Ludology

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-history-of-the-ouija-board-baltimore-origins https://www.williamfuld.com/ouija_articles_03281886.html http://www.mtv.com/news/2940671/horror-movies-ouija-boards/ https://robertmurch.com/ https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2017/1/haunted-hotel-is-now-home-to-the-worlds-largest-ouija-board-459555

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 irrelevant (like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction). All that matters from the perspective of the film is that the characters want it. Looney Labs has since published an actual game with this term, Get the MacGuffin. 4m03s - Gil's game The Networks. 6m24s - Games with auctions as an element in the game: Princes of Florence, Goa 6m54s - Knizia games that are built entirely around their auctions: Ra, Modern Art, Medici, High Society 8m18s - The digital board game Sumer (Gil credited Josh Raab with the game design, but neglected to mention co-designers Geoffrey Suthers, Misha Favorov, and Sig Gunnarsson). 8m51s - The legendary video game M.U.L.E. - not a commercial success, but since regarded as seminal and influential. For a while, "M.U.L.E. as a board game" was a game designer's grail, but that's since been handled by board games Wealth of Nations, Planet Steam, and of course, M.U.L.E. The Board Game. 14m41s - Gil is talking about Roger Caillois, and his book Man, Play, and Games. Play is usually associated with having no real-world implications, but Caillois knew to draw in gambling as a counter-example. 19m04s - High Rise's look would not have nearly been so amazing without the graphic design of Heiko Günther and the illustrations of Kwanchai Moriya. 20m36s - Rocco is also designer of the game Ninja Dice. 23m04s - You can follow the High Rise Kickstarter here; it goes live on October 6. 24m54s - Bryn Smith runs Doomsday Robots, a board game publishing company. 27m02s - Expancity, Manhattan. The Manhattan kaiju "expansion" Gil was thinking of turned out to be a variant designed by Brian Bankler and Eric Moore. 27m56s - The amazing Daniel Newman, who is quite an excellent game designer himself (he made Dead Man's Cabal), and who is designing the High Rise plastic buildings. 28m11s - Not to mention, Elastoplast is a brand of bandages. 28m59s - The High Rise design diary. 30m28s - Gil's online playtest group, Remote Playtesting. 32m24s - Two rondel games, both by Mac Gerdts: Navegador, and Imperial. 33m57s - Time track games similar to High Rise: Tokaido, Glen More, Francis Drake, and Kraftwagen. 34m28s - Ryan Courtney, designer of Pipeline 36m29s - Eric Lang's tweet about turn angst. You can hear more directly from Eric in Ludology 175 - Auld Lang Design. 38m33s - Food Chain Magnate. 45m33s - Geoff and Gil discussed ludonarrative dissonance in Ludology 190 - Diabolus in Ludica. A positive example of ludonarrative dissonance: Unspeakable Words. 46m55s - Cloudspire. 50m28s - Emma is referring to Ludology 209 - The 6 Zones of Play. 51m51s - Bohnanza 51m58s - Here's an example of Magic Card flicking. It's even worse when the cards are sleeved. 55m36s - Uno, The Mystery Rummy series of games. 59m33s - The Sears Tower in Chicago is now called the Willis Tower. 1h02m57s - The preview page for the High Rise Kickstarter campaign.

