Immersed Cardboard Edison

People have experiences that are hard to explain all the time. But when do they actually reveal a deeper meaning? The game Mysterium plays with the idea of messages from the beyond—something its co-designer, Oleksandr Nevskiy, has reasons for thinking about. And Kathy Kelly, owner of The Paranormal Museum, pulls back the curtain on her approach to the unexplained. Some believe; some don’t.

The game The Networks puts players in the armchairs of TV executives. Designer Gil Hova tells us about the game’s origins and whether or not it’s meant to simulate what’s it’s like to schedule a TV network. And special guest Preston Beckman takes us behind the scenes of NBC’s Must See TV era of the 1990s.

The island of Sri Lanka built its world-renowned tea industry using the infrastructure of its ruined coffee trade. The game Ceylon, designed by your hosts, went through a similar transformation during its development. In this special bonus episode, we speak with Jayne Broomhead, whose experiences and research deeply informed the game and its design.

Guillotine is a very silly game about a very somber subject. It’s hard to take it seriously… but that doesn’t mean we can’t try. In this episode, we talk with history professor Dr. Jennifer J. Popiel about some fascinating events of the French Revolution and the lessons it can offer us today, and designer Paul Peterson tells us about how his first original design came together.

They say nothing goes according to plan. That was true of the dozens of assassination plots against Adolf Hitler while he led Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. And it’s also often true of the plots enacted by players in Black Orchestra, the cooperative game inspired by those events. We talk with history writer Nikola Budanovich, who walks us through three real-life plots against Hitler. And game designer Philip duBarry tells us how he questioned whether the game would ever get made.

Hostage situations are dark material for a game, but the solo board game Hostage Negotiator puts you in the middle of one of these intense standoffs. We talk with designer and publisher A.J. Porfirio about walking the line on a sensitive topic. And former crisis negotiator Tony D’Aiuto reveals some unexpected things about the tactics that professionals use, as he tells the surprising story of his first time as lead negotiator.