August 21, 2025 • 19 mins
Please take our membership survey! We want ideas and input! https://bit.ly/3ILfsz3
Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: author of Darkly, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, and others, Marisha Pessl!
Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask AI” and audio rebuses.
Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts!
"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas.
Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.
The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions.
Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello puzzlers. Before we start puzzling today, I wanted to
let you know we are cooking up some big plans
for the puzzler community, and in order to ensure that
it's what you want, we need your input. So we've
put together a short survey, which you can find in
the show notes. It's really quick, just three minutes, but
(00:22):
it will be a huge help in letting us know
what you want so that we can deliver just that.
Thank you, Hello puzzlers. I say that we start with
a quick puzzle. Today's amuse puzzle is this what do
these four names have in common? Ventura, Latifa, Nicholson, and kang. Okay,
(00:48):
that's Ventura, Latifa, Nicholson and Kanan the and oh our
guest is already.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
W how are you spelling that last one?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
All great question? K O n g CA Yeah, okay,
uh so Ventura, Latifa Nicolas. We love the enthusiasm, Mauritia.
But uh so, We're gonna get to you in one second.
The answer and more puzzling puzzles after the break. Hello puzzlers,
(01:23):
welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, The Massive e in
your Puzzle snelling eye Charge. I'm your host, A j.
Jacobs and I'm here, of course, with Chief puzzle Officer
Greg Kliska. Greg. Before the break, we asked puzzlers to
what do these four names have in common? And I
think our guest, I'm gonna let our guests.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Let Mauritia answer this one. It's only fair.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
She's like, even before we introduce her, yes to start puzzle.
Uh so yes, the question, the question. The four thing
names were Ventura.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Latifaa, and Nickson. I would say that these are femous
stars that were all in road ship.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
That we're all in what road trip movies? Oh that's
a great I love you thinking outside the box. So
she said they were all famous smooth people in road road.
I like that, Nicholson five easy pieces and Latifa? What
(02:23):
was she in? Girls trip?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Was?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
This is good? There's a whole other they have in common.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's yes. I have a feeling Greg might be because
he's done about eight hundred of my puzzles. Uh, Greg,
what were you thinking.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Or highest cards in a deck of cards? A S
King Kong, Queen Latifah and Jack Nicholson.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
That is correct, that is correct, but but we loved
the double answer. Uh, and I thought it was appropriate
for today's episode, because our guest is a writer, a
best selling novelist whose new book is about games, particularly
a game that turns out to be dangerous and deadly.
(03:11):
Please welcome the author of many bestsellers, including special topics
in Calamity, Physics, Night Film, and the newish book Darkly.
Welcome Marisha Pestle.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh, we are delighted. And as I mentioned, your books
are super puzzling and filled with games and fun. So
are you. I assume a puzzle and game fan from
way back.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I am, I am well.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
The way I approach writing books is always in terms
of a puzzle, and it's a game that I'm sitting
up to the reader.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
But in terms of sheer favorite games, I'm very much.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
An analog board game first time. I love the classics,
and then I love very story oriented, detailed games obviously
like Dungeons and Dragon.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And if you read my latest novel, Darkly, it is
very much set up in that context, like not only
is he a game maker, but she creates these worlds
that have multiple stories within stories, like Russian nesting dolls,
all to fool the reader and then hopefully have a
moment of ecstatic realization at the.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
End, the aha moment. Yeah, no, they are delightful, and
I know that Greg has read not one, but several
of them.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I fell in love with Special Topics and Calamity Physics
when it came out. I was actually I actually fell
in love with the title. I was like, what does
that title even mean? I have to read this book,
and then of course I love the book.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Oh thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
The title actually was the hardest thing to come up with,
as much easier writing.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
As that's very funny. It feels like the kind of
book where the title came first and then you felled
out a book to match that title.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
But no, I remember like my agent and I were like,
we've got to sell it in The original title was
no More of an American Girl, and we were like,
this is juvenile, like terrible oragin like come up with
something else.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And so if I've had a Columbia course catalogue.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
And I was like, I want it to be a
sort of satisfire on this like academia, which of course
I was immersed in and loved. So that's why I
got this Special Topics because I was like, this is
hilarious like special topics, and you know, like I love
that there's.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Some special right right in calambity physics, which what what
even is that?
