Games with Luke's English Podcast - Advanced Listening Practice

Anna: You are listening to the English Like A Native Podcast, a

listening resource for intermediate and advanced level English learners.

Today is a very special episode as we are joined by one of my favourite

guests, Luke from Luke's English Podcast, which is an incredible podcast

that you should all have a listen to.

So in today's podcast, we are going to deep dive into a much

loved British pastime, board games.

It's gonna be fun.

Without further ado, let's roll.

What do you do when you are with company, say your family or your friends, and

the conversation has begun to dry up and you are feeling a little bit bored?

Well, you may decide to rummage around in the cupboard, to dig out and dust

off a board game to pass the time.

In the UK, dice rolling, card shuffling, and arguing about who's

cheating is a much loved pastime.

And here for a second time to discuss the ins and outs, the ups and downs of board

games is Luke from Luke's English Podcast.

Welcome back Luke.

Luke: Hi Anna.

Thanks for having me back.

Anna: Oh, thank you for returning.

I haven't scared you off that's the important thing.

Luke: No, this is a great topic.

Yeah, I love board games.

Anna: You do.

You have a big love of Monopoly.

Luke: Yeah.

So we just talked about Monopoly at some length on my show, we did over an hour's

worth of conversation only about Monopoly.

Anna: Yeah.

Who would've thought there was so much to say about the game?

Luke: Well, yeah.

It is actually a fascinating game, as we've just discussed with all of

the different strategies, the sort of statistics, the mathematics, the politics,

the things it says about society and yeah, all the things we are getting

wrong, that everyone gets wrong when they play it, and all those other things.

Anna: A really important strategy that I think we've taken away from

that particular episode that anyone who's interested in Monopoly should

definitely go and listen to the episode just to learn the strategy, if not to

learn lots of fabulous English phrases.

Luke: Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Anna: I'll put a link in the description so everyone can check that out later.

But do you play lots of games?

Do you have a game cupboard in your house?

Luke: Yeah, we do.

So we've got, like the sort of bottom compartment of a cupboard in

my daughter's bedroom has got all the board games stuffed into it.

So yeah, we definitely have a games cupboard.

Back in my childhood home, when I was growing up, in my parents'

house, we had a kind of a wooden box.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: And we would open up the wooden kind of a chest, and that was full of

all the different games and things, some of which have survived, including that

old monopoly set and various others.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

Anna: So we have a couple of spaces in our house where we keep our games

because I've, you know, got two young children and it is possibly the same...

you said yours is in your daughter's bedroom.

I mean, the risk there, 'cause I think your daughter's quite young, the risk

there is that they might take them out when they're exploring one day and you're

not looking, and then you find that there are lots of pieces missing or shoved into

lots of different places all mixed up.

So we have been separating our stuff for a while, with the

majority of the games accessible in the kind of kiddie's play area.

We have those IKEA cupboards, you know, there's the, I think

they're called Kallax or something.

There's like, everyone has one of these cupboards in the UK if they

shop at IKEA for any furniture, they all have these Kallax units.

And we've got about five of them around the house.

So we just fill one of those with the accessible games that we don't mind

the children just grabbing at will.

And then we have an inaccessible cupboard that has all the more advanced games,

like the chess sets and things like that.

Luke: Right.

Anna: And the jigsaw puzzles.

I'm a big fan of jigsaws.

How about you?

Luke: Oh, yeah, yeah.

I love a jigsaw, and of course it's very good that you keep the jigsaw puzzles

away from the little kids because you cannot let any of those pieces go missing.

Anna: No.

Luke: Because if you try and do a jigsaw and there's one piece missing, then ah,

that's the worst thing in the world.

Anna: Yeah, yeah.

Luke: A 1000-piece jigsaw has to be complete and if you put all that time into

doing it, and then at the end there's just one missing piece, it really ruins it.

But yeah, I do like a jigsaw.

They, you know, it forces you to slow down and take the time to just

focus on building that picture.

And there are strategies involved as well in jigsaws.

Anna: How do you do your jigsaws?

Luke: So you find all the edge pieces first, obviously.

Anna: Of course.

Luke: Corner pieces are vital and then edges.

And then, well, you just do your best from there, don't you really?

Anna: Do you look at the picture?

Luke: Oh yeah, of course.

Anna: Ah, see, the most fun is to spend about 60 seconds, before you

start, studying the picture, and then you never look at it again.

Luke: Oh my God.

But that's too difficult, surely.

Anna: Well, if you...

it depends on the jigsaw.

We once did a jigsaw of the Rosetta Stone, and actually, I think that's

the one jigsaw that defeated us.

We had to first look at the picture and even then we couldn't get it.

So we ended up putting that one away.

But often we will just study the picture initially and then put it

away and then try and figure it out without ever looking at the picture.

It does take a long time.

It will often take maybe a week or two, which now, because we've got

the kids, we can't just leave it out on the table 'cause the kids

will be like, "oh, what's this?

I help, I help."

Putting them everywhere.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: But we did just buy one of these mats.

And, sorry, this is jigsaws.

This is completely off topic, but anyway, we bought one of these

mats that you can roll up with a big inflatable like sausage.

You lay the jigsaw out on the mat, and then when you finished for that

session, you just roll it very carefully around this inflatable sausage.

And then just tie it off.

And then you can travel with it, take it with you, unroll it somewhere else.

Luke: Right.

So you're not restricted to just doing the jigsaw in this one location.

Yeah.

Anna: Exactly.

But for us, it's a protection thing to get it away from the kids.

Luke: Very good.

Very smart move.

Yeah,

Anna: We would never buy jigsaws from a charity shop, as well.

Like we have a little jigsaw club in my group of friends

locally and we swap jigsaws.

So we're always on the lookout for good jigsaws in different,

like garden centres and shops.

But I would never buy from a charity shop because you can't guarantee if it's a

complete jigsaw, and I'm sure the charity shop don't say, "Hey Vera, can you just

complete the puzzle and make sure it's complete before we put it for sale?"

But I did break my rule when recently visiting the charity shop to reward my

boys who had slept through the night for five consecutive nights, got their

little stars on their star chart, and I said, okay, five stars you can go

to the charity shop and pick anything.

And while we were there, I saw a jigsaw, which was a map of the world, and I

thought, it's a little bit old for them at the moment, but wouldn't this be a

great thing to help teach them geography?

So we bought it and broke it out with them.

We did it on the floor.

The hardest jigsaw I think I've ever done.

