Ludology

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: Co...

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 Kretch...

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...

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...

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) Lu...

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 tab...

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 02...

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 wi...

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...

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 ,...

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-...

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 Imper...

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...

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...

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 Ga...

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...

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...

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 o...