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
What is exactly exactly?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, Mauritia, when I what I thought was the only
fair puzzle we could do is a puzzle about board games,
right right?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Makes sense?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So we're gonna do what I'm It's just it's a
very simple idea. It's just name the board game. I'm
going to give you a sentence or two from the
rule book of a game. Oh, and you have to
guess what board game it is.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Oh, very clever because no one ever reads the rules.
So that'll be that'll be tricky.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Right right, Well, hopefully you'll you know, it'll it'll trigger
memories of what the game is. And and as I said,
AJ has not played this, he doesn't know the answers.
So he can be your phone a friend if you
want to, Okay, And so as an example, I'll give
you one that I know you're going to know because
you just mentioned it. The rule book says while a
(06:31):
player is in jail, they will be unable to move. However,
they may still take part in other actions, such as
buying and selling buildings. Taking part in auctions, collecting, rent,
and trading. And that, of course is monopoly, as you've
been playing with your kids. So that's how this is
going to work. Here's your first one. The rooms in
(06:51):
opposite corners of the mansion are connected by secret passages. Yes,
very good, look at that, got it right away, That,
of course is clue. How about this one? On your turn?
If you remove the ailment without touching the metal sides,
you get to keep the card and the ailment.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Operation operation well done.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Or you grab the little pieces out of the guys
right right? How about this? The player then draws tiles
from the bag equal to the number of tiles played,
so that there are seven tiles on their rack. Yes, exactly. Scrabble.
(07:35):
Whenever you land on a baby boy or baby girl space,
add one people peg to your car baby boy or
baby girl space. You add one people peg to your
car your little car going around aj Do you know what.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I think I might know it? I think.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
The bus don't eat the baby boys.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And that's sort of the unexpurgated version of Hungary us.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
This game.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Career and you choose to go to college or not,
and you wend your way around the.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Baby you've never played it. Maybe you've never played it.
It's called Life, the Game of Life, love life, Oh
you know, yes, wait.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And I love like the terrain and the mountains. But wait,
I don't remember the baby.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah. As you go along the game, you have children, right,
you can get married and add another peg car.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
But the spinner of life, and like the topography of
the game board itself is awesome.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
At least it was.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yes, I will say, it seems like they should update
it with purple for non binary.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Seems like you're right about that.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
They're very binary over at the Game of Life.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I will say, I will say, when we play at home,
the kids often pick you know they're they're not heaterinomative
with the pegs. They choose a very good but they
do you know you can they don't. You can have
the blue the blue parents, or the pink parents, or
whatever you like, which is good. A couple more, A
couple more game game rule book here. When you do
(09:15):
hit the hub, the other players select the category of
the game winning question from the next card in the
card Dispenser.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Next card in the card Dispenser, say this again.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
When you do hit the hub, the other players select
the category of the game winning question from the next
card in the card dispenser.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yes, very good, nice, she got it.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Something they didn't mention wedges.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Or pie right, but no, there was there is a hut.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So okay if you how about this one? If you
land on a licorice square, you lose your next turn. Yes,
very good, all right. Once all forty two territories have
been claimed, each player takes turn placing one additional infantry
(10:13):
onto any territory he or she already claimed.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Battleship.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Uh No, not battleship.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
It's sort of war related.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
It is, but a bigger global conquest forty two territories
on the.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
H and you get to play visualizing it. But now
I can't remember the namemies.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
It's a map of the world with weird names, like
not all some countries are real.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Er Kutsk and Yakutsk and.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, I don't know what was going on with them
when they chose the names, but I believe this is risk.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Okay, right, big battle game. We'll do a couple more.
