Emma and Gil chat with Sam Rosenthal and Stephen Bell of The Game Band , known for their bizarre cosmic horror sports sim Blaseball . We discuss the unique feedback loop between Blaseball's fans and its creators, the benefits of apophenia, and how baseball was uniquely suited for this treatment at this moment in history. SHOW NOTES 7m00s: The score bug that Gil is referring to is the graphic that appears overlaid on most sports broadcast, showing the game's score and other vital stats. Gil also ...
Feb 07, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Scott delves into the history of two games released by entrepreneur Edwin Lowe: Bingo and Yahtzee. Both became enormous successes, and are now a part of our cultural fabric. How did they get there?
Jan 31, 2021•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma, Gil, and Scott discuss winning in games. What defines winning in a game, and what are the different ways games can handle it? Also, Emma shares a Big Announcement with us. SHOW NOTES 2m44s: Type 1 - One winner, everyone else loses: Catan , Terra Mystica , Terraforming Mars 3m47s: Type 1a - Conditional win: Dune , Red November , Mission Catastrophe , Glory to Rome 6m48s: Vast , COIN (Counter-Insurgency) games 6m56s: Type 2 - One loser, everyone else wins: Jenga , Cockroach Poker , Kackel Da...
Jan 24, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geoff takes us through what he (and many other people) feel is a flaw in the rules of basketball, and a possible solution that was first implemented by a new league in 2018. The Elam Ending is designed to eliminate the incentive for teams trailing on the scoreboard to constantly, intentionally foul the leading team, making for a more consistent and fun game to watch. This GameTek Classic was recorded in 2018; since then, the NBA used the Elam Ending for the 2020 All-Star Game, although they adde...
Jan 17, 2021•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast We continue our annual tradition of bringing board game industry veteran Stephen Buonocore, now retired from Stronghold Games/Indie Game Studios and focusing on media and podcasting. We explore the bizarre, catastrophic year of 2020, and consider what's in store for us in 2021. Note that this episode was recorded on Monday, November 30, 2020; we occasionally say "this year" to mean 2020 instead of 2021. SHOW NOTES 6m24s: "Travis" is Travis Worthington, CEO of Indie Game Studios. 9m00s: Back the ...
Jan 10, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome Adrienne Smith , designer of the card game Blitz Champz and wide receiver for the Boston Renegades women's gridiron football team. We discuss the intersection of mass market, kids, and sports game design, the state of women's football in modern America, and serial entrepreneurship. This episode was recorded on November 16, 2020. A couple of weeks later, Vanderbilt brought their varsity women's soccer goalie, Sarah Fuller, onto their men's football team as a kicker. Note: Thi...
Dec 13, 2020•1 hr 16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Scott takes us through the history of Dark Tower , the legendary electronically-enhanced board game, and its modern spiritual successor, Return to Dark Tower . The story's twists and turns include every designer's worst nightmare: a huge company stealing a designer's idea and making it their own. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME Wilderness Campaign, the Apple II game that helped inspire Dark Tower: https://www.mobygames.com/game/wilderness-campaign Fan page with all sorts of info: https://well-of-so...
Dec 06, 2020•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome Kathryn Hymes and Hakan Seyalıoğlu to the show to discuss the impact of language on play, and how to design games that revolve around the building, modification, and demise of a language. SHOW NOTES 2m52s: Here's the Kickstarter for Thorny's new game Xenolanguage . 6m45s: Among Us is a social deduction digital game that, after a quiet two years on the market, suddenly blew up on Twitch and is now extremely popular. US congressional representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mad...
Nov 29, 2020•1 hr 11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geoff discusses the difference between deductive and inductive reasoning, and its impact in board games and beyond. In this episode, Geoff discusses the games Clue/Cluedo , Mastermind , and Zendo . He also discusses dark matter , WIMPs , and Einstein's theory of relativity ....
Nov 22, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma, Gil, and Scott discuss the idea of complexity in a board game. We explore 6 types of complexity, and discuss their effects on the games we play and design. SHOW NOTES 0m51s: Pete Seeger was an American folk singer, known for songs like "If I Had a Hammer," "Turn, Turn, Turn," and "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" 2m04s: Our list of complexities: Spatial complexity Arithmetical complexity Zone complexity Planning complexity Rules/mechanism complexity Component complexity 2m45s: Barenpark ,...
