• You can watch seasons one and two of The Toys That Made Us on Netflix. Season three is due for release sometime in 2019.
• Discontinued was aired on The CW in the US, and its pilot episode is also available on Amazon Prime. (That's my affiliate link — so if you buy/rent the show or sign up for Prime, I'll get paid a small commission.) Look for the rest of its debut season on Prime early next year.
• Most of his comedy specials are on Netflix, but his production company has done stuff for all of the big video streaming services. You can learn more about his work in the TV comedy business at his company's website, comedydynamics.com.

Ludiphilia is made possible by the support of my Patreon backers. Thanks especially Anuar Lequerica, who's been a patron almost since the beginning, as well as Torbjørn Vik Lunde and Nick — all three have stuck with their $5+ monthly pledge through a very inconsistent spell in my episode output (which will hopefully give way to a steadier release schedule now that I've re-committed to the show!).

Related episodes:

• Singapore at Play
• Ausretrogamer

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You can find an accompanying photo essay/blog thing for this story at ludiphilia.net/singaporephotos.

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You can learn more about BlockWorks and what they do at blockworks.uk, and read the old article that I conducted this interview for at Rolling Stone. I also have a great book James put together called Beautiful Minecraft [Amazon, Official], which I highly recommend — it has lots of incredible Minecraft-made art and virtual architecture, plus several interesting essays.

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Links:

• Meet ‘Minecraft’ Builders Who Craft Impossibly Detailed Virtual Worlds — It’s enthralled an entire generation and sold more than 100 million copies, so perhaps it should come as no surprise that for some hyper-skilled players, the open-ended, Lego-like building game Minecraft has become an actual, money-earning occupation. Just as the most-talented Lego architects earn a living showing off their blocky creations, there’s good money to be made by anyone with the skills to craft Minecraft‘s cube-shaped digital blocks into beautiful sculptures and stunning worlds.
• [Amazon] Beautiful Minecraft - Hardcover by James Delaney — With a bit of imagination and a heavy dose of artistic talent, Minecraft blocks can be used to build almost anything. But as you’ll see, some artists are taking Minecraft building to a whole new level. Beautiful Minecraft is a compendium of stunning artwork built in Minecraft. Using millions of blocks and spending hundreds of hours, these artists have created floating steampunk cities, alien worlds, detailed classical sculptures, fantastical landscapes, architectural marvels, and more.
• [No Starch Press] Beautiful Minecraft by James Delaney — “A feast for the eyes, this book contains stunning images that will be an inspiration to players and admirers young and old.” —Forbes “Are video games art? Yes—this is proof.” —IGN's “Up at Noon”

Thanks to my awesome Patreon backers for covering my running costs and keeping the show alive. And special thanks to my $5+ supporters Anuar Lequerica, Nick, Torbjørn Vik Lunde, and Watchsmart.

Relevant links:

• Playful Mapping in the Digital Age
• Chris Perkins' page at the University of Manchester website
• Brian Harley's final major project before he died was co-authoring the first chapter (PDF) of The History of Cartography
• The Atlas of Remote Islands book on Amazon US, UK, AU, Book Depository (these are all affiliate links, so I'll get a bit of money if you buy it through one of them)
• There's also a pocket-sized version of that book, available at Amazon US, UK, AU, and Book Depository via this (second) set of affiliate links
• Rhiannon Firth, Critical cartography as anarchist pedagogy?
• Bill Bunge's Nuclear War Atlas poster
• The Nuclear War Atlas book is out of print, but I found copies listed on Amazon (affiliate link) and AbeBooks
• I also found this blog post about the book. Includes a handful of page scans.

I make Ludiphilia entirely on my own — I even compose the music now. It's a labour of love, and I have no plans of quitting as long as I can afford to pay the hosting and domain fees, but I would very much like to spend more time on it than I currently do. That requires money, unfortunately.

So if you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation via Patreon or PayPal. (Or email me at richard at ludiphilia dot net if you have some other thing you like to use for donations.) For PayPal, use the payment form on paypal.me/mossrc. For Patreon, head to patreon.com/ludiphilia.