I had to actually look at the picture, because it's not a typical jigsaw shape.

All the pieces are only the shape of the countries.

Luke: Ah, I see.

Anna: And so when you get to like Africa...

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: And there's all these teeny, tiny little, you know,

countries, all fit together.

Luke: A lot of them are straight lines as well in Africa, in

the central parts of Africa.

Yeah.

Anna: It was so hard.

So hard.

It is really good.

I mean, it was teaching me a thing or two about where places are.

It makes you realise like, oh, I know where this place is.

No, I actually don't.

I've got no idea.

Luke: Yeah.

Yeah.

My parents have got the same thing, but for all the counties in...

Anna: Right.

Luke: In, I think it's only in England, just the English counties.

And yeah, that's surprisingly difficult as well because you kind of think

you know them, but that's very hard.

Anna: I'm terrible at geography.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: Absolutely terrible.

So I wouldn't be able to do that.

And the globe one ended up me, just me on the floor.

The kids got bored, and so they were off doing their Play-Doh or whatever it was.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: And I'm there doing this jigsaw on my own, on the floor and

there were three pieces missing at the end, and I was just devastated.

But it turned out, They weren't missing, they were under the rug.

The boys had helped me by stuffing them under the rug.

Luke: Right, yeah.

That's the thing with jigsaws, you've gotta watch out for all the pieces.

But I do love jigsaws.

I love doing jigsaws of maps, but I will look at the picture.

You know, I don't consider that to be cheating 'cause ultimately if I

was doing it without looking at the picture, I would have a horrible time.

So why make life difficult for yourself, you know?

Anna: Well, you should try it.

Luke: I suppose so.

Anna: I challenge you.

Don't take a really hard picture that's just like clouds or waves.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Or trees.

Rose bushes.

Just, you know, take something that's a mixture of things that you can figure out.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: You know, I think it's fun.

Luke: Jigsaws with lots and lots of little details are great.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: Like one of my favourites is the Beatles Sergeant Pepper album cover.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Because every single portion of that picture has got

something interesting in it.

Alexa: Someone's at the front door.

Anna: Sorry, Alexa is so rude.

Luke: You are being interrupted by Alexa.

Anna: She always does this.

Luke: What's Alexa saying to you?

Anna: Someone's at the front door.

Bing bong.

Luke: This happened to us last time, Anna.

Anna: It always happens.

I've unplugged her.

Luke: Alexa is so helpful and yet unhelpful at the same time.

Anna: So, what was I talking about?

I was doing a podcast when I was talking about how a lot of English words come from

Arabic or have a relationship to Arabic.

And I was going through the list and one of the words was elixir, an

elixir and she kept coming on going,

"I'm sorry, I don't know that one right now."

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: I'm not talking to you!

Luke: I'll be teaching in class in, you know, in English lessons and I say

something that sounds like Hey, Siri.

Oh!

Anna: There we go.

Luke: Not talking to you now, doing a podcast.

Siri: Okay.

Luke: Okay, says Siri.

Anna: Brilliant.

Luke: Alright.

And I'll say something that sounds like that and, and Siri steps in and

says, "I'm sorry, I can't find that.

Here are some results from the internet", or something like that.

It's always a hilarious moment.

Anna: Yeah.

It's so rude.

It's so rude.

Someone should teach them some manners.

Okay, so, jigsaws fantastic, but...

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: What's your default, what's your go-to game when you're, say,

with your family or your friends?

Luke: Well, obviously Monopoly, as we've said.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: But other ones, Scrabble is a bit of a favourite, oh it's a tough one.

You know.

Anna: What, Scrabble's a tough one?

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Or the question's tough?

Luke: Scrabble is, well, both the question is tough because there are

many games I could talk about, but I realise there are only a certain number

of minutes that we can do this for.

But I mean, you know, we could do an hour on each game.

Anna: Why is Scrabble tough for you?

Luke: Well, it's just, you know, words innit?

You know, just like, ahh...

Anna: English words?

Luke: English words, spelling.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: But it's tough because I'm competing against, probably my mum and dad.

And my wife, now she is French, but she's so good at Scrabble

in English, it's frightening.

Yeah, I'm so ashamed of myself when I play against her and, and lose.

I mean, you know, I suppose I shouldn't be, I should just be

proud of my wife for being so good at Scrabble in a second language.

We were on holiday in Brittany recently, and there was a Scrabble set in the room.

And it was a French Scrabble set.

Anna: Ah.

Luke: You might think, well, the alphabet's the same, but like the number

of letters is, you know, the arrangement, the number of each letter is different.

And in a French Scrabble set, just so many vowels, just,

it's just like too many vowels.

'cause you know, in French spelling, they use a lot more vowels.

Anna: Do you have the ones with the, the little, um...

Luke: Accents?

No, there are no accents.

They don't do accents, 'cause that would be too complicated.

But no, just, just way more vowels.

So I'm just like picking out my letters.

Just like, okay, E O U E.

Just O's U's and E's like millions of E's, and O'S and U's.

So that was complicated.

And of course, you know, we, I was like, oh, there's a Scrabble set here.

And my wife's like, should we play in English or French?

And you know, just, you know, it's sometimes hard for me to win in English.

Yeah.

So there's really no chance of being able to win in French.

But it's still a great game.

I do love like trying to find like the, it's not just about

finding the long words, but finding clever ways to use little words,

but maximise the extra points.

You know, if someone's put down a word with a Q in it or an X or something

like that, you can find a way to incorporate that X and get a triple

and land on a double at the same time.

And then you can get a massive score if you're clever enough.

Anna: And if you struggle with spelling, 'cause I am really

not very good at spelling.

I've improved a lot since teaching because I'm always looking at

and writing out notes and looking at words and teaching them.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: But I'm dyslexic, so spelling has always been a bit of a weak point.

And I think I've often hidden behind that as an excuse.

Oh, I'm dyslexic, so I'm not gonna worry too much about it.

But as a teacher, you try and hold yourself to account a bit more.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: And make sure what you're putting out is good.

So I think I've learned a lot with that.

So I think maybe I'll be better at Scrabble now than I used to be.

But you can get Junior Scrabble, can't you?

So if you're an English learner, maybe Scrabble would be a

good game for you to play.

Luke: Sure.

Anna: To help with your English.

Luke: Absolutely.

Anna: But perhaps a Junior Scrabble board initially would be good.

Luke: Yeah, yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

All those things.

I mean, board games for learning English, a hundred percent.

Great idea.

