In today's Biography of a Board Game, Scott takes us through the long history of The Game of the Goose, which became a template for almost every roll-and-move game into Victorian times and beyond. Show notes: 1m49s: The ancient Egyptian game of Mehen  2m04s: History of the labyrinth 2m24s: The Discus of Phaistos, also known as the Phaistos Disc  2m50s: Games mentioned The Mansion of Happiness  The Checkered Game of Life 3m33s: Bibliothèque curieuse et instructive de divers ouvrages anciens et modernes, a book by Claude-François Ménestrier, is available to read online in French. 4m33s: Works mentioned: La belle Hélène, an opera by Jacques Offenbach  The Will of an Eccentric, a novel by Jules Verne   5m07s: Works mentioned: Le Pont du Nord, a film by Jacques Rivette  Il grande gioco dell'oca, an Italian game show based on the game (Wikipedia page in Italian)  

Ludology

Biography of a Board Game 221.5 - The Game of the Goose

Emma and Gil welcome Jonny Pac, designer of Coloma and other games set in the Gold Rush West. Our main topic of discussion is multiple paths to victory: what it brings to a game, what kinds of games need it, what kinds of games don't, and how to avoid the dreaded "point salad" effect. Jonny's published games: Hangtown Coloma A Fistful of Meeples Sierra West Lions of Lydia (on Kickstarter as of the release of this episode!) The Kings of Artifice Echo Locations Show notes: 06m28s: Jonny likens Scythe to a race game. Check out Chapter 2 of Characteristics of Games (George Skaff Elias, Richard Garfield, K. Robert Gutschera) for more information about the distinction between a "race" and a "brawl." 07m35s: Games mentioned: Lords of Waterdeep Caylus Caylus 1303 08m32s: Games mentioned: Catan 09m48s: Games mentioned: 7 Wonders Duel 12m56s: Ah, the "Victory Points Suck" argument! Here is the original talk, and here is the rebuttal blog post that Gil wrote. (Scott Westerfeld is actually a really cool person; he was just being a bit hyperbolic.) 13m32s: Games mentioned: Get Bit Red Dragon Inn 15m02s: Games mentioned: Agricola 18m06s: Games mentioned: Azul El Grande 6 Nimmt! 22m27s: Games mentioned: Point Salad 32m01s: Games mentioned: Century: Spice Road 34m09s: Games mentioned: Dominion 35m58s: Games mentioned: Tzolk'in Terra Mystica 42m12s: Games mentioned: Carcassonne 46m47s: Games mentioned: Ticket to Ride Amazonas 49m28s: Zero-level heuristics - the strategies and tactics players embrace when first learning the game. Go back to Characteristics of Games, Chapter 4, for an excellent introduction to this topic. 51m11s: Games mentioned: Stone Age 53m14s: Games mentioned: Concordia 56m38s: Tragedy of the Commons is a well-known game theory problem that pits collective good versus self-interest.  1h01m55s: Games mentioned: Santa Maria Raja of the Ganges Castles of Burgundy 1h04m58s: For those who may not know, ASCAP and BMI are the two largest music performance rights organizations in America. They monitor radio play and live performances, and make sure that every time a song is played publicly, its rightsholder gets paid. 1h06m27s: Eat Poop You Cat is the activity that Telestrations was based on. 1h09m42s: More info on Placerville, CA.  1h13m42s: Games mentioned: Five Tribes Trajan Istanbul Spacewalk 1h14m34s: Jonny is referring to Ludology 176 - Taxonomy Driver.

Ludology 221 - The Pac Less Traveled

Geoff welcomes Dr. James Wootton, quantum computing expert and one of the people behind the digital game Hello Quantum, which is made to teach its player about the fundamentals of quantum computing.  Here is Dr. Wootton's blog. Here is the Quantum Information Science Kit (QISKIT) blog Dr. Wootton mentioned. If you're technically inclined, here is Dr. Wootton's GitHub repository. And if you want to take a quantum computer out for a spin, here is the cloud-based service Dr. Wootton mentioned.      