How about after your third roll, you must fill in
a box on your scorecard with a score or a zero.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Huh, I'm not sure. I know this one.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You after your third roll, you must fill in a
box on your scorecard with a score or a zero.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I think I have a guest because it's just a
dice rolling game, the only dice rolling game. I kind
of that comes to my mind. And it's a It
starts with a y and you scream it when you
are excited.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Exactly. Yeah, all right, how about this one. If your
knee or your elbow lands on the mat or if
you fall over, you're out. Twister A classic? Yes, a classic.
How about you cannot use ears for sounds like or
(12:00):
dashes to show the number of letters in the word
mm hmmm uh.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Pictionary, Yes, very nice.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I thought that was gonna be a one, you nail.
I'll do a couple more. You can touch the blocks
to find loose ones.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Oh I just was playing this.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Oh sure, big back of blocks.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Weird?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Oh what is that called?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Well, it starts with the.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yep yep yep?
Speaker 6 (12:37):
All right?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
In your last one, if you land on a space
that's already occupied by an opponent's pawn, bump that pond
back to its own color. Start area and take the space,
moving your pawns around the board. And if you land
on that space is looking to see if it's on
(13:00):
his shelf behind.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, that's exactly I was trying.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It's a lot of jigsaw puzzles and monopoly all I
have trivial pursuit.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I could have pointed to that, but she got it
so quickly.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Okay, so you're moving your pawns around the board, very familiar. Yeah,
if you land on a space already occupied by that
by your opponent, you can bump that pawd back to
its own colors.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And you would have to apologize to that, because you
would have to apologize because you are you are you
lie When you do something wrong, you bump into someone,
you might say, oh I'm sorry, Yes, sorry.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Well done, Mauritia. That was great, that fast.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Next next year we'll do one of these with the
darkly game as the answer.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yes, you go up in some candles and yes, I
missed that. Are you actually putting out a dark board game?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Well so, I mean right now, we're focused on season
one of the television series that I show at.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
One point at least as a prop on the movie set.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yes, you know it seems like a natural marketing tie in.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Yes, yes, especially since Louisiana's gaming manuals very dune ins
and dragons.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
They have all all of these stories which like I
can't wait to write, so it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I also, I also want to say, you have like
an almost Dickensian sense of naming characters. AJ you you
haven't read the book, so I'm going to share these.
There's Louisiana Veda, who we mentioned in Arcadia, Gannon who's
the protagonist, Choke Newington got a name right, Poe Valois,
(14:51):
the third Mouse, Bannetti, Yeah, Franz Luke, kaufbin Hower nice
and Everly Era daughter. I mean, I just I was like, oh,
these are so great, as are you have a lot
of fun coming up with those.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I do. And it has to stripe the right tone
like it had. It's funny. It's like such a personal
thing because you can't have it too.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
Cute see or two creative, and it also has to
have an air of mystery.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
And then, and this happened in Special Topics.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Sometimes the characters do mean themselves, like I'll just fit
a place folder.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Like for Special Topics it was Hannah Schneider. I had
no intention of keeping Hannah Schneider. But then every time
I tried to change it, when I looked at it,
I was like, this is weird. So Steve became Hannah
Snyder and I actually tried. I was like, I don't
even like the name Hannah.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Like, no, it's much more unusual, and I'm it just
felt so raw, you know, and I did. I remember
multiple times I did like replace all in my word documented,
just to be done with it.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And then I was like, oh, you'd know, Vivians, you'd.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Know right right.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
That is that.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I love that the sometimes the characters boss you around,
you don't have the full say in the end. Well,
congratulations Mauritia on both solving the puzzle and uh Darkly
and all your other books and the upcoming show which
we will watch, but read the book first, and well, yes,
(16:30):
we really enjoyed it. And Greg, do you have an
extra credit for the folks at home?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I do. I'm actually going to do two extra credits.