'Cause, you know, it is basically a scenario in which you often have to use

language in order to complete the game.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: It essentially takes away the need for forced social interaction.

It's a great social lubricant, which is exactly what you need to practise English.

You know, you don't have to be like, oh and what we're gonna talk

about now, you know, it's all there.

You just have to play the game and you will be encouraged to use language.

Some games involve language like Scrabble, for example, or some others and some games

also just encourage you to use language to achieve the outcome of the game.

Like for example, if you have to negotiate in Monopoly for something, you know, for

example, that can be really good practice.

So yeah, I should give a shout out to another teacher called Zdenek,

uh, Zdenek Lukas from the Czech Republic, who has been doing a

podcast in English for many years.

And he likes to use board games as well.

He's kind of a huge board game enthusiast, and he has a Discord

server called the Achievers Chamber.

Right.

And they do play board games there in English.

So he's a good person to go to if you're interested in practising

your English with board games.

Anna: Fantastic.

Yeah, and I think having fun while learning is always really important for

motivation, also your brain, you process things and you know, it helps your memory.

If you are enjoying and releasing all those happy hormones.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: While you are learning, it, you know, removes all the stress,

which isn't good for memory.

So, so play some games.

Now, one of the great things with Scrabble is getting a Scrabble dictionary and

learning some of the weird and bizarre words that you'll throw down on the

board and it's a high scorer and someone will go, "that's not a word!", and

you say, "hey, check out the Scrabble dictionary because it is a word."

I actually played for my school, funnily enough, terrible speller, but I played in

the Scrabble, like leagues at school, and there was always a whole bunch of random

two letter words that I'm like, you would never use this word in a conversation.

What even is it?

But there're allowed because they're in the dictionary and one of these words

is not even in the official dictionary.

It's allowed in the Scrabble dictionary, and it's an abbreviation of casual.

It's cazh, spelled C-A-Z-H.

Luke: C-A-Z-H?

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Cazh.

Luke: Really, cazh?

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: Yeah, that Scrabble dictionary is very suspect, isn't it?

Don't you think?

Anna: Bit dodgy.

Bit dodgy.

Luke: Like it's, yeah, like, my parents, when we play Scrabble with them, they

basically ban the Scrabble dictionary.

Anna: Right.

Luke: You know, because otherwise what happens is you just end up digging

through the Scrabble dictionary, trying to justify some ridiculous three letter

word that contains an X or something.

Or you know, you come out with Q I.

It's like ah, qi?

And so like, everyone's like qi, that's not a word.

Yeah, it is qi.

It's pronounced 'key'.

It's a Chinese word.

It means energy.

Ah, there you go.

You know.

Anna: Yeah.

Your parents are a lot of fun.

You did an episode with them recently for the coronation?

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Yeah, they are.

You can see a lot of your personality and where that's, well, not

that your personality came from your parents, you are unique.

But, um...

Luke: Yeah, I did it myself.

I built it on my own!

Anna: But they are, they're good fun.

You can tell that they're quite astute and clever.

Luke: Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, they are pretty smart and clever people.

Quite funny.

Yeah, it's nice.

Yeah.

I'm lucky.

Lucky to have parents like that and yeah, it's nice to play board games with them.

It's always pretty good fun.

Although you know, my wife's very competitive and my

dad is competitive, right.

So there's, when the two of them clash heads...

Anna: Oh, they fight do they?

Luke: Well, in a nice way.

Anna: Which side do I take?

Obviously always your wife's.

Luke: Yeah, of course.

But it's always interesting to see how the dynamic switches

when the competition arrives.

But it's good.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: No, it's great.

Anna: Okay, so there's just two more words I'm gonna mention

on Scrabble before we move on.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: And one of them is zax, which is the highest scoring three

letter word that you can have.

Luke: Z-A-X?

Anna: Zax, do you know what this is?

Luke: Zax?

Mm-hmm.

I've no idea what zax is.

No one ever uses the word zax.

I've never read it, heard it.

Anna: It would be used in a specific industry.

So if you work in a specific industry, it's a tool.

Luke: Okay.

Like can you just pass me that zax over there.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: It's a tool like that.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Sorry, pass, pass you what?

The zax over there.

It's his first day on the job.

He doesn't know what a zax is.

Anna: So it's an axe that a slater uses, so it's a specific axe for a

specific job of putting nails into slate.

Luke: Slate, which is like things that would go on the roof of a house.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Luke: Okay.

A zax is a specific hammer for hitting nails into a roof.

Anna: Yeah, I believe so.

Don't quote me on that.

I might have got that wrong.

Luke: Yeah, I'll take your word for it.

Anna: A slater's axe.

Now the other one, quite funny, is the word gangbang.

Luke: Oh yeah?

Anna: Oh yeah.

Luke: Oh yes, okay.

Wait, that's quite a long word as well for G A N G...

Anna: Four, uh, four?

Eight!

Luke: B A N G, eight.

So that's, yeah.

If you've got a word that ends in a G on the board, and you've got

'angbang' in your hand then, you know...

Anna: Boom!

Luke: Don't waste any time!

Anna: Get on with the gangbang!

Luke: Yeah, exactly.

Anna: So what I've got here is the word was allowed in the second edition of

the Scrabble dictionary, but then it got removed from the third edition and

then was reintroduced in the fourth.

Now apparently this is because it changed meaning over the time.

So gangbang, it's transitioned its meaning from participating

in gang related activities.

Luke: Right.

Gangbanging or to be a gangbanger.

Anna: Yeah.

Yes.

Yeah.

So, me and my gang are gonna go and hang out in the fields

and just make daisy chains.

We're just having a gangbang.

Luke: Um, I dunno about that.

I think it would be more like what, some guys going and

stealing a car or something, no?

Anna: Maybe.

Luke: Or maybe something as innocent as just collecting flowers.

Yeah.

Anna: Perhaps.

I've never been involved with any gang activities.

So, and some people might be listening, going, what on earth are they...?

Why are they laughing so much?

What is going on?

The like overarching meaning of this word that everyone knows it

for is a bunch of chaps having intimate relations with one woman.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: And so that's why we're kind of like sniggering and giggling.

Luke: About sex - lol.

Anna: So yes, initially it was thought of as gang related activities

to then something quite naughty.

And then it went back to meaning participating in gang related activities.

I don't know how that happens.

Luke: So as the word sort of drifted in and out of acceptability.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: The word has become because, 'cause yeah, in Scrabble...

Anna: It was in and out, in and out.

