Andy, Anthony, and Parker tackle C. Thi Nguyen’s The Score in their fourth episode of “Book Club.” Nguyen’s book compares how metrics apply to and effect games and social structures. He argues that while metrics are a defining construct that allow games to exist and be fun, when applied to social situations and optimized they are often destructive. Our hosts discuss this theses and other arguments presented in the book.

Discussed in this episode:

• The Score by C. Thi Nguyen
• Merlin Bird I.D App
• Episode 206: The Joy of Gaming with Richard Garfield
• Games and the Art of Agency by C. Thi Nguyen
• A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein
• How to do Nothing by Jenny Odell
• End Times Fascism by by Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor
• The Nerd Reich by Gil Durán

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You can find the hosts’ Cubes on Cube Cobra:

• Andy’s “Bun Magic” Cube
• Anthony’s “Regular” Cube

You can find both your hosts in the MTG Cube Talk Discord. Send in questions to the show at [email protected] or our p.o. box:

Lucky Paper
PO Box 4855
Baltimore, MD 21211

Musical production by DJ James Nasty.