Do you want to play a game? Well, we sure do! We're joined by Sam's dream guest Jo Firestone, a comedian, podcaster, and game author and enthusiast to celebrate the joy (and evil) of playing games, especially the games on Tangents! 

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While you're at it, check out the Tangents crew on Twitter: Ceri: @ceriley Sam: @im_sam_schultz Hank: @hankgreen

[Truth or Fail: Express]

Researchers turned quitting smoking into competitive sport

https://www.bu.edu/sph/news/articles/2024/novel-digital-pet-game-within-smoking-cessation-app-increases-user-engagement-with-apps-tools-to-quit-smoking/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37566442/

Scientists watch a hydrogel play pong

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/article/2024/aug/22/scientists-enable-hydrogel-to-play-and-improve-at-pong-video-game

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1063433

Bonus: Dead salmon FMRI study

https://www.psychology.mcmaster.ca/bennett/psy710/readings/BennettDeadSalmon.pdf

Oregon Trail decision model 

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1063290

[The Gauntlet]

Game Boy Pocket Sonar accessory

https://www.outdoorlife.com/fishing/game-boy-fishing-sonar/

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/21/nintendo-game-boy-25-facts-for-its-25th-anniversary

https://gameboy.fandom.com/wiki/Game_Boy_Pocket_Sonar

Foldit players solve puzzles with what molecules

https://fold.it/about_foldit

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2024/press-release/

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/foldit-gamers-solve-riddle/

AI neural network from floppy disk to electronic game

http://www.20q.net/?history

https://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/archive/2006-Spring/announce.burgener.html

https://openreview.net/pdf?id=FlR4Wyubayy

Jenga name in Swahili

https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/jenga-tale-randomness-and-design

https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/jenga/

Candy Land disease epidemic

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/candy-land/

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/history-disease-outbreaks-vaccine-timeline/polio

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/07/how-polio-inspired-the-creation-of-candy-land/594424/

Jeopardy

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2007/03/19/jeopardy-has-first-3-way-tie/

https://www.npr.org/2009/12/20/121664528/sing-muse-of-the-jeopardy-three-way-tie

https://j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=3578

https://www.jeopardy.com/jbuzz/behind-scenes/breaking-down-four-rare-jeopardy-scenarios

100% win rate from high-speed robot

https://ishikawa-vision.org/fusion/Janken/index-e.html

[Ask the Science Couch]

Game replayability reasons, impacts, and areas of future research

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED596614.pdf

https://www.firstpersonscholar.com/the-games-people-replay/

https://research.vu.nl/ws/files/3135888/293191.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1875952121000574

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2352250X22002652

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1155/2024/5876780

Patreon bonus: Gamification, another facet of motivation psychology

https://academictechnologies.it.miami.edu/support/course-design-assistance/game-based-learning/index.html

https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1475760/1/gamification_CHI2016_preprint.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1875952119300953

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877050921023255

https://online.nursing.georgetown.edu/blog/how-to-stop-procrastinating-there-is-a-science-to-it/

https://mcgraw.princeton.edu/undergraduates/resources/resource-library/understanding-and-overcoming-procrastination

[Butt One More Thing]

Original inventor of Scrabble was named Alfred Mosher Butts

https://time.com/archive/6909539/scrabble/

https://www.museumofplay.org/toys/scrabble/