Nov 15, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Scott goes over the history of Which Witch , a game that's been adapted into many other games, including The Real Ghostbusters Game and the Scooby-doo! Haunted House 3D Board Game . If you're interested in learning more about Marvin Glass and Associates , Scott recommends that you read A World Without Reality: Inside Marvin Glass's Toy Vault . We also discussed him in Ludology 212 - Inventing Play with Kim Vandenbrouke....
Nov 08, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome Karen Twelves, whose straddling of the worlds of gaming and improv led her to write the book Improv for Gamers. What can gaming and improv learn from each other? Content warning: this episode contains brief references to non-consensual touching and racism. SHOW NOTES 01m16s: AD&D is Advanced Dungeons and Dragons , the form of D&D most prominent in the 80s and 90s. 02m43s: A kinesthetic learner is one who learns through physical activity. We discussed kinesthetic learning and...
Nov 01, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geoff compares the design process of the video game Diabolo to… the invention of calculus? Yes, there are surprising similarities, and seeing how the two dovetail leads to a stronger appreciation of both game design and mathematics.
Oct 25, 2020•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome Sen-Foong Lim back to the show to discuss the differences—and similarities—between board games and roleplaying games. We go through the perspectives of playing them, designing them, and examining the culture of play between both. Sen originally appeared on Ludology 134: There's No "I" in Team with frequent co-designer Jay Cormier. SHOW NOTES 0m41s: Board games Sen has designed or co-designed: Junk Art , Belfort , D&D: Rock Paper Wizard . RPGs Sen has designed, co-designed, o...
Oct 18, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the spirit of Halloween, Scott takes us through the spooky history of the Ouija board: its origins, the legal battles behind the curtain, and how a scientific phenomenon makes it all work. Bibliography of a Board Game https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-strange-and-mysterious-history-of-the-ouija-board-5860627/ https://www.vox.com/2016/10/29/13301590/how-ouija-boards-work-debunked-ideomotor-effect https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/artsentertainment/the-dark-and-fascinating-hist...
Oct 11, 2020•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today, we are continuing our series of exploring the design decisions behind our own games! Emma and Scott sit down with Gil to talk about his game High Rise; about how it started life as an auction game, and the twisty route it took to publication. SHOW NOTES 1m23s - Gil discussed the Wag auction in his Networks design diary on BGG . 2m45s - Gil's game Battle Merchants . 3m31s - A " MacGuffin " is an object in a film that the characters all want, but the actual nature of the object is irrelevan...
Oct 04, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Having previously discussed relatively new advances in AI that allows computers to beat humans at games like Chess and Go, Geoff moves on to games in which AI will have a much harder time being competitive. What is it about these games that makes it so difficult to make a good automated opponent? 1m00s: Geoff introduced AlphaZero and AlphaGo in GameTek Classic 218.5 . 1m34s: Codenames 3m18s: IBM's Watson 4m09s: Mysterium...
Sep 27, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome game designer, developer, solo mode designer, and self-described "grump" Dávid Turczi to the show. We discuss the design of complex games with many interlocking systems, how to play with time in games, and the six (plus one) things Dávid looks for in a strategy board game. SHOW NOTES 1m18s - Battlestar Galactica 2m03s - Dávid's game [redacted] (yes, that's the name of the game) 2m34s - Trickerion , published by Mindclash Games 3m01s - Dávid's game Anachrony 4m36s - Dávid's g...
Sep 20, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Scott covers the "beautiful game" of Subbuteo , the tabletop association football flicking game, as well as its predecessor Newfooty . Bibliography of a Boardgame http://www.peter-upton.co.uk/ https://fistf.com/history-of-the-game/ http://www.gamingcorner.nl/subbuteo-timeline.htm http://www.sporttischfussball.at/index-Dateien/Page2918.htm https://www.newstalk.com/news/6-things-you-probably-never-knew-about-subbuteo-724933 http://www.mumimuseum.com/english/focus06.html https://www.irishtimes.com/...
Sep 13, 2020•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome game designer and publisher Omari Akil to the show to discuss the plight of the sports-themed board game. What kinds of unique challenges do we face when designing one of these games? Omari's game Hoop Godz will be on Kickstarter soon. SHOW NOTES 1m21s: Board Game Brothas , Tabletop Backer Party , Pathways Fellowship 4m55s: Gil was 5 years off - Mike's game is Baseball Highlights: 2045 . 12m09s: Football Strategy 12m47s: Gil would like to shout out Arthur Franz IV's self-pub...
