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