepped away from the show, we will still be publishing classic Biography of a Board Game episodes for the time being.

During our winter break, our co-host Scott Rogers pounced on a new job opportunity that he couldn't pass up. Sadly, this means he has to step down as Ludology co-host. In this episode, we'll chat with Scott about his time at Ludology, and ask him what awaits in the future. Because Scott's job commitments have already begun, we couldn't find a time when we could all meet. So Erica, Gil, and Sen all recorded their questions in one recording session, and Scott recorded his answers in another recording session.

Erica, Gil, Scott, and Sen wrap up 2021 with a roundtable discussion on the hats we wear as game industry professionals. What are all the skills we bring to bear to make games, and how do we feel about them? This is the final Ludology episode of 2021. We're taking our annual winter break. We will be back on January 23, 2022 with the next episode of Ludology. In the meantime, there will be no Ludology, GameTek, or Biography of a Board Game episodes. From all of us at Ludology, have the happiest of holidays, and here's to a productive 2022! SHOW NOTES 5m12s - Alien: Fate of the Nostromo 12m27s - "Spin" is Spin Master, where Erica works as an on-staff game designer. 25m54s - Route 66 28m14s - Gil should have said "at the start of the pandemic," as we're still in the pandemic! If you'd like to join his remote playtesting group (which he will hopefully be attending again soon), click here. 33m51s - Unity, a platform mainly used to develop video games. 38m57s - The Affinity suite. 51m38s - Here's more info about Amber Seger, Weird Stories' awesome graphic designer. 54m40s - Scott's flat cap, Gil's HUGE hat

In this re-air of a Biography of a Board Game from July 2017, Scott takes us through the history of former Ludology co-host Mike Fitzgerald's Mystery Rummy series of games.

Gil and Sen welcome game designer, manufacturer, publisher, game cafe owner, and convention runner Kenechukwu Ogbuagu ("KC") of NIBCARD Games to the show. From his home city of Abuja, KC has built up the board gaming scene in Nigeria almost singlehandedly, recently winning the prestigious Diana Jones award for his efforts. SHOW NOTES 12m46s: Hobby World, Spyfall, Viceroy, Cosmodrome 14m58s: KC mentions the classic board game Ludo, which was based on the Indian game Pachisi. The American games Parcheesi, Sorry, Aggravation, Headache, and Trouble were based on Ludo or Pachisi; British people may know it as Uckers, while Canadians may know it as Tock. 22m07s: NGOs are Non-Governmental Organizations. In the US, most of them tend to be non-profits. 25m58s: See the Smart People Play Chess TV trope 34m08s: Bastard Café in Denmark, one of NIBCARD Cafe's supporters 44m20s: Designer Eric Lang will be at AB Con, the convention that KC organizes in Nigeria. 45m36s: InstantSync 46m08s: Legendary designer Reiner Knizia 46m52s: Village War 54m12s: Kuli kuli, Okpa, Akara

Geoff discusses one of the most feared characteristics of early RPGs: the loss of a level. Why is this mechanism so hated and feared among players?

Erica and Sen chat with Shing Yin Khor, game designer, installation artist, illustrator, award-winning cartoonist, and Bunyan-ologist. Shing Yin is the designer of the game A Mending, in which players literally sew their actions into cloth, and co-designer (with Jeeyon Shim) of the game Field Guide to Memory. Shing Yin calls both games "keepsake games," as they both leave artifacts of play that tell the story of the game experience. SHOW NOTES 4m15s: Gasha/gacha machine 7m05s: We chatted with Jeeyon on Ludology 244 - Games Brought to Life. 10m04s: The Oraclebird 12m17s: Gnomes, a Dutch book written by Wil Huygen and illustrated by Rien Poortvliet. 16m21s: In games, diegesis refers to anything that fits within the narrative world. If a video game wants characters to move right on the screen, they can do it diegetically by showing objects being blown to the right, or non-diegetically by flashing an arrow on the screen pointing to the right. Examples of board games that use diegesis well are Inhuman Conditions and Ca$h 'n Guns. 17m05s: Space Gnome Space 19m05s: Paul Bunyan 25m17s: We discussed audience agency with Haley E.R. Cooper and Cameron Cooper of Strange Bird Immersive in Ludology 214 - Escape from Reality. Shing Yin mentions Sleep No More as an example of immersive theater. 26m49s: Geoff and Gil wrestled with the definition of "game" in Ludology 151 - High Definition. 30m34s: The RPGs For the Queen and The Quiet Year 34m55s: We chatted with the tireless Banana Chan in Ludology 228 - The Roles We Play. The game they made with Sen is Exquisite Crime. 39m39s: A helpful visual: 41m37s: Car Wars

