Episode 420 – Gamification

What is gamification? Does it have any relationship to board gaming? We examine the concept this week.

0:00:00 Fact for 420

Where did the reference “420” come from to refer to smoking marijuana?

Sponsor Message

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If you’re curious what it would cost to get help from First Move you can visit firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers and scroll down, there’s a calculator there where you enter your income and net worth and it will tell you your estimated monthly fee.

0:05:10 What We’ve Been Playing

Dragonarium *Iliad (our review)A Place for All My Books *Tidal Blades 2: Rise of the UnfoldersS’mores Galore: Roast and Write (review soon)SpringWombat Poo *

* = First time on the podcast

0:30:00 The Family Gamers Community

Welcome to our newest members in the Facebook community!

#Backtalk

You shared your strategies for teaching board game manners on the #backtalk channel of the Discord.

0:35:45 Gamification: The Good and The Not-So-Good

According to Merriam-Webster: “the process of adding games or gamelike elements to something (such as a task) so as to encourage participation.”

So, this is things that are not games with game-like elements added to them for motivation: like learning math, or working on fitness goals, or meeting work quotas.

Types of gamification (from GoCadmium “Gamification in Learning 2026”):

• Achievement-based (leaderboards, badges, status levels)
• Social gamification (team-building exercises, collaboration to achieve a goal, peer recognition)
• Progress-based (things to “unlock” – skill trees, extra content, etc.)
• Rewards-based (incentives, either virtual or real-world: discounts, prizes, etc.)

Gamification example