Ludology
by Erica Hayes-Bouyouris, Sen-Foong Lim
Latest episode
Ludology 366 Off To The Races
Ludology 366 Off To The Races
About this podcast
Welcome to Ludology, an analytical discussion of the how's and why's of the world of board games. Rather than news and reviews, Ludology explores a variety of topics about games from a wider lens, and discusses game history, game design and game players.
Ludology is part of The Dice Tower Network, the premier board game media network.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 706 episodes
- Ludology 366 Off To The Races · 58 minErica and Sen speak with CMYK's Alex Hague about having two of the most popular racing games on the market right now in Hot Streak and Magical Athlete. Are they racing against…
- Ludology 365 Boardgames and Biographies · 1 h 14 minDesigner and historian Amabel Holland ([email protected]) joins Erica and Sen on a trip down memory lane as she tells them about the highlights of her deep dives into…
- Pros and Cons Ep 21 · 45 minRecorded in Summer of 2026, Sen talks to Ethan Yen at a cafe in lovely Wortley Village in South London. They discuss design philosophies and Ethan's solo RPG "Fetch My Blade"…
- Ludology 364 The Cost of Complexity · 46 minErica and Sen talk amongst themselves and discuss the topic of complexity in games from multiple angles. Whether you're choosing what to play at game night or designing the next…
- Pros and Cons Ep 20 · 33 minOnce again, Sen was in la belle province, recording at FLIM when he heard about *another* convention in Montreal! Ludicon offers open gaming, competitions, and merchandise in the…
- Ludology 363 Transformative · 1 h 23 minThis week, Erica and Sen speak with Dr. Marc Engfield and Shawn Roske about the game they co-designed to explore and address issues surrounding managing Chronic Pain. Using Sarah…
- Ludology 362 Getting Graphic with Games · 49 minSen and Erica talk with Steenz (www.oheysteenz.com), a St. Louis cartoonist and professor, about the graphic novel she illustrated, "Side Quest: A Visual History of Roleplaying…
- Pros and Cons Ep 19 · 26 minErica is just getting back from Japan and Sen is in Montreal for FLIM, so we're going to drop an interview from last year's inaugural Festival Ludique International de Montreal…
- Ludology 361 Joie De Vivre! · 1 h 18 minSen and Erica are joined by Marc-Antoine Doyon, organizer behind the Festival Ludique International De Montreal (www.leflim.com), a free outdoor gaming festival that takes place…
- Ludology 360 That Old Black Magic · 47 minSen and guest host George Drayer (formerly from Meeple Syrup) speak with Jesper Myfors, the original art director of the game that changed the face of modern nerdom, Magic: The…
- Ludology 359 I'd Like To Thank The Academy · 52 minErica and Sen speak with game designer and educator, Kathleen Mercury, about the second annual Game Design Academy that runs concurrently with Gen Con. The Game Design Academy is…
- Ludology 358 What's Your Story? · 1 h 9 minSen flies solo and interviews Yeonsoo Julian Kim, narrative designer behind "The Fog Knows Your Name" and "Undying Fortress" on Choice Of Games, about interactive fiction games…
- Ludology 357 Unsettling Catan · 1 h 3 minErica and Sen speak with author and academic, J. Rey Lee, about his book entitled, "Unsettling Catan: Detached Design in Eurogames". They discuss Catan's impact on the hobby…
- Ludology 356 Put A Little English On It · 52 minSen and Erica interview George and Jack Furnival, the couple behind Carrooka - the tabletop snooker game. To see exactly what we're talking about on the podcast, check out…
- Pros and Cons Ep 18 · 31 minSen talks to Chris Chung at BreakoutCon 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Chris talks about the origins of Lanterns, his work on the My Little Pony deckbuilder, and online…
- Ludology 354 Like A Dagger In My Heart · 1 h 14 minErica and Sen speak with Spenser Starke about bringing Daggerheart, one of the new generation of tabletop role-playing games, to life.
- Ludology 353 The Power of Play · 1 h 5 minSen and Erica speak with Peter Williamson, co-founder and partner at barometerxp.com and the executive director at gamegenius.org about creating tabletop experiences for…
- Ludology 352 Making the Game · 1 h 12 minSen and Erica speak with Liqin Gu and Mitch Zhang from Longpack Manufacturing to delve into the ins and outs of how boardgames are made and why they're predominantly made in China.
- Ludology 355 Rub a Dub Dub Let's Go To Unpub! · 1 h 7 min*Special Note* This episode is being released out of order. We will resume our previously scheduled numbering system in two week! Sen and Erica talk to Heather O'Neill and…
- Pros and Cons Ep 17 · 32 minSen speaks with Kristen Mott at Gen Con 2024 about her designs and publications leading into 2025. We talk homeschooling, scouting, co-design, and horses, of courses. Then we…
- Pros and Cons Ep 16 · 40 minRecorded live at Gen Con 2024, Sen interviews Sarah Dahlinger, a comparative anatomy fueled creature creator who's made some of your favourite monster art and sculpted the minis…
- Ludology 351 Better Health Through Gaming · 59 minErica and Sen talk with Dr. Joe Macisco, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at Wright State University's Boonshoft School of…
- Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 24 · 7 minSen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, to talk about some of the ways in which theme can be measured and how that affects game design.