Scott Rogers takes us to the inception of the legacy game, and the one that started it all: Rob Daviau's Risk Legacy. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-04-03-the-legacy-of-rob-daviau-the-man-who-helped-flip-boardgames-on-their-head https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1024259/Legacy-Games-From-Risk-to https://www.polygon.com/tabletop-games/22740263/risk-legacy-sequel-shadow-forces-announcement-release-date-price https://boardgamedesignlab.com/designing-legacy-games-with-jamey-stegmaier/

Erica and Gil are delighted to welcome designer Amabel Holland of Hollandspiele, known for making games with challenging themes using an unconventional publishing model. SHOW NOTES 0m58s: Supply Lines of the American Revolution, Table Battles, Irish Gauge, This Guilty Land, Nicea, The Vote. 7m08s: Amabel is talking about her forthcoming game Eyelet. 15m02s: This is Geoff's game Versailles 1919, co-designed with Mark Herman. 17m28s: Benedict Arnold 18m34s: The Shackleton Expedition 21m16s: The Vote 28m22s: Nicea 31m38s: Irish Gauge, Northern Pacific, Iberian Gauge 32m29s: Winsome, Rio Grande 34m23s: Chicago Express 34m55s: Meltwater, An Infamous Traffic 36m11s: RIBBIT: The Jump, Move, and Block Game, Table Battles 38m51s: New Mill 43m45s: Westphalia 48m18s: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae 49m52s: Cheapass Games 53m46s: Tobacco misinformation campaign 54m37s: Gil was thinking of Brandolini's Law, aka the BS Asymmetry Principle. 57m55s: Horse & Musket 59m03s: Deinocheirus, Pterodactyl, Therizinosaurus

Geoff explains a mathematical algorithm that can help potential roommates figure out how to split the rent, if an even split would be unfair and the roommates do not value the rooms the same way. This mechanism is just dying to be used in a game!

Gil and Scott are delighted to welcome Martin Wallace back to the show. Martin was first on the show on Ludology 46 - Getting Down to Brass Tacks back in 2012 with Geoff Engelstein and a very enthusiastic Ryan Sturm. In this episode, we catch up with Martin to see what he's been up to in the last 9 years. Martin is the designer of many well-loved strategy games, like Brass, Age of Steam (and all its related games, like Railways of the World), London, A Study in Emerald, AuZtralia, and A Study in Emerald. Technical note: Martin's recording has some dropouts in it; unfortunately, those seemed to come straight from his microphone, so there wasn't much we could do about them. We hope you enjoy the episode anyway! SHOW NOTES 1m25s: Lords of Creation 4m31s: Gloomhaven, the North Sea Trilogy from Garphill Games, Jamey Stegmaier. 8m06s: The Exit games, and the Unlock! games 11m53s: Games Workshop, Ian Livingstone, the British Steve Jackson, the American Steve Jackson, and the Fighting Fantasy books. 16m18s: Anno 1800 20m08s: Catan, Dune Imperium 23m55s: Age of Industry 25m18s: "Canal holidays" 27m28s: The World Transplant Games 32m46s: A Study in Emerald 34m18s: Gil regrets not pushing back on this point a bit harder; he doesn't think turning indigenous people into monsters is as effective a technique as Martin does. For a good perspective, check out Dan Thurot's post about this on his excellent blog Space-Biff. 35m53s: Terry Pratchett and Discworld 38m41s: Martin is referring to the events of May 68 in France. 43m53s: Imperium Legends, De Vulgari Eloquentia 45m28s: Ankh: Gods of Egypt, Medina, and "zugzwang" 48m40s: Our favorite Star Wars clones: Starcrash, Battle Beyond the Stars, and a special shout-out to Fugitive Alien. 49m10s: Carcassonne 53m03s: Discworld: Ankh-Morpork, Doctor Who: The Card Game 55m13s: Disclaimer: Many of us on Ludology are pretty down on the HP series these days, due to the bigoted views of its author. 56m59s: The video game Stellaris, the fantasy series His Dark Materials, and the fantasy collection The Silmarillion. 1h00m05s: Rocketmen 1h00m57s: The humble pasty 1h03m32s: Hobo code

For this week, we're replaying the very first Biography of a Board Game that aired on Ludology. In it, Scott talks about the classic game that got so many fans and designers into the hobby: Risk.

