Ludology

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 vers

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 SHOW NOTES 02m39s: The Forge is no longer active, but you can read its archives here.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

Scott shambles through the history of the beer-and-pretzels game Zombies!!! He runs us through its various iterations, tells us what made it stand out from other games at the time, and discloses the personal impact the game and its designers had on him. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME (Audio) An interview with Todd Breitenstein  The Zombies!!! 20th anniversary Kickstarter (Text) Another interview with Todd Breitenstein on the digital version of the game Todd passed away in 2013 from cancer.   

Erica, Gil, Scott, and Sen have a roundtable discussion about player counts. We go through each of the common player counts, as well as a few uncommon counts, and discuss what's special about designing for them. SHOW NOTES 0m39s: Our thoughts about and general strategies for designing games at different player counts. 5m42s: 2-player games 9m20s: We chatted with Matt Wolfe about decision scales on Ludology 157 - Come Scale Away. 13m08s: Inhuman Conditions 13m59s: Belfort 16m24s: Alien: Fate of the Nostromo 19m41s: Pandemic 22m06s: Tokaido, High Rise 24m20s: Scott Pilgrim Miniatures the World 24m38s: 3p games 26m44s: The three-body problem. 27m38s: Here's Cole Wehrle's talk on kingmaking in games, and how it can be a good thing. 28m16s: Churchill 28m37s: Basari, which was adapted into Edel, Stein, and Reich in 2003 and modified to try to better handle a higher player count. Also, a note on ties with 3-players: it's impossible to tie on a vote with 3 voters (or any number of odd voters), as long as you are lim

Geoff discusses the knitting community, how some knitters make the leap from hobby into entrepreneurship, and how research has shown the one thing that many of these self-employed knitters have in common. What can board gamers learn from this?

Erica and Scott welcome graphic designer, production superhero, and prototype craft wizard Lindsay Daviau to the show. We talk about her experience at Hasbro making (among many other things) fake games for fake stores. We also bring up her favorite games that she worked on, and her job at Restoration Games (with her husband Rob, who you may have heard of), where she works on games like Unmatched, Fireball Island, Stop Thief, and the soon-to-come Return to Dark Tower. SHOW NOTES 04m10s: This is Don Norman's legendary book, Design of Everyday Things. It frequently comes up in this show, although despite what Scott says, we have never done a dedicated episode on it. We did discuss it a lot with game designer and graphic designer Daniel Solis on Ludology 204 - The Eyes Have It. 05m09s: The prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD, pronounced "RIHS-dee").  12m57s: For those of you outside the US, the functional metric equivalent to 11"x17" paper is A3. 16m12s: The most recent Pandemic Legacy game is Pand

Scott rampages through the history of Richard Garfield's hit game King of Tokyo. How was this game made, and what did its standalone sequel King of New York add to it? BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamepodcastepisode/76209/podcast-20-king-tokyo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afu516A828k https://www.iello.com/co.uk/news/monster-of-the-week-game-is-over-all-about-king-of-verse https://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/116703/interview-richard-garfield-designer-magic-gatherin https://meepletown.com/2012/09/game-designer-interview-richard-garfield/

Gil and Sen welcome Calvin Wong Tze Loon 黃子倫 to the show to discuss narrative in games. How can we improve a game's narrative through its mechanisms, its components, and even its box size? SHOW NOTES 0m46s: Calvin played P.T. Goh in the film Crazy Rich Asians. Also, info on Twilight Imperium's expansion Prophecy of Kings that Calvin did some writing for, and forthcoming RPG Embers of the Imperium. 3m16s: "Mayfair" in UK-based editions of Monopoly is equivalent to "Boardwalk" in US-based editions of the game.  7m39s: Android: Netrunner 10m18s: The fan organization NISEI, currently supporting organized Netrunner play, releasing new cards, and keeping the game alive. 11m28s: Here's what Gil wrote about flavor text on Twitter. 14m44s: Pasaraya Supermarket Manager. Gil also regrets not bringing up diegesis in games (making the components, graphic design, and form of a game match its narrative) like in Inhuman Conditions. 19m22s: The Tiny Epic series of games. 23m31s: Gil accidentally gave out the name of the

Geoff muses on the combination of two of his favorite topics: loss aversion and the lottery. Why do more people buy lottery tickets when the odds of winning are lower? How does that affect the payout? And what is the effect of a lottery win on a person's life?

Erica and Scott welcome Ryan and Malorie Laukat, the couple behind Red Raven Games. Ryan is known as the designer and illustrator for games like Eight Minute Empire, Above and Below, Near and Far, Islebound, Empires of the Void, Artifacts Inc., Megaland, and the forthcoming Now or Never. They are also the subject of an upcoming documentary, Crafting Arzium.  Ryan is often seen as the sole force behind Red Raven Games, but Malorie and the whole Laukat family do a lot of work behind the scenes. We talk about the challenges and opportunities of making games as a family, how to maintain a work/life balance, and how to get your kids to playtest your latest game. SHOW NOTES 27m32s: Tales of the Arabian Nights 38m59s: We discussed the different markets you can sell your game in on Ludology 246 - Cornering the Market. 51m14s: You can hear the Laukats' original music in their Sleeping Gods Kickstarter trailer. 1h07m24s: Here's the Red Raven website, their Twitter, their Facebook, and their Instagram.

