PG’s Playhouse: Puzzles, games, trivia, & general nerdery

David takes us on a journey to Bannerman Castle, a crumbling Scottish-style fortress built on an island in New York's Hudson River. Frank Bannerman is the eccentric founder of America's first Army-Navy surplus store, which he ran out of his Brooklyn apartment. The city chased him out, citing reasonable concerns about storing such large quantities of ordnance within city limits. Bannerman then set...

It's Halloween at PG's Playhouse, and we're celebrating with the delightfully disturbing tale of Der Struwwelpeter: Merry Stories and Funny Pictures. Gentle parenting? We don't know her. This was a set of cautionary tales designed to scare naughty children into being good little angels. These "merry" stories feature children getting their thumbs snipped off by a giant scissor-wielding man, burning...

Is diplomatic immunity really a legal loophole for avoiding parking tickets? Does the land upon which the embassy sits belong to the embassy or the host country? We’re joined by the author of Because Internet , and co-host of Lingthusiasm , Gretchen McCulloch, for a deep dive into diplomatic immunity. David takes us from the ancient and extremely hazardous job of being a wartime messenger to the m...

Whatever you do, don’t listen to this episode. And definitely don’t read these show notes. Because if you do, you might discover that we’re talking about the Streisand effect: the phenomenon where trying to hide something only makes everyone more interested in it. Our guest is puzzle and game designer Mark Larson, who has contributed to some of my favorite games, including the RECON convention gam...

" It spawned the term 'bathroom reading'" There was something magical about cracking open a gigantic Sears Catalog and imagining a life filled with hundreds of pages of things you never knew you needed. It was Amazon before Amazon. In today's episode, David takes us shopping, vintage style. We talk about the origins of the Sears Catalog, and how it played an important role during the Jim Crow era....

Diamonds are formed under a million years of crushing pressure, and for many couples, they're also the ultimate symbol of commitment. Coincidence? Maybe not. That's why we welcomed back couples therapist Zach Brittle, host of the Marriage Therapy Radio podcast. He talks to us about the secret to healthy relationships an – spoiler alert – it's not just vibes or diamond rings. So how did diamonds be...

For centuries, language was one of the great barriers to travelling, to sharing cultures and to humans understanding one another. Even though online tools have now made translations and language barriers more accessible, sometimes even our own language can feel foreign. This is where linguists enter the picture. They explore the role of language and how people use it to communicate. Guest Gretchen...

It's the summer of 1980. You're a bored teenager in New Jersey with a few bucks, questionable judgment, and an afternoon to kill. At Action Park, you can spend the day hurling yourself down water slides, shooting battle tanks, and losing some skin on the alpine slide. The possibility of imminent death makes it extra exciting. There's a reason this was affectionally known as "Class Action Park" or...

Meep meep! Special Delivery! Warning: This episode may contain falling anvils, plunger guns, painted tunnels, and a stick or two of dyno-MITE, all courtesy of The Acme Corporation. As anyone who has watched Saturday morning cartoons knows, Acme Corporation is synonymous with Looney Tunes. They're the delivery company famous for supplying Wile E. Coyote with everything from rocket skates to dehydra...

In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox took bribes worth somewhere between $70,000 and $100,000 to lose the World Series on purpose. Split eight ways and adjusted for inflation, that bribe comes out to less money than you'd think. David walks us through the infamous Black Sox Scandal, including mob ties and the cheapskate team owner who docked the players' pay for laundry. It's honestly n...

In the early 1900s, a crew of sponge divers off the coast of Greece stumbled onto a 2,000-year-old shipwreck and the world's first known analog computer. Talk about buried treasure... this ancient technological marvel sat abandoned and undisturbed in a warehouse for years before someone noticed the strange assortment of gears and discs. It wasn't until as recently as 2010 that modern imaging allow...

Today's episode dives into the surprisingly juicy political scandal known as the Petticoat Affair. Also known as the Eaton Affair, it revolved around a young, pretty girl, her handsome second husband, and very proper, but gossipy wives. The Petticoat Affair managed to destabilized an entire presidency. Marriage Therapy Radio and relationship therapist Zach Brittle joins us to talk about this incid...

