Ludology
Welcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the how’s and why’s of the world of board games. Rather than news and reviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, and discusses game history, game design and game players.
Ludology is part of The Dice Tower Network, the premier board game media network.
Latest episodes
Nov 8, 2015 • 6min
GameTek Classic 115 - Microbes
In this classic GameTek, Geoff talks about the revolutionary studies about the human microbiome, and what that can teach us about playing and designing games.
Duration: 06:13
Nov 1, 2015 • 1h 21min
Ludology Episode 115 - Take Two
What changes are usually made between a first and second edition of a game? And what does that teach us about the design process?
Mike and Geoff are joined by guest Paul Grogan, who was heavily involved in the new edition of Through The Ages with CGE, to examine these questions.
And since we're talking about Through The Ages, we had to invite Ryan Sturm to come back for an encore visit to the program.
Duration 01:21:00
Oct 25, 2015 • 8min
GameTek Classic 114 - Civilization
Geoff gives a quick report on his play of Advanced Civilization last week.
Duration: 08:17
Oct 18, 2015 • 1h 5min
Ludology Episode 114 - The Butterfly Effect
Mike and Geoff talk CHAOS! Mike loves it in his games. Can he convince Geoff of its charms?
Duration: 1:04:37
Oct 11, 2015 • 6min
GameTek Classic 113 - Sunk Costs
In this classic GameTek, Geoff discusses the Sunk Cost Fallacy.
Duration: 05:05
Oct 4, 2015 • 1h 18min
Ludology Episode 113 - Crossover
What games cross over into traditional retailers like Target and Barnes and Noble? Mike and Geoff are joined by Andrew Lupp, National Sales Manager of PSI, to learn the ins and outs. Andrew works with big chains to help them decide which games will sell to the general public, and walks us through the process.
Duration: 1:18:15
Sep 27, 2015 • 20min
GameTek Classic 112 - Betrayal
NEW CONTENT! Geoff interviews Vlad Niculae of Cornell about his recent research on predicting betrayal via written communications. The foundation of the study? An only repository of 300 Diplomacy games and all 150,000 messages they generated.
Vlad's new project is the online game StreetCrowd, which is also exploring communications and team dynamics.
Duration: 20:27
Sep 20, 2015 • 1h 5min
Ludology Episode 112 - MechaTheme
Mike and Geoff select their top 10 entries from the Ludology contest, and reveal the winner!
Duration: 1:04:57
Aug 30, 2015 • 6min
GameTek Classic 111 - Memory
In this classic GameTek Geoff looks at memory, and how games work with or against it.
Duration: 06:10
Aug 23, 2015 • 1h 6min
Ludology Episode 111 - Silver Ball Playbook
Mike and Geoff are pleased to welcome pinball game designer Keith Johnson, designer of games such as Simpsons Pinball Party, Revenge From Mars, and Lord of the Rings.
What are the special design techniques used for designing a pinball game? How do you keep players engaged? How do you make the fixed physical layout feel different in different modes?
Duration: 01:05:40
