PG’s Playhouse: Puzzles, games, trivia, & general nerdery

For centuries, language was one of the great barriers to travelling, to sharing cultures and to humans understanding one another. Even though online tools have now made translations and language barriers more accessible, sometimes even our own language can feel foreign. This is where linguists enter the picture. They explore the role of language and how people use it to communicate.



Guest Gretchen McCulloch is a linguist and she co-hosts Lingthusiasm, a podcast discussing all the hidden linguistic patterns you didn't realize you were already doing. Gretchen literally wrote the book on how the internet is changing the english language - Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language. I especially enjoyed hearing about why "um's & uh's" drive us crazy in a podcast, but we don't seem to notice them in live conversations.

Today's topic is passports! David talks about the function of passports, what all the different colors mean, and historical usage. Our game today is called A Passion for Ports, where each answer will contain the letters "pass" or "port."

 

Full Show Notes

 

Production Credits
Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

It's the summer of 1980. You're a bored teenager in New Jersey with a few bucks, questionable judgment, and an afternoon to kill. At Action Park, you can spend the day hurling yourself down water slides, shooting battle tanks, and losing some skin on the alpine slide. The possibility of imminent death makes it extra exciting.

There's a reason this was affectionally known as "Class Action Park" or "Traction Park." The attractions were built by amateurs, largely run by teenagers, and the legal liability was merely a suggestion. This park ran from the late 70s into the mid-90s, the golden age of latchkey kids and danger as entertainment. David recounts his own memories of visiting Action Park as a kid. He tells us about the crazy Cannonball Loop, where guests lost teeth, and the ridiculously fun Battle Tanks.

Tommy Wallach & Terry Pettigrew-Rolapp of Hatch Escapes join us to chat all about the wild history of Action Park. They also talk about their escape rooms and maximizing for joy in their games.



Today's game is Common Grounds, where the players must find the connection between a set of four words. To hear more about Hatch Escapes, check out their interview on REPOD S7E12.

 

 

Production Credits
Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

Meep meep! Special Delivery! Warning: This episode may contain falling anvils, plunger guns, painted tunnels, and a stick or two of dyno-MITE, all courtesy of The Acme Corporation.



As anyone who has watched Saturday morning cartoons knows, Acme Corporation is synonymous with Looney Tunes. They're the delivery company famous for supplying Wile E. Coyote with everything from rocket skates to dehydrated boulders and giant rubber bands. Long before Looney Tunes, however, Acme was a commonplace business name, thanks to the yellow pages phone directory.



Joining us to explore the Acme Corporation is Mark Larson. Mark Larson is a game designer, puzzle creator, and all around professional maker of fun, and if you have ever played a game at RECON, our escape room convention, there is a good chance it was one of his. For this episode, he even brought a game of his own! And if you want to check out BLOT, the audio escape room Mark designed for RECON, listen to our live playthrough on REPOD (S10E11.)



My game is called "Special Delivery," where two clues each lead to the same word, but the second word has one extra letter tucked inside. Collect all the extra letters and you will find out what's inside the box.

 

Full Show Notes

 

Production Credits
Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

In 1919, eight members of the Chicago White Sox took bribes worth somewhere between $70,000 and $100,000 to lose the World Series on purpose. Split eight ways and adjusted for inflation, that bribe comes out to less money than you'd think. David walks us through the infamous Black Sox Scandal, including mob ties and the cheapskate team owner who docked the players' pay for laundry. It's honestly no surprise players were throwing games.



Joining us are Chris Demarais and Blaine Gibson, co-hosts of the improv comedy podcast Good Morning From Hell and the D&D actual play podcast Tales from the Stinky Dragon. We talk about what it's like running an actual play podcast with guests from Critical Role, their animated videos, and the full length puppet show adaptation of Stinky Dragon. Chris and Blaine are absolutely hilarious and so fun on the pod.



Today's game is called The Hall of Shame, where famous sports teams have been forced to rebrand after a scandal, and every new name has to rhyme with the old one. If you want to check out Chris and Blaine’s podcasts, start with the one featuring David Spira playing Jigsaw as an escape room game master.

 

Full Show Notes

 

Production Credits
Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner

In the early 1900s, a crew of sponge divers off the coast of Greece stumbled onto a 2,000-year-old shipwreck and the world's first known analog computer. Talk about buried treasure... this ancient technological marvel sat abandoned and undisturbed in a warehouse for years before someone noticed the strange assortment of gears and discs.



It wasn't until as recently as 2010 that modern imaging allowed us to discover the purpose of this mechanism. It mapped the solar system, tracking things like eclipses and movement of the planets. It could even indicate the four-year cycle of the ancient Olympic Games.

For a special Father's Day episode, we're digging into the Antikythera mechanism, an ancient Greek device so far ahead of its time that nobody believed the ancient world could have built it. Joining us is a very special guest: Marc Spira, financial services professional, lifelong diver, and most importantly, David's dad.



Today's game is Buried Treasure, where two clues lead to the same word, except one of them is hiding an extra letter. Fish it out, bank it, and find out what's buried once all the letters surface.

 

Full Show Notes

 

Production Credits
Hosted by Peih-Gee Law & David Spira

Puzzles by Peih-Gee Law

Produced by Theresa Piazza

Supported by Lisa Spira

Edited by Peih-Gee Law

Music by Matt Farthing

Logo by Theresa Wagner