Play is the thing

Chris Ferguson recommended the Atari 2600 console. Sam Illingworth recommended Betrayal at House on the Hill  Pete Etchells recommeded Untitled Goose Game Sam Wake recommended Cain's Jawbone Nic Whitton recommended the Librarian's Almanaq Holly Gramazio recommended Board games to create and play I recommended a few things: The floor is lava Board games in 100 moves Quest for El Dorado Ticket to Ride London

Aiyana's brilliant article for Scientific American is here   Here blog, all of which is 100% worth reading, is here

Margaret talked about a few games Subnautica My time at Portia She used the following toys in her research Toca Boca tea party Osmo Code-a-pillar Maggi's research interests https://www.sldo.ac.uk/ https://dart.ed.ac.uk/research/autism-tech-play/ She's on @_mlaurie

Paul Wake is a big part of the Manchester games studies network: https://www.manchestergamestudies.org/ His current kickstarter is at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1010climateaction/carbon-city-zero If you're interested in the zones of play by Scott Rogers: https://mrbossdesign.blogspot.com/2019/07/ I've listed the games we talked about here: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/262898/games-i-talked-paul-wake-about-play-thing

If you want to catch up with Holly's writing, here's a taster: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/03/11/players-react-to-video-games-in-unexpected-ways-and-scary-edutainment-games-prove-it/   https://wireframe.raspberrypi.org/features/there's-no-such-thing-as-an-apolitical-game   https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/games/2019/08/moral-panic-over-fortnite-and-purpose-play The book she referenced was indeed called Historia Ludens and can be found here: https://www.routledge.com/Historia-Ludens-The-Playing-Historian-1st-Edition/von-Lunen-Lewis-Litherland-Cullum/p/book/9780367363864   She's @nielsen_holly on Twitter.

Minkette (@mink_ette on twitter) is a designer of games of all sorts, as well as a speaker and podcaster. Her escape room site is here I strongly recommend her talks which can be found here And her podcasts are here Mink mentions this book: https://www.hive.co.uk/Product/Donald-A-Norman/The-Design-of-Everyday-Things/15109431 Punch drunk theatre is here The game Max was going on about was Lara Croft Temple of Osiris. It's quite good. Grant Howitt does single side A4 RPGs here The ERIC conference (http://ericuk.org/) where Mink is speaking Escape room reviews:UK:  http://exitgames.co.uk/. https://thelogicescapesme.com/ US: https://escapegameaddicts.wordpress.com/     

James' book, Board Games in 100 moves, is out on the 5th September: https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Board-Games-in-100-Moves-by-Ian-Livingstone-author-James-Wallis-author/9781465485755 James can be found on twitter @jameswallis And his consultancy Spaaace can be accessed via his website: http://www.jameswallis.com/  

Holly's main website is here: http://www.hollygramazio.net/ She talked about quite a few things. candy box:https://candybox2.github.io/ dicey dungeons: https://store.steampowered.com/app/861540/Dicey_Dungeons/ Now Play This: https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/whats-on/now-play-this-2019 How to be a blackbird: http://severalbees.com/blackbird/how-to-be-a-blackbird.html Duncan Speakman's sherlockian tour: http://www.ahollowbody.com/  

Where to start? Max starts off comparing Jason to a burlesque dancer, then Jason sings to illustrate the concept of trauma.  They talk about a ton of games they love and end up debating whether flow is a self-centred phenomenon! Who is Jason, you may ask... Listen to find out. (or go to @engn_podcast on twitter) So we talked about a lot of things: Psychology:  Michael White and narrative therapy: https://dulwichcentre.com.au/michael-white-archive/ Flow: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology) Games:  Forbidden Island: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/65244/forbidden-island Star realms: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/147020/star-realms Mice and Mystics: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/124708/mice-and-mystics Spirit Island: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/162886/spirit-island Legend of the five rings RPG: https://rpggeek.com/rpgfamily/2437/legend-five-rings Root: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/237182/root

Max is joined by the very brilliant Nic Whitton. She is @nicwhitton on Twitter. The playful learning conference is here  Liz Hargrave designed Wingspan and has Tussie Mussie coming soon. For some reason Max forgot to say the name of the first game.  Nic mentioned the subscription service for escape rooms Escape the crate at the beginning. 

Jane's work and that of the amazing Evelina play team can be found at https://www.evelinalondon.nhs.uk/our-services/hospital/play-specialists/team.aspx If you want to help support the hospital's work, go to https://www.supportevelina.org.uk/get-involved/challenge-150 And follow Jane herself @craftyjane1 on Twitter Adrian Voce was mentioned during the episode: his website is https://policyforplay.com/about-this-site/about-adrian-voce-obe/ I mention a show at UKGE in the outro. The details are here

Ivan Brett is a teacher, author and play obessive. His book and podcast are both called the Floor is Lava, and both are a pure joy. www.ivanbrett.com  Ivan and Max talked about adventure, play and encouraging kids into the play space. Enjoy! If you're interested in the UK games expo event that Max talked about there's more info at https://youtu.be/oWWdwIr0IlM  

Max talks to Chris Ferguson, psychology professor at Stetson University, and author of 'Moral Combat', about moral panic, video games, D&D and giving play back to kids. Chris' website: http://www.christopherjferguson.com/ The Bowler hat was indeed named after a person. Two people, in fact: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowler_hat  

To find out more about Sam's work go to https://www.manchestergamestudies.org/ Also, some top blogging there.

In our second episode, Max goes to visit James Wallis, game designer, writer, thinker and historian (but, allegedly, not an academic!) James mentions a lot of books, writers and games: here are some possibly helpful links- if there's anything else you would like info on, just get in touch @playisthething1 on twitter Our Facebook group "Play is the thing" playisthethingpod@gmail.com Notes: Empire of the petal throne: https://www.tekumel.com/ Richard bartle's work on player types: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/bartle-s-player-types-for-gamification Gary alan Fine's book, shared fantasy: https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Shared_Fantasy.html?id=rLlLbN0XuSEC&redir_esc=y Boethian maths: https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-the-arithmetic-of-boethius Ars Amatoria (NOT amorata, because I'm not just an idiot, I'm a pretentious idiot): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_Amatoria Keith Johnstone's book Impro is here: https://www.keithjohnstone.com/ And James is right, The Mind is amazing: https://thirstymeeples.co.uk/products/the-mind

For his first podcast episode, Max talks to Pete Etchells, psychologist and gamer, about his new book 'lost in a good game', attitudes to play and why neither of us like mobile games! Pete's book can be pre-ordered here Follow us on Twitter @playisthething1 Facebook: search 'Play is the thing' Email: playisthethingpod@gmail.com