GameTek 220.5 - Quantum Computing

Emma and Gil welcome Jennifer Ellis and Keith Baker of Twogether Studios. We discuss their approach for integrating stories into their game, whether directly embedded in their game, letting them emerge from the players, or evoked from the look of the product.  Show notes: 05m03s: Check out Keith and Jenn's games: Gloom Illimat Action Cats Phoenix: Dawn Command 17m04s: Keith and Jenn's forthcoming Adventure Zone game is based on the Adventure Zone D&D actual play series.  36m46: More info about Descent. 38m36s: Illimat is a card game conceived by and designed with the band The Decemberists. 40m00s: More info about Cthulhu Fluxx. 49m19s: More info about Keith's award-winning D&D setting Eberron.

Ludology 220 - Adventures in Storytelling

Scott leads us through the history of Trivial Pursuit, from its conception from two Canadian journalists after trying to play a game of Scrabble with missing pieces, to a full-fledged global 80s fad, to a billion-dollar empire.

Biography of a Board Game 219.5 - Trivial Pursuit

Professor Scott Rogers joins Gil and Emma once again! This time, we're discussing Scott's time as an Imagineer designing games and experiences for Disneyland, and his subsequent work designing VR attractions. It's a fascinating topic, with a surprising amount of overlap into any kind of game design!  Show notes: 05m45s: More info about Disney Play here.  08m06s: Scott is right, sportscaster Al Michaels was indeed traded for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.  18m16s: Ludology 189 - Missing Selinker, wherein Mike Selinker shares a funny story testing Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom:  30m20s: The Design of Everyday Things, by Donald Norman. Highly recommended to anyone who wants a better understanding of how people interact with objects.  40m53s: The history of how Tetris has chosen its pieces is really fascinating!  41m29s: Some more information about Legends of Frontierland: Gold Rush. 46m09s: We discussed dark rides and the challenge of choice in an immersive environment Ludology 214 - Escape from Reality with Strange Bird Immersive.  52m34s: Two-Bit Circus, the place in LA where you can experience the Terminator-themed dark ride that Scott worked on.  1h02m46s: Geoff interviewed Curtis Hickman, CCO of The Void, in GameTek 134.  1h05m51s: More info about Dreamscape. 1h06m37s: More info about Evermore. 1h10m58s: We discussed emergent vs. embedded narrative in Ludology 213 - Your Humble Narrator. 1h11m24s: Look, it was a long recording session, okay? :)

Ludology 219 - Professor Scott's Wild Ride

Geoff discusses Alpha Zero, a neural net that can play Go, Chess, and Shogi better than anyone in the world. It defeated the best AI in those respective games (each of whom had previously defeated the best humans in the world) with only a few hours of training. What does this spell for the future of AI, and the future of game design?

Ludology 218.5 - Alpha Zero

Emma and Gil welcome Geoff Engelstein and Isaac Shalev back to the show to discuss their new book Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design. This is a reference of board game mechanisms that any designer, new or experienced, can use to look up different tools they can use to solve problems in game design. Games and other things mentioned in this episode: 19m30s:  Kraftwagen Glen More Francis Drake Egezia High Rise 19m39s: Opinionated Gamers article on time track vs. one-way track  Patchwork Thebes Tokaido Tutankhamen 22m13s: Impulse 23m11s: Great Western Trail 33m55s: Empire Builder 35m22s: Monopoly Sushi Go Advanced Squad Leader 41m07s: BoardGameGeek official mechanism page  51m30s: Diplomacy 52m10s: Republic of Rome  Cutthroat Caverns 53m07s: Prisoner's Dilemma 54m27s: Catan 55m55s: Interview with Donald X. Vaccharino about theme, mechanism, and data  1h04m54s: Drop Geoff a BGG GeekMail Drop Isaac a BGG GeekMail Encyclopedia of Mechanisms Guild on BGG 

Ludology 218 - Building Games, Bit By Bit

Scott uncovers the history of the classic game Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots, which has been delighting kids (and kids-at-heart) since 1964. He discusses the influences that converged in making the game, why the combatants are robots, and how it's influenced everything from video games to real-life combat robotics.