In and out.

Luke: Yeah.

That's another way of saying it, Anna, yeah.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: 'Cause in Scrabble, like rude or taboo or swear words are not allowed,

which I find completely wrong and disappointing because I mean, you

know, why exclude the swear words?

Anna: Maybe it's because it's not family friendly.

Luke: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Okay.

If you're playing it with your grandma, and you write, you know, you put down

gangbang and then, you know, you say, well, it's in the rules, grandma,

you're allowed to use that word.

Yeah, I suppose they're just trying to prevent those sort of family, potential

problems that could be caused by writing extremely rude words on a board.

I mean, it, you know, depends how committed you are to winning

the game, doesn't it really?

If you're like, I'm gonna risk it all.

And I'm gonna, I'm gonna write gangbang.

I don't care what my grandparents think.

I wanna win this game and I'm prepared to defend my choice.

I'll Google it in front of them if I have to.

Anna: And display the trophy with pride.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Okay.

So that's Scrabble.

We'll leave that there.

Luke: Okay.

Yeah.

Anna: So some, I think when it comes to board games, you're either a lover

of games that really take strategy and thinking, so they're like strategic

games that you have to use your brain.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: Or they're just a game of chance.

And I guess with younger children, a lot of their board games tend

to be just rolling a dice or, you know, picking the right card.

It's all a game of chance.

For example, Snakes and Ladders, the old classic Snakes and Ladders.

Luke: Snakes and Ladders.

Yeah.

Anna: You just have to get the right numbers and work your way up the board.

And what happens if you land on a ladder?

Luke: You climb up it.

If you land on a snake's head, just like in the real world,

you slide all the way down.

All the way down to its tail.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: I mean, yeah.

It's not based in, it's not a very realistic game, I suppose.

Anna: No.

Luke: You're more likely to get bitten by the snake, I suppose.

Especially if you land on its head.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: But anyway, yeah.

In terms of the game, yeah.

You climb up the ladder if you land at the bottom of it, if you're lucky enough.

And if you land on a snake's head, you slide all the way down to the bottom

and it's, yeah, the drama, the, ahh no!

Slide all the way down!

But yeah, the kids love it because it's pretty simple stuff.

Anna: Yeah.

Aging up again.

One of the things I used to play a lot as a child was Trivial Pursuit.

Did you ever play that?

Luke: Oh, yeah.

I love a bit of Trivial Pursuit.

Anna: What do you love about it?

Luke: I think the trivia more than the pursuit.

Anna: Right.

Luke: In fact, I'm quite happy sometimes to just get the box of cards and just

like, just ask me some questions.

Let's ask each other questions, you know?

Never mind about these bits of different coloured cheese in a wheel.

Like what?

Just ask the questions.

Anna: Yeah.

That's right.

I called it a pie in the notes, but you're right, it's a

wheel and it's cheeses, right?

Luke: Well, I don't know, 'cause like when you play Trivial Pursuit, people will

just decide to call it a pie or cheese.

It's cheese pies.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: I don't know really.

That's not written in the rules, is it?

I dunno.

Segments, segments.

Anna: It sounds really familiar.

As soon as you said cheese, that really made sense to me.

I was like, yeah, that's what we used to call it.

I couldn't remember.

I'm sure that's what it's written as.

You have a cheese.

Luke: Because Trivial Pursuit, it's got a kind of air of slight

sophistication about it and sort of, oh, we're very clever and sophisticated.

We know things about science and geography, and history

and literature and the arts.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: I don't think they're referring to those pieces as cheeses.

I think they call them segments.

Anna: Oh, oh yes.

Luke: I guess so.

I would imagine so.

Anna: That would be sensible.

Yeah.

So for those listening, Trivial Pursuit is basically a round board game?

Well, it has a big circle that you have to get around, and as you keep going around

it with your little piece that has loads of segments that are empty, you have

to fill up your, let's call it a pie.

You have to fill up your pie with all these little pieces.

And you get those pieces by landing on different colours,

which are different topics.

So you have things like sports and leisure, geography, arts and

literature, things like that.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: So different topics of questions and every time you land on

a square, you get asked that question.

If you can answer it, you get your cheese or your segment or whatever it is.

You get your piece.

Luke: Cheese is good.

Anna: And when you fill up your entire pie, wheel, then you no

longer have to keep going around.

You can move up the middle and it's the first person to then get, and

you have to roll the exact number.

It's so frustrating to get into the middle and then you are the winner, and

I think that's the downfall of the game.

Like you said, the fun is the trivia, it's answering the questions.

The boring bit is having to roll the dice and get the right numbers

to get to where you need to be.

Luke: But it's quite clever in the way that they've made the game where

if it wasn't for the board and the cheeses and the pies and going around

and collecting cheese and going to the middle, if it wasn't for that,

it would essentially just be a list of questions under different topics.

Anna: It'd be a quiz.

Luke: It'd just be a quiz.

They could have sold it as a book.

Anna: Yeah.

Just gone to the pub, gone to a pub quiz.

Luke: Yeah, exactly yeah.

No, obviously this is the joy of the board game as a thing that there's a

board and you wait your turn, you roll some dice and yeah, you know, the ritual

of a board game is a fantastic thing.

And so yeah, let's just turn a quiz into a board game.

And they've done a very good job.

It's one of the most successful board games that's ever been created.

Anna: Lots of versions of it.

I think for me, one of the downfalls is that it does go out of date.

If you are young, it goes out of date for you quite quickly.

So I was quite young when I started playing this, and there were questions

about like, politics and things.

I was a kid.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: I had no idea about, if you had like arts and leisure and it's about movies and

things, it could be very much of its time and not as relevant or well-known, so...

Luke: Also quite American-centric as well.

Some of the early, maybe the first edition.

That's the one I think that we've got at my parents' house.

It's always funny playing Trivial Pursuit with my parents that edition

because there's always a moment where everyone sort of sneers at the game.

This is written by an American, you know, like.

'Cause all the questions are about American public figures and American

this and American that I think.

So it's always quite funny when that, I mean, at some point someone gets it wrong.

And there's, this is an American, isn't it who wrote this?

Anna: You can always update the cards, just buy a fresh box I guess.

Luke: Yeah, yeah.

Anna: And just swap them in.

I'm gonna ask you a few questions now.

Luke: Okay.

Anna: Are you ready?

Luke: Uh, no.

Anna: No?

Luke: But I'll answer them anyway.

Anna: Okay.

