"The Mystic Warlords of Ka'a" card game was created by the art department specifically for this episode, which included designing actual playing cards. The designs of several cards (most notably "Enchanted Bunny") have been released by the show's producers since the first airing of this episode.
Wil Wheaton's t-shirt is from the popular gaming web cartoon Penny Arcade. Wheaton gave the keynote at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) 2007.
Sheldon's statement "die Wil Wheaton Die" references several early internet Usenet groups aimed at Wheaton' character Wesley Crusher. Most had names like alt.Die.Wesleycrusher.Die.
This episode marks the first appearances on the show for both Melissa Rauch (Bernadette) and Wil Wheaton.
It is the first time that Howard meets Bernadette (when Penny reluctantly sets them up on a date), and the first time that Sheldon meets his occasional nemesis, Wil Wheaton (during a game tournament at the comic book store).
Sheldon (Jim Parsons) says, "Wesley Crusher had an eidetic memory just like me." The December 10, 1986 casting call featured in Star Trek the Next Generation Companion A Series Guide and Script Library (1999) cites a "photographic memory", while the March 23, 1987 Star Trek: The Next Generation Writers/Directors Guide cites "his superior memory".