42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Data literacy is a hot topic at multiple levels of education, and the good folks at Filament Games have come through with some games that excel (see what we did there?) at this topic. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 28/09/2026Games can fill critical gaps in education, and #SeriousPlay26 is a great place to learn about them. For example, Stanford Medicine's "Teaching Gender-Affirming Care" provides an interactive simulation on best practices for gender-affirming care of all ages. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 25/09/2026In the age of AI, developing critical thinking skills is all the rage. This BMC Medical Education piece by Song and Cai suggests that interactive digital learning environments can be a useful means to that end. 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 23/09/2026A thoughtful share from a leading game designer who is not only a terrific innovator in his own right, but takes the time to coach and help other game designers realize their vision. 020
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 22/09/2026#SeriousPlay has talks for everyone, including people who make games that cross institutional boundaries. We got to hear from James York, a scholar at Meiji University, who runs a multi-semester game design lab where students gain expertise and create their own serious digital games. 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 18/09/2026It feels like a good week to share the work of our colleagues, so let's do another one! Once Upon a Roll is hosting a free talk on Wednesday, 30 Sep at 12 EDT on Zoom: "D&D at Work: for leaders who love the game and wonder what it could do for their culture." 210
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 16/09/2026The good folks over at Barometer XP are putting out a series of infographics on Play Champions, and they are fantastic! If you like the graphics, be sure to subscribe to their newsletter. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Not all of the action at #SeriousPlay26 happens in presentations. In the Exhibitor Hall, we got to check out Cody Pietro's So You Want to be An American? This amazing tabletop game immerses players in the real-world complexities of the U.S. immigration system. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 11/09/2026Last week we shared a piece about the importance of friction in game, so think of this Columbia Business Review piece on making games easier as equal time. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 09/09/2026"Everyday existence is governed by mechanics and dynamics, meaning we all intuitively understand how to navigate complex, interactive rulesets." That key insight in this Filament Games article on "Systems Thinking in Educational Games" leads to some terrific insights. 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 08/09/2026The educators at Colonial Williamsburg, in partnership with the iCivics team, have created a remarkable pair of games suitable for a wide range of ages. Explore loyalties in pre-Revolutionary Williamsburg or track down the Enlightenment roots of American founding documents. 101
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 04/09/2026When it comes to educational games, a little struggle goes a long way. Or as the good folks at Filament Games put it, "Smooth, guided tutorials guarantee task completion, but they rarely ensure deep comprehension of the underlying mechanics." 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 31/08/2026#SeriousPlay26 is the perfect place to find efforts like "In Our Shoes", Alina Potemska's microLARP about the experiences of Ukrainian displaced persons. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 29/08/2026We like things that are new and shiny, so it's not surprising that novelty in games contributes to positive outcomes. In this Interacting with Computers article, the authors show supporting research for including it as a distinct construct for psychological need. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 27/08/2026Shoutout to the University of Saskatchewan team who created Homesteaders, a tabletop gaming teaching the settlement of the Canadian prairies. 120
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 24/08/2026We met Lindsey Tropf, Founder and CEO of Immersed Games at #SeriousPlay26. Immersed offers Tyto Online, a no-code platform for teachers to reimagine their curriculum as immersive 3D games learners actually want to do. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 21/08/2026Games are for everyone. No exceptions. A Columbia University team created Surveyor, a digital in-game assistance tool to support blind and low vision players. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 19/08/2026The use of tabletop role-playing games for therapy is an exciting field that is getting more and more attention. To get a sense of why it works, Jeffrey Snodgrass and co-authors surveyed gamers to better understand the links between characters and self interest. Read the whole thing here: 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 18/08/2026During #SeriousPlay26, we learned about (and gave feedback on) the ADL's Online Gaming Leaderboard, which evaluates video game companies on their efforts to curb antisemitism and hate through robust policies and proactive, in-game safety features. 111
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 14/08/2026When "exploring an author's work" takes on a whole new meaning. Researchers from the Department of Computer Science and the Department of English at Idaho State University came together to create Lit-VR, a virtual reality game set in Renaissance-era London. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 12/08/2026Yes, and...cooperative games are a great way to get people comfortable with educational games when they say they "don't like games." Often, it's because they've had negative experiences with competitive games. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 10/08/2026Over the next few weeks, we'll be highlighting our favorite parts of #seriousplay26 . First up: the opening keynote from Kellian Adams Pletcher, highlighting her incredible work as Director of GLAM innovation (best job title ever!) GLAM = Galleries, Libaries, Archives, and Museums. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 07/08/2026What happens when you can talk with non-player characters with natural language? The study "Let’s Talk Games: An Expert Exploration of Speech Interaction with NPCs" lays out both potential games and areas of concern. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 06/08/2026This coder created a digital game where playing the piano in real life allows you to survive waves of monsters. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 01/08/2026Sexual violence is a tough topic, but an incredibly important one for education. This News Nation piece explains how Adrienne Baldwin-White, a Virgina Commonwealth University professor of social work, used a digital game as a training tool in this field. 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 29/07/2026The right person in the right place at the right time can have enormous impacts. For a great example, read this Inverse piece on David Tisserand, director of accessibility of Ubisoft . 120
