Rebel Teacher Alliance

Welcome back to a new episode of Rebel Teacher Alliance! This week we have an absolute treat: Jamey Stegmaier of Stonemaier Games joins us to talk about what happens when great game design and great teaching collide. We get into how Wingspan almost went in a completely different direction, why Scythe is basically a global politics class in a box, how the best games and the best lessons both start with a feeling rather than a mechanic, and what it looks like to spend three years falling in love with something you're building. Fabian shares how he used Scythe with his IB Global Politics seniors to teach power, sovereignty, and the very real cost of war. John goes full fanboy on the entire Span universe and asks the hard questions. And Jamey reveals his guilty pleasure game(s).If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts -- it helps more teachers find the show! Join our Discord community at rebelteacheralliance.com and find us on Instagram @rebelteacheralliance, BlueSky @rtalliance.bsky.social, and TikTok @rebelteacheralliance. You can also find Fabian @hofmannedu.bsky.social and John @meehanedu.bsky.social on BlueSky.Things mentioned on the show:Stonemaier Games -- stonemaiergames.comJamey's game design YouTube channel (via stonemaiergames.com)WingspanWyrmspanFinspan (including Sharks and Reefs expansion)ScytheViticultureSlay the Spire (Jamey's guilty pleasure)Toy BattleJakub Rozalski (Scythe artist)

Welcome back to a new episode of Rebel Teacher Alliance! End of year energy is high and we are feeling all the feelings. This week Fabian finally got to play Salem 1692 with his students -- and used NotebookLM to build a rule explainer slide deck straight from the rulebook PDF, which worked beautifully. Jamie's district is adopting a Building Thinking Classrooms-based math curriculum next year and she is already throwing her old Houghton Mifflin materials into the sun. John drops the fishbowl method for introducing games to students, which is genuinely one of the better classroom moves we've talked about in a while. We also get into the emotional wreckage of sending seniors off to their IB exams, caps and gowns, old desks, and why the last week of school turns every teacher into a complete puddle of goo.If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts -- it helps more teachers find the show! Join our Discord community at rebelteacheralliance.com and find us on Instagram @rebelteacheralliance, BlueSky @rtalliance.bsky.social, and TikTok @rebelteacheralliance. You can also find Fabian @hofmannedu.bsky.social, Jamie @jedijamie.bsky.social, and John @meehanedu.bsky.social on BlueSky.Things mentioned on the show:NotebookLM (used to generate rule explainer slide deck from rulebook PDF)Make It Stick (book recommended by John)Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth (Fabian)

Welcome back to a new episode of Rebel Teacher Alliance! This week we are sitting down with Travis Hancock, founder of Facade Games -- the company behind Salem 1692, Tortuga 1667, Deadwood 1876, Bristol 1350, and the newly Kickstarted Roma XLI. Travis talks about how a slow college summer tweaking Mafia rules turned into a full-blown game company, why social deduction games pull emotions out of people in ways other games can't, and what 70+ iterations of a rulebook actually looks like. We also get into why teachers keep using his games in history classrooms, the magic of giving students a hidden identity to inhabit, and the two very different themes he's considering for his next strategic game. He also shared a game in our ever popular segment “What’cha been playin’...?”! Follow Travis on the socials! Check for @facadegames and will surely find them! (tiktok, IG, Youtube)If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a rating and review on Apple Podcasts -- it helps more teachers find the show! Join our Discord community at rebelteacheralliance.com and find us on Instagram @rebelteacheralliance, BlueSky @rtalliance.bsky.social, and TikTok @rebelteacheralliance. You can also find Fabian @hofmannedu.bsky.social, Jamie @jedijamie.bsky.social, and John @meehanedu.bsky.social on BlueSky.Things mentioned on the show:Facade Games -- facadegames.comSalem 1692Ticket to Ride LegacyPandemic Legacy Season 1 & 2Flip Seven