Photo by Michael Martine, Chapel Hill, NC Aug 2026
Published 3 August 2026
e563 with Michael, Michael and Andy – Games at Work Game, and a cornucopia of other games: Haex, Pathbind Quest, a physical cockpit for Halcyon Dawn, Chris Pirillo’s UFO game from his Arcade and a whole lot more!
Michael, Michael and Andy start off this episode with a discussion about what a Games at Work game might look like. In addition to the idea that there could be three avatars scanning the internet for stories, Michael M reminds the team of a “choose your own adventure” Games at Work game coded back in e35 Pirates of Pizzazz in 2013. You can still play that game from the link in the show notes!
Then, the team turns to a cornucopia of games. First up is Haex, an immersive world builder game. Other games discussed include Baldur’s Gate 3, which has a 3rd person over the shoulder mod that had Michael R intrigued. In Crowd Supply, there is a small piece of hardware that has a virtual world encoded in it called Pathbind Quest. After checking out an extensively built physical spaceship cockpit to go along with Halcyon Dawn, the co hosts wind up on Chris Pirillo’s Vibe Arcade and play the UFO Game.
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These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.
Selected Links
Hypothetical and real Games at Work Games
Games at Work e35: Pirates of Pizzazz (for the Games at Work choose your own adventure game)
Photo by Michael Martine, Hamptonville, North Carolina, Oct 2018
Published 27 July 2026
e562 with Andy and Michael M – EMFCamp recap, whole lot of LEGO love, the game of life, a Playdate mini MMO, AR assisted murals and a whole lot more!
Andy and Michael M start off with a recap of Andy’s experiences at EMF Camp while Michael R is away for this episode. Andy shares his experiences, describes the “Monumental GameBoy”, how visitors to his campsite enjoyed playing his LEGO pinball machine and his updates to the EMF badge (such as Pigs in Space!). Check out the show notes below for a few visual links, including the Joust game for the Tildagon badge and more. Michael M went to an event at a local arcade in Chapel Hill and only noticed as he was leaving that they too had a Joust cabinet game.
Andrzej Marczewski wrote an article in gamified.uk about the game of life – not the one by Hasbro or Conway – rather the game of life itself with resources to manage and protect. Andy and Michael enjoyed Andrzej’s take, especially how he treated progress and score. Going from the macro to the micro, the team also took a look at the Playdate miniMMO PointlessQuest. Andy may give this a shot on his Playdate soon!
Next, it’s on to LEGO, and there are so many new cool drops from Billund. Andy already mentioned his pinball table during the EMF recap. After checking out the playable Donkey Kong game, the pair then takes a look at the new Star Trek Enterprise 1701 bridge. With 8 minifigs from the original series, and features such as the rocking command chair, transporter room actions and troubling Tribbles, there’s something for every Star Trek fan. And the team just loved just how many LEGO bricks it took to make the Enterprise bridge set.
Then, Andy and Michael take a look at how an artist created a mural using sketchar.io augmented reality – just like using transparencies and an overhead projector from days of yore. If that doesn’t ring a bell, have a look at the YouTube from the Computer History Museum below. Many thanks to @lxs for sharing this mural designing video with us!
Who is your favorite original Star Trek character? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (our home for now) and let us know!
These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.
New, exclusive, by me: LG to Ban Residential Proxy Providers from Smart TV Apps
The home appliance giant LG Electronics USA said this week it plans to suspend any apps built for its smart TVs that turn one’s television into an always-on residential proxy node. The move comes less than a month after researchers found that more than 42 percent of games and other apps available for download on LG’s webOS store allow unknown third-parties to route their Internet traffic through a user’s TV.
Photo by Michael Martine, South Yarmouth MA, July 2026
Published 13 July 2026
e561 with Michael, Andy and Michael – arial-aquatic robotic locomotion, Puffin wingspan, e-ink mini PDAs, maker marketplaces such as Tindie, Lectronz and SmallRun, custom vinyl, cooperative LLMs and a whole lot more!
Michael, Andy and Michael get things started with a new robot that can fly and swim, and transition between the air and water on it’s own. This amazing feat was inspired by diving birds such as the puffin. This story inspired the cohosts to consider the wingspan of the puffin, and while writing up the show notes, the Wingspan boarding game and the airborne velocity of the swallow.
Switching to non-robotic tech, the team take a look at the PocketMage PDA, which then opens up a whole discussion on (dare we say vintage) other PDAs, and the maker culture of EMF Camp, where Andy is spending some time as discussed in e560. Crowdsupply’s Open Printer article primed the team for a number of favorite maker marketplaces which you can check out in the show notes below. Examples like Tindie, Lectronz and SmallRun all get the benefit of the Games at Work bump. And a google search turns up another SmallRun website that provides the service of creating custom vinyl for recordings, and inspires Andy on a potential gift.
The team then looks at a couple of YouTube videos where a number of different LLMs are tasked to work collaboratively to play Pico Park. You can see these below, and it is an intriguing way to consider how multiple autonomous agents may work together (or not) in other contexts. In e173 in 2017, the cohosts discussed an example of two Google Homes talked to one another on Twitch.
Rounding out the episode, there is an Inc article on what happened when the Starbucks app had a failure. The behavior was very reminiscent of last week’s discussion on Ian Bogost’s new book, The Small Stuff. The article concludes “Connivence creates its own fragility” – what an interesting turn of phrase.
Have you had an example of when convenience created fragility for you? Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (our home for now) and let us know!
These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.
e560 with Andy, Michael and Michael – stickshift & phone handsets with Ian Bogost, camping at EMF Camp 2026 & Mountain Quest 2026, brain cooling, dwarf lemurs, World Cup 2026, USMNT, ThreeLions, the tokenpocalypse and a whole lot more!
Andy, Michael and Michael get things started with a TechCrunch interview with Ian Bogost on his about to be published book, The Small Stuff. Building on the success of his article on the demise of the stick shift, Ian wrote a book that focuses on the details of life that make a difference. The cohosts harken back all the way to episode 17 in August of 2012 when Ian was a guest on the podcast. Part of the discussion from the article focused on the nature of the telephone handset, which brought the EMF Camp telecommunications setup to mind for Andy. Electromagnetic Telecom allows anyone attending EMF to register a phone number on the network and communicate with other participants. Speaking of camping, Michael M shares an overview video of Mountain Quest 2026, where he was a participant the prior weekend in the mountains of North Carolina.
It’s hot in the UK and in North Carolina – so the maker article about the brain turbocharger looked to be a welcome relief from the heat. This modified construction helmet recognizes when the user has been thinking hard and signals multiple fans built into the helmet to cool things down so the user’s brain does not overheat from overclocking.
Recent discussions on the podcast about the Steam hardware made the BC250 an intriguing topic. Michael R recounts his recent trip to the Duke Lemur Center to see the small Fat-tailed dwarf lemur. And in the small and cool category, the team considers the “Impossible Watch” from D1 Milano.
The cohosts then take a brief World Cup interlude from the tech discussions. While neither Michael is what you may consider a ‘bandwagon’ fan for the World Cup, the Lay’s potato chip television commercial is pretty funny. Check out the embedded video below. At the time of recording and writing, both England and the USA are still in the hunt for the cup – best wishes to both national teams!
Wrapping up the episode, the team discusses the tokenpocalypse. The 404 Media article highlights how companies are have gone from tokenmaxxing to tokenhoarding as the price point for AI is soaring.
Have you been impacted by restrictions on your token usage? Have your bots 🤖 (if you can spare the tokens!) drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz (our home for now) and let us know!
These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot. All rights reserved. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.