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

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 games Kitchen Rush and Dice Settlers 8m32s - Splendor, Century: Spice Road, Gizmos 9m05s - Azul 11m40s - Dice Settlers' expansion is Dice Settlers: Western Sea 14m17s - For some outstanding Martin Wallace loan mechanisms, check out Age of Steam, Brass, and London. 15m24s - Agricola 15m43s - The "Taschini method" refers to Daniele Tascini, co-designer of Tzolk'in, Teotihuacan, and The Voyages of Marco Polo. 20m22s - The Gallerist, Cloudspire 21m15s - Vital Lacerda is the designer of The Gallerist, Vinhos, and Kanban 21m43s - Mac Gerts is the designer of Concordia, Navegador, and other clever rondel games. 22m00s - Dávid's new game Perseverance 22m48s - Arkwright 24m00s - Dávid's new game Tekhenu 27m39s - Dávid's new games Tawantinsuyu and Rome & Roll 32m05s - Viticulture 35m13s - Dávid is referring to scoring using a triangular sequence, which many board games adopt as a gentler alternative to the harsh slope of exponential scoring.  37m13s - Black Angel 38m05s - Dávid's criteria for games he likes, 1/6: Narrative integration, or the fiction/action rule. 38m39s - Dávid's criteria for games he likes, 2/6: Elegance, or depth/rules ratio. 39m07s - Dávid's criteria for games he likes, 3/6: Strategic curve. 39m19s - Orléans 39m52s - Dávid's criteria for games he likes, 4/6: Replayability. 40m30s - Dávid's criteria for games he likes, 5/6: Achievement. 43m00s - Dávid's criteria for games he likes, 6/6: Interaction. 44m27s - Terra Mystica 48m12s - David's criteria for games he likes, 7/6: Uniqueness 55m38s - Tapestry 55m48s - David's solo modes - Teotihuacan, Keyper, Cerebria. If you want to hear more about designing solo modes for games, check out our episode with Morten Monrad Pedersen, Ludology 154 - Leave Me Alone! 1h01m49s - Trismegistus 1h03m36s - A Feast for Odin 1h05m32s - Petrichor 1h06m16s - John Brieger is an excellent developer. Heiko Günther is the best graphic designer (Gil may be a bit biased here, though) 1h09m11s - High Rise (Gil is blushing right now!) 1h09m30s - Glen More, Kraftwagen (Dávid named a seminal German electronic band instead), Tokaido, Tzolk'in 1h10m08s - Tutenkhamen 1h15m33s - Budapest: Days of Ire 1h17m43s - Excavation Earth 1h18m35s - Pocket Dragon 1h19m34s - Steal This Game! 1h20m40s - David Mortimer - Cousins' War, Ming Voyages 1h23m49s - Dávid's BGG profile 1h24m16s - Imperium: Classics and Imperium: Legends

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/sport/soccer/subbuteo-alive-and-flicking-with-the-single-greatest-game-ever-invented-1.3217077 https://qprreport.proboards.com/thread/5203 https://100objectskent.co.uk/object/subuteo-prototype/#&gid=1&pid=1 http://subbuteo.online/subbuteo-streakers-are-a-real-thing-as-a-limited-edition-accessory

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-published game Breakaway Football as a game with a really nice mix of play deciding versus output randomness. 15m32s: Gil will defend the term "soccer," seriously. It's a perfectly good way to refer to association football! 16m06s: Strat-O-Matic Baseball, released in 1962. 17m41s: Dino Dunk 18m07s: Crokinole 18m25s: Nok Hockey, Air Hockey, Electric Football. We also neglected to mention the flicking game family Subbuteo, which represents all sorts of sports. 22m43s: Gil eventually gets to his curling thoughts at 39m22s. 25m48s: Madden is EA's long-running NFL gridiron football video game sim (named for legendary player, coach, and broadcaster John Madden). 28m58s: Ultimate is a competitive sport using a throwable disc (like a Frisbee) instead of a ball. 29m50s: In 2017, Geek and Sundry launched a "T-Sports" league for competitive tabletop games (strangely, announcing it on April 1, and then having to explain that it was real). Sadly, it did not go far. 30m57s: Bennett Foddy's talk "Making it Matter: Lessons from Real Sports". Foddy is known for making punishingly-hard digital games like QWOP and Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. 38m36s: Omari is referring to the common sports term GOAT, an acronym of Greatest Of All Time. 41m28s: Hystericoach 43m16s: Bottom of the Ninth 45m09s: Blaseball. RPG designer Meguey Baker's thread on it. 46m56s: Omari wrote more about how his lived experience affected the design of Rap Godz. 48m24s: More info about how Omari and YouTuber (and all-around excellent person) Danny Plays Gamez raised $80,000 for BLM:  56m25s: Paula Deming's channel, Things Get Dicey, is absolutely amazing to behold. Top-notch writing, performing, and filming. 57m11s: For those of you who don't have the honor of consuming Capri Sun in the part of the world where you live, it's a (vaguely) fruit-flavored beverage.  1h01m16s: The GIF Omari is referring to, featuring young Brazilian skater Rayssa Leal. The GIF Gil is referring to, linked to from famous skater Tony Hawk. 

Geoff ponders a tricky question: how come we get iconic characters from video games, like Mario or Pac-Man, but none from board games?

