Articles

• How to solve the climate crisis in 60-90 minutes – Outside/In, New Hampshire Public Radio – 27 September 2025

• All Games Are Political – Jacobin, 16 March 2025

• Can board games teach us about the climate crisis? Game creators say yes – The Guardian, 28 January 2023

• Can We Play Ourselves Out Of The Climate Crisis? With The Daybreak Boardgame, Maybe – Forbes, 28 October 2022

• Pandemic creator’s new board game, Daybreak, is about climate change – Polygon, 13 April 2021

  His Game Made Beating a Pandemic Fun. Can He Do It for Climate Change? – The New York Times, 25 March 2021

• Pandemic Board Game Proves Cooperation Can Save Us From the Disaster of 2020 – Newsweek, 6 November 2020

• Playing Through Pandemics – The Weather Channel, 15 October 2020

• The Board-game Series for the Age of the Coronavirus – The New Yorker, 27 July 2020 (Warning: Some spoilers for Pandemic Legacy: Season 1)

• No Single Player Can Win This Boardgame; It’s Called Pandemic – Op Ed for The New York Times, 25 March 2020

• Table-top Generals – The Economist 1843, 13 November 2017

• The Making of Pandemic – The Board Game that Went Viral – Eurogamer.net, 5 April 2016

• The Inside Story on Narrative in Games – The Wall Street Journal, 18 March 2016

• How do Board Games Go Viral? – Atlas Obscura, 29 January 2016

• Pandemic Legacy Review: Emotional Highs and Agonizing Lows – The Guardian, 25 January 2016

• This Holiday Season, Give the Gift of World Disease – NPR, 19 December 2015

• Pandemic Board Game Proves Infectious – NPR's All Things Considered, 22 November 2015

• Putting the Fun in Pandemic – OZY, 6 February 2015

• The Rise of Cooperative Games – The Wall Street Journal, 10 April 2015

• Playing Pandemic for Serious Stakes – Houston Chronicle, 4 December 2014

• Playing Against the Virus – NPR’s Studio 360, 8 March 2013

• Wil Wheaton on Forbidden Island, 15 February 2010

Talks

• Designing from the Inside Out – Keynote given at TableTop Network in Dallas on 18 November 2019

• The Making of Pandemic Legacy – Talk given at GDC (with Rob Daviau) on 1 March 2017

• Engagement and Embodiment: Lessons from Board Games Applied to User Experience – Lecture given at the LinkedIn UED All Hands on 11 April 2014

• Cooperation and Engagement: What Can Boardgames Teach Us – Google Tech Talk delivered on 25 April 2008

Interviews

• Five Board Games to Restart Your Collection – Keepers of Fun, 18 April 2025

• ‘Daybreak’ board game tasks players to collaborate to save off climate change – Here and Now, NPR, 2 May 2024

• Board games: The politics of play – The Cultural Frontline, BBC World Service, 19 December 2020

• A board game called 'Pandemic’ is big right now… because of course it is – KARE11 News, 27 March 2020

• No Single Player Can Win This Board Game. It’s Called Pandemic (OpEd) – The New York Times, 25 March 2020

• No 'us-versus-them mentality': Creator of Pandemic says board game has lessons for how to approach COVID-19 – CBC Radio, 18 March 2020

• Q&A with the Chicago creator of Pandemic, the board game that has become all too real – Chicago Tribune, 5 March 2020

• Matt Leacock and Pandemic Legacy – In The Studio, BBC World Service, 10 October 2018

• This Board Game Designer Isn't Sorry About Taking a Big Risk – TIME, 30 June 2016

• Ludology (Pandemic Legacy) – 7 February 2016

• The Inquisitive Meeple (Design) – 6 March 2015

• Ready Up Q&A – 5 September 2014

• Meaningful Decisions: Design Choices in Forbidden Desert – 4 September 2014

• Game Design Round Table – 22 July 2014

• Social Media Clarity Podcast – 8 April 2014

• Shannon Appelcline of Mechanics & Meeples – 29 April 2013

Documentaries

• Gamemaster, Directed by Charles Mruz (2020) – interviewed

• The Game Designers, Directed by Eric Rayl (2019) – one of five featured designers

• The Next Great American Game, Directed by Douglas Morse (2015) – interviewed

• Going Cardboard, Directed by Lorien Green (2013) – interviewed

Gaming Biography

• Board Game Legends #1: Matt Leacock – Analog Games, 26 October 2016

• Complete Ludography – BoardGameGeek

Awards

• 2025 Board Game Geek Hall of Fame – Pandemic

• 2024 Kennerspiel des Jahres – Daybreak (e-Mission)

• 2024 The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame – Matt Leacock, Inductee

• 2024 Games for Change: Best Board or Tabletop Game for Impact – Daybreak

• 2022 The Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design Hall of Fame – Pandemic

• 2018 Spiel des Jahres: Special Prize – Pandemic Legacy: Season 2

• 2016 Kennerspiel des Jahres (Nominee) – Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

• 2015 Golden Geek Awards: Board Game of the Year, Most Thematic Game, Best Strategy Game, Best Innovative Board Game – Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

• 2013 Golden Geek: Best Children’s Board Game – Forbidden Desert

• 2011 Spiel des Jahres (Nominee) – Forbidden Island

• 2010 Spiel des Jahres (Nominee) – Roll Through the Ages

• 2010 Golden Geek: Best Children’s Board Game – Forbidden Island

• 2009 Spiel des Jahres (Nominee) – Pandemic

• 2009 Golden Geek: Best Family Game – Pandemic

• 2009 Best Family Game, Games Magazine – Pandemic