Ancient Robot Games

About Ancient Robot Games

Ancient Robot Games is an independent board game shop/café on Leith Walk in bonnie Edinburgh. On the Ancient Robot Podcast, hosts Dougal Freir (Owner, Ancient Robot Games) and Robert Gelb (board game designer) talk trends, design, and development of all things tabletop! Each episode features guests from the industry sharing their insights into the world of game development and the ever-growing community of game designers in Scotland. Tune in for your monthly dose of board game nerdisms! Ancient Robot Games - https://ancientrobotgames.co.uk (https://ancientrobotgames.co.uk/) Midnight Trading Co - https://midnighttradingco.com (https://midnighttradingco.com/) Podcast Producer Ryan Scott - https://www.ryanscottmedia.com/ (https://www.ryanscottmedia.com/) Making or want to make tabletop games in Edinburgh? A new community and coworking space is open now in Edinburgh! https://ancientrobotworkshop.co.uk (https://ancientrobotworkshop.co.uk)

Publisher

Ancient Robot Podcast

Category

arts · leisure · leisure

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Apr 2025

Latest episode

14 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

28 of 38 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   14 Oct 2026TRANSCRIPT

   A Nightmarish Solo Experience - DREAMESCAPE with Justin Morgan-Davies | Episode 37

   Host Ryan Scott interviews BadCatGames CEO Justin Morgan-Davies about designing narrative-driven solo games and building mechanics around theme.

2. 

   9 Sept 2026TRANSCRIPT

   "The Adventure is This Way!" - Starting Handiwork Games with Jon Hodgson | Episode 36

   Host Ryan Scott interviews Jon Hodgson, founder of Handiwork Games, about building a successful tabletop game company and his creative journey.

3. 

   19 Aug 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Deduction in Game Design | Episode 35

   Host Dougal and guest Gelb explore deduction's surprising presence in all types of games, offering insights for game enthusiasts.

Inside a recent episode

A Nightmarish Solo Experience - DREAMESCAPE with Justin Morgan-Davies | Episode 37

Published 14 Oct 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] But what's also fun about it, and it kind of, I guess it's kind of English, quite English, in that you've got cups of tea in there. So the mancala aspect of it is when you move one of your insects and place that on a tile with any other insects on that tile, they immediately scatter. Because if you think of like one fly lands, all the other flies buzz up. That was the kernel of an idea that I had on a thought. You know, that's actually with a sort of Mancala-like feel to it is actually the kernel of a game right there. So I love the fact that anybody can play it, you know, old people, kids. You just take your insect, you plunk it down on one of the spaces you want to to move to and any other insect there gets scattered orthogonally. […]

Who has been a guest on Ancient Robot Games

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Justin Morgan-Davies
• Jon Hodgson
• Alysa Thomas
• Laurence Phillips
• Jamie Heitler

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Spotify

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 20 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

40

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

0

Contact Ancient Robot Games

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Ancient Robot Games