“An impassioned look at games and game design that offers the most ambitious framework for understanding them to date.”

This book is a create reference for the fundamental concepts in game design, for games of all sorts.

“From Cape Town to Amsterdam to Istanbul, the book sheds light into the particular applications and outcomes of City Gaming in diverse planning and city making regimes worldwide.”

This book builds on Ekim Tan's PhD work on city gaming, and descrives the city-gaming method with case studies from Shenzhen, Cape Town, Amsterdam, Almere and Istanbul. A rich reference, with lots of visuals, it is a great example of using games in planning the environments in which we live.

“Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms, Second Edition compiles hundreds of game mechanisms, organized by category.”

The ultimate reference book for game mechanisms, and essential in developing new designs.

“This foundational resource on the topic of tabletop game accessibility provides actionable guidelines on how to make games accessible for people with disabilities. This book contextualises this practical guidance within a philosophical framework of how the relatively abled can ethically address accessibility issues within game design.“

Accessibility in game design is a critical but often over-looked element. This book provides both the framework and the action required to make gaming accessible to all.

“In the first week of 1942 a group of unlikely heroes - a retired naval captain and a clutch of brilliant young women - gather to form a secret strategy unit. On the top floor of a bomb-bruised HQ in Liverpool, the Western Approaches Tactical Unit spends days and nights designing and playing wargames in an effort to crack the U-boat tactics. As the U-boat wolfpacks continue to prey upon the supply ships, the Wrens race against time to save Britain.”

This fascinating book tells the story of how serious games contributed to WW2, and shows how effective a too games can be in training, strategizing and collaboration. The historic setting (and the prominent role of women in developing and running the game) lent its name to the Derby House principles.

“In life, uncertainty surrounds us. Things that we thought were good for us turn out to be bad for us (and vice versa); people we thought we knew well behave in mysterious ways; the stock market takes a nosedive. Thanks to an inexplicable optimism, most of the time we are fairly cheerful about it all. But we do devote much effort to managing and ameliorating uncertainty. Is it any wonder, then, asks Greg Costikyan, that we have taken this aspect of our lives and transformed it culturally, making a series of elaborate constructs that subject us to uncertainty but in a fictive and nonthreatening way? That is: we create games.”

A concise but comprehensive discussion of the use and role of uncertainty in games.

“We are living in a world full of games.

More than 31 million people in the UK are gamers.

The average young person will spend 10,000 hours gaming by the age of twenty-one.

The future belongs to those who play games.”

“A much-talked-about topic gets thorough consideration from two educator-librarians, who explain exactly how designer board games - which are worlds apart from games produced strictly for the educational market - can become curricular staples for students young and old.”

A practical guide to incorporating existing games as a learning tool.

“In this book, Philip Sabin explores the theory and practice of conflict simulation as a topic in its own right, based on his thirty years of experience in designing wargames and using them in teaching. Simulating War sets conflict simulation in its proper context alongside more familiar techniques such as game theory and operational analysis. It explains in detail the analytical and modelling techniques involved, and it teaches you how to design your own simulations of conflicts of your choice.”

“This book argues that games are an integral part our systems of communication and our art. Games sculpt our practical activities, allowing us to experience the beauty of our own actions and reasoning.”

“Thematic Integration in Board Game Design examines the design and integration of theme from the standpoints of technical structure, narrative building, and the design process. This book presents multiple approaches to designing theme as well as developing and replacing themes in existing projects.”

“Board games are increasingly recognized as an artform of their own, but their design and aesthetics are just as important as their gameplay mechanics. In this handbook, art director and graphic designer Daniel Solis offers his 20+ years of expertise in graphic design in tabletop gaming.”