OPENING GAME - Location: A doomed spaceship (from “www.can-i-get-a.com”). Game: Through the Ages - A New Story of Civilization – (#12 on BGG!)

Defining magic circles and liminal spaces, and how they relate to religious practice and faith.

Genesis 28:10-16

NEXT EPISODE: Interview with Alex Radcliffe of BoardGameCo on Youtube, and now Chief Marketing Officer at GameFound. Also, if you are interested, start reading McGonagal's Reality is Broken for our upcoming discussion!

What do you think? Post your thoughts, responses, and questions on Instagram and Discord.

Support us on Patreon.

Links:

• Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World a book by Jane McGonigal
• BoardGameCo - YouTube
• Magic circle (virtual worlds) - Wikipedia
• Magic circle - Wikipedia
• Mahabharat Game of Dice - Why Did Pandavas Play?

Kevin torments Daniel with a homebrewed Push Your Luck game based on Star Wars and Weird Al trivia (NOTE WE HAVE CHAPTER MARKERS NOW!). We then define push your luck games and glean some wisdom from these games:

What do you think? Post your thoughts, responses, and questions on Instagram and Discord.

Support us on Patreon.

Links:

• Monty Python Communist Quiz sketch - YouTube
• Karar2k's Why Play This - YouTube
• What's the point of cooking at home anymore? - YouTube

The goal of the Center for Play and Exploration is to encourage adults to be more curious, more divergent in their thinking, and empowered to fail. Dave argues that curiosity and imagination are ways to dismantle anxiety and fear. We respond to listener feedback and speculate whether God does indeed play dice with the universe, because creation is God's joyful act of play.

Post your thoughts, responses, and questions on Instagram and Discord.

Links:

• Theology of play - Google Books
• CPE

What would it mean to think of life as a game? Are games merely pastimes between serious endeavors, or is it an approach to life oriented around unnecessary obstacles and enjoyment? We touch on ideas about the meaning of life, happiness, and life as something useful versus life as something to be enjoyed. Human flourishing is ultimately found in graceful abundance, in which all we can ever really do is pursue meaningful activities (and play games). Perhaps God does indeed play dice with the universe.

Join us our Discord here.

Daniel and Kevin tackle the obvious question: is wining the point of playing games? How does a desire to win relate to the desire to have an enjoyable gaming experience, and what spiritual realities are present when we strive to be humble and gracious at a gaming table where the object is to win the game?

We consider that games might be training us to win over other people, instead of being more loving and kind. Does love exclude winning? Yet much of life is about improvement, and even heaven must include aspects of winning and loss. Some board games use different mechanics and win conditions such as "sandbox" and "kingmaker" type games, and others are social deduction games where players deceive and lie. How do the words of Jesus (the last shall be first) relate to ideas of winning and losing?

Links:

• Suffering And Happiness Are Not Separate – Thich Nhat Hanh | Aleph Book Company
• Jon Guerra - Citizens - YouTube
• Pax Pamir: Second Edition | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
• The 7th Continent | Board Game | BoardGameGeek

Rev. Chelsey Hillyer joins us to chat about creating accessibility around board games so everyone is welcome to be themselves, find satisfaction with their game play, and empowered to have fun. How do board games and play in general create accessibility so everyone is welcome to be themselves? Games are partly about winning, but also about being satisfied with your game play and everyone being able to have a good time. We discuss ADHD-Inattentive and neurodiversity, play as protest, and games that create deep presence and community. We share thoughts on parenting, Geoff Englestein's book GameTek, play as a fundamental part of human life and a fundamental human right, play as a protest against hierarchy and monetary valuation, the films Life Is Beautiful and Jojo Rabbit, and we recommend the games Pandemic, No Thanks, Azul, A Gentle Rain, and Charterstone as particularly accessible games.

Follow Chelsey Hillyer through her website, Amateur Efforts.

Support us on Patreon, learn more about us at boardgamefaith.com, and interact with us on Instagram.

Links:

• GameTek - Kindle edition by Engelstein, Geoff . Humor & Entertainment Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
• Episode 5: Board Games and Islam
• Chelsey D. Hillyer // Amateur Efforts – Unprofessional on purpose.

We make a new attempt at an episode opening – an improv skit with pirates playing Carcassone! We discuss Carcassone a bit, lionize the word "eschew" and life points in general, and wrestle with Bernard Suits' definition of a game: "the voluntary attempt to overcome unnecessary obstacles" (p. 43). Games require buy-in from participants who must agree to its rules, desire to best their competitors, and strive to be efficient within the games required inefficiencies. So how appropriate is it to conceive of God engaging in play and games? Kevin attempts to quote the Quran in thinking through God's delight in obstacles and complexities, and Daniel points to delight and grace. Shout out to @jtaultesq on Instagram for correctly identifying Concept in our Instagram quiz!

linktr.ee/boardgamefaith

Links:

• The Grasshopper - Third Edition - Broadview Press
• Octopus Playtime | Octopus In My House | BBC Earth - YouTube
• Board Game Faith | Linktree
• Board Game Faith is creating podcasts on board games and spirituality | Patreon
• Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World a book by Jane McGonigal
• Surah Al-Hujurat - 13 - Quran.com

What can, and should, board teach us? We explore didactic board games that have a message, and what sort of indirect messages board games can also give us. We discuss Caverna, Bibleopoly, the forgotten didactic orgins of Monopoly, magic circles, and the controversial game Train.

Join us on Instagram and Patreon.

Links:

• The surprising history behind the board game "Monopoly" - YouTube
• Bibleopoly | Board Game | BoardGameGeek
• Galaxy Quest - Wikipedia
• Garphill Games
• How to Use Tabletop Simulator - Shut Up & Sit Down - YouTube
• Home | Tabletop Simulator
• Magic circle (virtual worlds) - Wikipedia
• Brenda Romero: Gaming for understanding - YouTube

Our very first guest! Ali Karar (@karar2k) joins us to discuss hobby board gaming as a Muslim in Saudi Arabia. We discuss board games as a catalyst for socializing, religious limits to board games, and the role of board games in families. Ali discusses his transition from video games to board gaming, board gaming cafes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Islam's traditional prohibition aginst dice because of its association with gambling. We cap it all off by listing our most beloved games and praising Clap On technology.

Links:

• Ali Karar (@karar2k) • Instagram photos and videos
• @karar2k | Linktree
• Karar2k's Why Play This - YouTube