- Ludology 350 Beneath The Trees · 1 h 3 minSen and special guest host Doug Levandowski (Kids on Bikes) talk with Noxweiler Ignatius Berf (or "Nox" for short) about his work on the storytelling game, Beneath The Trees…
- Ludology 349 Reindeer Games · 59 minErica and Sen welcome Jordan Goddard of Indy Game Lab to talk about his company's newest product - family games that are packaged inside of Christmas ornaments. Currently on…
- Ludology 348 Only Murders in the Script · 50 minThis episode, Sen welcomes Pete, Felix, and Daniel from Zed9 Mystery Club (www.zed9jubensha.com) in Richmond, BC to talk all about Jubensha (a.k.a. Murder Script Games)…
- Ludology 347 Sail Away · 1 h 23 minErica and Sen welcome designers of the award-winning Endeavor: Deep Sea, Carl de Visser and Jarratt Gray, along with their publishers, Helaina and Josh Cappel (Burnt Island) and…
- Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 23 · 6 minSen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp as she hosts her Thinking Beyond Mechanism series. In this episode, she discusses the permissions that games and their rules give us to break…
- Ludology 346 That Seems Familiar · 53 minIt's the return of Erica! Sen got to goof off most of the summer without her, but now she's back and she has a great topic to start off Q3-Q4 of 2025 - Familiarity. Erica and Sen…
- Ludology 345 Out of the Dungeon · 1 h 22 minSen is back after a short hiatus, this time speaking with fellow podcaster, Kristin Vermilya, about her endeavour to document the 50+ year history of role playing games in her…
- Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 22 · 7 minSen and Erica welcome Sarah Shipp as the host of the Thinking About Mechanisms segment. This episode, Sarah talks about social distance as one of the main differentiators between…
- Pros and Cons Ep 15 · 55 minOnce again, Sen catches a wild game designer at Origins 2024! This time, he captures Josh Derksen of Lynnvander Games and gets the chance to talk about Josh's work. In…
- Pros and Cons Ep 14 · 52 minSen met with new designer but veteran writer Nathan Long (several Warhammer novels, the screenplay for Guyver: Dark Hero, and the scripts for the Wastelands and Bardstale video…
- Pros and Cons Ep 13 · 50 minSen speaks to David Gordon at Origins 2024 before all of his games hit shelves in 2025. From Monkey Palace to Floristry, we chat about David's entry into game design and what the…
- Pros and Cons Ep 12 · 47 minIn this episode of Pros and Cons (where we talk to game industry professionals at conventions), we go back to AnimeNorth 2024 where Sen chats with TTRPG designer and writer…
- Ludology 344 Indie Games Night Market · 1 h 0 minWhile Erica is on vacation, Sen takes the opportunity to speak with Daniel Newman about how his love of trick-taking games lead to the inception of the Indie Games Night Market…
- Thinking Beyond Mechanisms EP 21 · 8 minErica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to give her take on how we can combat anti-intellectualism using games with intentional…
- Ludology 343 It's Alive! · 55 minErica and Sen discuss some of the games from their childhoods that featured electronic components heavily and wonder if, in this day and age when smartphones are ubiquitous, the…
- Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 20 · 7 minErica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to discuss cognitive load and addressing the impact of it through intentional design…
- Ludology 342 Games on the Big Screen · 54 minThis episode, Sen and Erica talk to Simon Ennis, professional filmmaker and avid boardgamer, about his most recent release, "The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop", that features…
- TTRPGKids Ep 24 · 14 minIn their final segment, Steph Campbell talks about using TTRPGs at home or in the classroom to teach social studies. Sen and Erica thank Steph for their dedication to the use of…
- Ludology 341.5 Oh Canada! · 1 h 7 minErica and Sen recorded this episode live in March 2025 at BreakoutCon in Toronto, ON, Canada. They spoke with guests Helaina Cappel (Publisher, Kids Table Board Games and Burnt…
- Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 19 · 7 minErica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to discuss how designers might approach the dreaded human factor we call "Analysis…
- Ludology 341 Accesorize Your Games · 1 h 3 minErica and Sen welcome Dekan Wheeler to the show to talk about his work at UltraPro, making accessories for many of the hobby's most beloved games. We discuss card sleeves…
- TTRPGKids Ep 23 · 10 minErica and Sen welcome guest host Steph Campell on this week's installment of TTRPGKids. In their segement, Steph talks about the power of writing and journaling in TTRPGs and how…
- Ludology 340 Corporate Game Play · 1 h 9 minSen and Erica talk with Ellie Dix about her work in making corporate games. Whether they're to increase brand recognition or for team building and training purposes, Ellie…
- Thinking Beyond Mechanisms Ep 18 · 6 minErica and Sen welcome Sarah Shipp, guest host of the Thinking Beyond Mechanisms segment, to talk about events in game design. Sarah talks about how to use well-designed events to…
- Ludology 339 History of the Game - Pandemic · 41 minErica and Sen welcome Matt Leacock to talk about one of the hobby's staples - Pandemic. First published in 2008, the Pandemic system has been expanded and used to fight viruses…
- TTRPGKids Ep 22 · 9 minThis week, special guest host Steph Campbell discusses the importance of why learning should be fun and how TTRPGs can bring fun to what can be a very complex situation.
- Ludology 338 America's Top Model(er) · 1 h 9 minErica and Sen talk to Matt Gubser, modeler and comedian, about his work in the tabletop industry and the shift from traditional to digital modeling techniques.
