Sightless Fun: Recent Episodes
Ertay Shashko
Sightless Fun is a podcast about board game accessibility for the blind and visually impaired. We analyze various tabletop games and try to come up with solutions that would make them more accessible to people with sight issues. You can find our website at https://sightless.fun and contact us via email at sightlessfun@outlook.com
In this episode, Ertay talks to Michael Heron from Meeple Like Us, the first and largest blog about accessibility in the board gaming industry. They talk about the current state and future of the site, accessibility in board games, how Michael started the site and much more.
Time Stamps
- Discworld books, 01:54
- Michael Heron's background, 04:24
- Michael's favorite game, Chinatown, 05:53
- Why Michael started Meeple Like Us, 08:57
- Michael's journey to accessibility, 11:41
- Accessibility improvements in the industry over the years, 17:56
- What motivates Michael to keep working on MLU, 20:25
- Michael's process, 21:35
- MLU's 200th game, Istanbul, 25:01
- Lanterns and accidental accessibility, 26:51
- Accessibility becomes good design, 27:15
- Common visual accessibility problems, 28:48
- Board Game Accessibility Guidelines, 31:45
- Feedback from publishers, 38:33
- Meeple Like Us in 5 years, 44:43
- Board Game Accessibility Content Creator Network, 49:52
- Michael's game recommendations, Skull and Funemployed, 59:35
Links
- Meeple Like Us - https://meeplelikeus.co.uk
- MLU on Twitter - https://twitter.com/meeplelikeus/
- MLU on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MeepleLikeUs/
- Able Table Gaming on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/abletablegaming/
In the final A Touch Of Gaming podcast episode, Ryan Peach and Brian counter continue to talk to Bill Corey about board game conventions.
In the third A Touch Of Gaming bonus episode, Ryan Peach and Brian counter are joined by Bill Corey to talk about board game conventions. This is the first part of a two-part episode.
In the second A Touch Of Gaming bonus episode, Ryan Peach and Brian counter are joined by Richard Gibbs from 64 Ounce Games to talk about adapting modern board games for the blind and visually impaired.
Time Stamps
- 01:48: Interview with Richard Gibbs
- 38:30: The Resistance
- 40:06: Dark Moon
- 41:10: Pick Picnic
- 45:15: Goblet
- 45:48: No Thanks
- 46:35: Dead Man's Draw
- 50:14: Cards Against Humanity
- 50:58: Dice City
- 51:44: Race for the Galaxy/Roll for the Galaxy
- 52:10: Illuminati
- 53:18: Medina
- 54:12: Modern Naval Battles: Global Warfare
- 56:30: Tsuro
- 57:57: Cosmic Encounter
- 58:28: Kingsburg
- 59:22: Catan
- 59:58: Quarriors
- 1:00:18: Acquire
- 1:01:38: Stock Pile
Links
- http://64ouncegames.com/
This is a bonus episode from an older podcast hosted by Ryan Peach and Brian Counter. In this episode they discuss about the challenges of teaching and learning board games as blind and partially sighted board gamers.
Time Stamps:
- 00:46: Brian and Ryan start by discussing game learning.
- 14:28: Brian and Ryan continue the discussion with game teaching.
- 41:42: Brian and Ryan conclude with game recommendations for learning and teaching.
- 34:40: Galaxy Trucker
- 42:27: No Thanks
- 43:22: Empires: Age of Discovery
- 48:00: Defenders of the Realm
- 50:10: Dungeon Lords
- 56:00: Alien Frontiers
- 58:32: Kingsburg
- 1:03280: Timeline
- 1:06:20: Among the Stars
- 1:10:20: 7 Wonders
In this episode, Ertay talks to Jim and Eric from Knights of the Braille. Knights of the Braille is a small community for blind and visually impaired Dungeons & Dragons players. They talk about the accessibility challenges of D&D, how they are introducing new players to the game, using theater of the mind, dealing with tactics in combat scenarios and much more.
You can get in touch with Jim via knightsofthebraille@gmail.com or Twitter: https://twitter.com/brailleknights. You can also find Eric on Twitter: https://twitter.com/itsclavast.
Time stamps
- Jim's background, 02:22
- Eric's background, 02:53
- How Jim and Eric got involved with D&D, 03:42
- How sight loss affected Jim's enjoyment of the game, 08:55
- What is Knights of the Braille, 09:45
- What have they done so far, 11:55
- Comparing Jim and Eric's style of play, 14:15
- Accessibility of websites and apps, 18:58
- Tactics and combat in D&D for the blind, 22:46
- Guidelines for sighted players that play with blind people, 27:20
- Published adventures or homebrew, 29:05
- Accessibility of dice, 31:43
- Advice for aspiring blind dungeon masters, 34:05
- How to join a Knights of the Braille group, 39:40
- Final thoughts, 42:47
Links
- Knights Of The Braille - https://knightsofthebraille.com/
- Knights Of The Braille on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcZ7SAELCxHrruDN5u6NghQ
- D&D Beyond - https://www.dndbeyond.com/
- Fantasy Grounds - https://www.fantasygrounds.com/home/home.php
If you have any questions or feedback you can send an email to sightlessfun@outlook.com or find us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/sightlessfun.
