LudoScience

Studies & Analysis (traditional games)

Author(s) : Stewart Woods
Editor : McFarland & Company, Inc.
Publication date : 08-15-2012
Language : english

This book analyses the modern wave of board games coming from Europe (mainly Germany), such as: Settlers from Catan, Carcassone, Ticket to Ride, Agricola, etc. After an introduction aiming to define the different kinds of "non digital" games (mass-market games, wargames, hooby games, etc.), the author details the captivating history of Anglo-American board games between 1960 and 1995: Acquire, Monopoly, Civilization, Illuminati, etc. The book pursues with the history of board games in Germany, and how this country initiated a cultural wave of games known today as "Eurogames": from the birth of the Essen festival to the influential magazines, alongside with the most iconic games. Then, the author studies a corpus of 139 Eurogames in order to analyzes their main game mechanisms. After studying games, the author focuses on players of such games, with interviews and surveys conducted over the largest player community of the world: the website BoardGameGeek. Last but not least, by merging the results player and games studies, the authors identifies the specific "pleasure to play" associated with this kind of games. Between games without direct confrontation mechanisms, and players looking for a pleasant social experience over victory, the authors is able to depict a brilliant portrait of the very own "Eurogames culture." It's a captivating and thought-provoking book, dealing with an understudied side of contemporary games.