So this one is a, what topic is this?

It gives you a clue when you know the topic.

So this is a sports and leisure question.

Luke: Sports and leisure.

Okay.

Anna: True or false?

Competitive tickling exists.

Luke: Competitive tickling.

That's when you tickle someone...

Anna: Like when you like, rub them with your fingers to make them laugh.

Luke: The ribs, under the arms, the soles of the feet,

competitive tickling, true or false?

It's, I'm gonna say it's true.

I think it's true.

Anna: You are correct.

You get a cheese.

Luke: Oh, brilliant.

Yeah.

Competitive tickling.

Yeah.

Right.

I wonder what the rules are for that, that you...

Anna: Maybe it's that you have to make the other person wet themselves laughing.

Luke: You get bonus points if, yeah, if they wet themselves.

Anna: Yeah.

I'm going to divulge, my dad when I was younger, used to tickle me

until it was just uncomfortable.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: He would just tickle me and I'd be like, no, please stop.

Please stop.

Please stop.

And once he tickled me until I wet myself.

Luke: Oh my God.

Really?

Anna: Yeah.

It was horrendous.

I was like, look what you made me do!

He was so good at tickling and I just, I couldn't resist.

It was awful.

Luke: Yeah.

Well, when you know someone, and you know, that you, you

know exactly how to tickle them.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: Then it's very hard not to tickle them, isn't it?

Yeah.

But you should probably stop before that person has to change

their trousers or something.

Anna: Yeah.

I was a child.

I mean, it's not like I did this as an adult, you know?

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: So we'll forgive me for that one.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: But the next question on my list is a...

Luke: Science and nature.

FE is the abbreviation of which element on the periodic table?

Okay.

I did study chemistry at school.

Anna: Good.

Luke: I think this is one of the only ones I remember along with Au, which is gold.

Eh, you!

Now there's, there's no joke there, you think about it.

But Fe is, is it iron?

Anna: That's right.

Luke: Yes.

Anna: Well done.

Luke: Yes.

Anna: Ding ding!

You get two stars or two cheeses, confused the game.

Okay, last question 'cause I don't wanna drag this out too much.

Luke: Okay.

Anna: A and L is arts and literature.

Luke: Arts and literature.

Anna: Which classic novel opens with the line "Call me Ishmael."

Luke: Call me Ishmael.

I don't know.

I have no idea.

I should probably guess, but I'm not going to.

Anna: Okay.

Luke: But I don't know who is...what's that?

Anna: Moby Dick.

Luke: Oh, right.

Anna: Have you read it?

Luke: I should have known that.

Have you read it?

Anna: I haven't read it.

Have you read it?

Luke: No, I haven't read it, but I'd like to read it.

But I'm put off by the fact that it's exceedingly long.

Anna: Yeah.

Like War and Peace.

Luke: Yeah.

Yeah.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Exactly.

Anna: Okay, so I have one question for the listeners at home, so please don't

answer this Luke, you can message me later if you think you know the answer.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: If you are listening and you are listening or watching on YouTube, then

you can write the answer in the comments.

The question is, what is the only country to start with the letter O?

Luke: Don't Google it, folks.

Anna: Yeah, don't cheat.

Luke: Use your brain.

Anna: Okay, so that's Trivial Pursuit.

So now one of the most played board games in the world, and it's also

the most owned board or board game in the UK is, what do you think?

Luke: Um.

Hmm.

Hmm.

Anna: Like a standard piece of kit in everyone's house?

Luke: Cluedo.

Anna: Oh no, I don't have a Cluedo set here.

Luke: Oh, okay.

So it's not Cluedo.

Well, it, can we go back to the classics like chess?

Anna: Chess.

Luke: Chess, okay.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Yeah.

I feel like chess is an ancient game or something.

Anna: It is.

It dates back to the sixth sixth century.

Luke: The sixth century.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Not the sick century where everyone was sick with the plague.

Anna: Well, they probably were quite sick in the sixth century.

Luke: I expect so.

But the sixth century.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: So that's 500 to 599 AD.

Anna: I'll trust you on that one.

Yeah.

I don't do mental maths.

Maths.

Luke: I'm pretty sure that's right.

Okay.

It's the dark ages.

Anna: Yes.

It's a very old game, which means that some of the rules and

the way the players move on the board is quite bizarre, really.

Can you remember what all the, you said in the previous episode,

our little chat about Monopoly, that you don't really do chess?

Luke: I love chess.

Don't get me wrong.

I love chess.

I'm fascinated by chess.

I do play chess sometimes, but it's too, it's a little beyond me.

Anna: Okay.

Luke: But I know the rules.

So you've got your castles, I call them castles, on the corners.

Anna: Yeah.

Yeah.

Are they, they're supposed to be, 'cause I call them castles too.

But aren't they like rooks?

Are they rooks?

Luke: Rooks.

Rooks.

Yeah.

That's right.

They should be called rooks, I think.

And they go horizontally and vertically.

Anna: Uh-huh.

Luke: Then you've got...

Anna: So straight lines.

I just think about they go in straight lines.

Luke: Straight lines.

Exactly.

Left, right up, down.

Anna: But then I guess a diagonal is a straight,

Luke: Ehh.

Anna: It's straight, it doesn't deviate.

Luke: Yeah.

True.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: It's not curved, is it, diagonal?

Anna: No.

Luke: Anyway.

Anna: Straight line.

Luke: Up, down, left, right.

These are the rooks.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Then, you've got the knights.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: Or horses.

Anna: The little horseys.

Luke: Yeah, little horses.

And they do an interesting L shape, which is quite interesting.

They can go forward three and right one or forward three and left one.

Anna: Is it forward three?

Yeah, it is forward three.

Luke: It's like, yeah.

Anna: From the one they're on, then two forward from there, right?

Luke: Yeah.

They can kind of go in any direction in that pattern, like,

you know, or they can go right.

And then, oh, I just can't!

L shapes.

Anna: Yeah.

L shape.

So it's actually two from the square they're on.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: They can only move two more squares forward.

Luke: Oh, is it two?

Anna: Yeah.

I don't think it's three.

Luke: It's not three.

Anna: Because if you are starting your horse, or your knight...

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: You can jump over.

It's the only player that can jump.

Luke: Of course it's two.

Yeah.

Anna: So it jumps over the pawn.

We'll come back to those, jump over the pawn and then move across.

Luke: Right.

Anna: So it's only two forward and one across.

Luke: Yeah.

Okay.

And, you know, in any variation of that, that pattern basically, you know?

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Luke: Which is interesting.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: And then you've got the bishops.

Anna: Oh yes, they're wonky lines.

Luke: They go in diagonal...

Anna: Not wonky lines!

Luke: Diagonal lines that you got one on the white squares,

one on the black squares.

And they can command the diagonal lines, as it were.

Anna: Axis.

Luke: Axes.

Yeah.

And then you've got the queen and the king.

The queen is the boss of the game.

Anna: Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it?

Luke: Brilliant.

Yeah.

Anna: She's so strong as a player.

But the king...

Luke: Fully the strongest player on the board.

But the king is bloody useless in terms of being able to do anything.

All the king does is run away, doesn't he?

He will hide.

Anna: Yeah.

Behind all the other players.

Luke: He can take pieces, but it's rare.

But the queen is just amazing.

She can go straight lines, diagonal lines.

Anna: She can't do a horse move though.

Luke: She can't do a horse...

Anna: Or a knight move, a knight move.

Luke: Correct.

She can't do that.

She can't jump like like that.

Yeah.

And, and the king can only can move in any direction, but only one square at a time.

Anna: Yeah.

Which is exactly the same as...

oh no, pawns.

They can only move one square, but they...

Luke: Two squares their first move.

They can go two.

Anna: That's right.

Their first steps.

But they can't move backwards.

They can only move forwards.

Luke: They take other pieces by going diagonally.

Anna: Diagonally.

That's right.

Luke: But when they get to the end...

Anna: You can swap them for any player that's been taken off the board.

Luke: Yeah, you can.

So if you've lost your queen, but one little pawn has just like made

it all the way to the end, somehow.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: All the others have like, wait a minute.

Where's that pawn gone?

Oh, he's got to the end.

Anna: Oh no!

Luke: And then you could replace that one with a queen and

suddenly, pow I'm back, bitches!

Anna: You can have two queens on the board at any one time as well, right?

Luke: Can you?

Anna: So if you, I think if you already have your queen and then you

get a pawn to the other end maybe.

This is a bad rule that I've been playing.

Luke: People listening do know more about chess than us.

This is just Luke and Anna talk about a game they don't really understand.

Anna: Well, I taught myself chess as a young child from a book that

was also pretty old, and I wasn't very good at reading at the time.

So, you know, I'm probably making some rules up as I go.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: But yeah, chess is one of those games that if you understand it,

and if you've got the kind of mind that can remember strategies and you

can think several moves ahead, then it could be over really quickly.

And people play speed chess, don't they?

Where they're just like, pow, pow, pow, pow, pow.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: They're hitting the clock and moving their piece and it's just done.

Whereas when I play chess, I often get to the point where there's just

two pieces left a player, a piece per player, and you're just constantly

moving around the board trying to, and you just can't end the game

until you just go, d'you know what?

Luke: Stalemate.

Anna: I give up, I give up.

Luke: Yeah.

Where there's just two pieces chasing each other around the board.

It's completely stupid.

But yeah, I mean it's a fascinating game though 'cause of the level of intelligence

that can be applied to it and these chess grandmasters are absolutely amazing.

Anna: Yeah, so there's two that I've got in the notes, which is Magnus Carlson.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: And Beth Harmon.

Now, there was a really interesting drama that was made about Beth Harmon.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: And that was called The Queen's Gambit.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Which is really, even if you are not into chess, if you are interested in

chess, it was still a really great drama.

That I recommend to viewers, listeners.

Luke: Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Anna: Did you watch it?

Luke: Yeah, I did watch it.

Yeah.

Anna: Do you know what gambit means?

Luke: Isn't a gambit a sort of a strategy, like a kind of a move that you would

do, a kind of specific strategic move?

Anna: Yeah.

It's like a clever move or a clever opening move that gives you an advantage,

but it's not necessarily seen or deemed to be an advantageous move.

So like giving up your queen or giving up a valuable piece going, oh, you

just took my queen, how silly of me.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: But really you've got something in mind that you're like,

their next move, checkmate, pow!

I tricked you.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: So, yeah.

Luke: Yeah.

Yeah, there's a lot of obviously kind of mental strategy involved in it too, in

the sense of like coming into a game of chess, sitting in front of your opponent.

Your opponent will, a bit like in a game of poker or something.

Anna: Poker face.

Luke: Your opponent will...yeah, use poker face or you, you maybe use your opponent's

first impressions of you against them.

So every now and then YouTube will suggest these chess videos to me.

Anna: Oh, right.

Luke: And it's, there's a girl, I can't remember her name now, unfortunately,

but she is sort of in her twenties.

I think both her parents were chess grandmasters.

Anna: Right.

Luke: And so she's fairly like, so she goes to these chess games in the park,

you know, in like New York or other cities in the States where there are

these guys who spend their whole day there playing chess with each other.

And they do a lot of like trash talking.

While they're playing the game, these guys are trash talking and sort

of, you know, bantering and sort of talking up their game quite a lot.

And this girl comes in, she doesn't look like she's gonna be a chess grandmaster.

And so these guys are super confident and they totally underestimate her

and they trash talk her and stuff.

And she like gives quite a good trash talk back.

It's really interesting to watch.

I don't really, I don't understand what's going on on the board, you can

see the board on the screen as well.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: I don't understand it.

I can't work out the moves, but it's interesting just to see the behaviour

of these opponents of hers change where they're like giving it...

Anna: The realisation.

Luke: Yeah, they're giving it all this really, really overconfident talk.

And then after about five or six moves, they changed totally.

And they're like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, this is gonna, this is gonna be difficult.

Oh, this is gonna be difficult.

Oh, you don't move on me now.

You know, all this kind of thing.

And it's just really funny to see the interaction and to see how they deal with

the fact that actually she's really good.

And often it's only within about four or five moves that they can work out that

she's really, she really knows what she's doing and they work it out just when

the within a few moves and you think, my God, the way these guys are playing,

they're just like thinking so far ahead.

You know all the possibilities.

It is like kind of like you have to have a very mathematical mind in a way

to be able to do all these different algorithms and calculations all instantly.

Amazing.

Yeah.

Anna: So it's like being, what's the term?

Like being a card shark.

If someone or, there's a term, or like when people come in to play pool and

they put some money down and say...

Luke: Hustler.

Anna: A hustler.

That's it.

You can hustle people and be like, oh yeah, I don't really know what I'm doing,

but let's put a hundred pounds on it.

A hundred pounds?