Scott and Gil welcome Nikki Valens, designer of Mansions of Madness: Second Edition, Eldritch Horror, Legacy of Dragonholt, Quirky Circuits, and the upcoming Artisans of Splendent Vale. We talk about making programming games like Quirky Circuits, app-driven games like Mansions of Madness, and campaign games like Legacy of Dragonholt. SHOW NOTES 1m27s: Brown College 3m22s: Robo Rally 3m50s: Colt Express 5m53s: Magic Maze 8m18s: The Mind 12m26s: Ra, Medici 35m49s: Betrayal Legacy 42m00s: "FFG" refers to Fantasy Flight Games, where Nikki worked for several years. 43m07s: XCOM: The Board Game 52m24s: Here's a compilation video of cats riding Roombas...

Geoff continues his dive into the probability of Pop-O-Matic dice, this time discussing how experiment results can be misrepresented through P-Hacking.

Gil and Sen are delighted to welcome Sara Thompson to discuss depictions of disability in tabletop games. Sara is the creator of the Combat Wheelchair for D&D, and of the Medicine on the Path supplement for The Witcher Pen & Paper RPG. SHOW NOTES 0m49s: Critical Role, with GM Matt Mercer. 3m35s: The D&D campaign Storm King's Thunder. 15m075s: The Greek god Hephaestus. 17m23s: Jennifer Kretchmer's Twitter. 21m35s: The thread in question, in which Sara describes Geralt as disabled and how that significantly affects his story. 25m08s: The Witcher: Baptism of Fire. 32m44s: Lauren Hissrich, showrunner of The Witcher TV show. 33m45s: A sample clip of the very silly Steve Martin film Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. 46m46s: Amanda Leduk's book Disfigured: On Fairy Tales, Disability, and Making Space. 52m19s: The Witcher: A Tome of Chaos supplement for The Witcher RPG. 53m22s: The Combat Wheelchair was featured on Critical Role episode C2E113 A Heart Grown Cold (at least, we're pretty sure it was!). It was used by NPC Dagen Underthorn. Also, Critter Hug is a show with Critical Role participants Matthew Mercer and Mica Burton interviewing people in the tabletop community. Here's the episode with Sara; you might recognize a couple other friendly faces in the same episode!

Scott takes us through the history of Quirkle, the smash hit game from Susan McKinley Ross.

Scott sits down with Erica, Gil, and Sen to discuss the design and making of his newest game, Alien: Fate of the Nostromo. We also discuss designing to an IP, and how to make a horror game. SHOW NOTES 0m58s: The original Alien film 1m31s: The other board game based on the film Alien. Scott is not counting board games influenced by the film without the official license, like Nemesis or The Awful Green Things From Outer Space. He's also only counting games based specifically on the original film, so board games based on any of the sequels, like Aliens, or Alien vs. Predator, do not count. 1m38s: The "Optimus Prime Conundrum" is a term coined by the legendary and wonderful podcast Flip the Table. It describes a situation where a game breaks the IP it's based on by allowing multiple copies of one character. This was coined in their very first episode, in which they reviewed the Transformers Adventure Game, where each player gets to play a separate version of Optimus Prime. 2m00s: The publisher Ravensburger. Note that Scott pronounces it "Ray-vensburger", while the other hosts pronounce it "Rah-vensburger". 3m34s: The films Elf, Home Alone, and Gremlins, and the animated series Gargoyles. 8h25m: The Topps Alien trading card set. 11m15s: The Betrayal games. 14m11s: Back to the Future: Dice through Time. 16m06s: The film Ten Little Indians, also known as And Then There Were None. There have been several versions of this film, all based on an Agatha Christie novel. 28m59s: Scott is correct in that Alien is the first film to provide a genuine "cat scare" - that is, a jump scare that turns out to just be a harmless cat. The so-called "cat scare," in which the source of a jump scare turns out to be something ordinary, appeared 35 years before Alien. TV Tropes credits it to producer Val Lewton, in his 1942 film Cat People. However, despite the film's name, the source of the scare was a bus, not a cat. Note that one month after Alien's wide release in the US, The Amityville Horror came out; it also featured a cat-powered "cat scare." Perhaps between these two films, the cliche was solidified. 34m15s: The Horrified games: Horrified and Horrified: American Monsters. A short checklists of cryptids: Bigfoot, Mothman, Windigo, and the Jersey Devil. 36m39s: Camp Grizzly 37m17s: Clue/Cluedo, 1313 Dead End Drive 39m19s: Dread 39m51s: Kingdom: Death Monster 41m03s: Peter Jackson's "splatstick" film Braindead (released in North America as Dead Alive) 42m49s: Dixit, Weird Stories, Unspeakable Words 44m03s: Final Girl 45m05s: Mansions of Madness 47m47s: Geoff's book Achievement Relocked, Ico, Death Stranding, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, Aerith from Final Fantasy VII 49m15s: Nyctophobia, Ten Candles, Vampire Hunter, Waldschattenspiel/Shadows in the Forest 51m39s: Apocrypha, the World of Darkness series of games (including Vampire: The Masquerade) 53m33s: Erica's news: Disney Sidekicks, Rat Queens: To the Slaughter 54m29s: Sen's news: Avatar Legends RPG 55m16s: Gil's news: GameTek on the global shipping snarl, Weird Stories

