Overview

'Timely... wonderfully entertaining' - The Wall Street Journal 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.

Full Product Details

Author:   Tristan Donovan
Publisher:   Atlantic Books
Imprint:   Atlantic Books
Edition:   Main
Dimensions:   Width: 13.00cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 19.80cm
Weight:   0.330kg
ISBN:  

9781786494542

ISBN 10:   178649454
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   07 November 2019
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   To order  
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.

Table of Contents

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

Reviews

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 FIGURES This is the best of all gaming history books. * PC Gamer on REPLAY * Replay is a wonderfully thorough and entertaining history, casting its net wide, but rarely failing to capture the essence of a particular era. * Guardian on REPLAY * [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 FIGURES [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] 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 FIGURES

Author Information

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.

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