https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2026/6/17/15/1c8fbf5e-91b0-4f0f-9891-4b2dfc746384_block_koala_reintroduction.mp3

I didn&#39;t even bother trying to put my digressions in any kind of order here so bear with me. I was holding the mic and yelling for some reason so it&#39;s peaky and there&#39;s a sound like my stomach grumbling sometimes but here we are and we&#39;re back, and so on.Episode spoiler: The book club beginning...at some point...is going to be covering the first couple (?) of chapters Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas by Natasha Dow Schüll.I mentioned this so here you go: https://mastodon.social/@theodoraward

An Announcement

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2025/12/15/1/9d1219c8-cecd-4a71-8226-d220312d928a_eppy_6.mp3

Episode 5

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2025/11/2/13/bdfb24e3-8f70-4649-a33c-1b53ba82024f_ep_5_final_mixdown.mp3

We&#39;re confused. We&#39;re trying our best 0:00 - intro20:14 - I try again, kind of32:57 - I make a note that there&#39;s a weirdly &#34;serious&#34; digression later, though I maybe overstate its seriousness, though maybe not33:49 - Back to the &#34;action&#34;49:35 - Aforementioned digression1:01:36 - &#34;Block Koala&#34; Level 4 Stuff I mention and context etc.:Eggplant: The Secret Life of Games Discord // http://discord.gg/eggplantStephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux, Metagaming // https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816687169/metagaming/Joey Schutz, &#34;To Kill a Dragon: Video Games and Addiction&#34; (the blog post I was talking about) // https://blog.joeyschutz.com/to-kill-a-dragon-video-games-and-addiction/Bernard Suits, The Grasshopper (&#34;The Suits Book&#34;) // https://broadviewpress.com/product/the-grasshopper-third-edition/#tab-descriptionAlfred Archer, &#34;How to Destroy an Epistemic Game: Epistemic Triflers, Cheats and Spoilsports&#34; (An academic paper I found on Google and looked at while riffing on the trifler/cheater/spoilsport trifecta. The website title is pretty funny) // https://philarchive.org/archive/ARCHTD World of Warcraft // https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com/en-us/&#34;Best Fishing Locations in World of Warcraft Classic&#34; // https://www.wowhead.com/classic/guide/best-fishing-pools-farming-locations-classic-wowAnyAustin, &#34;Where Do Skyrim&#39;s Rivers Come From?&#34; // https://youtu.be/69u_Pxb_8zI?si=H9b6kCZD5llmXJmt AnyAustin, Unemployment Count Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLs1_AOpP2yz4rroQz25ezXH_iT8_KGufR(Secret zones in World of Warcraft: https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Old_Ironforge // https://wowpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Mount_Hyjal#The_zone_before_Cataclysm)Hollow Knight: Silksong // https://hollowknightsilksong.com/Scott Rigby, &#34;Intrinsic and Extrinsic Player Motivation: Implications for Design and Player Retention&#34; (GDC talk that I don&#39;t think is the one I&#39;m thinking of but whatever) https://gdcvault.com/play/1015568/Intrinsic-and-Extrinsic-Player-Motivation--Victoria M. E. Bridgland, Payton J. Jones, and Benjamin W. Bellet, &#34;A Meta-Analysis of the Efficacy of Trigger Warnings, Content Warnings, and Content Notes&#34; // (https://doi.org/10.1177/21677026231186625)Natasha Dow Schüll, Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas // https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691160887/addiction-by-design (here&#39;s an NYU Game Center talk about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3y2HTYGLCiA)Balatro // https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/Luck be a Landlord // https://store.steampowered.com/app/1404850/Luck_be_a_Landlord/CloverPit (&#34;evil slots&#34;) // https://store.steampowered.com/app/3314790/CloverPit/I mention, once again, as if I hadn&#39;t before, Joey Schutz, &#34;To Kill a Dragon: Video Games and Addiction&#34; // https://blog.joeyschutz.com/to-kill-a-dragon-video-games-and-addiction/Nathan Grayson, &#34;&#39;One More Turn&#39; Doesn&#39;t Always Mean a Game is Good&#34; (critical article on &#34;One More Turn&#34;) // https://aftermath.site/aftermath-hours-podcast-civilization-vii-one-more-turnPaul Solotaroff and Eli Senor, &#34;There&#39;s Now a Casino in Everyone&#39;s Pocket. For Some Young Men, It&#39;s A Near-Fatal Gamble&#34; (one emblematic &#34;young men doing crazy parleys on the toilet&#34; article) // https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/mobile-sports-betting-gambling-addiction-fanduel-draftkings-1235444172/ Wikipedia, &#34;Binge Watching&#34; // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binge-watchingAustin Perlmutter, &#34;The Truth about Dopamine and Your Brain&#34; // https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-modern-brain/202403/the-truth-about-dopamine-and-your-brainPeter Grinspoon, &#34;Dopamine fasting: Misunderstanding science spawns a maladaptive fad&#34; // https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/dopamine-fasting-misunderstanding-science-spawns-a-maladaptive-fad-2020022618917Diablo // https://www.gog.com/en/game/diabloGenshin Impact // https://genshin.hoyoverse.com/en/Sara Abdul Qader, &#34;Doomscrolling and the Dopamine Loop: How Endless Scrolling Is Rewiring Our Brains&#34; // https://www.medreport.foundation/post/doomscrolling-and-the-dopamine-loop-how-endless-scrolling-is-rewiring-our-brainsJody Macgregor, &#34;Every Warhammer 40,000 Game, Ranked&#34; // https://www.pcgamer.com/best-warhammer-40k-games/&#34;Horus Heresy Omnibus XIV: Shadow of the Warmaster II: Lords of Death&#34; // https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus/xiv-shadow-of-the-warmaster-ii-lords-of-deathUFO50 // https://50games.fun/Twilight Imperium // https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/twilight-imperium-fourth-edition/&#34;The Pin, In Case You Want Proof&#34; // https://i.imgur.com/wDgUb4i.jpegStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, &#34;Locke&#39;s Political Philosophy: 4. Consent, Political Obligation, and the Ends of Government&#34; // https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/locke-political/#ConsPoliObliEndsGoveFred Block, &#34;The Problem with a Job Guarantee&#34; (for a critique of the job guarantee as a political stance with which I think I&#39;m broadly sympathetic) // https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/the-problem-with-a-job-guarantee/Erik Baker, Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted America // https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674293601 // (I haven&#39;t read this one but I did listen to this PODCAST EPISODE about it lol https://www.dissentmagazine.org/blog/know-your-enemy-the-entrepreneurial-ethic/) -Wikipedia, &#34;Lupercalia&#34; // https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia (I want the record to show that I am not endorsing a return to this particular ritual practice)Caroline Walker Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast: The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women (an example of scholarship about the symbolic and religious significance of food of which I have only read the first chapter but I&#39;ve heard it&#39;s really good and have been wanting to read it for literally ten years so maybe I will soon idk) // https://www.ucpress.edu/books/holy-feast-and-holy-fast/paperStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, &#34;Qualia&#34; // https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/qualia/&#34;Block Koala&#34; // https://ufo50.miraheze.org/wiki/Block_KoalaFrancis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: The Sacred Work of Grief (I read this a long time ago idk take rec with a grain of salt if you want ????? Idk???????) https://www.francisweller.net/the-wild-edge-of-sorrow-the-sacred-work-of-grief.htmlThe Dhammapada, Chapter 17, Anger (&#34;the Buddhist tradition...holds that anger is not something to be exorcised&#34;) // https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp17/Sophie L. Kjærvik and Brad J. Bushman, &#34;A meta-analytic review of anger management activities that increase or decrease arousal: What fuels or douses rage?&#34; (&#34;punching a punching bag&#34;)// https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272735824000357Suzie Pileggi Pawelski and James Pawelski, &#34;Why Venting Might Not Actually Be Good for You&#34; (I say this is a study and it&#39;s definitely actually just an article by a couple of randos but it links to studies) // https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/contributors/suzie-pileggi-pawelski-mapp-and-james-pawelski-phdCinco Paus // https://smestorp.itch.io/cinco-paus--Mordaak, &#34;Block Koala Level 4&#34; // https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCDrchVxHog&amp;list=PL8LHCrRpkbTreIXdAdySxx0EIimZSA0Vw&amp;index=5GuyWithLegs, &#34;Block Koala&#39;s Cherry + Ending! | UFO 50: The Gold Disk Journey!&#34; // https://youtu.be/GAwa1OffiXA?si=lnpFqeBMeAKKcLX6Isles of Sea &amp; Sky // https://islesofseaandsky.com/Theodor Adorno, &#34;51. Memento,&#34; from Minima Moralia (for what I was like maybe basing this utterly nonsensical bit on? Re: &#34;fundamental aesthetic coherence&#34;) // https://read.seas.harvard.edu/~kohler/z/adornoonwriting.html

Episode 4

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2025/10/11/13/f8bfb57b-2d83-4efe-8d18-fca874401e4a_episode_4.mp3

We&#39;re talking books. We&#39;re talking cards. We&#39;re talking games, and gaming...

Episode 3

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2025/10/1/12/f42412fe-f424-49f1-95d9-275c3a8490a9_episode_3_edited.mp3

We&#39;re getting real with block koala

Episode 2

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2025/9/24/23/ce5e9077-cf87-42a4-a7b7-c03617b1a7f6_episode_0_pt_2_and_episode_1_pt_1.mp3

We take care of some business...then get into the action

A Year of Block Koala: Episode 0, pt. 2 / Episode 1, pt. 1

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2025/9/22/15/22bb8452-2da8-4e65-997d-0b90deffae92_a_year_of_block_koala__episode_0__part_1.mp3

In which the premise of the podcast is established