Sep 06, 2020•1 hr 4 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geoff ponders a tricky question: how come we get iconic characters from video games, like Mario or Pac-Man, but none from board games?
Aug 30, 2020•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the past few years, Ludology has recorded a live episode at Gen Con. We weren't going to let a global pandemic stop us this year! Recorded as part of Gen Con Online 2020, Emma, Gil, and Scott streamed this recording live on Twitch. We had an excellent turnout in the chat, and everyone seemed to really enjoy this new twist on Ludology Live! You can watch unedited video of this chat here . It's possible we may return to this format in the future! Stay tuned… SHOW NOTES 1m54s: We mention Gil's T...
Aug 23, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Transcript available on Metacast This is the 50th Biography of a Board Game episode! To celebrate, Scott takes us through the history of his first board game, Rayguns and Rocketships . BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME 0m36s: Video game publisher THQ 0m51s: God of War , Pac Man World , Soul Blade 1m37s: The Star Wars Album 1m43s: The legendary filmmaker Akira Kurosawa , and Republic Pictures , responsible for many well-remembered serials 5m17s: More info on Hodgkin's lymphoma 8m22s: More info on the new Gamemaster film...
Aug 16, 2020•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome game designer, educator, and birder Chidi Paige to discuss how games and play benefit education, how she designed her bird-themed game Birdwiser, and how competitive birdwatching has affected her as a person. SHOW NOTES 0m22s: From educationcloset.com : "STEAM Education is an approach to learning that uses Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics as access points for guiding student inquiry, dialogue, and critical thinking." It is an evolution of the older...
Aug 09, 2020•1 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geoff muses on the difference between explicitly calling out the way a game system works, versus letting players implicitly discover how the players discover how the system works. Is one clearly better than the other? Tell us how you feel in the Ludology forums ! Here's more information about Geoff's game Versailles 1919 .
Aug 02, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil invite award-winning game designer, teacher, and not-scholar Sharang Biswas to the show to discuss verbs in games. What actions do we actually perform when we play a game, what actions do they represent, and how does that impact the game experience? You can find Sharang on Twitter or on the web . Here is his itch.io store . CONTENT WARNING: This episode contains references to sex and sexuality. Show Notes 2h31m: Sharang teaches at The International Center of Photography (Bard Colleg...
Jul 26, 2020•1 hr 26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Scott takes us through the rise, fall, and rise again of the game Vinci , which designer Philippe Keyaerts and publisher Days of Wonder re-implemented as Small World . Bibliography of a board game Text: Meepletown interviews designer Keyaerts . Text: Boardtime interviews designer Keyaerts (the site is Polish, but the interview is in English). Text: Related Small World products from publisher Days of Wonder . Text: Tabletop Gaming magazine September 2019 - How We Made Small World (paywall) Text: ...
Jul 19, 2020•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma, Gil, and Scott go back to a topic that Ryan and Geoff discussed earlier in the show's history: Deckbuilding! With all that's changed (including Emma having designed a deckbuilder), what has changed, and what have we learned? 0m41s: The episode that Ryan and Geoff did was Ludology 119 - Deck the Halls . 0m46s: Dominion (which did come out in 2008) 2m39s: StarCraft: The Board Game , which is generally believed to be the first game with an in-game deckbuilding component (if we assume that Mag...
Jul 12, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Geoff uses an interesting bag-building example to discuss how a mechanism that is designed to be fair and equitable to all colors in the bag winds up favoring a single color over time. This example has incredible significance to our hobby, and our world. You can reach out to Geoff via Twitter or email (geoff@ludology.net).
Jul 05, 2020•6 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emma and Gil welcome Banana Chan: game writer, larp/RPG designer, board game publisher, horror movie buff, and pop-up museum aficionado. We talk about writing for all kinds of games, how game mechanisms support intense experiences in larp and RPG, the effects of emancipatory bleed, and the effect of moving roleplay online. Content warning: we discuss games with intense themes, like human sacrifice. 4m29s: The Spire RPG 5m59s: The Circle is a reality show in which contestants are isolated in thei...
Jun 28, 2020•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
