e558— Exploding Bananas

e558— Exploding Bananas

Author: Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, Andy Piper June 22, 2026 Duration: 28:55
exploded banana on a black background
Photo by Gabriel Meinert on Unsplash

Published 22 June 2026

e558 with Michael M and Andy – slowing things down with games where you walk, fly, sail, throw bananas and play ball, along with 3D printing innovation, a new flip phone from Commodore and a whole lot more!

Michael M and Andy get things started while Michael R is away with cornucopia of games. First up is StonkRider, which bills itself as “motocross meets wall street” where you ride a motorcycle up and down a stock ticker.  Then, from the makers of Untitled Goose Game, is a new title called Big Walk, where, as the title suggests, you go out for an unstructured walk.  This harkens back nicely to the discussion between Ian and Andy in last week’s episode.  And it reminds Michael of a story he saw recently about Google’s take on Flight Simulator using Google Maps.  Next, the pair discuss TinyWind, a pixel pirate sailing game, where you might charter an accountant and sail the wild accountancy.  Then, an even more retro game appears – Gorilla.JS.  This DOS game has gorillas throwing exploding bananas at one another from across a cityscape where you can choose the angle and force to throw.  Both cohosts promptly thew their bananas with such little force that it went up in the air and exploded on their own gorilla.  

Batter up!  Andy and Michael’s next set of topics take them to America’s pastime, and the adjacent sport of cricket.  After checking out the game visualization of Ribbie, the pair get into a discussion on what 8-Bit really means.  Michael remembers the SmallBall game, and was disappointed to learn that this game is no longer maintained.  On the other hand, he is happy about his university playing in the College World Series.  Baseball and cricket really lend themselves well to games because of all of the stats that are kept about each player and the games themselves.  Andy shared the story of the Wisden Cricketers Almanack which chronicles enormous details in it’s 1,500 pages!

After turning to innovations in 3D printing and visionOS collaboration, the cohosts consider the slow tech movement using the example of the new Commodore Callback flip phone.  This phone features the promoted ability to run 99% of Android apps while completely blocking social media and browsers.  

Andy and Michael wrap things up with a new LEGO Ideas set – a playable LEGO space themed pinball machine.  

Links to all of the fun are below – check them out!  

What do you think the Commodore Callback model number 8020 means?  Have your bots 🤖 drop our bots 🤖 a line at @gamesatwork_biz@mastodon.social (our home for now) and let us know! 

These show notes were lovingly hand crafted by a real human, and not by a bot.  All rights reserved.  That’s our story and we’re sticking to it.

Selected Links

Games

StonkRider

This Is Colossal article: ‘Big Walk’ Is a New Video Game about … Walking and Talking

Games at Work e557: The British are Coming!

Google Maps Platform Documentation entry: Fly around the world (Experimental)

Why I 🧡 the web:

TinyWind is a "pixel pirate sailing game" with real wind physics. Even has a leaderboard.

tinywind.io

🏴‍☠️

— David Bisset (@davidbisset@phpc.social)2026-06-15T23:16:22.396Z

TinyWind

Retro Computer Museum post: Awesome World Famous Legendary Gathering* 20/06/26

GORILLA.JS, a web port of QBasic GORILLAS with online multiplayer:
gorillas.zone/

— Anatoly Shashkin💾 (@dosnostalgic@mastodon.social)2026-06-16T19:01:37.978Z

Gorilla.JS, a recreation of the classic DOS game

Baseball and Baseball adjacent

kottke.org blog post: Watch Baseball Games in Realtime in 8-Bit View

ribbie.tv 

GoHeels.com College World Series Central

Wikipedia article: List of Atari 8-bit computer games

Fandom Aesthetics Wiki: 1980s 8-Bit Game Design Aesthetics

Reddit r/SmallBall – sadly the game is no longer available

TinyTeams Baseball

American Baseball Coaches Association: Charts & Documents

Wikipedia article: Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack

AR / VR / Replicators

hackster.io article: Layer-Free, Ultra-Fast 3D Printing Is Now Available to You

Apple Developer video: Collaborate on structured 3D models in visionOS

TechCrunch article: Snap finally debuts its long-awaited AR glasses, Specs, and, oof, they aren’t cheap

SlowTech

TechCrunch article: The smartphone era created an attention crisis — slow tech is fixing it

Android Police article: Commodore, the 80s computer legend, has made a flip phone, and it’s hugely exciting

The Commodore Callback

LEGO

Retrododo article: LEGO Officially Reveals New Playable Pinball Set

LEGO Icons Arcade Pinball Machine 11374


The weekly conversation hosted by Michael Rowe, Michael Martine, and Andy Piper, Games At Work dot Biz, explores the intersection where our digital play and professional lives collide. This isn't just a review show; it's a deep dive into the technology that powers our hobbies, the business behind the leisure, and the cultural news shaping both worlds. Each episode feels like pulling up a chair with three friends who are as passionate about the craft of game development and the evolution of hardware as they are about the pure joy of finding a great new title. You'll hear specific discussions on everything from the latest graphics card impacting performance to the narrative design of an indie darling, all filtered through the lens of professionals who live in the tech space. The Games At Work dot Biz podcast operates on the belief that the games we play and the tools we use are inextricably linked, offering listeners a consistently thoughtful and engaging analysis that goes far beyond a simple score. Tune in for a regular dose of insightful commentary where the serious business of technology meets the serious fun of games.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 50

Games At Work dot Biz
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