You must move the robber to a new hex, steal
one random resource card from a player who has a
building on that hex.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I don't know. I have some theories, but I'm not
sure that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Second one is a that second one is a Games Magazine,
Hall of Fame game actually interesting?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
All right? Well I can't wait to find out, so
I will be tuning in tomorrow to figure it out.
Once again, Thank you, Marisha and folks. If you have
a hunger for even more puzzles, please check out our
Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we past original puzzles
and other fun stuff. And of course we'll be here
tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
Hey puzzlers. Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle Lab one
more time with the extra credit answer from our previous episode.
Paul Ollinger joined us for a third time around, and
I did a bunch of clues for words that have
pal or pol in them, reimagined as if they had
the word Paul in them, so we made them all.
Mister Ollingers, your extra credit clue was if you had
(17:57):
the made up title reg Neo Ollinger. That's r E
G N I LLO. I made it up. It's like
a little king of some kind, Regneo Ollinger. That would
be an example of this. And what is this? This
is a Paul ndrome. Yes, that's right. Regneo is Ollinger. Reversed.
(18:20):
Now that's not all we did. I did an extra
credit based upon the opening puzzle AJ played about chemical
elements and they're anagrams. This is a chemical element that
is not used in making your mobile device. It might
be used in the process, but it is not actual
part of your phone. But it becomes something that comes
out of your phone when you anagram the word, and
(18:43):
that of course is the very common element nitrogen, which
when you anagram it becomes ring tone. I hope you
have a nice nitrogen ring tone on your phone, as
all good puzzlers do, and I look forward to seeing
you next time for some more puzzling puzzles that will
puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hello puzzlers. Before we start puzzling today, I wanted to
let you know we are cooking up some big plans
for the puzzler community, and in order to ensure that
it's what you want, we need your input. So we've
put together a short survey, which you can find in
the show notes. It's really quick, just three minutes, but
(00:22):
it will be a huge help in letting us know
what you want so that we can deliver just that.
Thank you, Hello puzzlers. I say that we start with
a quick puzzle. Today's amuse puzzle is this what do
these four names have in common? Ventura, Latifa, Nicholson, and kang. Okay,
(00:48):
that's Ventura, Latifa, Nicholson and Kanan the and oh our
guest is already.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
W how are you spelling that last one?
Speaker 1 (00:57):
All great question? K O n g CA Yeah, okay,
uh so Ventura, Latifa Nicolas. We love the enthusiasm, Mauritia.
But uh so, We're gonna get to you in one second.
The answer and more puzzling puzzles after the break. Hello puzzlers,
(01:23):
welcome back to the Puzzler Podcast, The Massive e in
your Puzzle snelling eye Charge. I'm your host, A j.
Jacobs and I'm here, of course, with Chief puzzle Officer
Greg Kliska. Greg. Before the break, we asked puzzlers to
what do these four names have in common? And I
think our guest, I'm gonna let our guests.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Let Mauritia answer this one. It's only fair.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
She's like, even before we introduce her, yes to start puzzle.
Uh so yes, the question, the question. The four thing
names were Ventura.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Latifaa, and Nickson. I would say that these are femous
stars that were all in road ship.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
That we're all in what road trip movies? Oh that's
a great I love you thinking outside the box. So
she said they were all famous smooth people in road road.
I like that, Nicholson five easy pieces and Latifa? What
(02:23):
was she in? Girls trip?
Speaker 4 (02:27):
Was?
Speaker 2 (02:27):
This is good? There's a whole other they have in common.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's yes. I have a feeling Greg might be because
he's done about eight hundred of my puzzles. Uh, Greg,
what were you thinking.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Or highest cards in a deck of cards? A S
King Kong, Queen Latifah and Jack Nicholson.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
That is correct, that is correct, but but we loved
the double answer. Uh, and I thought it was appropriate
for today's episode, because our guest is a writer, a
best selling novelist whose new book is about games, particularly
a game that turns out to be dangerous and deadly.
(03:11):
Please welcome the author of many bestsellers, including special topics
in Calamity, Physics, Night Film, and the newish book Darkly.
