Beyond Solitaire

Professor Scout Blum (@scoutblum) joins the pod to talk about her upcoming game, Rising Waters, which focuses on the self-empowerment of African American laborers during one of the most catastrophic natural disasters in American history.  Get updates about Rising Waters: https://www.cmich.edu/academics/colleges/liberal-arts-social-sciences/central-michigan-university-press/games-for-learning/games...

Joe Schmidt (@josephnschmidt) and Taylor Shuss (@drawnonward) come on to discuss The Sacred Band, a game they are developing about a group of elite warriors from Thebes, made up of 150 pairs of male lovers.  Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations, where learning can be both playful and compelling. Check them...

This week has both a special guest and a bonus appearance from a friend of the show! Jason Perez of Shelf Stories joins me in a conversation with Zoe Antoinette Eddy, an anthropologist who studies LARPing communities in the Northeast.  LARP Article: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/9/4/143/htm Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through...

This week's special guest is Eloy Lasanta (@eloythesaint), owner of Third Eye Games, designer and player of MANY tabletop RPGs, musician, and teacher of an upcoming game design class at Central Michigan University!  Eloy's Games: https://www.thirdeyegames.net/ Geek Therapeutics: https://www.geektherapeutics.com/ Eloy's Music: https://straysoftheworldmusic.com/ Beyond Solitaire is no...

This week on the pod, James Fielder, AKA Pigeon, talks about how he uses games to help students understand various theories of international relations. His work can be found at jdfielder.com. Find him on Twitter @j_d_fielder.  Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations, where learning can be both playful and com...

This week's guest is Tim Hutchings (@TimHutchingsFTW), designer of Thousand Year Old Vampire and professor of game design at Bradley University. In this episode he talks about his game design process, some upcoming projects, and how he teaches design to his students. You can check out his website here: https://thousandyearoldvampire.com/ Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Mi...

This week's special guest is Kathryn Hymes, who talks about her work for Thorny Games, a publisher dedicated to making games that explore language. Check out Thorny Games' work at https://thornygames.com/.  Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations, where learning can be both playful and compelling. C...

This week's guest is Ev Davis, aka Whistler, who is an artist, LARP expert, and author of a new tabletop RPG called Rapscallion. We had an awesome conversation about what RPGs can do, how to run them well, and more.  Rapscallion: https://magpiegames.com/products/rapscallion-ashcan-edition-print-pdf Ev's art site: https://evanleigh-davis.format.com/ Twitter: @artofwhistler Beyond Solitair...

This week's special guest is Professor Mary Flanagan (@criticalplay), who teaches at Dartmouth and runs ambitious gaming research and publication projects. She has a lot to say about how games are fun, but also a way to change the way we think. Her latest game, Retrograde, is a real-time roll and write that is currently on Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/maryflanagan/retrogr...

This week on the pod, Professor Emerita Mary Jane Treacy speaks about her work with Reacting to the Past games and the challenges of bringing history to life in the classroom.  Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations, where learning can be both playful and compelling. Check them out here: https://www.cmich.ed...

This week on the pod, game designer and Ph. D. candidate Greg Loring-Albright talks about his academic work and his role as co-designer of the third edition of Bloc by Bloc. It hits Gamefound on Feb. 15: https://gamefound.com/projects/draft/zxc58ag7firw48g1aggj8ue80qo Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations,...

This week's guest is Ricky Royal, who kindly shared updates on his solo game designs and talked about his approach to design in general. If you haven't yet, check him out on the Box of Delights YouTube channel—his work is a must-watch for solo gamers. https://www.youtube.com/c/BoxofDelights Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learnin...

This week the pod has TWO special guests! Professors Paul Booth (@pbooth81) and Aaron Trammell (@aarontram) drop by to talk about a book series they are co-editing, which will focus on board games and be published by the University of Michigan's academic press.  Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations, w...