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 28/07/2026Games are a great way to fail fast and fail productively. Ben Fulcher presented on failure as a teaching tool, using Dark Souls, Getting Over it with Bennett Foddy, and Project Zomboid. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 24/07/2026The stereotype of role playing gamers as socially awkward and withdrawn is badly in need of debate. Hat tip to Dr. Christa Mackey, whose University of Arizona Global Campus dissertation examines skill transference from Dungeons and Dragons play to personal, social, and work life. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 23/07/2026Most gamers have a particular approach or technique that they are particularly passionate about. And then there are a select few who go WAY beyond passionate. "Two Crazy Dudes" by Portal Games' Ignacy Trzewiczek will let you compare where you fall on this particular spectrum. 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 20/07/2026We were super excited to see Beth Snyder, Lee Bareford, and Estelle Bester sharing their use of tabletop games in Georgia Southern University 's School of Nursing. Bed Race and Holding On are amazing games! 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 17/07/2026Three cheers for Patricia Bondia, an artist who uses games to help heighten people's interest and curiousity about science. The Scientist brings us a great interview that walks us through her journey from biophysics graduate student to video game developer. 130
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 15/07/2026You might have an initial "don't tell me what to do" reaction to this piece, and that would be a mistake. Chris Backe of EntroGames lays out five game mechanics that are chronically misused, and offers constructive alternatives that work in many different contexts. 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 13/07/2026We've been a longtime fan of Kimberly Tolson's Tabletop Tolson vidcast. If you're looking for positive yet critical reviews of games for learning, you should be a regular visitor to her YouTube page! 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 10/07/2026Games imitate life imitates art? Sure, why not! Read about how life simulation games can advance educational equity in the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Think you're obsessive about your miniatures? Reassure (or horrify) yourself with Ignacy Trzewiczek's BoardGameGeek post, "Two Crazy Dudes." 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 06/07/2026Ahem. We will take this opportunity to remind EVERYONE that educational gaming does not necessarily equal screen time. Lots of great analog options out there. 120
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 04/07/2026Don't lock yourself into what you can find on a shelf at your Friendly Local Game Store (but please still support them)! Print-and-play games are a growing resource for educational gamers that offer flexibility of play and affordable scalability. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 29/06/2026At GBLVC 2026, we got to e-meet Justin Matherson of Rift Education. Justin is a fellow educational games coach working in Canada. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 26/06/2026Courtesy of Bath Spa University, here's a great paper on a subject that doesn't get discussed enough: preserving and archiving games, especially video games, as historic artifacts. 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 24/06/2026We love getting to see wargaming being applied to develop strategic thinking and decision-making. 120
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 22/06/2026During GBLVC 2026, Mary Kayler of Playable Fiction shared her use of Beyond Terracore, a team-based movement through a storyworld focused on first-generation college students that involves puzzles, artifacts, and digital media. 111
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 19/06/2026In addition to being great tools for education, games can be powerful vectors for communication of complex ideas. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 17/06/2026We love the periodic roll-ups from Filament Games on what's new in Games-Based Learning. If you're at all interested in digital educational games, their accounts are definite follows! 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 16/06/2026Thomas Biedermann from the Australian National University's School of Cybernetics presented his game CyberNations! CyberNations is a board game providing insights on systems thinking and futures thinking for students, game groups, and professional teams. 120
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 12/06/2026This Computers and Education article doesn't directly address games-based learning, but its broader points about the effectiveness of digital stories for professional development has real meaning for approaches like roleplaying games. 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 11/06/2026If you've never been to PAX Unplugged, go! We're hoping to get back there in 2027. For now, we'll just have to be satisfied with Room Escape Artist's review of the 2025 event, "An Overindulgence of Games & Puzzles." 110
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 09/06/2026For Mondays in June and July, we'll be highlighting really cool stuff we saw at the 2026 Games-Based Learning Virtual Conference (GBLVC) run by University XP. 111
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 05/06/2026Absolutely love this line: "Together, we designed a board game ... But this time, we flipped the script. The game wasn’t only about civic participation, but also about raising awareness of the pressing challenges our city faces." 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 03/06/2026Terrific piece: "... these tools fall short for a familiar reason: they prioritize novelty over relevance. The result is a growing category of disaster games that feel engaging, look innovative, and still struggle to translate into operational value for the agencies using them." 100
42 Educational Games Coaching and Design @42edgames.bsky.social · 29/05/2026We pretty frequently run into trade publication articles that read some variation of "Wow, games in teaching and learning are a thing!" And honestly, we enjoy posting them not only because we love seeing people make this discovery, 110