Sightless Fun

In this episode, Ertay talks to Michael Heron from Meeple Like Us, the first and largest blog about accessibility in the board gaming industry. They talk about the current state and future of the site, accessibility in board games, how Michael started the site and much more. Time Stamps Discworld books, 01:54 Michael Heron's background, 04:24 Michael's favorite game, Chinatown, 05:53 Why Michael started Meeple Like Us, 08:57 Michael's journey to accessibility, 11:41 Accessibility improvements in the industry over the years, 17:56 What motivates Michael to keep working on MLU, 20:25 Michael's process, 21:35 MLU's 200th game, Istanbul, 25:01 Lanterns and accidental accessibility, 26:51 Accessibility becomes good design, 27:15 Common visual accessibility problems, 28:48 Board Game Accessibility Guidelines, 31:45 Feedback from publishers, 38:33 Meeple Like Us in 5 years, 44:43 Board Game Accessibility Content Creator Network, 49:52 Michael's game recommendations, Skull and Funemployed, 59:35 Links Meeple Like Us - https://meeplelikeus.co.uk MLU on Twitter - https://twitter.com/meeplelikeus/ MLU on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MeepleLikeUs/ Able Table Gaming on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/abletablegaming/

In the final A Touch Of Gaming podcast episode, Ryan Peach and Brian counter continue to talk to Bill Corey about board game conventions.

In the third A Touch Of Gaming bonus episode, Ryan Peach and Brian counter are joined by Bill Corey to talk about board game conventions. This is the first part of a two-part episode.

In the second A Touch Of Gaming bonus episode, Ryan Peach and Brian counter are joined by Richard Gibbs from 64 Ounce Games to talk about adapting modern board games for the blind and visually impaired. Time Stamps 01:48: Interview with Richard Gibbs 38:30: The Resistance 40:06: Dark Moon 41:10: Pick Picnic 45:15: Goblet 45:48: No Thanks 46:35: Dead Man's Draw 50:14: Cards Against Humanity 50:58: Dice City 51:44: Race for the Galaxy/Roll for the Galaxy 52:10: Illuminati 53:18: Medina 54:12: Modern Naval Battles: Global Warfare 56:30: Tsuro 57:57: Cosmic Encounter 58:28: Kingsburg 59:22: Catan 59:58: Quarriors 1:00:18: Acquire 1:01:38: Stock Pile Links http://64ouncegames.com/

This is a bonus episode from an older podcast hosted by Ryan Peach and Brian Counter. In this episode they discuss about the challenges of teaching and learning board games as blind and partially sighted board gamers. Time Stamps: 00:46: Brian and Ryan start by discussing game learning. 14:28: Brian and Ryan continue the discussion with game teaching. 41:42: Brian and Ryan conclude with game recommendations for learning and teaching. 34:40: Galaxy Trucker 42:27: No Thanks 43:22: Empires: Age of Discovery 48:00: Defenders of the Realm 50:10: Dungeon Lords 56:00: Alien Frontiers 58:32: Kingsburg 1:03280: Timeline 1:06:20: Among the Stars 1:10:20: 7 Wonders

In this episode, Ertay talks to Jim and Eric from Knights of the Braille. Knights of the Braille is a small community for blind and visually impaired Dungeons & Dragons players. They talk about the accessibility challenges of D&D, how they are introducing new players to the game, using theater of the mind, dealing with tactics in combat scenarios and much more. You can get in touch with Jim via knightsofthebraille@gmail.com or Twitter: https://twitter.com/brailleknights. You can also find Eric on Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsclavast. Time stamps Jim's background, 02:22 Eric's background, 02:53 How Jim and Eric got involved with D&D, 03:42 How sight loss affected Jim's enjoyment of the game, 08:55 What is Knights of the Braille, 09:45 What have they done so far, 11:55 Comparing Jim and Eric's style of play, 14:15 Accessibility of websites and apps, 18:58 Tactics and combat in D&D for the blind, 22:46 Guidelines for sighted players that play with blind people, 27:20 Published adventures or homebrew, 29:05 Accessibility of dice, 31:43 Advice for aspiring blind dungeon masters, 34:05 How to join a Knights of the Braille group, 39:40 Final thoughts, 42:47 Links Knights Of The Braille - https://knightsofthebraille.com/ Knights Of The Braille on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZ7SAELCxHrruDN5u6NghQ D&D Beyond - https://www.dndbeyond.com/ Fantasy Grounds - https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php If you have any questions or feedback you can send an email to sightlessfun@outlook.com or find us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sightlessfun.

