The Gaming with Science Podcast looks at the intersection of science and tabletop board games, with the occasional dip into video games, RPGs, game theory, or whatever else the dice roll up. If you ever wondered how natural selection shows up in Evolution, whether Cytosis reflects actual cell metabolism, or what the socioeconomics of Monopoly are, this is the place for you. (And if not, we hope you’ll give us a try anyway.) So grab a drink, pull out some dice, and let’s get gaming with science!
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The Gaming with Science Podcast looks at the intersection of science and tabletop board games, with the occasional dip into video games, RPGs, game theory, or whatever else the dice roll up. If you ever wondered how natural selection shows up in Evolution, whether Cytosis reflects actual cell metabolism, or what the socioeconomics of Monopoly are, this is the place for you. (And if not, we hope you’ll give us a try anyway.) So grab a drink, pull out some dice, and let’s get gaming with science!
#Holotype #BrexwerxGames #CommonDescentPodcast #Dinosaurs #Paleontology #BoardGames #Science
Summary
Break out your pick and hand brush because in this episode we discuss "Holotype" by Brexwerx Games, and are joined by the wonderful Will and David from the Common Descent podcast. This isn't just another game about dinosaurs; it's a game about the people who dig them up, clean them off, hit the library and museum to cross-check them, and finally publish the coveted holotype to ensconce a new dinosaur (or marine reptile or pterosaur) in the annals of science. This was a great game chock full of scientific meat (and bones?), so come with us into the world of paleontology with Holotype.
Timestamps
00:00 - Introduction
01:26 - Borealopelta
03:59 - Dinosaur vomit, poo, and pee
07:42 - Game introduction & mechanics
14:47 - What is a holotype?
19:15 - Gameplay & strategic depth
22:27 - Scientific accuracy
32:06 - Public & private goals
36:07 - Dinosaur (& other) groupings
44:06 - Trace fossils
48:09 - Nitpick corner
53:33 - Final grades
Find our socials at https://www.gamingwithscience.net
Links
Holotype (Brexwerx Games): https://www.brexwerxgames.com/products/holotype-mesozoic-north-america
Common Descent Podcast: https://commondescentpodcast.com/
Dinosaur bromolites study (Nature): https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-03889-y
Borealopelta (well-preserved ankylosaur) (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borealopelta
This episode of Gaming with Science™ was produced with the help of the University of Georgia and is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.
Full Transcript
(Some platforms truncate the transcript due to length restrictions. If so, you can always find the full transcript on https://www.gamingwithscience.net/ )
Jason 0:00 Brian, hello and
welcome to the Gaming with Science Podcast, where we talk about the science behind some of your favorite games.
Brian 0:11 Today, we're going to discuss Holotype by Brexwerx Games.
Hey, this is Brian
Jason 0:21 This is Jason,
Will 0:22 this is Will.
David 0:23 This is David
Brian 0:24 Will, and David, David and will.
David 0:26 That's us. We're new.
Brian 0:28 Where are you guys from?
David 0:29 We are the hosts of Common Descent, a podcast about paleontology, Earth history, evolution. We are also fellow Dragon Con science track folks, yeah, and we do a lot of science communication and stuff. We are both paleontologists.
Brian 0:44 So I asked for the benefit of the listeners, I know who you guys are very well, because I've been a listener of Common Descent, not since the beginning, but for a very long time. Very, very excited to have you here. In fact, when I first saw the game holotype that we're going to be talking about today, it immediately sparked in my mind "I wonder if I can get Will and David to come and guest on our podcast, if I get this game", and it happened, and it's awesome, the stars
Jason 1:10 The Starshave aligned.
Will 1:11 Yes.
David 1:12 we actually played at the at the museum, yeah, which was, which was very fun,
Will 1:16 very fitting.
Brian 1:16 No dinosaurs and gray, of course.
David 1:18 No. Well, we have some birds. We've got about a dozen different types of birds.
Brian 1:24 But anyway, why don't we do our little science banter? At first, is there some interesting bit of science to learn about, or would like to talk about?
Will 1:31 Absolutely, the one that's fresh on my mind, which is a study on the specimen of borealopelta, which is a ridiculously well preserved ankylosaur, or nothosaur, specifically armored dinosaur. It's 3d preserved stomach content, skin pigment, one of the, if not the best preserved dinosaur we've ever found. This study was looking at the fact that the keratin, the horny material on the armor, is also preserved, and we've never gotten that before. So they were looking at what is the actual status and state of
Gaming with Science
The Gaming with Science Podcast looks at the intersection of science and tabletop board games, with the occasional dip into video games, RPGs, game theory, or whatever else the dice roll up. If you ever wondered how natural selection shows up in Evolution, whether Cytosis reflects actual cell metabolism, or what the socioeconomics of Monopoly are, this is the place for you. (And if not, we hope you’ll give us a try anyway.) So grab a drink, pull out some dice, and let’s get gaming with science!