Welcome Marisha Pestle.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
Oh, we are delighted. And as I mentioned, your books
are super puzzling and filled with games and fun. So
are you. I assume a puzzle and game fan from
way back.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
I am, I am well.
Speaker 5 (03:42):
The way I approach writing books is always in terms
of a puzzle, and it's a game that I'm sitting
up to the reader.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
But in terms of sheer favorite games, I'm very much.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
An analog board game first time. I love the classics,
and then I love very story oriented, detailed games obviously
like Dungeons and Dragon.
Speaker 4 (04:04):
And if you read my latest novel, Darkly, it is
very much set up in that context, like not only
is he a game maker, but she creates these worlds
that have multiple stories within stories, like Russian nesting dolls,
all to fool the reader and then hopefully have a
moment of ecstatic realization at the.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
End, the aha moment. Yeah, no, they are delightful, and
I know that Greg has read not one, but several
of them.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
I fell in love with Special Topics and Calamity Physics
when it came out. I was actually I actually fell
in love with the title. I was like, what does
that title even mean? I have to read this book,
and then of course I love the book.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Oh thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (04:50):
The title actually was the hardest thing to come up with,
as much easier writing.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
As that's very funny. It feels like the kind of
book where the title came first and then you felled
out a book to match that title.
Speaker 5 (05:02):
But no, I remember like my agent and I were like,
we've got to sell it in The original title was
no More of an American Girl, and we were like,
this is juvenile, like terrible oragin like come up with
something else.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
And so if I've had a Columbia course catalogue.
Speaker 5 (05:19):
And I was like, I want it to be a
sort of satisfire on this like academia, which of course
I was immersed in and loved. So that's why I
got this Special Topics because I was like, this is
hilarious like special topics, and you know, like I love
that there's.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Some special right right in calambity physics, which what what
even is that?
Speaker 6 (05:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (05:40):
What is exactly exactly?
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Well, Mauritia, when I what I thought was the only
fair puzzle we could do is a puzzle about board games,
right right?
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Makes sense?
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So we're gonna do what I'm It's just it's a
very simple idea. It's just name the board game. I'm
going to give you a sentence or two from the
rule book of a game. Oh, and you have to
guess what board game it is.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Oh, very clever because no one ever reads the rules.
So that'll be that'll be tricky.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Right right, Well, hopefully you'll you know, it'll it'll trigger
memories of what the game is. And and as I said,
AJ has not played this, he doesn't know the answers.
So he can be your phone a friend if you
want to, Okay, And so as an example, I'll give
you one that I know you're going to know because
you just mentioned it. The rule book says while a
(06:31):
player is in jail, they will be unable to move. However,
they may still take part in other actions, such as
buying and selling buildings. Taking part in auctions, collecting, rent,
and trading. And that, of course is monopoly, as you've
been playing with your kids. So that's how this is
going to work. Here's your first one. The rooms in
(06:51):
opposite corners of the mansion are connected by secret passages. Yes,
very good, look at that, got it right away, That,
of course is clue. How about this one? On your turn?
If you remove the ailment without touching the metal sides,
you get to keep the card and the ailment.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Operation operation well done.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Or you grab the little pieces out of the guys
right right? How about this? The player then draws tiles
from the bag equal to the number of tiles played,
so that there are seven tiles on their rack. Yes, exactly. Scrabble.
(07:35):
Whenever you land on a baby boy or baby girl space,
add one people peg to your car baby boy or
baby girl space. You add one people peg to your
car your little car going around aj Do you know what.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
I think I might know it? I think.
Speaker 2 (07:59):
The bus don't eat the baby boys.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
And that's sort of the unexpurgated version of Hungary us.
Speaker 6 (08:06):
This game.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Career and you choose to go to college or not,
and you wend your way around the.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Baby you've never played it. Maybe you've never played it.
It's called Life, the Game of Life, love life, Oh
you know, yes, wait.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
And I love like the terrain and the mountains. But wait,
I don't remember the baby.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Yeah. As you go along the game, you have children, right,
you can get married and add another peg car.
Speaker 6 (08:34):
But the spinner of life, and like the topography of
the game board itself is awesome.
Speaker 3 (08:40):
At least it was.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yes, I will say, it seems like they should update
it with purple for non binary.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Seems like you're right about that.
Speaker 1 (08:51):
They're very binary over at the Game of Life.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
I will say, I will say, when we play at home,
the kids often pick you know they're they're not heaterinomative
with the pegs. They choose a very good but they
do you know you can they don't. You can have
the blue the blue parents, or the pink parents, or
whatever you like, which is good. A couple more, A
couple more game game rule book here. When you do
(09:15):
hit the hub, the other players select the category of
the game winning question from the next card in the
card Dispenser.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
Next card in the card Dispenser, say this again.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
When you do hit the hub, the other players select
the category of the game winning question from the next
card in the card dispenser.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
Yes, very good, nice, she got it.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Something they didn't mention wedges.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Or pie right, but no, there was there is a hut.
Speaker 2 (09:51):
So okay if you how about this one? If you
land on a licorice square, you lose your next turn. Yes,
very good, all right. Once all forty two territories have
been claimed, each player takes turn placing one additional infantry
(10:13):
onto any territory he or she already claimed.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
Battleship.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
Uh No, not battleship.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
It's sort of war related.
Speaker 2 (10:23):
It is, but a bigger global conquest forty two territories
on the.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
H and you get to play visualizing it. But now
I can't remember the namemies.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
It's a map of the world with weird names, like
not all some countries are real.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
Er Kutsk and Yakutsk and.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, I don't know what was going on with them
when they chose the names, but I believe this is risk.
Speaker 2 (10:57):
Okay, right, big battle game. We'll do a couple more.
How about after your third roll, you must fill in
a box on your scorecard with a score or a zero.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Huh, I'm not sure. I know this one.
Speaker 2 (11:13):
You after your third roll, you must fill in a
box on your scorecard with a score or a zero.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I think I have a guest because it's just a
dice rolling game, the only dice rolling game. I kind
of that comes to my mind. And it's a It
starts with a y and you scream it when you
are excited.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
Exactly. Yeah, all right, how about this one. If your
knee or your elbow lands on the mat or if
you fall over, you're out. Twister A classic? Yes, a classic.
How about you cannot use ears for sounds like or
(12:00):
dashes to show the number of letters in the word
mm hmmm uh.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
Pictionary, Yes, very nice.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
I thought that was gonna be a one, you nail.
I'll do a couple more. You can touch the blocks
to find loose ones.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Oh I just was playing this.
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Oh sure, big back of blocks.
Speaker 6 (12:28):
Weird?
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Oh what is that called?
Speaker 1 (12:33):
Well, it starts with the.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yep yep yep?
Speaker 6 (12:37):
All right?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
In your last one, if you land on a space
that's already occupied by an opponent's pawn, bump that pond
back to its own color. Start area and take the space,
moving your pawns around the board. And if you land
on that space is looking to see if it's on
(13:00):
his shelf behind.
Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, that's exactly I was trying.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
It's a lot of jigsaw puzzles and monopoly all I
have trivial pursuit.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
I could have pointed to that, but she got it
so quickly.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Okay, so you're moving your pawns around the board, very familiar. Yeah,
if you land on a space already occupied by that
by your opponent, you can bump that pawd back to
its own colors.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
And you would have to apologize to that, because you
would have to apologize because you are you are you
lie When you do something wrong, you bump into someone,
you might say, oh I'm sorry, Yes, sorry.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Well done, Mauritia. That was great, that fast.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
That was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Next next year we'll do one of these with the
darkly game as the answer.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
Yes, you go up in some candles and yes, I
missed that. Are you actually putting out a dark board game?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Well so, I mean right now, we're focused on season
one of the television series that I show at.
