BoardGameGeek discussion

Being as how we are all self-proclaimed geeks of some variety of gaming, are there any books that you would recommend about gaming, game design, the game industry (video, rpg, board, or otherwise), game theory, or specific games? I know we all generally play games more than we likely read about them. However, other than rule books, would there be any books you would recommend as a good read?

For myself, I am looking forward to getting into a few books when I have some time:

Board games:
Tabletop: Analog Game Design
The Kobold Guide to Board Game Design

Video games:
Game Mechanics: Advanced Game Design
Gamer Theory

RPG:
The Kobold Guide to Game Design
Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering - I don't have this book, but I would really like to read it. Anything to improve a campaign!

Misc:
The Compleat Strategyst: Being a Primer on the Theory of Games of Strategy
Play Poker Like the Pros: The greatest poker player in the world today reveals his million-dollar-winning strategies to the most popular tournament, home and online games

Apologies - I am a bit of a design dork (any kind of design, really). Your replies do not have to center around design - just games. :)

There's

This Gaming Life: Travels in Three Cities by Jim Rossignol, but I didn't like it much!

Ender's Game is sort of game themed, I suppose. One if my favouritest books ever.

I've not read it but I hear good things about
Elwyn R. Berlekamp's Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays.

And there are a few books about the history of games. They are mostly rules but come with theories about game design in their organization, like R.C. Bell's books or that guy who formulated most games came from China, ach, I can't remember his name or the book title.

If anyone is a Kindle (or Kindle app if it works) owner, I will be happy to lend the Kobold Guide to Board Game Design. Another good one (maybe better but it's been a while) is The Game Inventor's Guidebook.

Reiner Knizia wrote a pretty thorough book on dice games: Dice Games Properly Explained. It catalogs several traditional dice games with some discussions on strategies and probabilities.

As far as fiction: Player of Games by Iain M. Banks, or Ready Player One (mostly about 80's video games but also text adventures and other stuff from that era).

The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses is excellent. It's nominally about video game design but he talks a lot about board games and most of it is quite applicable.

As far as Poker books (since you mentioned it), Hellmuth's book is pretty meh frankly. The bible is The Theory of Poker, Harrington on Hold 'Em, Volume 1: Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments: Strategic Play and its two sequels are excellent as well. I own a couple dozen poker books and played poker for a living for a few years before the online community in the US got shut down.

Bringing Down the House is a fascinating story of a team of MIT students who used a system to beat casinos at blackjack.

Andrew wrote: "I've not read it but I hear good things about
Elwyn R. Berlekamp's Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays.


I am a big fan of the Winning Ways series, in fact I can say they were influential in my becoming a mathematician (although I would have anyway). They have tons of hand-drawn diagrams and charts that I found captivating.

However, a more recent book, Lessons in Play by my friend David Wolfe (Elwyn's student) is probably a more accessible intro to combinatorial game theory.

I should point out that combinatorial game theory (no chance, no hidden information) is a completely different animal from what might be called "economic" game theory (what Nash studied) which is the subject of The Compleat Strategyst. Also a good book, and inexpensive, but doesn't align with what I think of when I think of games, namely abstracts.

David wrote: I should point out that combinatorial game theory (no chance, no hidden information) is a completely different animal from what might be called "economic" game theory (what Nash studied) which is the subject of The Compleat Strategyst. Also a good book, and inexpensive, but doesn't align with what I think of when I think of games, namely abstracts.

I admit, beyond knowing what mathematical game theory is in a general sense, I know nothing about it as a mathematical subject. When I saw The Compleat Strategyst, I figured it would be an easier introduction to the subject than picking up an actual text book. Dover tends to do a decent job on their math "lite" introduction books (and, yes, they are inexpensive).

Do you have any books on what you refer to as "economic game theory"? I would be interested in hearing about those.

Nathalie wrote: "Ender's Game is sort of game themed, I suppose. One if my favouritest books ever."

I can vouch for Ender's Game being a good book. Up until I read that, I pretty much only read fantasy novels in my youth. Ender's Game was my gateway novel to science fiction. I, too, would recommend people read it if they haven't.

I didn't read ender's game until I was an adult and mostly I just thought "I would have loved this when I was 14." There's something a little Mary Sue about it when reading it as an adult.

Here's another one I dredged up from the past, a collection of chess-themed SF short stories. I have a vague recollection of two, a chess player who was trying to replay different variations of his life, and a Fred Saberhagen Berserker about an animal trained to use a learning algorithm to play a game.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61...

Playing at the World: A History of Simulating Wars, People, and Fantastic Adventure from Chess to Role-Playing Games

A detailed history of the creation of D&D, with early wargame history thrown in.

The way that games, whether they be strategy games, role-playing games, or even casino-style games, mirror human thought and decision-making has always fascinated me. Reading about that development makes it much easier to understand how play relates to psychology and narrative. Platforms such as https://aquawinau.com/en-au/, for instance, demonstrate how contemporary gaming echoes classic strategy games by combining design, chance, and interactivity. The same creative heritage that makes books like Playing at the World so captivating to read is responsible for all of this.