You can also support the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes and sharing it with other people. And by buying my first book, The Secret History of Mac Gaming, the profits from which are helping me make my podcasts better (through equipment upgrades, reduced freelance income pressures, and the...]]>Geographer Chris Perkins, co-author of the book Playful Mapping in the Digital Age, shares his love of maps and helps me explore the deep connection between mapping and play.

Thanks to my awesome Patreon backers for covering my running costs and keeping the show alive. And special thanks to my $5+ supporters Anuar Lequerica, Nick, Torbjørn Vik Lunde, and Watchsmart.

Relevant links:

• Playful Mapping in the Digital Age
• Chris Perkins' page at the University of Manchester website
• Brian Harley's final major project before he died was co-authoring the first chapter (PDF) of The History of Cartography
• The Atlas of Remote Islands book on Amazon US, UK, AU, Book Depository (these are all affiliate links, so I'll get a bit of money if you buy it through one of them)
• There's also a pocket-sized version of that book, available at Amazon US, UK, AU, and Book Depository via this (second) set of affiliate links
• Rhiannon Firth, Critical cartography as anarchist pedagogy?
• Bill Bunge's Nuclear War Atlas poster
• The Nuclear War Atlas book is out of print, but I found copies listed on Amazon (affiliate link) and AbeBooks
• I also found this blog post about the book. Includes a handful of page scans.

I make Ludiphilia entirely on my own — I even compose the music now. It's a labour of love, and I have no plans of quitting as long as I can afford to pay the hosting and domain fees, but I would very much like to spend more time on it than I currently do. That requires money, unfortunately.

So if you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation via Patreon or PayPal. (Or email me at richard at ludiphilia dot net if you have some other thing you like to use for donations.) For PayPal, use the payment form on paypal.me/mossrc. For Patreon, head to patreon.com/ludiphilia.

You can also support the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes and sharing it with other people. And by buying my first book, The Secret History of Mac Gaming, the profits from which are helping me make my podcasts better (through equipment upgrades, reduced freelance income pressures, and the like).

a91fdaa6-e199-462c-bd8e-e2303941090aSat, 11 Aug 2018 08:00:00 +110043:28nofullRichard MossRe-issue of the Chaim Gingold (Earth Primer, Spore) segment from Ep1In celebration of the release of a Mac version of the award-winning app Earth Primer — a science book for playful people — I thought it'd be nice to dig out the segment I did with its creator, Chaim Gingold, back in episode 1, and clean it up for re-release (with a brief update on Chaim's current situation and a note about Earth Primer's Mac release thrown in there as well).

Chaim was at the time a PhD student at the University of California Santa Cruz and researcher at the Communications Design Group. He was writing his thesis on play design, which he's now finished (and is looking for a job). He's best-known for developing the Creature Creator for Maxis' SimEverything game Spore, and more recently for his Earth Primer iPad (and now also Mac) app.

Earth Primer purchase links:

• Mac App Store
• iPad App Store

For more info, you can also head to earthprimer.com.

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This episode also features an excerpt from my new podcast, The Life & Times of Video Games — a documentary-style show about video games and the video game industry, as they were in the past, and how they came to be the way they are today.

You can find The Life & Times of Video Games on most podcast platforms. For a direct link to it on iTunes, go to lifeandtimes.games/itunes.

Relevant links:

• https://facebook.com/nascondinoworldchampionship
• https://facebook.com/nascondingos
• https://www.nascon-dingo.sexy/
• https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/inside-worlds-only-hide-and-go-seek-championship-180964595/
• http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/12/04/abandoned_consonno_italy_s_lost_city_of_toys_near_milan.html

Music credits:

• Lee Rosevere - Theme from Penguins on Parade and The Secret to Growing Up
• Chris Zabriskie - We Always Thought the Future Would be Kind of Fun, Readers do You Read?, There's a Special Place for Some People
• Kai Engel - Run
• And various bits of my own stuff

Thanks to my awesome Patreon backers for covering my running costs and keeping the show alive. And special thanks to my $5+ supporters Anuar Lequerica, Nick, and James Weiner.