Geoff harnesses all his mathematical techniques to answer a burning question: are Pop-O-Matic dice truly random?

Geoff (making a one-off Ludology return) and Gil chat with Al Leonardi, designer of the legendary picture-book game Ace of Aces, and a legion of spinoffs using the same brilliant first-person system. SHOW NOTES 4m19s: Richthofen's War 8m18s: If you're interested about Ace of Ace's mathematical underpinnings, and its true nature as a hex-grid game, here's Geoff's article. 9m52s: There were two Star Wars games Al worked on: Star Wars: Starfighter Battle Book, and Star Wars Lightsaber Dueling (which was based on Lost Worlds, which we discuss later in the episode). Also: Dragonriders of Pern: The Book Game, Bounty Hunter: Shootout at the Saloon, and Ace of Aces: Wingleader. 11m11s: The Immelman turn, in World War I, was a difficult maneuver that allowed a skilled pilot to turn their aircraft around quickly. In modern aerobatics, it now refers to a type of half-loop. 16m58s: "Ditto sheets," known in the UK as a "Banda machine," refers to a method of print duplication used for much of the 20th century, and very popular in American schools at the time. People of a certain age will recall paper quizzes with a distinctive blue ink on the paper. 22m16s: Two more aerial maneuvers: the wingover, and the snap roll. 25m32s: Lost Worlds 27m48s: The Society for Creative Anachronism. 39m15s: TransAmerica, Ticket To Ride

Scott takes us through the history of Afrikan tähti ("Star of Africa"), a legendary Finnish game first released in 1949. Foreigners in Finland article One version of the game Another version of the game An interview with the publisher Related Ludology episodes: Ludology 197 - Empires Up in Arms (discussing colonialism in board games with Mikael Jakobsson and Rick Eberhardt of the MIT Game Lab) Ludology 247 - Orc-Kay Computer (discussing cultural appropriation in games with cultural consultant James Mendez Hodes)

