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 today.

In honor of Mother's Day, Joan Spira joins us on PG's Playhouse to play games, share stories, and maybe troll David just a little bit. We learn about how one notorious New York City parks commissioner accidentally introduced the US to foods like falafel, kimchi, hummus, and the Belgian waffle — all because France and Italy refused to show up. Joan also shares some great stories about David growing up and some sage advice for mothers everywhere.

Today's game is called Tasting Bee, and it's all about foods from around the world that have a country or place baked right into the name.

Happy Mother's Day to moms everywhere — especially the ones raising little kids who use the word ostentatious at age two.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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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 only hosting a party with a live band, but they also invited dancers! This spectacle guaranteed a large crowd for their lost family member, which apparently appeased the spirits.

Author and podcaster A.J. Jacobs joins us to chat about this little known funeral practice. Today's game is called Going Topless, where each answer is a word that becomes another word when you remove the first letter.

If you enjoy PG's Playhouse, we highly recommend A.J.'s podcast Hello Puzzlers, which contains bite-sized puzzle snacks, perfect for listening on the go. Learn more about A.J. Jacobs at his website.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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 a group of pilgrims who gather around the fire to tell stories, primarily in verse.

Zach Sherwin, our guest today, knows a thing or two about storytelling in verse. He's a longtime writer and performer on the Youtube channel Epic Rap Battles of History. This show pits two historical characters against each other, battling it out for rap supremacy. Zach has also created The Crossword Show, a hilarious live show where comedians solve a crossword while Zach performs about the topics. He also shares a few puzzles with us today as well.

Today's game is called Name Dropping, and it's all about modern names that come from medieval occupations. Grab your tickets to RECON 26 this summer to see Zach perform The Crossword Show live.

Click here for a playlist of Epic Rap Battles featuring Zach Sherwin.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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.

Joining us are the Wild Optimists: Juliana Moreno and Ariel Ruben. They created the Escape Room in a Box series and have since collaborated on many tabletop games and interactive marketing campaigns. Their newest game is Lovecraft and Poe, a cooperative strategy tabletop game. Players choose characters with variable strengths and weaknesses, and work together on an ever-changing board to defeat unique villains in every game.

Today's game is In the Black, a Taboo-style guessing game where every answer includes the word "black." Lovecraft and Poe will be available via Kickstarter soon, so follow Wild Optimists and sign up for their newsletter to stay informed. You can also learn more about their work on REPOD S1E3.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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-hosts of the hilarious Good Morning from Hell podcast join us for some devilishly fun puzzles.  Good Morning from Hell is a weekly podcast starring Blaine as Clayton, the younger brother of Satan, and Chris as himself. Every week, Chris and Clayton interview someone from Hell. This show is off-the-rails funny.

Today's topic is Groundhog Day, and we explore the origins and bizarre story behind this annual weather predicting tradition. Today's game is called Cloudy with a Chance of Puzzles, where the guests must figure out these weather related idioms.

If you want to check out Chris and Blaine's podcasts, look for Good Morning from Hell or their actual play D&D podcast Tales from the Stinky Dragon.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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 47 Winner Rachel LaMont. She knows a thing or two about food and puzzles, having combined them in her new game Puzzle Hungry: Umami Rush! It's a 2–4 player Japanese food-themed speed puzzling party game with points, cards, double-sided puzzles, and sabotage elements like “health code violations,” plus interactive callouts.

Today's game is called Stay Salty, where I've "seasoned" a word by adding a letter to the beginning of a word to make a new, "edible" word. Each answer will be something edible.

You can pre-order Puzzle Hungry now for a taste of competitive puzzling.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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 menace. David shares the story of phylloxera in this episode of PG's Playhouse.

Joining us are special guests Garrett and Sabrina, hosts of the I Know Dino podcast. They share some fun facts about dinosaurs, including mummified fossils that include skin and feathers and also dinosaur cannibalism. Our game today is "Sour Grapes of Wrath" where I've created before and after mashups of two phrases. The players must guess the middle word that links the phrases.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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 have impacted his family and work life.

David talks about the origins of gonzo journalism, and we discuss how it differs from A.J.'s own writing style. A.J. also shares some insights he learned from his latest book, A Year of Living Constitutionally. Today's game is called This Game is LIT...erature. Players are given the names of chapters, and must figure out the subject of the book.

If you enjoyed this episode, check out our interviews with A.J. about his book The Puzzler on S3E11 of Reality Escape Pod and our interview about his puzzling podcast Hello Puzzler on S6E13 of REPOD.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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 Show, and a veteran of the iconic YouTube channel Epic Rap Battles of History. He joins us today to talk about his show and tackle some puzzles.

Today's game is called Down and Dirty, where every answer is a movie with a title that sounds dirty, but isn't. If you want to learn more about Zach Sherwin and The Crossword Show, check out our interview with him on Reality Escape Pod S10E10. He'll also be performing live at the Reality Escape Convention this August 2026.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

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 scenes moment.

After winning Survivor, Rachel combined her graphic design skills with her puzzling prowess to create Puzzle Hungry, a competitive jigsaw puzzle game. This inspired today's topic, Conveyor Belt Sushi. Our game today is Movie Mash Potatoes, where each answer is a mashup of foods and movie or song titles.

Full Show Notes

Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner