#36 - Chad Elkins: 25th Century Games in the 21¼st Century

Chad Elkins, Founder and Lead Developer at 25th Century Games, joins the show for its 25th 36th episode. This episode is so piping hot that you’ll need your best stoneware mug to keep it contained. Through a ton of insightful commentary on general development, localization, and reprinting games, and the fun stories surrounding all of these processes, there are so many takeaways to things I’d been wondering about for some time. Chad also gives away the “formuoli” for getting the rights to something like Ra. With so much enjoyable conversation here, make sure you Run Run Run! to wherever you listen to your podcasts and check out this episode.

There’s a lot to look out for 25th Century Games, so check out their website, social media profiles, and current crowdfunding project (wrapping up soon, but there will be a late-pledge option on Kickstarter until the the pledge manager on Backerkit opens, where late-pledging will be available as well!)

25th Century Games Website

25th Century Games on Bluesky

Observatory and Star Gazers on Kickstarter

Intro, The State of 25th Century Games in 2025, and Mugs (0:00)

Chad and I technically connected first through mugs, so we start off the conversation chatting about those, a game group that's been going strong for one-tenth of a decade, and how 25th is doing in ‘25.

Some of that Sweet, Homegrown Localization [is that an oxymoron?] (20:39)

25th Century Games has published a whole bunch of games through several different means over not too long of a history. Listening to the process, care, and relationships built through different types of publications was a treat for me!

“I Invoke Ra!” (37:18)

We talk about Ra, which is pretty obvious based on this chapter title, BUT Chad also discusses different approaches when it comes to handling reworking games for reprints.

Furthermore, he brings up a fun fact about the number in the BGG url matching its entry in the site’s database (Ra being 12). When I was adding the links to the document that tries to capture all of the games mentioned in this episode (see below), I saw that Catan was 13th–fun coincidence.

Import Collections (52:32)

A quick bit where Chad has to guess my most played 25th Century Game.

Wrap-up Questions (1:01:29)

A text on Chad’s mind and things to look out for from 25th Century Games.

Games Mentioned in this Episode

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Bluesky

Oversized Sandwich (to purchase) —check its BGG too—these show notes are too long with that hyperlinked (lol)