For the first time ever,* game designer, instructor, writer, and overall wizard Geoff Engelstein appears on a podcast to discuss a trio of his games, along with some insider baseball. Join us as we discuss getting an author's permission to treat a protagonist like a doofus, what it's like to gamify a peace conference, and why "gravity" is one of the greatest gaming metaphors of the decade. (*Not the first time ever.)

What goes up must come down. That's the proposition of James Naylor's Magnate: The First City, the modern Monopoly that sees its housing boom through to the inevitable bust. Today, James joins Dan to chat about real estate development, game development, and what makes Humbleburg more of a "first" city than the many counter-examples that are undoubtedly popping into your head.

Nearly seventeen hundred years ago, a bunch of theology nerds were called together to answer one simple question: what is the nature of God? Their answer has shaped the way we've thought about the divine ever since. That's the topic of Amabel Holland's Nicaea, plus an irreverent twist or two. Today, Amabel joins us to chat about orthodoxy,  heresy, and the politicking that happened in between the extremes all those years ago.

Andy Weir got famous writing about a man stranded in an isolated environment who uses science and pluck to solve his way out of danger; in Project Hail Mary, he flexes his authorial talents to their limit with a novel about a man stranded in an isolated environment who uses science and pluck to solve his way out of danger. Join Brock, Summer, and Dan as we discuss Ryland Grace's portentous name, watching aliens poop, and how Weir blends hard and soft science fiction to tremendous effect. 

There's something dangerous in those bushes over there. A sabre-tooth tiger? A handful of poisonous berries? Nope, it's designer Peter Rustemeyer, here to chat about the origins, development, and history of Paleo, the 2021 winner of the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres.

Ever developed a robust opinion about the possibility of intercourse with a robot? And we're not talking about conversation here. Neither had Summer,  Brock, or Dan. Good thing we read Autonomous by Annalee Newitz! Now we're bubbling over with perspectives on robo-love, pharmaceutical monopolies, and how to make pharma pirates seem boring.

For today's "podcast," our topic of discussion is everything about Mind MGMT by Sen-Foong Lim and Jay Cormier. Over the course of a single episode, we discuss Sen and Jay's psychic powers, origin stories, and the process of designing, iterating, and activating latent psychics — sorry, I mean adapting Matt Kindt's comic series.

This week on the Space-Biff! Space-Cast!, we're joined by Ryan Laukat to discuss his latest game, Sleeping Gods! In the process, we also discuss open-world video games, open-world board games, and how to adapt the former into the latter.

If our last episode left you confused, today we're doubling down! Twice the confusion! Double! Times two! Continuing the futuristic saga of a golden age on the brink of disaster, we discuss unreliable narrators, miracles real and invented, and what happens when you name your sniper character Sniper. Come along as we dive into Seven Surrenders by Ada Palmer.

This month on the Space-Cast!, we're investigating a difficult topic — the representation of slavery in board games. To help navigate these waters, we're joined by Patrick Rael, Professor of History at Bowdoin College, to discuss how board games have depicted slavery in the past, what they're doing right now, and how we can use them to learn about sensitive historical issues.