In this episode Ertay and Chris Lehman have a chat about the challenges of learning and teaching board games as blind individuals. Chris shares some interesting details about how he learns to play a game and after that he shares his process of teaching games to others. They also talk about the recent games they have played and Chris also shares some of his favorite board games. You can get in touch with Chris Lehman via clehman2k9@gmail.com. Time stamps Chris Lehman's background, 04:01 How Chris got into the hobby, 06:30- Favorite games, 09:21 Sighted assistance, 13:30 Recently played games, 14:10 Board game learning process, 19:58 Board game apps, 28:56 Challenges of learning a board game blind, 33:40 Combining Rulebooks and video tutorials, 37:54 How publishers and content creators can improve the accessibility of rulebooks or tutorials, 40:35 Chris talks about his teaching process, 43:00 Challenges of teaching board games blind, 50:17 Tips for blind players to help with teaching board games, 56:12 Tips for sighted players when teaching blind players, 57:13 Board game recommendations for blind players, 59:37 Links Tarpon Tabletop Gamers on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/tarpontabletop/

In this episode, Ertay is joined by Jay Sears from Pixy Games and they talk about color blindness in the hobby. Jay talks about the misconceptions of being colorblind and also provides some tips to game designers and publishers on how they can avoid the most common pitfalls when it comes to designing colorblind accessible board games. Time Stamps Jay's background, 01:21 Jay talks about his color blindness, 03:56 Types of color blindness, 05:50 Color combinations to avoid when designing board games, 12:30 Colorblind friendly combinations, 14:25 The color palette of Sagrada, 16:14 Tips for game designers, 18:38 Alternative ways to work with problematic colors, 21:33 Magic Maze, 26:07 Importance of component size and shape, 26:51 Board games with poor colorblind accessibility, 28:34 Yamatai and the red-green color choices, 33:04 Castles of Burgundy, 36:41 Board Games with good color blindness accessibility, 39:22 Final thoughts, 43:32 Links Pixy Games - http://pixygames.co.uk - Jay's blog post about color blindness 0 https://pixygamesuk.blogspot.com/2019/04/colour-blindness-guide-for-board-game.html - Meeple Like Us Master List - https://meeplelikeus.co.uk/meeple-like-us-masterlist/ - Geek and Sundry article about color blindness in board games - https://geekandsundry.com/increasing-accessibility-how-publishers-are-making-games-more-colorblind-friendly/ - Hacks to make your game colorblind accessible - https://geekandsundry.com/like-a-rainbow-in-the-dark-hacks-to-make-your-games-color-blind-accessible/ You can get in touch via sightlessfun@outlook.com or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sightlessfun

In the second part of the gateway games for the blind special, Ertay, Nancy, and Ryan talk about their Top 3 favorite, gateway board games. If you are looking for an accessible game in the hobby, the games that are discussed in this episode are a good place to start. Time stamps Citadels, 01:21 Jamaica, 09:45 Colt Express, 21:36 Codenames, 31:39 Flip City, 39:28 Pandemic, 47:00 Diamonds, 55:27 Valeria Card Kingdoms, 01:01:25 Dice Forge, 01:07:42 You can get in touch with Nancy Feldman via loravara@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loravara. You can get in touch with Ryan Peach via redmeepleryan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/redmeepleryan. Links Codenames web app - https://ninjabunny.github.io/KodeNames/

In this episode, Ertay, Nancy, and Ryan talk about their favorite gateway board games that are suitable for blind or visually impaired people looking to get in the board gaming hobby. In part one, they first talk about what constitutes a gateway game and also discuss how gateway games for sighted people compare to those that are playable by the blind and visually impaired. Next, they talk about the bottom two games in their top 5 gateway games lists in detail and why those games can be a good choice to introduce blind people to board games. Time stamps Gateway games overview, 01:44 Sentinels of the Multiverse, 08:46 Favor of the Pharaoh, 16:54 King of Tokyo, 26:30 Near and Far, 35:35 Pandemic: The Cure, 47:23 Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, 01:00:45 You can get in touch with Nancy Feldman via loravara@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loravara. You can get in touch with Ryan Peach via redmeepleryan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/redmeepleryan.