Biography of a Board Game 217.5 - Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots

Legendary Interactive Fiction writer Andrew Plotkin joins Gil and Emma to talk about text-based stories that players can participate in. We explore the form's history and unique strengths, and discuss what good writing can bring to a game's experience. Interactive Fiction platforms mentioned in this episode: Inform Twine ChoiceScript Ink Check out some of Andrew's IF work: Shade Spider & Web Hadean Lands Other video games mentioned in this episode: Colossal Cave Adventure Zork Donut County 80 Days Heaven's Vault Galatea AI Dungeon No Man's Sky Board games and analog IF mentioned in this episode: Werewolf 7th Continent 1,001 Odysseys Choose Your Own Adventure™ books Meanwhile Fighting Fantasy books Leanna Fled the Cranberry Bog If you would like to explore the world of IF, a good place to start is the Interactive Fiction Database - it's like the BGG of IF! Some good games to start with (this is hardly an authoritative list): 9:05 - You can easily play this in one sitting, and in most cases, you will want to immediately play again when you finish it the first time. Photopia - This is a spectacularly well-written game, but it can bring up some intense emotions. The Uncle Who Works for Nintendo - A fun horror game. Howling Dogs - This is a work by Porpentine, whom Gil has raved about several times on the show and this episode. Be sure to find both endings. Counterfeit Monkey - A fairly long game by Emily Short built around some remarkably brilliant word-manipulation mechanisms. You will likely need to use an emulator if you want to save your game and use the game's graphical map. Enjoy exploring the IF rabbit hole!  

Ludology 217 - What IF?

In this GameTek Classic, Geoff describes the idea of "path dependence," and discusses how human game players allow their past to affect their present. Should players care about how they got to a certain point in their game?

GameTek Classic 216.5 - Path Dependence

Ludology returns for 2020, with our annual tradition of bringing on board game industry veteran Stephen Buonocore from Stronghold Games/Indie Game Studios to discuss the state of the industry. 2020 will be an interesting year for board games. What challenges await us? Is it smooth sailing? Doom and gloom? Somewhere in-between?

Ludology 216 - Buonohardcore 2020

In this episode recorded at BGG.CON, Scott and Gil tell Emma all about Tabletop Network, a convention about the theory behind game design that happens right before BGG.CON. We gush about our favorite talks, and tell you what makes Tabletop Network so unique.

Ludology 215 - Table Topics

Scott gives us a history of the classic social deduction game Mafia, from its origins in a Russian high school classroom to its transformation beneath a full moon into Werewolf. 

Biography of a Board Game 214.5 - Mafia/Werewolf

Escape rooms have been providing a new form of play for much of this decade. At the same time, immersive theater has been providing a new form of storytelling. What happens when the two get mixed? In this episode, Emma and Gil are joined by Haley E.R. Cooper and J. Cameron Cooper of Strange Bird Immersive, who run the hybrid escape room/immersive theater piece The Man From Beyond, and the Immersology blog. How can escape rooms use immersive theater to tell a story? And how can we learn from that to better tell stories in our games? (Note: starting this episode, we are going to feature more detailed show notes of things we bring up in our conversation. That's especially important in this episode, as we refer to theater works that may not be well-known to others!) Games mentioned in this episode (all digital):The Stanley Parable Myst Gone Home Theater shows mentioned in this episode:Sleep No More Sweeney Todd (2017 off-Broadway semi-immersive) Selfie museums (e.g. Color Factory) Meow Wolf Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 Then She Fell The Nest Also mentioned this episode: Improv for Gamers (book) Bartle Taxonomy of Gamer Types Ludology Episode 159 - Getting Out Scott Free (with Scott Nicholson)

Ludology 214 - Escape from Reality

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, as well as discuss game history, game design and game players. Ludology is made possible by the support and donations of listeners like you. We encourage you to visit us at our guild on Boardgamegeek to get involved in a continuing discussion of our topics. Ludology is part of The Dice Tower Network, the premier board game media network.

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