If you'd like to support the show, you can make a donation via Patreon or PayPal. (Or email me at richard at ludiphilia dot net if you have some other thing you like to use for donations.) For PayPal, hit the orange Donate button at the bottom of the page at ludiphilia.net. For Patreon, head to patreon.com/ludiphilia.

You can also support the show by leaving a rating and review on iTunes and sharing it with other people.

Support Ludiphilia

Relevant links:

• Ludiphilia website
• Patreon
• If Monks Had Macs
• Pile of Prints
• Ludiphilia twitter and my twitter

Thanks to my Patreon backers for all their ongoing support, especially $5+ backers Anuar Lequerica, Nick, and James Weiner. You guys keep me going.

Music credits:

• NirvanaVEVO and The Life and Death of a Certain K Zabriskie Patriarch by Chris Zabriskie
• Places Unseen and Under Suspicion by [Lee Rosevere](freemusicarchive.org/music/Lee_Rosevere/)
• Itsumo no y ni by Rolemusic
• Wandering by [Steve Combs](freemusicarchive.org/music/Steve_Combs/)
• Epilogue by Visager
• Anxiety, Behind Your Window, and Sunset by Kai Engel
• Sacred Motion by staRpauSe
• various songs from the original If Monks Had Macs jukebox
• and a few untitled compositions by Richard Moss

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You can learn more about Brian, and about Monks, at his website: http://www.rivertext.com/monks.html

All music and sound effects from If Monks Had Macs, except:

• I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor by Chris Zabriskie
• Oneiri by Kai Engel
• Comatose by Kai Engel

Thank you, as always, to my Patreon backers — Anuar Lequerica, James Weiner, and Nick — whose amazing support has helped and encouraged me to improve the show episode after episode. You too can support me by making a recurring donation at http://patreon.com/ludiphilia or a one-time donation via PayPal.

Got feedback or suggestions about the show? Hit me up via the contact form at ludiphilia.net or tweet me @ludiphilia.

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The short version is that I'm waiting to publish the new episode until after I sort out a problem with iTunes. Because I don't want to lock out new subscribers with Apple devices (which is most of them) who aren't willing or tech-savvy enough to subscribe manually with the RSS feed. The long version is in the audio.

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On the eve of the Industrial Revolution and the morn of the English Civil War, one man reinvented educational thought.

Special thanks to my Patreon backers Anuar Lequerica, James Weiner, and Nick for sticking with me through this prolonged hiatus. I'm dedicated to making this show as good as possible for you guys, and to maintaining a more consistent stream of new content from here on out.

Song Credits:

• Oneiri and Behind Your Window by Kai Engel
• Lost Soul by Fleslit
• Our Mentors' Legacies by Rowan Box
• Sacred Motion by staRpauSe
• Scattered Knowledge by Revolution Void
• And a tiny bit of music by me

I also sampled two seconds of audio from the Sesame Street Pinball Count song

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Thank you to everyone who's donated via PayPal or Patreon so far — especially Anuar Lequerica and James Weiner, whose very generous monthly pledges are helping me buy new gear to make a better-sounding show.

Alex Boz runs the Ausretrogamer website and Twitter handle.

Song Credits:

• Oneiri and Remedy for Melancholy by Kai Engel
• Under Suspicion and Snakes by Lee Rosevere
• The Life and Death of a Certain K Zabriskie, Patriarch by Chris Zabriskie
• Python, Ladybug Castle, and Itsumo no yō ni by Rolemusic
• Passing Time by BoxCat Games
• Scattered Knowledge by Revolution Void
• Cheap for Free by Aglow Hollow
• C64 Revenge by hkisve
• Welcome Player, Epilogue, and End Credits by Visager
• The Adventure by Mikael Norrgard
• And samples from Super Mario Bros for Nintendo Entertainment System and the Commodore 64 game Decathlon

I also used a number of Creative Commons sound effects:

• old pinball.wav by mapleleaf
• Arcade Game by RICHERlandTV
• Fast-paced achievement by ProjectsU012
• Coins 1 by ProjectsU012
• Laser chirping by ProjectsU012](https://www.freesound.org/people/ProjectsU012/sounds/337250/)

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Adapted from interviews for my upcoming book The Secret History of Mac Gaming, which is currently crowdfunding on Unbound.