In this episode, Ertay talks to Temple Smith, a blind Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master. Temple has been playing DnD since the 1980s and talks about the visual accessibility of the game and how role-playing games can provide countless hours of entertainment with friends. He also explains how he deals with character sheets, dice, maps, and more. You can get in touch with Temple on Twitter: https://twitter.com/blindtemple Time stamps Temple's background, 00:53 How often Temple plays DnD, 03:08 Temple describes his preparation process, 03:49 How Temple's process changed after he lost his sight, 6:12 Temple talks about equipment he uses when DMing, 07:00 Temple talks about dice, 09:27 Dealing with character sheets as a blind DM and player, 12:40 Sighted assistance in Dungeons and Dragons, 14:13 Temple talks about blind DnD players, 17:24 Advice for sighted Dungeon Masters when playing with blind players, 18:13 Accessibility of different DnD editions, 20:55 Advice for blind people interested in becoming a dungeon master, 23:38 Final thoughts, 26:00 Links D&D Beyond - https://www.dndbeyond.com/ Blind Sparrow Interactive - https://www.blindsparrowinteractive.com/ Ready To Roll Dice Rolling App For iOS - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ready-to-roll-rpg-dice/id1445804669?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D8 DOTS RPG - https://www.dotsrpg.com/ Knights of the Braille - https://knightsofthebraille.com/

Ertay talks to Laura, a blind board gamer, and her partner, Dale, a board game developer at Mythic Games, about the importance of sighted assistance when playing modern board games with blind players. If you want to get in touch with Laura and Dale Rowe, you can send an email to cardboardjukebox@gmail.com. Time stamps Laura's background, 1:12 Dale's background, 2:09 How often they play games, 4:29 Current favorite board games, 5:17 Learning and teaching board games, 11:54 Accessibility challenges and hidden information, 14:25 Patience and sighted assistance, 18:50 Playing Power Grid with sighted assistance, 21:50 Inaccessible dexterity games, 25:50 Meeting Rahdo at UK Games Expo, 28:22 Stories from game conventions, 29:30 Positives of playing board games with blind players,33:07 Advice to improve sighted assistance, 35:31 Cardboard Jukebox, Dale and Laura's podcast, 36:50 Final thoughts, 38:06 Links Laura's band, The Shining Levels - https://outredisque.com/the-shining-levels Cardboard Jukebox link will be posted when the podcast is published Let us know how you liked this episode by sending an email to sightlessfun@outlook.com or tweeting to @SightlessFun on Twitter.

Ertay and his third guest on the show, Nancy Feldman, talk about Braille in modern board games. Nancy is a blind board gamer that has a collection of over 200 games. She covers her process of brailling board game components, the common problems she has to deal with, and shares tips for blind gamers interested in brailling their games, Nancy also explains the limitations of Braille for board games and goes into some interesting workarounds to solve those accessibility issues. You can contact Nancy Feldman via loravara@gmail.com and find her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loravara Time stamps Nancy's background, 01:11 How Nancy got into the hobby, 01:59 Nancy talks OrcaCon, 04:43 How Nancy navigates at a con, 08:00 Nancy's favorite games are Dominion and Near and Far, 9:30 Learning and teaching games, 10:50 How blind people read Braille, 13:23 Nancy's brailling process, 15:01 The extra effort needed to identify cards, 20:11 Brailling the Black Lotus in Magic: The Gathering, 22:43 How Nancy plays Sagrada blind, 24:34 Common problems when brailling board games, 27:59 Playing Ticket to Ride without vision, 29:47 Time and cost of brailling games, 31:10 Brailling Dominion, 33:48 Accessibility of board game apps, 36:49 Storing brailled games, 39:58 Artwork and Braille, 42:53 Tips for brailling games, 44:40 Nancy's contact information, 48:48 Links Rulebook.io - https://rulebook.io/ 64 Oz. Games - http://www.64ouncegames.com/ Dominion Card Reference Website - http://www.marconius.com/dominion/ AIRA Remote Assistance for the blind - https://aira.io/

Ertay talks to Ryan Peach, a blind board game enthusiast, about his journey in the hobby. Ryan shares how he was introduced to the hobby, what his favorite games are, games he can't play anymore due to sight loss, and gives advice to both publishers and players on how they can improve the visual accessibility of modern board games. You can contact Ryan Peach via redmeepleryan@gmail.com and find him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/redmeepleryan Time stamps Ryan's background, 00:50 Introduction to modern board games, 05:19 Ryan's current favorite games, 08:44 Ryan talks about why he plays board games, 13:59 Accessibility discussion, 17:10 Accessibility challenges as Ryan's sight deteriorated, 18:14 Battlestar Galactica, favorite game he can't play anymore, 21:48 Board Game modifications, 24:17 Accessibility improvements in the past few years, 29:40 Recommendations for board game publishers, 32:48 Games Ryan would play if he got his sight back, 35:57 Advice for other blind people interested in the hobby, 37:18 Advice for sighted players, 39:13 Final thoughts, 41:20 Please let us know if you enjoyed this episode by emailing us via sightlessfun@outlook.com. You can also check our website at https://sightless.fun/

