It's All a Game
A Short History of Board Games
Published on 1. November 2018
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-78649-453-5 (ISBN)
Description
Board games have been with us longer than even the written word. But what is it about this pastime that continues to captivate us well into the age of smartphones and instant gratification?
In It's All a Game renowned games expert Tristan Donovan opens the box on the incredible and often surprising history and psychology of board games. He traces the evolution of the game across cultures, time periods, and continents, from the paranoid Chicago toy genius behind classics like Operation and Mouse Trap, to the role of Monopoly in helping prisoners of war escape the Nazis, and even the scientific use of board games today to teach artificial intelligence how to reason and how to win. With these compelling stories and characters, Donovan ultimately reveals why board games have captured hearts and minds all over the world for generations.
In It's All a Game renowned games expert Tristan Donovan opens the box on the incredible and often surprising history and psychology of board games. He traces the evolution of the game across cultures, time periods, and continents, from the paranoid Chicago toy genius behind classics like Operation and Mouse Trap, to the role of Monopoly in helping prisoners of war escape the Nazis, and even the scientific use of board games today to teach artificial intelligence how to reason and how to win. With these compelling stories and characters, Donovan ultimately reveals why board games have captured hearts and minds all over the world for generations.
Reviews / Votes
[A] timely book... It's All a Game provides a wonderfully entertaining trip around the board, through 4,000 years of game history. * The Wall Street Journal * A brisk and hugely readable account of some of the world's great board games and the amazing people who played them. Packed with fascinating tales from ancient Egyptian senet to Google's AlphaGo. Highly recommended. -- Ian Stewart, author of SIGNIFICANT FIGURESMore details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Illustrations
1 x 8-page colour plate section
Dimensions
Height: 205 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 30 mm
Weight
425 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78649-453-5 (9781786494535)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Tristan Donovan is a journalist whose work has appeared on the BBC, in The Times, and in Wired amongst other publications. He lives in Brighton, UK.
Content
0: Introduction 1: TOMB RAIDERS AND THE LOST GAMES OF THE ANCIENTS 2: CHESS: THE 'MAD QUEEN'S GAME' 3: BACKGAMMON: THE FAVOURED GAME OF INTERNATIONAL PACESETTERS AND ANCIENT EMPERORS 4: THE GAME OF LIFE: A JOURNEY TO THE UNIQUELY AMERICAN DAY OF RECKONING 5: THE FORGOTTEN MESSAGE OF MONOPOLY 6: FROM KRIEGSSPIEL TO RISK: BLOOD-SOAKED AND WORLDSHAPING PLAY 7: I SPY 8: CLUEDO'S BILLION-DOLLAR CRIME SPREE 9: SCRABBLE: WORDS WITHOUT MEANING 10: PLASTIC FANTASTIC: MOUSE TRAP, OPERATION AND THE WILLY WONKA OF TOYS 13: RISE OF THE MACHINES: GAMES THAT TRAIN SYNTHETIC BRAINS 14: TRIVIAL PURSUIT: ADULTS AT PLAY 15: PANDEMICS AND TERROR: DISSECTING GEOPOLITICS ON CARDBOARD 16: MADE IN GERMANY: CATAN AND THE CREATION OF MODERN BOARD GAMES