Erica and Scott welcome game design legend Mike Elliott, creator of innumerable Magic: the Gathering and Pokémon cards, designer of Thunderstone, and co-designer of Quarriors and the Dice Masters series. And of course, of DuelMaster and Charm Angel, which were both huge hits in Japan. Mike also runs the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame, commemorating the work of legendary tabletop game designers. SHOW NOTES 1m22s: NeoPets, Hecatomb, The Harry Potter Trading Card Game. 1m41s: Game designer and friend of the show Eric Lang. Gil and Geoff chatted with Eric in Ludology 175 - Auld Lang Design. , Also, Wiz Kids is a publisher that should not be confused with Hasbro-owned D&D and Magic: the Gathering publisher Wizards of the Coast (aka WOTC, often referred to as "WHAT-see"). Wiz Kids and WOTC are two unrelated companies, although Wiz Kids publishes some D&D-related products under license from WOTC. 3m24s: Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson are the credited designers behind the first version of D&D. Richard Garfield designed Magic: The Gathering, King of Tokyo, and Robo Rally. Jordan Weisman founded legendary RPG publisher FASA before starting WizKids. Reiner Knizia has designed hundreds of games, including Tigris & Euphrates, Medici, Ra, and Lost Cities. Vlaada Chvatl designed Through the Ages and Galaxy Trucker. 3m58s: Uwe Rosenberg designed Agricola, Le Havre, A Feast for Odin, and Bohnanza. Bruno Cathala designed 5 Tribes, Kingdomino, and 7 Wonders Duel. Maureen Hiron has been in the industry for decades, with games like 7 Ate 9, Cosmic Cows, and Qwitch. 4m31s: The Strong Museum of Play, in Rochester, New York, is a museum dedicated to play, toys, and games. If you're ever in Rochester, make an appointment with their archivist to look at Sid Sackson's meticulously-kept diaries; they are amazing. GAMA is the Game Manufacturer's Association, a trade organization of tabletop game publishers and retailers. GAMA runs the industry convention GAMA Expo (formerly the GAMA Trade Show), and the public convention Origins. 5m26s: Little Wars, by novelist H.G. Wells (author of War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, and The Island of Doctor Moreau), was a rulebook for playing with toy soldiers. That sort of formalized ruleset for a wargame was rather novel in 1913. Note the cringeworthy full title: Little Wars: a game for boys from twelve years of age to one hundred and fifty and for that more intelligent sort of girl who likes boys' games and books. 7m39s: Here's the website Mike mentions. Note that Mike is in the middle of the photograph on the front page, in the black short-sleeved shirt. 8m31s: Here's the Biography of a Board Game for Pass-out. 9m43s: And here's the Biography of a Board Game for Quarriors. 10m22s: Del Mar, California. 15m44s: Hearthstone 21m34s: If you want to know more about the intersection of gaming and improv, check out our episode of Improv for Gamers author Karen Twelves, Ludology 237 - Improv-ing Games. 28m22s: Halo ActionClix, Star Wars PocketModel TCG, DC HeroClix: Batman (Alpha) 34m00s: The Dice Masters family of games. 35m04s: Duel Masters Trading Card Game, from WOTC and Takara Tomy (both of which are part of Hasbro), part of the Duel Masters franchise. 38m44s: Battle Spirits: Trading Card Game 45m27s: More information about Target halting sales of trading cards, including Pokémon. 46m01s: Thunderstone, published by Alderac Entertainment Group. Alderac is usually abbreviated as AEG, but is unrelated to the massive sports/music promoter Anschutz Entertainment Group, which is also abbreviated as AEG. Alderac is run by John Zinzer. 47m25s: Kingdom of Loathing 50m45s: Card Jitsu was originally part of Disney's MMO Club Penguin, which has since been replaced by Club Penguin Island. 54m08s: Quarriors 58m25s: Yahtzee: Doctor Who edition, and its TARDIS dice cup. 1h00m26s: The Quacks of Quedlinburg, The Mind 1h05m17s: AR games, or Augmented Reality games, utilize technology like phones or tablets to augment real-world locations with computer-generated enhancements. The most successful AR game at the moment is Pokémon Go. 1h07m53s: Mark Rosewater is the head designer for Magic: The Gathering. 1h15m15s: The film American Pie.

In this special GameTek, Geoff and Gil sit down with Justin Bergeron of ARC Global Logistics to discuss the global shipping snarl that's delaying so many board games (among other goods). How is it affecting the industry, what's behind it, and how long could it possibly last? You can reach Justin via email. Here's the web site for ARC Global's parent company, Logimark Group.

Gil and Sen are delighted to have RPG/story game designer Avery Alder on the show to talk about her games that show how communities deal with upheaval and change. We also discuss the change that RPGs saw in the past 20 years, going from the expectation of custom, bespoke systems for each game to the consensual adoption of systems like Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark. SHOW NOTES 02m39s: The Forge is no longer active, but you can read its archives here. Also, My Life With Master. 04m24s: The RPG Top Secret. 07m52s: Jiangshi. 10m36s: Here's Avery's talk at NYU's practice convention. Also, Dream Askew, and Apocalypse World. 14m09s: Dungeon World (note that its designer Adam Koebel has behaved problematically in the past, showing issues with consent in games - content warning for mention of sexual assault in link), Monster of the Week (and the Adventure Zone podcast), Avery's game Monsterhearts (now implemented as Monsterhearts 2), and the Powered by the Apocalypse system. 15m17s: Blades in the Dark, the Forged in the Dark system, and Scum & Villainy 16m36s: Dream Apart, Sleepaway, and the Belonging Outside Belonging system. 29m34s: Volley Boys, based on the anime Haikyu!! 39m19s: The Quiet Year 44m34s: Bohnanza 50m09s: Dramatic structures, including the 3-Act Structure, and the Hero's Journey 57m13s: The minis game Hordes, and its Legion of Everblight expansion. 1h07m13s: Geoff and Gil discussed hard vs. soft incentives in Ludology 185 - Soft Boiled. Also, Snow Tails.