Outsiders: Mabel Addis

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 23 June 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Mabel Addis (1912-2004) was a pioneering educator and writer who created the first narrative-driven video game, The Sumerian Game, in 1964. Blending her expertise in history and storytelling with emerging computer technology, she became the first video game writer and the first female game designer. Though largely overlooked in her time, her work laid the foundation for educational games and narrative design in the gaming industry.

For Further Reading:

This month we're talking about Outsiders -- women who marched to the beat of their own drum and rejected stereotypes about what women "should" be. They are aesthetic pioneers, norm-benders, and often the only woman in their field.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.

Original theme music by Brittany Martinez.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This is an IHeart podcast.
0:04.2	In 2012, 16-year-old Brian Herrera was gunned down in broad daylight on his way to do homework.
0:11.4	No suspects.
0:12.5	No witnesses.
0:13.5	No justice.
0:14.5	I would ask my husband, do you want me to stop?
0:17.0	He was like, no.
0:17.8	Keep fighting.
0:18.8	After nearly a decade, a breakthrough changed everything.
0:22.5	This is Cold Case Files Miami, stories of families who never stopped fighting. Listen to
0:28.0	Cold Case Files Miami on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:34.4	Hey, sis, it's Mandy Money from the Brown Ambition podcast. Are you wondering how am I going to
0:38.9	break for you from this paycheck to paycheck life? How do I get into the stock market? Is that my
0:43.4	401k? Is it my HSA? What even are these things? We have y'all covered at Brown Ambition.
0:50.0	I'm your host, Mandy Money. I'm a career and money expert. I help women start building generational
0:54.7	wealth to get the dose of empowerment, strategy, and community that only Brown Ambition can
0:59.6	offer. Listen to Brown Ambition on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your
1:04.7	podcasts. Hello, from Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
1:12.8	This month we're talking about outsiders, women who marched to the beat of their own drum
1:16.6	and rejected stereotypes about what women should be.
1:20.6	Their aesthetic pioneers, Norm Benders, and often one of the only women in their field.
1:26.1	In the early days of computing, when wires filled rooms and few imagined computers as anything
	...

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