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 Twitch channel several times in this episode. 2m13s: Of course, this note to turn it tickets doesn't apply to people listening to the podcast. Don't let that note trigger any vague feelings of guilt! Also, for reference, we began recording at 5 pm EDT. 3m29s: "This much on the timeline" - at this point, Gil is holding up his finger and thumb with a few centimeters of space in between. 4m46s: Scott is holding up a Gamemaster DVD at this point. 5m40s: You can watch the Gen Con Gamemaster panel here. 6m01s: The shot in question (no Gil to be found, sadly). 7m16s: Alas, neither the Instagram Live nor Table Takes interviews are archived anywhere. :( 8m36s: Remote Playtesting (#rpt) is the playtest group that Gil helps to run. You can see and buy the t-shirt with Aaron Wilson's logo here. 8m54s: Aaron's new publishing company with Ian Zang, Gravitation Games. 9m55s: Here's Scott's quarantine playlist. 10m10s: Abandon All Artichokes 11m43s: High Rise is almost sold out! And Rival Networks pre-orders are still going strong. 12m02s: Check-In Cards. 12m37s: Here's the video for Animal Crossing Fiasco. More info for one of Gil's favorite games, De Vulgari Eloquentia. 14m38s: draw.io, a collaboration tool that Emma really likes. 14m56s: Here's a tweet that sums up Emma's game Unravel quite well. Emma also mentions the Our Innermost Thoughts Kickstarter project by Travis Hill. 18m27s: More info on the Tabletop Mentorship Program. 18m42s: Glenn Cotter's Fickle. 22m01s: Gil presented a lot of these thoughts in this blog post. 25m47s: The "G" Gil is trying to point to would be a fraction of a millimeter large in most screens. 26m21s: There will be another Virtual Gaming Con in November. 32m59s: GenCan't has been an online alternative to Gen Con for several years now. 36m21s: Here is an example of BuonoCardboard making the rounds. 39m27s: Scott's 50th episode of Biography of a Board Game just dropped, and it's wonderful! He covers the history of his own game, Rayguns and Rocketships.  40m24s: We at Ludology were all touched by Marcel Claxton's thoughtful analysis of Ludology's recent direction and its significance in the current age.  43m21s: Jason Morningstar appeared in Ludology 161 - What's The Story Morning Glory? 50m32s: There aren't many board games about falling in love, but quite a few digital and RPGs! (Gil would also like to suggest wargames and games coming out of that historical/political sphere as the board game parallel to documentaries.) 59m34s: For those who may not have heard of it, the MacArthur Fellows Program is awarded to 20-30 Americans every year who show "extraordinary originality and dedication in their creative pursuits and a marked capacity for self-direction." Between the high criteria for being named and the generous amount of money received ($625,000), it's nicknamed the "Genius Grant." 1h03m49s: Emma mentions a few tools here: Tabletop Simulator, Tabletopia, Trello, and Slack. 1h06m25s: At this point, Scott holds up a Playstation controller. 1h14m57s: This Discord Has Ghosts In It. 1h17m57s: Scott's links: his blog, his Patreon, his Twitter, and his Instagram. 1h18m54s: Emma's links: her website, her Twitter, and her Instagram. 1h19m28s: Gil's links: his company website, his personal website, his Twitter, and his Twitch.

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

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 STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) approach in that it adds the arts. 1m29s: The Newark Museum in Newark, NJ. Fun fact: back when Chidi was working at the museum, Gil was a block away working at audible.com. Small world! 1m36s: Columbia University in New York, NY. 2m45s: Wonderstar Foundation has no web presence yet. Hopefully soon! 7m11s: ClassCraft 7m36s: Labster 8m01s: Chidi is referring to polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for DNA replication, and to CRISPR for genome editing. 13m43s: Explorer's Program at the Newark Museum 23m06s: Our episode with Dr. Mary Flanagan was Ludology 226 - Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo Buffalo 23m43s: You can hear more from Elizabeth Hargrave on Ludology 203 - Winging It. 25m31s: The Big Year on IMDB. 27m29s: Sadly, we could not find the video that Emma mentioned! 30m40s: Chidi's web site for Birdwiser. 32m00s: Whot and Uno are variations on the public domain game Crazy Eights. 33m18s: Birdwiser’s illustrations are by Emily Willoughby, with graphics by Kristine Mathieson of Tropikality Designs 36m26s: Sibley and Peterson are two of the best-known bird guides out there. 38m43s: We discussed Emma's Infinite Potato Problem in Ludology 225 - A Study in Emma-rald. 41m09s: The site Chidi is referring to is Upwork, originally called oDesk. 42m29s: Gil is talking about his word game Wordsy. 42m45s: "Complexity Budget," an idea Richard Garfield popularized. 47m09s: More info about certifying your garden for wildlife. 50m01s: More info about the World Series of Birding. 1h00m05s: The scientists Chidi mentions are Eric Kandel and Richard Axel.