In this episode, Ertay talks to his first guest, Richard Canning, about teaching modern board games to the elderly. Richard is a veteran in the hobby who is very passionate about the teaching process and he shares the most common challenges he needs to deal with, as well as advice on how others can become better at introducing board games to the older generations. If you want to get in touch with Richard Canning, you can email him via richard@elindal.net. He can also be found on BoardGameGeek under the Bremic username: https://boardgamegeek.com/user/Bremic Time stamps Richard Canning's background, 01:09 How and why Richard started focusing on teachin board games to the elderly, 02:07 Description of Richard's process when teaching elders, 06:21 Common problems when teaching the elderly, 11:04 Rulebook accessibility, 14:35 Game recommendations for old people, 17:53 Guidelines for teaching visually impaired elders, 24:34 Tools to improve accessibility, 28:35 Problems with hidden information games, 32:16 Game recommendations for visually impaired elders, 34:32 A story from PAX Australia 2018, 37:09 Final thoughts, 42:34 Special thanks to tonks music for helping with the post processing of this episode. If you are looking for someone to help you with your recordings or podcast, you can find him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tonksmusic/?hl=en If you have any questions or comments, you can email via sightlessfun@outlook.com, tweet to @SightlessFun, or visit our website at https://sightless.fun

In episode 5, Ertay talks about two simple, yet highly entertaining games, Love Letter and Skull. The topic of this episode is about Print and Play games and the pros and cons of DIY board games for blind players. Time stamps Recently played games, 01:11 Love Letter, 03:09 Skull, 09:55 Print and Play Games, 14:37 Links Nyctophobia Visual Accessibility Analysis - https://sightless.fun/boardgames/nyctophobia-game-visual-accessibility-analysis/ BoardGameGeek Print and Play Guild - https://boardgamegeek.com/guild/477 PnP Arcade - https://www.pnparcade.com/

Ertay talks about how he plays Pandemic without vision. The topic that is covered in this episode is commonly talked about, especially by those who dislike cooperative games. Ertay tries to show that by introducing mechanics to mitigate quarterbacking, board games become less accessible to the blind and visually impaired. Time stamps Recently played games, 01:34 Pandemic game overview, 07:10 Pandemic visual accessibility, 10:23 Quarterbacking and accessibility, 14:13 Links Looking For Group subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/lfg Pandemic: Board Games You Can Play Blind - https://sightless.fun/Pandemic-Board-Games-You-Can-Play-Blind/

In this episode, Ertay and Jed talk about the visual accessibility of two monster battle dice games, King of Tokyo and King of New York. The discussion topic is aimed at sighted players and provides tips and suggestions for improving the gaming experience of blind players in their group. Time stamps Recently played games, 01:09 King of Tokyo game overview, 03:47 King of New York overview, 06:30 Accessibility discussion, 12:56 Tips for playing with blind players, 20:02 Relevant Links: Board Games You Can Play Blind: King of New York - https://sightless.fun/King-Of-New-York-Board-Games-You-Can-Play-Blind/ Things To Know When Playing Board Games With Blind People - https://sightless.fun/boardgames/things-to-know-when-playing-board-games-with-blind-players/

Ertay and Jed take a look at the visual accessibility of Sagrada, a dice drafting puzzle game, and then talk about attending board game meetups and how a blind or visually impaired person can improve their experience at such game nights. Time stamps: Recently played games, 01:27 Sagrada game overview, 05:32 Sagrada accessibility discussion, 11:25 Attending Meetups as blind and visually impaired, 25:32 Tips and game recommendations for organizers, 34:13 If you have any questions or comments, you can email us via sightlessfun@outlook.com

In the first episode of the Sightless Fun podcast, Ertay and Jed talk about Secret Hitler and how smartphone apps can help make board games more accessible to people who are blind and visually impaired. Time stamps: Recently played games, 01:13 Secret Hitler game overview, 09:19 Secret Hitler accessibility discussion, 18:01 Helper Apps, 32:39 Links: Secret Hitler Blog Post - https://sightless.fun/secret-hitler-board-games-you-can-play-blind/ Secret Hitler Helper Android App Prototype - https://1drv.ms/u/s!As0NUJnxyVaqktUujLwTlUZ2aT6uvw Secret Hitler Helper App Github Source Code - https://github.com/ertay/board-game-aid/ Seeing AI iOS app - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/seeing-ai/id999062298?mt=8 You can email us via sightlessfun@outlook.com.

Episode 0 Notes In this intro episode, Ertay and Jed introduce themselves and talk about how they got into the hobby of Board Games, what challenges they have as legally blind players, and why Ertay started the Sightless Fun blog. You can contact us at sightlessfun@outlook.com and visit our website at https://sightless.fun Links mentioned in the episode: Don't Be Angry Buddy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mensch%C3%A4rgereDich_nicht Meeple Like Us - https://meeplelikeus.co.uk