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It's All a Game : Short History of Board Games - Tristan Donovan

It's All a Game

Short History of Board Games

By: Tristan Donovan

Paperback | 7 January 2019

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From board game cafes to puzzle books, we need diversion more than ever. This cheeky but nostalgic look at the history of board games is the perfect Christmas gift.

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.

About the Author

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.
Industry Reviews
[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

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