Overview

The 21st century has seen a board game renaissance. At a time when streaming television finds millions of viewers, video games garner billions of dollars, and social media grows ever more intense, little has been written about the rising popularity of board games. And yet board games are one of our fastest growing hobbies, with sales increasing every year. Today’s board games are more than just your average rainy-day mainstay. Once associated solely with geek subcultures, complex and strategic board games are increasingly dominating the playful media environment. The popularity of these complex board games mirrors the rise of more complex cult media products. In Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games, Paul Booth examines complex board games based on book, TV, and film franchises, including Doctor Who, The Walking Dead, Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, The Hunger Games and the worlds of H.P. Lovecraft. How does a game represent a cult world? How can narratives cross media platforms? By investigating the relationship between these media products and their board game versions, Booth illustrates the connections between cult media, gameplay, and narrative in a digital media environment.

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9781628927436

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Reviews

Having chosen a Cylon Leader character, Booth commandeers a fine act of infiltration, working licensed board games' way into the Galactica of media studies, showing exactly how and why it matters - both by itself and as an outgrowth of other media properties - as successfully as an unchecked centurion edging down the boarding party track on its way to certain victory. Highly recommended. Jonathan Gray, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and author of Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts Licensed board games based on popular media franchises have long been considered bereft of creative output, if they were considered at all. Paul Booth challenges that assumption by delving deeply and respectfully into that world, arguing for more nuanced considerations of board games as paratextual adaptations of their respective universes. Bringing together studies of fandom, media universes and games, Game Play offers a sustained and rewarding examination of contemporary licensed board games. Mia Consalvo, Professor and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design, Concordia University, Canada

Having chosen a Cylon Leader character, Booth commandeers a fine act of infiltration, working licensed board games' way into the Galactica of media studies, showing exactly how and why it matters - both by itself and as an outgrowth of other media properties - as successfully as an unchecked centurion edging down the boarding party track on its way to certain victory. Highly recommended. Jonathan Gray, Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and author of Show Sold Separately: Promos, Spoilers, and Other Media Paratexts

Author Information

Paul Booth is Professor of Communication at DePaul University, USA. Booth’s research interests include fandom, new technologies and media, popular culture, and cult media. He is the author of Time on TV (2012), Digital Fandom (2010), and Playing Fans (2014). He has edited Fan Phenomena: Doctor Who (2013), and has published numerous articles on fans, social media, and technology. He is currently enjoying a cup of coffee.

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