While board games can appear almost primitive in the digital age, eurogames--also known as German-style board games--have increased in popularity nearly concurrently with the rise of video games. Eurogames have simple rules and short playing times and emphasize strategy over luck and conflict.
This book examines the form of eurogames, the hobbyist culture that surrounds them, and the way that hobbyists... [click here for more]
Ethnographic Essays on a Pop Culture Phenomenon
This collection of 13 new essays employs ethnographic methods to investigate San Diego's Comic-Con International, the largest annual celebration of the popular arts in North America. Working from a common grounding in fan studies, these individual explorations examine a range of cultural practices at an event drawing crowds of nearly... [click here for more]
This biographical dictionary is the first of its kind to document artists' contributions to one of the most popular and far-reaching of contemporary teenage social pastimes of the last quarter of the 20th century; that of role-playing games and collectible card games.
The book presents full information on 150 artists, both painters and cartographers, whose influence and illustrative contributions... [click here for more]
Over the years, board games have evolved to include relatable characters, vivid settings and compelling, intricate plotlines. In turn, players have become more emotionally involved--taking on, in essence, the role of coauthors in an interactive narrative.
Through the lens of game studies and narratology--traditional storytelling concepts applied to the gaming world--this book explores the synergy... [click here for more]
Some board games—like Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, Clue, Guess Who, The Game of Life, Monopoly, Operation and Payday—have popularity spanning generations. But over time, updates to games have created significantly different messages about personal identity and evolving social values. Games offer representations of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, age, ability... [click here for more]