Yeah, sure.

And then you're like, I'm amazing.

I'm gonna win.

Luke: Yeah.

Or you lose your first game on purpose and you're like, you

know what, I wanna try again.

You know, I'm enjoying this.

Let's raise the stakes.

Let's do it for $500 this time.

And they're like, sure, okay.

If you really want to, you know, maybe I can teach you a thing or two.

And then they really raise their game and suddenly they've made

loads of money from those people.

Yeah.

Anna: Pow!

Talking about money, how much do you think the most expensive

chessboard in the world is?

'Cause you can get all sorts of different, like gorgeous chess

boards, but what's the most expensive?

Luke: The most expensive chess board in the world?

Anna: In dollars, let's do it in dollars.

Luke: I dunno.

I mean, we talked about the most expensive Monopoly board being...

Anna: Which was crazy.

Luke: $2 million.

I think the chess board's gonna be more, I'd say it's gonna be $5 million.

All made of pure diamond,

Anna: You can double that or just about double it.

$9.8 million is the most expensive.

It's a Jewel Royale chessboard.

And the pieces are obviously quite heavy.

They're made of pure gold.

So they're not gold plated.

Luke: Wow.

Anna: They made a pure gold and encrusted with diamonds and other precious gems.

Luke: Jesus!

Anna: And it all, it would probably be like too magnificent to play with.

You just look at it, keep it in a locked cabinet.

Luke: It does raise the question, why buy that if you're not even gonna, like,

it's an object that's designed to be played and you're just gonna leave it.

Anna: Well, it'd be a statement, wouldn't it?

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Don't touch the chessboard.

Very good.

I do like to have a nice chessboard.

I have bought chessboards as gifts for people.

I think it is something nice to have in the house.

Just, you know, like having a globe.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: In the house, which, you know, opens up to reveal the drink.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: I don't drink very much anymore, but I used to have one of those.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Having a nice chessboard.

I think they, these are just nice pieces of, not furniture, but

things to have around the house.

Luke: Absolutely.

Yeah.

Chessboards, they can be very beautiful things indeed.

That's true.

And there's something very satisfying about the objects if

they're very nicely made, yeah.

Anna: Yeah.

And another classic, of course, which we talked about on your podcast is Monopoly.

Now, I'm not gonna go deep into this, but this is the kind of game that can

really bring families together and teach them some really good lessons, but also

has a reputation for tearing families apart and causing horrendous arguments.

But there is a really interesting fact about Monopoly that we didn't

cover in your podcast, so it might be good to touch on now.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: In World War II, the Nazis let allied prisoners, prisoners

of war, play board games.

Luke: That's nice of them.

Anna: Yeah, it's very nice of them.

Luke: How nice of them.

Anna: So the British government was even allowed to send some of these games

to the soldiers who were incarcerated.

So, the government kind of worked with the game producers.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: To hide items and like real money within the game.

So in the stash of paper money, they'd hide real bills.

Luke: Okay.

Anna: And then rather than the kind of the tokens, the pieces that you'd

play with, they gave them like little things that they could use to escape,

like, lock picks and things like that.

Luke: Oh my gosh.

Anna: Yeah.

And files so they could like file their way out of their chains or whatever,

Luke: Sort of like hidden within the within the box or

within the board or something.

Or even the little items themselves could be used to like file away

the bars of a jail or something.

Anna: It says here, oh compasses.

Luke: Wow.

And they actually used them to escape.

That's, yeah, incredible.

Anna: Okay, so I'm gonna move on quickly 'cause I know that

you are pressed for time.

I love that expression.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: To be pressed for time.

You are running short on it.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: So, some of the more unusual games that I would still call classics because

they were a big part of my childhood.

The first is Kerplunk.

Did you ever play Kerplunk?

Luke: Yeah.

Yeah.

We had a Kerplunk game at my grandma's house.

Anna: Yeah, and this is quite unusual.

It's not a typical board game, although it is listed as a board game.

It's like a plastic tube with, and you shove loads of plastic

straws to block the tube.

And then...

Luke: Yeah.

Lots of, yeah...

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Loads of plastic needles kind of thing stuck inside

little holes in the tube.

Anna: Yeah.

Yeah.

Very long ones.

And they're not sharp, are they?

They're child safe.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: And then you, and they block the way to the bottom of this like tube, and

then you pour loads of marbles in the top.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: And then the idea is to remove these kind of straws or needles

without dislodging any of the marbles.

And at some point you remove a needle and some marbles come crashing down.

But that's not the end of the game.

It's only the end when all the marbles have fallen.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: So you have to get to the end without having too many marbles.

Luke: If you're the one who lets the last marble fall, you lose.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: So it's kind of along the lines of like the Jenga, you

know, game that everyone knows.

Jenga.

And also there's another one where you have these sticks with different colours

and you let the sticks all fall in a pile and then you have to pick up the sticks

without letting the other sticks move.

Anna: Oh, I haven't played that one.

Luke: Yeah, they play it in France quite a lot.

So you get a bunch of these sticks.

They've got different colours on them that represent different points.

Anna: Right.

Luke: Some of them are more valuable than others, and you have to very

carefully take the sticks away from the pile without letting the others move.

And it's really interesting.

You can use other sticks to help you prise them off.

Anna: Ahh.

Luke: They've got pointed ends, so you can press your finger down on the end and

it makes the stick lift off the table.

But it's not really a pub game because if you've had a couple of drinks, then you're

like, oh, let's play the stick game.

And then, you know, you've got to be very careful when you play it.

Anna: Is it called Pick Up Sticks?

Luke: I can't remember.

Maybe, maybe, maybe that's the UK version.

I dunno, I can't remember what they call it in France now.

Anna: Well, the being very careful reminds me of one of my most fun games

of my childhood is the game of Operation.

Luke: Oh, God.

Can't stand it.

Anna: What, do you get nervous?

Luke: Just can't stand Operation.

Can't do it.

Anna: Why?

Luke: It's just horrible.

Like, I don't know.

Again, maybe I had a bad experience of playing it with other kids when I

was young and it was just, you know, one of those times when you're at

someone's house and it was horrible.

But nah, nah, no.

Anna: One very fun game that I'm sure you would like is Hungry Hippos.

Luke: Hungry Hippos.

Yeah.

It's fun to an extent.

Anna: Well, as much as bashing on a lever.

Luke: Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.

Yeah.

Bang, bang, bang.

Get the hippos to eat all of the red balls.

If they get yellow balls, that's even better.

