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 Did you know that you can talk to our sponsor First Move Financial for free? First Move is a fee-only firm, which means that until you sign on as a client you’re not paying to talk to them. 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 examples we thought about: Hotel/airline gold/platinum status Merit badges (but not military honors) Book-It is obviously rewards-based gamification! Store loyalty programs. Everything from simple “collect 10 stamps, get a free coffee” to the more sophisticated programs with big national chains that give incentives or unlock special offers by getting to a different “level”. These can push you to buy just a little bit more or more often than you would otherwise. (Supermarkets, Kohl’s Cash, CVS Extrabucks, etc.) Fitness apps often use multiple kinds of achievement-based gamification, to hook different kinds of people. Leaderboards, badges, and “personal best” tracking. They may include rewards or social collaboration as well. (We discuss Apple Fitness, Peloton. Company fitness challenges often are rewards-based.) Duolingo also uses achievements (streak-tracking!), while having obvious progress-based elements