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PMP#108: Board Game Ideology

October 27, 2021 by Mark 7 Comments

https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/partiallyexaminedlife/PMP_108_10-7-21.mp3

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As board games are becoming increasingly popular with adults, we ask: What’s the relationship between a board game’s mechanics and its narrative? Does the “message” of a board game matter?

Mark is joined by game designer Tommy Maranges, educator Michelle Parrinello-Cason, and ex-philosopher Al Baker to talk about re-skinning games, designing player experiences, play styles, game complexity, and more. 

Some of the games we mention include Puerto Rico, Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Sorry, Munchkin, Sushi Go, Welcome To…, Codenames, Pandemic, Occam Horror, Terra Mystica, chess, Ticket to Ride, Splendor, Photosynthesis, Spirit Island, Escape from the Dark Castle, and Wingspan.

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Some articles that fed our discussion included:

  • “The Board Games That Ask You to Reenact Colonialism” by Luke Winkie
  • “Board Games Are Getting Really, Really Popular” by Darron Cummings
  • “8 Historical Board Games, from Diverse Designers, That Show Great Promise” by Charlie Hall
  • “How a Board Game About Birds Became a Surprise Blockbuster” by Dan Kois
  • “How Classic Board Games Are Bringing Families Closer During the Pandemic” by Drew Weisholtz
  • “Keep Your Game Night Rolling (At A Safe Distance) With These 3 Online Services” by Petra Mayer

The two games Tommy created that we bring up are Secret Hitler and Inhuman Conditions.

Follow our guests at @tommygents (Tommy), @DaylaLearning (Michelle), and @ixisnox (Al).

This episode includes bonus discussion you can access by supporting the podcast at patreon.com/prettymuchpop, or now you can sign up directly via Apple Podcasts for a subscription for ad-free and bonus material for three of Mark’s podcasts together on the Mark Lintertainment Podcasts Channel.

This podcast is part of the Partially Examined Life podcast network and is curated by openculture.com.

Filed Under: Live-Action Gaming Tagged With: Board Games, pop culture podcast

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Comments

  1. Conner Fields says

    November 5, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    You should cover the new Dune movie, and the old David Lynch movie. Maybe talk about how you talked about covering David Cronenberg before but never got around to it (maybe in a joking way). Also, no Halloween episode? Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, and All Souls Day have passed. Take maybe a week to get some David Lynch and David Cronenberg people together (in the spirit of PMP they can be David Lynch or Cronenberg scholars, or just obsessive fans, or…a mix of the two…and you could have two episodes done), heck if you really need it take two weeks.

    Reply
  2. Mark says

    November 5, 2021 at 10:39 pm

    Yep, we’ve now recorded on Dune… it’ll see daylight in a few weeks.

    Switching to every-other-week recording has made it hard to fit in things like holiday episodes. I see Cronenberg looks like he’ll have a new film out at some point: https://www.indiewire.com/2021/04/david-cronenberg-sci-fi-movie-crimes-of-the-future-shoot-1234633841/. I’ll see if I can get a group to talk about that. (Do you want in?)

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. PMP#112: Class Critiques in Squid Game, Succession, etc. says:
    December 21, 2021 at 2:52 pm

    […] past episodes: Law on various PEL discussions on race and religion, Sarahlyn on PMP on soap operas, Michelle on PMP on board games. Follow them @law_writes, @sarahlynbruck and […]

    Reply
  2. Pretty Much Pop #112: Class Critiques in Squid Game, Succession, etc. | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
    December 21, 2021 at 2:54 pm

    […] past episodes: Law on various PEL discussions on race and religion, Sarahlyn on PMP on soap operas, Michelle on PMP on board games. Follow them @law_writes, @sarahlynbruck and […]

    Reply
  3. PvI#23: Things Mean Things w/ Tommy Maranges (aka Philosophy Bro) says:
    December 31, 2021 at 12:39 am

    […] For the real skinny on Categories, listen to Partially Examined Life #279. Hear Tommy as Philosophy Bro monologue about Plato then join the PEL fellows on the Symposium on PEL #100. Hear Tommy and Mark talk board games on Pretty Much Pop #108. […]

    Reply
  4. Philosophy vs. Improv #23: Things Mean Things w/ Tommy Maranges (aka Philosophy Bro) | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
    January 3, 2022 at 8:18 pm

    […] For the real skinny on Categories, listen to Partially Examined Life #279. Hear Tommy as Philosophy Bro monologue about Plato then join the PEL fellows on the Symposium on PEL #100. Hear Tommy and Mark talk board games on Pretty Much Pop #108. […]

    Reply
  5. Pvi#23: Things Mean Things W/ Tommy Maranges (Aka Philosophy Bro) – Sweet Saw says:
    January 9, 2022 at 4:44 pm

    […] For the real skinny on Categories, listen to Partially Examined Life #279. Hear Tommy as Philosophy Bro monologue about Plato then join the PEL fellows on the Symposium on PEL #100. Hear Tommy and Mark talk board games on Pretty Much Pop #108. […]

    Reply

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