Idle Thumbs

Idle Thumbs is a video game culture website and podcast network founded in 2004.

Until May 2018, it published a weekly video game podcast of the same name hosted by various former and current video game journalists and developers including Chris Remo (formerly of Campo Santo and Double Fine Productions), Nick Breckon (formerly of Telltale Games), Jake Rodkin and Sean Vanaman (Valve formerly Campo Santo, and Telltale Games), Danielle Riendeau (Fanbyte.com, formerly Waypoint/VICE Gaming and Polygon), and James Spafford (Double Fine Productions, formerly Media Molecule).

The site currently hosts two ongoing podcasts and archives of several shows either discontinued or on indefinite hiatus. The active shows are Three Moves Ahead (a strategy game podcast hosted by Troy Goodfellow and Rob Zacny) and Designer Notes (an interview podcast with game designers hosted by Soren Johnson and Adam Saltsman). Archived shows include the Idle Book Club (2012-2018), discussing a selection of modern and classic literature; Terminal7 (2013-2018), a Netrunner podcast hosted by Nels Anderson and Jesse Turner; Tone Control (2013-2018), where former "Thumb" regular Steve Gaynor interviews notable video game developers; Idle Weekend (2015-2018), a sister podcast to Idle Thumbs hosted by Danielle Riendeau and Rob Zacny; Important if True (2017-2018), in which Remo, Rodkin, and Breckon discuss societal oddities; Something True (2017-2019), a historical podcast about strange stories hosted by Alex Ashby and Duncan Fyfe; DOTA Today (2013-2015), a Dota 2 podcast hosted by Vanaman, Rodkin and Brad Muir; and Every Game in This City (2019-2021), a podcast about playing well together in different cities around the world. The network also launched a series of television viewing podcasts such as Twin Peaks Rewatch (2014-2017), The End of Mad Men (2015), and True Detective Weekly (2015).

The most recent run of the main Idle Thumbs podcast was the result of a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that concluded in March 2012. The campaign reached its $30,000 goal within two hours and concluded with a funding total of $136,924.