Welcome to Ludology, a place where we talk about the ins and outs of board games. Instead of just telling you what’s new or if a game is good, we look at all sorts of things about games, like where they came from, how they’re put together, and the people who enjoy playing them.

We put out a new Ludology show every other week. On these shows, your hosts, Erica Bouyouris and Sen-Foong Lim, really get into one specific part of game making. They often have a well-known person from the game world join them. We mostly focus on games you play at a table, like board games and role-playing games, but we also bring in experts from all kinds of games, from video games to escape rooms and even slot machines.

On the weeks when there isn’t a main Ludology show, we’ll have two shorter mini-shows. Erica and Sen are happy to share that Sarah Shipp from Shippboard Games and Stephanie Campbell from TTRPGKids will be with us for the next year. They’ll be adding more content between our longer shows.

Sarah’s part, called Thinking Beyond Mechanisms, comes out once a month. It looks deeper into parts of games that aren’t just the dice and cards we all know.

Stephanie’s part, called TTRPGKids, shows parents and teachers how to use role-playing games with children at home and in school.

We hope you like these extra shows!

Our Story

We try to make most Ludology shows last, so you can go back and listen to any of our old episodes. Most of them should still be good. The podcast started in 2011 with Geoff Engelstein and Ryan Sturm. Mike Fitzgerald took over for Ryan in 2015. Gil and Scott joined the show in 2017 when Mike left, and Emma came on board in 2019 when Geoff stopped being a host. Emma left in 2021, and that’s when Erica and Sen joined us. Since then, Scott stepped down in 2022, and Gil will be leaving in 2023, leaving Erica and Sen to keep this amazing show going.

Erica and Sen are working to bring new voices to Ludology and have some exciting news to share as gaming grows to include even more people!

Get in Touch With Us

Do you have your own thoughts about what we talk about? We want you to visit us at our group on Boardgamegeek to keep the conversation going.

You can also send us an email.

Ludology is part of The Dice Tower Network, which is the top place for board game media.

If you have questions you’d like us to answer on Ludology, let us know by filling out this Google Form. You can even leave a question by voice that we might use on the show, if you want!

Burning Questions for Ludology

Burning Questions Form

Help Support the Show

Ludology is able to keep going because of the help and gifts from listeners like you.

We currently have three special series called “First Listen” that go out to our supporters well before everyone else gets to hear them.

• The Memories that Made Us (once a month) – stories about game experiences that helped shape the people who create today’s games.
• Tales from the Designer Toolbox (once a month) – helpful tips and tricks from experts in the game world, learned from both good times and bad.
• Ludology Live – recordings from game conventions all over the world.

Supporters will also get extra chances for any giveaways we might have!

Become a Ludology Patron

Become a patron

You can also give a one-time or monthly donation here. The link will take you to Erica’s account. Please note that people who donate this way won’t be able to get into the Patreon page, sorry!

Ludology 348: Just Murders in the Story

In this show, Sen welcomes Pete, Felix, and Daniel from Zed9 Mystery Club in Richmond, BC. They’re here to talk all about Jubensha, also known as Murder Script Games. These games first started in places where Chinese is spoken, and now they’re showing up wherever Chinese people have settled. This means English speakers can now join in on these exciting murder mystery role-playing games too! The team from Zed9 will explain what these games are, how they’re made, how they’re run, and how you play them.