The Tabletop Revolution
Gaming Reimagined in the 21st Century
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About the Book
This book is an overview of the ongoing revolution in tabletop gaming design and culture, which exploded to unprecedented levels of vitality in the 21st century, leading to new ways of creating, marketing, and experiencing a game. Designers have become superstars, publishers have improved quality control, and the community of players is expanding. Most importantly, new and old players have started engaging with the games in a more meaningful way.
The book explores the reasons for these changes. It describes how games have begun to keep players engaged until the end. It analyzes the ways in which traditional mechanics have been reimagined to give them more variety and complexity, and reviews the unprecedented mechanics found and perfected. Very interesting is the exploration of how games have performed novel tasks such as reducing conflict, fostering cooperation, creating aesthetic experiences, and telling stories. The book is aimed at scholars, dedicated and aspiring fans, and game designers who want to expand their toolbox with the most up-to-date innovations in the profession.
About the Author(s)
Bibliographic Details
Marco Arnaudo. Series Editor Matthew Wilhelm Kapell
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 255
Bibliographic Info: notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8203-7
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5193-4
Imprint: McFarland
Series: Studies in Gaming
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
1. You Should Be Playing 17
2. Now with More Choices 29
3. Reimagining the Components 40
4. Two Case Studies 55
5. Rethinking the Big Ideas 62
6. The Cogs of the Machine: Classics Reimagined 80
7. The Cogs of the Machine: New Perspectives 92
8. The Aesthetics of Hobby Games 116
9. Eurogaming 138
10. Cooperative Gaming 161
11. Storytelling 182
Conclusions 211
Chapter Notes 217
Works Cited 223
Index 231