Tommy Wallach, David Spira, and the novel, Gadsby can come to the party, but Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp and Peih-Gee Law aren't invited. What's the rule of the party? It's no E's, please! Tommy and Terry are the co-founders of Hatch Escapes in Los Angeles, California. They are creators of the iconic Lab Rat escape room and their incredible new game The Ladder. They also happen to be theater people and...

A vendor shows up to the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens and starts handing out light, fluffy, deep-pocketed waffles topped with whipped cream and strawberries. Breakfast is forever changed for millions of Americans. One of them was a little girl who took the bus there every weekend with her mom and twin sister. That little girl grew up to be David Spira's mom — and she's joining us...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census!   Funerals are usually pretty somber affairs, right? Everyone wears black and gathers to respectfully mourn the dearly departed. Well, in parts of rural China and Taiwan, they've decided to put the fun in "fun"erals. More people attending a funeral procession usually means more honor to the deceased. Well, some enterprising relatives decided to up the ante by not o...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! "Canterbury Tales was basically the precursor to Epic Rap Battles of History." The beat drops and freestylin' rappers take to the stage, battling it out to see who has the best flow. First to the stage is The Knight, and his other contenders are characters like The Wife of Bath, The Miller, or The Reeve. Our topic today is The Canterbury Tales. This is the story of...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! Are you looking to turn your party into a rave? Black light. Trying to find that pet stain you missed? Black light. Hiding secret messages in plain sight? You guessed it, it's black light! To celebrate our April Fool's Day project – a whole cookbook and party planning guide for hosting a black light dinner party – today, we explore everything about black lights. Jo...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census!   "A holiday of debatable quality." It's chonky, furry, and oh so cute! The creature slowly creeps out of its burrow, looking around for his shadow. Good news! It doesn't see it. The weather will be hot for the forseeable future. Bad news... well, we're also surrounded by fire and brimstone. Welcome to Groundhog Day in Hell. Chris Demarais and Blaine Gibson, co-hos...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! "Worth its weight in salt" Salt is a mineral so essential that civilizations literally sprung up around salt and built trade routes to secure it. It's been used as currency, to preserve foods, and in all manner of industrial manufacturing. It's also used to make our food taste better. You know what else makes food taste better? Puzzles! Our guest is Survivor Season...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! The wine apocalypse that almost happened. Imagine no more wine bars, no more popping champagne to celebrate special occasions, and no more enjoying a glass of cabernet with your steak. In the 19th century, a tiny little aphid nearly wiped wine off the map, decimating centuries-old vineyards globally. Eventually, wine growers figured out how to combat the phylloxera...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census!   Author A.J. Jacobs is no stranger to gonzo journalism. He often puts himself directly into the story he's writing, whether it's about taking the Bible literally, or living out the Constitution. Much like gonzo journalism, there's no attempt or pretense about remaining objective. In A.J.'s writing, he describes in hilarious detail how his lifestyle experiments hav...

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! "This game is all about movies with titles that sound dirty but aren't." David goes to Spanktown every day. You might ask Why, or wonder if he's ever going to Hell. It all does feel a bit Peculiar and Boring. No, we haven't suddenly gone off the deep end, but rather, we're exploring some quirky and unusual town names. Zach Sherwin is the creator of The Crossword Sh...

Watching Rachel LaMont absolutely dominate the puzzles was one of the highlights of Survivor S47. She eventually won after spending most of her time as an underdog. One of her most iconic moments was when a starving Rachel decided to pocket some of the rice from a Survivor challenge, and Jeff Probst called her out on it. She tells us how it all went down, and she shares an interesting behind the s...

Today's topic is a bit cheesy, but still divine. Throughout the ages, humans have always tried to foretell the future or discern the nature of being through different types of divination. These have included the more well-known types of fortune telling including tarot cards, palm reading, tea leaf reading and more. Today, we're talking tyromancy – divination by reading cheeses. Warhammer historian...

"A very twist ending. I don't think we were expecting it to go quite that way." The scent of cedar and cloves drift through the air, and all around the lights are twinkling. Boughs of holly and mistletoe decorate the rafters, and you've gathered friends and loved ones to celebrate. It's our first REPOD and PG's Playhouse crossover Holiday Special! To celebrate, we've invited our Podcast Producer,...