In this episode Ertay and Chris Lehman have a chat about the challenges of learning and teaching board games as blind individuals. Chris shares some interesting details about how he learns to play a game and after that he shares his process of teaching games to others. They also talk about the recent games they have played and Chris also shares some of his favorite board games.
You can get in touch with Chris Lehman via clehman2k9@gmail.com.
Time stamps
- Chris Lehman's background, 04:01
- How Chris got into the hobby, 06:30-
- Favorite games, 09:21
- Sighted assistance, 13:30
- Recently played games, 14:10
- Board game learning process, 19:58
- Board game apps, 28:56
- Challenges of learning a board game blind, 33:40
- Combining Rulebooks and video tutorials, 37:54
- How publishers and content creators can improve the accessibility of rulebooks or tutorials, 40:35
- Chris talks about his teaching process, 43:00
- Challenges of teaching board games blind, 50:17
- Tips for blind players to help with teaching board games, 56:12
- Tips for sighted players when teaching blind players, 57:13
- Board game recommendations for blind players, 59:37
Links
- Tarpon Tabletop Gamers on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/groups/tarpontabletop/
In this episode, Ertay is joined by Jay Sears from Pixy Games and they talk about color blindness in the hobby. Jay talks about the misconceptions of being colorblind and also provides some tips to game designers and publishers on how they can avoid the most common pitfalls when it comes to designing colorblind accessible board games.
Time Stamps
- Jay's background, 01:21
- Jay talks about his color blindness, 03:56
- Types of color blindness, 05:50
- Color combinations to avoid when designing board games, 12:30
- Colorblind friendly combinations, 14:25
- The color palette of Sagrada, 16:14
- Tips for game designers, 18:38
- Alternative ways to work with problematic colors, 21:33
- Magic Maze, 26:07
- Importance of component size and shape, 26:51
- Board games with poor colorblind accessibility, 28:34
- Yamatai and the red-green color choices, 33:04
- Castles of Burgundy, 36:41
- Board Games with good color blindness accessibility, 39:22
- Final thoughts, 43:32
Links
Pixy Games - http://pixygames.co.uk - Jay's blog post about color blindness 0 https://pixygamesuk.blogspot.com/2019/04/colour-blindness-guide-for-board-game.html - Meeple Like Us Master List - https://meeplelikeus.co.uk/meeple-like-us-masterlist/ - Geek and Sundry article about color blindness in board games - https://geekandsundry.com/increasing-accessibility-how-publishers-are-making-games-more-colorblind-friendly/ - Hacks to make your game colorblind accessible - https://geekandsundry.com/like-a-rainbow-in-the-dark-hacks-to-make-your-games-color-blind-accessible/
You can get in touch via sightlessfun@outlook.com or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sightlessfun
In the second part of the gateway games for the blind special, Ertay, Nancy, and Ryan talk about their Top 3 favorite, gateway board games. If you are looking for an accessible game in the hobby, the games that are discussed in this episode are a good place to start.
Time stamps
- Citadels, 01:21
- Jamaica, 09:45
- Colt Express, 21:36
- Codenames, 31:39
- Flip City, 39:28
- Pandemic, 47:00
- Diamonds, 55:27
- Valeria Card Kingdoms, 01:01:25
- Dice Forge, 01:07:42
You can get in touch with Nancy Feldman via loravara@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loravara.
You can get in touch with Ryan Peach via redmeepleryan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/redmeepleryan.
Links
- Codenames web app - https://ninjabunny.github.io/KodeNames/
In this episode, Ertay, Nancy, and Ryan talk about their favorite gateway board games that are suitable for blind or visually impaired people looking to get in the board gaming hobby.
In part one, they first talk about what constitutes a gateway game and also discuss how gateway games for sighted people compare to those that are playable by the blind and visually impaired. Next, they talk about the bottom two games in their top 5 gateway games lists in detail and why those games can be a good choice to introduce blind people to board games.
Time stamps
- Gateway games overview, 01:44
- Sentinels of the Multiverse, 08:46
- Favor of the Pharaoh, 16:54
- King of Tokyo, 26:30
- Near and Far, 35:35
- Pandemic: The Cure, 47:23
- Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, 01:00:45
You can get in touch with Nancy Feldman via loravara@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loravara.
You can get in touch with Ryan Peach via redmeepleryan@gmail.com or find him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/redmeepleryan.