Photo by Olia Gozha on Unsplash

Manual quantified self accounting of walking to Mordor, Raspberry Pi + LEGO, Doom port to checkboxes, beer management flight simulators, Ask Delphi and oh so much more! 

Andy and Michael M get start off this week’s episode with an important question: does one simply walk to Mordor?  They receive a resounding answer of ‘yes’ if you’re looking implement a quantified self practice for your exercise and are a huge Lord of the Rings fan.  Even Delphi gets in on the act – but more on that later.  In order to play the game, one also needs to time travel, because with all the attention on this app, it attracted the attention of the rights holder, and has been withdrawn.  Too bad really.

Raspberry Pi + LEGO?  Yes, yes, and oh yes!  With the newest crossover Build HAT, one can simply attach LEGO Technic motors and sensors to Raspberry Pis.  HAT stands for Hardware Attached on Top, and is a board that allows control of up to four Technic motors and sensors.  Naturally, Andy is very excited about this and cannot wait to get started.  

Another thing that long time listeners will know about Andy is that he loves Doom ports, and this week’s episode has a doozie.  You can play Doom using checkboxes in a browser.  Check out the link below to see the gameplay.

Michael M was excited about a new multiplayer supply chain game (simulation) called The Beergame.  This game has its origins in the 1960s MIT role playing game called The Beer Distribution Game, and allows the players to take on the role of the Retailer, Wholesaler, Distributor or Brewer and showcases the interrelationships between each of these parties.  Check out the paper (link in show notes below) by Professor John D Sterman of MIT about how this game played out in his classroom.  

An intriguing discussion then begins around the Ask Delphi computational model for descriptive ethics.  Give this a listen and try out Ask Delphi for yourself.  

Rounding out this week’s show are articles on ransomware hitting a candy company at Halloween, exclusive podcast content on Spotify, and Peppa Pig on Stadia.

Have another way to gameify walking or beer distribution?  Let us know over at @gamesatwork_biz ! 

Thanks for listening!

Selected Links

C|Net article: This Lord of the Rings app is the only thing getting me to exercise — https://www.cnet.com/news/this-lord-of-the-rings-app-is-the-only-thing-getting-me-to-exercise/ 

Walk to Mordor on Apple App store (not available) — https://apps.apple.com/ee/app/walk-to-mordor/id1228135325 

Walk to Mordor on Google Play (not available either) — https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.walktomordor.wtm&hl=en&gl=US 

Walk to Mordor — https://walktomordor.com 

Quantified Self — https://en.wikipedia.