Right?

Because there's red balls and a couple of yellow balls in there

too, which are worth more points.

And dang dang dang dang dang dang dang, that's good for, for me now 10 minutes

maximum is all I can ta ta ta ta.

And then I'm like, ah, you know what, let's, can we just,

can we play Monopoly instead?

Anna: Yeah, my sons love to play it over and over and over again.

But then they also like stashing.

So at one point, my two year old would just start taking the marbles while

I'm playing with my four year old and putting them in different places.

Like one in the kitchen.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: One inside the crocodile's mouth.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: One in the cupboard.

And I'm just like, where have all the marbles gone?

What's happened?

Luke: Another reason why the game makes me uncomfortable.

Just it's quite a messy game.

It's just, uh...

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: No, it makes me a bit uncomfortable.

Uncomfortable and stressed.

A bit like Operation.

Anna: Yes.

Well, one very messy game that you might not have heard of is Monster Mash.

Luke: No, don't know it, no.

Anna: So I've never been able to find this, but we played it as kids, and it's

basically you each have a big lump of Play-Doh with a monster's head stuck

in the top, and that's your piece.

And you just go round a very basic board when you are rolling the dice and

when you land on someone, you just mash your monster on top of their monster

and kind of just take over them, like the Body Snatchers and your monster

becomes twice as big and that person is out because you've just mashed

them, until you become this humongous, four piece, four-bodied monster having

mashed the other players on the board.

Luke: Okay.

Yeah.

Again, no, not for me because like Play-Doh, of all the kids' toys,

Play-Doh is not one of my, I can't, no.

Anna: Really?

Luke: Nah, no.

Anna: Wow.

Luke: It's too messy.

And it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Anna: It is messy.

It is messy.

I love Play-Doh.

I think the kids have a really great time with Play-Doh.

It keeps them quiet.

So we always take Play-Doh in the backpack when we're at

restaurants or going out somewhere.

Luke: Yeah.

Yeah.

Anna: And they just play for hours with the Play-Doh.

My sister-in-law said, "I hate Play-Doh".

Just like you.

It's too messy, too messy.

But then asked, what would your children like as a present for Christmas?

And I said, they love Play-Doh.

How about like a Play-Doh Set?

Play-Doh do all kinds of sets.

So why not maybe like the dentist set where the Play-Doh are the teeth

and they can practise dental hygiene.

Oral hygiene.

Luke: Mm-hmm.

Anna: Or maybe the pizza making set.

She's like, "Leave it with me.

I'll sort it out.

I don't like play by myself.

It's too messy, but leave it with me."

Guess what she got?

Luke: The messiest Play-Doh set she could find.

Anna: It's the hoover Play-Doh set where you have a sprinkler that makes

tiny, teeny weeny, little teeny pieces of Play-Doh and spreads it all over so

that then you can then hoover it up.

But the hoover is, you know, there's no way to take it apart.

And so it's just full of Play-Doh.

So if you want to save any of the Play-Doh and to work again,

you have to pick it all out.

It's horrific.

Luke: Oh, stop.

It sounds like my worst nightmare.

Like a game that's designed to turn Play-Doh into Play-Doh dust.

Uh oh.

Oh, no, no.

Can't.

Can't do it.

Anna: Yeah.

Okay, so I'm gonna, I'm gonna bring it to a close 'cause I know

you are, you've got no more time.

Oh yeah.

But, one of the more recent players in the gaming market is one

that's caused a lot of hilarity.

And it's Cards against Humanity.

Luke: Yeah.

Not a kid's game.

So going from Play-Doh and Hungry Hippos and Operation, which are absolutely

children's games to Cards Against Humanity, which is definitely one to play

when the kids are in bed fast asleep.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Yeah.

It is a set of cards that are just a lot of them.

It's just filth, right?

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: It's the kind of thing that will shock and yeah, just...

Luke: Disgust.

Anna: Yeah.

Yeah.

Luke: It's the most shocking and disgusting and offensive

stuff that they could think of.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: That they put into the game.

Yeah.

Anna: Yeah, yeah.

I've had a few awkward evenings with people, like neighbours that we're just

trying to get to know, and they're like, should we play Cards Against Humanity?

Yeah, sure.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Awkward.

Very awkward.

Or grandma, um, I saw this new game, apparently it's quite popular.

Could we play?

Luke: It's got a very high rating on Amazon.

Anna: Okay, grandma.

What, what does this word mean?

Maybe don't Google that, grandma.

Luke: So how does Cards Against Humanity work again?

It's basically, I can't remember now, yeah.

Anna: So it's something like creating sentences.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: You have to put sentences together.

It gives you some horrific endings or beginnings of sentences and you

have to complete it or something.

Luke: Yeah, that's right.

There's a, sort of a, the beginning of a statement, and then you've

got a number of cards in your hand.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: And you have to choose the card which you think is

best to complete that statement.

And all the cards in your hand are horrible, offensive, rude things.

I mean, it's fun when you're with your friends, of course, because you

know, it's just a thing that makes everyone shocked and it's, you know,

it can be laugh out loud funny.

Anna: Mm-hmm.

Luke: You know, when you're with people that you know and you know

that there's no danger of offending anyone, it's all just for fun.

And, you know, you can come out with some pretty hilarious and disgusting things.

You pass your card in and the person whose turn it is reads out all of the

statements and then everyone decides which one they think is the best.

Anna: Yes.

Luke: And that person...

Anna: The one that's the funniest.

Luke: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Anna: Yeah.

That one wins.

Luke: Yeah, that's right.

Anna: Yeah.

So on that note, thank you so much Luke for joining me.

Listeners, if you are interested in hearing a little bit more of a deep

dive into Monopoly, then do head to the show notes to go and listen

to that other episode on Luke's channel, Luke's English Podcast.

Thank you so much.

Luke: Thank you, Anna.

It's really good fun.

I'd love to just play a board game now.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: But, gotta go, like, go to the supermarket and

then cook dinner, you know?

You know the way it is.

Anna: Yeah.

You got some important life stuff coming up, so, uh...

Luke: Absolutely.

Anna: You've gotta get your game in order.

Luke: Yeah.

The real game of life.

Anna: The game of life.

Yeah.

Luke: Yeah.

Anna: Yeah.

Luke: Okay.

Anna: Okay.

Thank you.

Luke: Alright, lovely to speak to you again, Anna.

Anna: And you, take care.

Luke: You too.

Anna: And bye.

Luke: Bye-bye.