This week, Talia Rosen tells all about First Monday in October, a game about the Supreme Court and its development over time. It will eventually be published by Fort Circle Games, and I personally can't wait.  Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Through Games and Simulations, where learning can be both playful and compelling. Che...

This week's special guest is Patrick Rael, a history professor at Bowdoin who specializes in African American history, teaches history through games, and is also at work on a design of his own. You can see what he's up to here: https://www.bowdoin.edu/profiles/faculty/prael/index.html Beyond Solitaire is now proudly sponsored by Central Michigan University's Center for Learning Thro...

This week on the pod, Non Breaking Space (@nbsp1618) tells us about his upcoming game from GMT, Cross Bronx Expressway. In it, he invites players to build up the Bronx from 1940-2000, while also trying to serve their own factional interests. This game is currently available at a discounted price through GMT's P500 program, and will soon go to print: https://www.gmtgames.com/p-953-cross-bronx-...

The Beyond Solitaire podcast is back, and kicking off Season 4 with a double episode featuring Jason Perez from Shelf Stories! Last episode was about "historical tourism" and the erasure of historical reality in games. This episode is about brutality, conflict, and other "misbehavior" in games—and how to go about it. Audio is available here, video is available on Jason's c...

The Beyond Solitaire podcast is back, and kicking off Season 4 with a double episode featuring Jason Perez from Shelf Stories! This episode is about the "historical tourism" of games that erase unpleasant historical realities to create a smooth ride for the players. Audio is available here, video is available on Jason's channel here: https://www.youtube.com/shelfstories Beyond Solit...

It's time for the Season 3 finale! In this episode, Dan Thurot interviews Liz about her recent series of posts about gladiator board games. The first installment is here: http://www.beyondsolitaire.net/blog/gladiators-enslavement-and-board-games-intro-thoughts All episodes of my podcast are available here: https://beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/ Enjoy my work? Consider getting me a "coff...

This week on the pod, Dan Thurot discusses his approach to game reviewing in general, and particularly his evolving ideas about historical games criticism. You can find Dan's work at https://spacebiff.com/ All episodes of my podcast are available here: https://beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/ Enjoy my work? Consider getting me a "coffee" on Ko-fi! https://ko-fi.com/beyondsolitaire To...

This week on the pod, Volko Ruhnke and Brian Train talk about A Distant Plain, which focuses on the conflict in Afghanistan as it was in 2013, and reflect on what it means given more recent events there.  Volko can be found on Twitter as @Volko26, and Brian likes to blog at https://brtrain.wordpress.com/ All episodes of my podcast are available here: https://beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/ Enjoy m...

In this episode, Jason and I have real talk about the treatment of women in board games. I typically avoid this topic whenever possible, but I finally felt like I had something productive to say. For video, check out the cross-post on Shelf Stories! https://www.youtube.com/c/ShelfStories All episodes of my podcast are available here: https://beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/ Enjoy my work? Consider...

This week's pod is a collaboration with Edward Uhler from Heavy Cardboard. Join us both here and on his channel for a deep dive into our ideas about teaching board games.  All episodes of my podcast are available here: https://beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/ Enjoy my work? Consider getting me a "coffee" on Ko-fi! https://ko-fi.com/beyondsolitaire To see all of my solo reviews and vi...

This week, Liz interviews Candice Harris (@candidrum), a fellow wargaming convert who reports on historical games for BGG.  All episodes of my podcast are available here: https://beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/ Enjoy my work? Consider getting me a "coffee" on Ko-fi! https://ko-fi.com/beyondsolitaire To see all of my solo reviews and videos, click here: http://www.beyondsolitaire.net/solo...

In this episode, David Thompson (@djackthompson) discusses a new game he is developing called Fifth Platoon, which will focus on integrated units during WWII—if he can find a collaboration partner.  Link to my review of Forget the Alamo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBYyKSl0KPk All episodes of my podcast are available here: https://beyondsolitaire.buzzsprout.com/ Enjoy my work? Consider getting...