Play Saves the World
Daniel and Kevin explore the meaning of play for human flourishing – what it is, what it means, and how people create and maintain playful lives. We explore books, people, places, and ideas committed to engendering play in the midst of busy, working lives.
- Update frequency
- every 13 days
- Average duration
- 55 minutes
- Episodes
- 75
- Years Active
- 2022 - 2025
Episode 14: Judaism and Board Games, with Alex Radcliffe
How do board games intersect with Orthodox Jewish religious and family life? We discuss how Sabbath observance impacts Alex's work, family life, and board game hobby, and how the Sabbath is defined a…
Episode 13: How Board Games Can Be Transcendent
Cold Opening: Through the Ages on a Doomed Spaceship
OPENING GAME - Location: A doomed spaceship (from “www.can-i-get-a.com”). Game: Through the Ages - A New Story of Civilization – (#12 on BGG!)
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Episode 12: 5 Spiritual Lessons from Push Your Luck Games
Kevin torments Daniel with a homebrewed Push Your Luck game based on Star Wars and Weird Al trivia (NOTE WE HAVE CHAPTER MARKERS NOW!). We then define push your luck games and glean some wisdom from …
Episode 11: Can Board Games Save the World? With Dave Bindewald
The goal of the Center for Play and Exploration is to encourage adults to be more curious, more divergent in their thinking, and empowered to fail. Dave argues that curiosity and imagination are ways…
Episode 10: The Game of Life
What would it mean to think of life as a game? Are games merely pastimes between serious endeavors, or is it an approach to life oriented around unnecessary obstacles and enjoyment? We touch on ideas…
Episode 9: Is Winning the Point?
Daniel and Kevin tackle the obvious question: is wining the point of playing games? How does a desire to win relate to the desire to have an enjoyable gaming experience, and what spiritual realities …
Episode 8: Accessibility, Community, and Neurodiversity, with Chelsey Hillyer
Rev. Chelsey Hillyer joins us to chat about creating accessibility around board games so everyone is welcome to be themselves, find satisfaction with their game play, and empowered to have fun. How d…
Episode 7: Book Club! The Grasshopper ch. 3 and Defining Games
We make a new attempt at an episode opening – an improv skit with pirates playing Carcassone! We discuss Carcassone a bit, lionize the word "eschew" and life points in general, and wrestle with Berna…
Episode 6: Board Games that Teach
What can, and should, board teach us? We explore didactic board games that have a message, and what sort of indirect messages board games can also give us. We discuss Caverna, Bibleopoly, the forgott…
Episode 5: Board Games and Islam
Our very first guest! Ali Karar (@karar2k) joins us to discuss hobby board gaming as a Muslim in Saudi Arabia. We discuss board games as a catalyst for socializing, religious limits to board games, a…
Episode 4: Book Club! The Grasshopper by Bernard Suits ch. 1
Toothsome questions abound. Are $5K board gaming tables worth it? Are there deeper implications of Clap-On technology? And what do we make of Bernard Suits' book The Grasshopper ch. 1, where the Gras…
Episode 3: Is Play Essential to the Human Experience?
After naming some recently revisited games, Daniel discusses some lessons learned at a recent conference on play. Is play essential to the human experience? How can we games be more inclusive? How do…
Episode 2: Six reasons board games are spiritual
Daniel & Kevin have … a list show! We trade our top 3 ways that board games can be spiritual and authentically human. Our lists are different, but not completely, and then there's a bonus round for a…
Episode 1: Initial Thoughts
To what extent does entering the magic circle of a game, where humans play games and temporarily care about bits and bobs, define our humanity? How do games impact people of religious faith?