Thank you to everyone who's donated via PayPal or Patreon so far — especially Anuar Lequerica, whose very generous monthly pledge has helped me buy new gear to make a better-sounding show.

Song Credits:

• Oneiri, Sunset, [Behind Your Window](href="http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Kai_Engel/Idea/Kai_Engel_-_Idea_-_04_Behind_Your_Window), Remedy for Melancholy, Nothing, and Anxiety by Kai Engel
• Under Suspicion, Puzzle Pieces, Evening Glow, and Snakes by Lee Rosevere
• Wandering by Steve Combs
• I am a Man Who Will Fight For Your Honor and Nirvana VEVO by Chris Zabriskie
• Peekdoor Quest by Rolemusic
• Passing Time by BoxCat Games
• Music from The Manhole by Robyn Miller
• Untitled compositions by Richard Moss

I also used a cassette tape/deck audio sample by FreeSound user magedu.

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Music by Three Chain Links, Jesse Spillane, Rolemusic, and Lee Rosevere.

Thank you to everyone who's donated via PayPal or Patreon so far — especially Anuar Lequerica, whose very generous monthly pledge is helping me buy new gear to make a better-sounding show.

Song credits:

• The City, It Speaks to Me by Three Chain Links
• Cityscape Backdrop by Jesse Spillane
• Scape from the City by Rolemusic
• Puzzle Pieces by Lee Rosevere

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Music by Chris Zabriskie, Lee Rosevere, Kai Engel, The New Valleys, Richard Moss.

Songlist:

• NirvanaVEVO by Chris Zabriskie
• Scattered Knowledge by Revolution Void
• I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor by Chris Zabriskie
• Sunset by Kai Engel
• Places Unseen by Lee Rosevere
• Under Suspicion by Lee Rosevere
• Puzzle Pieces by Lee Rosevere
• Reflections by Lee Rosevere
• Featherlight (remix - vocals by Heather Feather) by Lee Rosevere
• Carry On by The New Valleys

Thanks to my Patreon backers and PayPal donors for supporting the show. Especially Anuar Lequerica, whose very generous monthly pledge will help me buy a professional voice recorder for easier and higher-quality recordings of on-location interviews.

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Music by Chris Zabriskie, Kai Engel, Revolution Void, and Richard Moss.

• Mario Bava Sleeps In a Little Later Than He Expected To by Chris Zabriskie
• I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor by Chris Zabriskie
• Sunset by Kai Engel
• Scattered Knowledge by Revolution Void

Thanks to my Patreon backers for supporting the show. Especially Anuar Lequerica, whose very generous pledge will soon pay for some portable soundproofing so that I can record voiceover without worrying about noise levels outside my office.

Here's a link to Elif Ayiter's website, if you'd like to see more of her stuff.

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A devoted wrestling fan hacks and modifies an old Nintendo 64 game called WWF No Mercy to help deal with the pain of his shattered dream, and gets more out of it than he'd bargained for

You can learn more about the No Mercy hacking scene at Old Skool Reunion.

As always, you can follow Ludiphilia on Twitter @ludiphilia and subscribe on iTunes and Patreon.

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First I talk to Santeri Koivisto, the CEO and co-founder of TeacherGaming — the small company behind (educational repackaging's of Minecraft and Kerbal Space Program) MinecraftEdu and KerbalEdu — about the company's goals, approach to education, background, and more.

Then I move onto Chaim Gingold, a PhD student at the University of California Santa Cruz and researcher at the Communications Design Group. He's writing his thesis on play design. But he's famous for developing the Creature Creator for Maxis' SimEverything game Spore, and more recently he made an iPad app called Earth Primer — a science book for playful people. You can buy Earth Primer from the App Store for AU$12.99/US$9.99/GB£7.99.

Support Ludiphilia