Here at Gamezebo we love board games. In fact we’d like to cover more of them, especially as it’s a part of the gaming industry little spoken about in video-game circles other than the occasional pricey digital adaptation. Board games …
Here at Gamezebo we love board games. In fact we’d like to cover more of them, especially as it’s a part of the gaming industry little spoken about in video-game circles other than the occasional pricey digital adaptation.
Board games cover a range of different genres after all, with so many appealing to different age groups, demographics, and cultures.
This vast scope is something Your Move covers, and a lot more besides. A book that aims to take a look at what board games teach us about life across a range of self-contained chapters, it’s a tome that’s well worth investigating even if you have only a passing interest in the medium.
What immediately drew us into the book was its lack of condescension. There’s no looking down on novice board game players here – every title mentioned is explained in a simple and easy to understand fashion. Yet it’s never patronising.
Instead the passion for board games that co-authors Joan Moriarity and Jonathan Kay is very obvious and very infectious.
Your move, creep
The most interesting chapters are those that delve into game theory and use it to explain exactly why certain titles work – and why they perhaps shouldn’t.
One chapter looking at the Alpha Player Problems in Pandemic is fascinating for instance, and despite never having played the game (shameful we know) we totally understood the issues surrounding it and what they meant when related to basic human behaviours.
There are some chapters that feel a little undercooked and could be expanded on, but these are few and far between. And you’re never more than a few pages away from an interesting exploration of another title, ranging from Scrabble to Dungeons and Dragons.
Ultimately Your Move is a rare book indeed – one where the authors’s passion for the subject is evident throughout. In fact it makes us hungry for more, and we can only hope a second volume is in the works.
You can find Your Move via Amazon.