Speaker 3 (14:08):
One point at least as a prop on the movie set.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
Yes, you know it seems like a natural marketing tie in.
Speaker 5 (14:17):
Yes, yes, especially since Louisiana's gaming manuals very dune ins
and dragons.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
They have all all of these stories which like I
can't wait to write, so it's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
I also, I also want to say, you have like
an almost Dickensian sense of naming characters. AJ you you
haven't read the book, so I'm going to share these.
There's Louisiana Veda, who we mentioned in Arcadia, Gannon who's
the protagonist, Choke Newington got a name right, Poe Valois,
(14:51):
the third Mouse, Bannetti, Yeah, Franz Luke, kaufbin Hower nice
and Everly Era daughter. I mean, I just I was like, oh,
these are so great, as are you have a lot
of fun coming up with those.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
I do. And it has to stripe the right tone
like it had. It's funny. It's like such a personal
thing because you can't have it too.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
Cute see or two creative, and it also has to
have an air of mystery.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
And then, and this happened in Special Topics.
Speaker 6 (15:27):
Sometimes the characters do mean themselves, like I'll just fit
a place folder.
Speaker 3 (15:32):
Like for Special Topics it was Hannah Schneider. I had
no intention of keeping Hannah Schneider. But then every time
I tried to change it, when I looked at it,
I was like, this is weird. So Steve became Hannah
Snyder and I actually tried. I was like, I don't
even like the name Hannah.
Speaker 5 (15:48):
Like, no, it's much more unusual, and I'm it just
felt so raw, you know, and I did. I remember
multiple times I did like replace all in my word documented,
just to be done with it.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
And then I was like, oh, you'd know, Vivians, you'd.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Know right right.
Speaker 6 (16:06):
That is that.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
I love that the sometimes the characters boss you around,
you don't have the full say in the end. Well,
congratulations Mauritia on both solving the puzzle and uh Darkly
and all your other books and the upcoming show which
we will watch, but read the book first, and well, yes,
(16:30):
we really enjoyed it. And Greg, do you have an
extra credit for the folks at home?
Speaker 2 (16:35):
I do. I'm actually going to do two extra credits.
You must move the robber to a new hex, steal
one random resource card from a player who has a
building on that hex.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
I don't know. I have some theories, but I'm not
sure that.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
Second one is a that second one is a Games Magazine,
Hall of Fame game actually interesting?
Speaker 1 (17:02):
All right? Well I can't wait to find out, so
I will be tuning in tomorrow to figure it out.
Once again, Thank you, Marisha and folks. If you have
a hunger for even more puzzles, please check out our
Instagram feed at Hello Puzzlers, where we past original puzzles
and other fun stuff. And of course we'll be here
tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzling.
Speaker 7 (17:33):
Hey puzzlers. Greg Pliska up from the Puzzle Lab one
more time with the extra credit answer from our previous episode.
Paul Ollinger joined us for a third time around, and
I did a bunch of clues for words that have
pal or pol in them, reimagined as if they had
the word Paul in them, so we made them all.
Mister Ollingers, your extra credit clue was if you had
(17:57):
the made up title reg Neo Ollinger. That's r E
G N I LLO. I made it up. It's like
a little king of some kind, Regneo Ollinger. That would
be an example of this. And what is this? This
is a Paul ndrome. Yes, that's right. Regneo is Ollinger. Reversed.
(18:20):
Now that's not all we did. I did an extra
credit based upon the opening puzzle AJ played about chemical
elements and they're anagrams. This is a chemical element that
is not used in making your mobile device. It might
be used in the process, but it is not actual
part of your phone. But it becomes something that comes
out of your phone when you anagram the word, and
(18:43):
that of course is the very common element nitrogen, which
when you anagram it becomes ring tone. I hope you
have a nice nitrogen ring tone on your phone, as
all good puzzlers do, and I look forward to seeing
you next time for some more puzzling puzzles that will
puzzle you puzzlingly.
Hosts And Creators
Greg Pliska
A.J. Jacobs
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.