Scott takes us through the history of El Grande, from its beginnings as a game about the Trojan War to its influence on the current board game scene. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME https://opinionatedgamers.com/2015/07/27/sdj-re-reviews-18-el-grande/ https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/82783/interviews-optimist-73-wolfgang-kramer-el-grande https://www.mechanics-and-meeples.com/2014/09/08/el-grande-the-art-of-majority-control/ https://brettspielbox.de/interview-mit-wolfgang-kramer-teil-2/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTKYuVmOooQ

On a special milestone episode of Ludology, Gil Hova and Scott Rogers say goodbye to our beloved Emma Larkins, as she departs as a co-host after 50 amazing episodes. Geoff Engelstein drops by to check in on us. And we're also joined by new co-hosts Erica Bouyouris and Sen-Foong Lim! SHOW NOTES 05m02s: Emma has earned quite a few awards for her game Abandon All Artichokes: the Golden Geek Light Game of the Year, the American Tabletop Award for Early Gamers, and yes, the Parent's Choice Silver Award. 07m25s: Here are Emma's favorite episodes: Ludology 247 - Orc-kay Computer with James Mendez Hodes Ludology 244 - Games Brought to Life with Jeeyon Shim (her Kickstarter for her new game The Shape of Shadows that Emma mentioned will be running for another week) Ludology 240 - Are You Receiving Me? with Adrienne Smith (a slight correction: Adrienne has won IFAF gold medals in international competitions, but has yet to win the Super Bowl) Ludology 233 - A Sporting Chance with Omari Akil Ludology 231 - STEAM Engin

Geoff parachutes into the world of battle royale games like Fortnite, and how they eclipsed MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) games like Heroes of the Storm. Is there something special about battle royales that we can study as general lessons in game designs?

Emma and Gil welcome returning guest Eric Zimmerman, who last appeared on the show on Episode 79 to discuss the magic circle in gaming. This time, Eric discusses his idea of the 21st century being a "ludic century," and what makes games especially important today. We also discuss how games' powers can be used for evil, if tabletop games can become more environmentally sustainable, and see if there can be an equivalent to farmers' markets or slow food in tabletop game. SHOW NOTES 1m26s: Eric's previous tabletop games: Quantum, The Metagame (with Colleen Macklin and John Sharp). He also mentions Gamelab, Diner Dash, Sissyfight, Dear Reader, NYU Game Center (where Gil and Geoff are also adjuncts), and Rules of Play. Eric also mentions his large-scale art installation games that he's done with his partner Nathalie Pozzi. Here are a few of them: Interference, Starry Heavens, and Waiting Rooms. 5m34s: Here is Eric's original Ludic Century essay/manifesto, published in 2013. 16m27s: More info about Bernie De Kov

Scott takes us through the history of the bizarre drinking game Pass-Out, which is arguably a direct predecessor to the modern risqué adult party game.  (Note: We at Ludology do not condone binge drinking, especially when prompted by a game. If a game tells you that you have to drink, but you feel that you need to stop drinking, you should stop playing the game.) BIBLIOGRAPHY OF A BOARD GAME https://punchdrink.com/articles/house-rules-pass-out-board-game-1960s-drinking-game/ https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1345&dat=19910806&id=G1pYAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DvoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7002,621780&hl=en https://boardgames.com/designer/frank-bresee#google_vignette

Emma and Gil sit down with Carla Kopp of Weird Giraffe Games and Galactic Raptor Games to discuss designing solo modes for games, the merits of "bots" in solo games, and how these bots tend to be named "Steve." SHOW NOTES 2m00s: Carla's first published game Super Hack Override. 4m53s: We spoke with Morten Monrad Pedersen on Ludology 154 - Leave Me Alone! about using Automa to make solo versions of games. 7m02s: Sarah Reed is a game designer, disability advocate, and all-around excellent person.  11m00s: The Cat Lady implementation for iOS and Android. 18m20s: Just a quick reminder that we’re talking about the digital implementation of the game Cat Lady, as opposed to Carla’s tabletop AIs. AI difficulty levels are more common in apps than they are in tabletop games.  19m45s: The Splendor digital implementation is sadly no longer available. 20m34s: Gil mentions the solo mode that comes in the tabletop version of It’s a Wonderful World. Emma mentions the solo mode from the Galaxy Trucker app. 21m13s: Calico 21

Geoff talks about how games benefit when designers use familiar terms to describe familiar concepts. He also dives into the term "mana," tracing it back to its indigenous origins, and explains how it became a popular gaming term to track how much magic a character can expend.

Emma and Gil sit down with James Mendez Hodes to discuss his work as a cultural consultant, and the series of "orcticles" he wrote describing how the depiction of orcs in fantasy games can bring up problematic real-world stereotypes. CONTENT WARNING: This episode includes many references to racism and a section discussing sexual assault. SHOW NOTES 01m55s: Orcus, a god of the underworld. 04m29s: J.R.R. Tolkien's Urak-hai, the strongest kind of Orc in Middle Earth. 27m49s: The Marathi people from India. We also get into the thorny, complicated, and vitally-important subject of intersectionality. 32m57s: Here is the Adam Ruins Everything episode on the "model minority" myth. 34m30s: Gil meant the "domino theory," a Cold War idea that suggested that one country that became communist would inevitably make its neighbors, and those neighbors, communist as well. 38m04s: More information about James Baldwin's writings on race. 45m19s: We had John talking safety tools on Ludology 227 - Respect the X. 53m03s: Edward Sa