Time: 28 minutes
“There should be no assumed knowledge in the rules.”
— Nick Godfrey
The Collective: Rae Kumar, Emma Gill and Clare Boon
Episode Credits
Host: Rae Kumar
Special Guest: Nick Godfrey
Produced: Rae Kumar
Audio edited: Emma Gill
Show notes: Clare Boon
Audiogram by Headliner.app
Today, Rae sits down with Nick Godfrey to discuss his work developing a board game that teaches players about physics as covert education. They discuss how he brought together his background in physics and his love for board games to create something he’s passionate about.
As every good science communicator considers, Nick reveals how he keeps the game adaptable for different audiences with different knowledge bases to keep the game fun for multiple audiences. Nick describes how he built an accessible game through trial and error, keeping fun at the forefront of his educational tactics. The discussion then turns to the place of games in science communication and why fun is so important when learning. Finally, he gives some advice on how science communicators can use games in their work.
“I wanna just have the most basic version of the game that you can play first, and then add on more stuff as it makes sense to. Don’t just put stuff in for the sake of it.” – Nick Godfrey
Episode links:
Find Nick on LinkedIn here.
Hidden Variables will (hopefully) be available in 2026.
Follow @hiddenvariablesgames for updates.
Sign up to Nick’s mailing list to be notified of the launch.
Keywords
Science Communication, Hidden Variables, Particle Physics, Gamification, Creative Science Communication, Outreach
We love hearing everyone’s stories of how they got into science communication. What about you? What brought you here? Feel free to share in the comments!
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