230 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PLAY • WINTER 2018 fortieth-anniversary meeting, as it sum- and postmodern perspectives on play. marizes the spirit of the book. Stevens If the first article in the book proposes provides an overview of the challenges a set of challenges for the study of play that in his opinion play scholars should based on the history of TASP, then the address: to improve cross-disciplinary last article raises the stakes and reframes communication, research further into the the discussion toward the present and cultural context of play, be less careless future of the field. about research, and embrace the fact that Ultimately, this ambitious book pro- play is fun. vides a snapshot of a particular history Interestingly, Stevens’s challenges of the study of play. Thanks to the care- work well with the contents of the articles ful editing work of Michael M. Patte and that follow, especially with those selected John A. Sutterby and the quality of the to illustrate the present and future of the articles selected, it is safe to say that this study of play. For example, Olga Jarrett’s collection is a worthy contribution to the fascinating study of dolls and de-segrega- scholarly discussion on what the study of tion is a careful examination of the role of play is and what it should be. playthings in the configurations of politi- cal and social realities. Vicky Thomas’s —Miguel Sicart, IT University of Copen- “Playing in Northampton: Connecting hagen, Denmark Past, Present, and Future” also shows how the study of the manufacturing of toys can illustrate the complex evolution of labor and industrialization in contemporary It’s All a Game: The History of societies. Finally, Lynn E. Cohen and Board Games from Monopoly Sandra Waite-Stupiansky’s study of play to Settlers of Catan for all ages calls for scholars to broaden the Tristan Donovan study of play beyond its manifestation in New York: Thomas Dunne Books, infants. These articles excel at addressing 2017. Introduction, references, Stevens’s challenges to make the study of acknowledgments, and index. 292 pp. play contemporary, relevant, and cross- $26.99 paper. ISBN: 9781250082725 disciplinary, while at the same time assert- ing that play is fun, but must also be placed In It’s All a Game, Tristan Donovan in sociocultural contexts. explores the roots of board games’ persis- The editors close the book with an tent popularity. Analyzing the influence of article by Thomas Henricks that explores social, political, and economic influences modern and postmodern play in the con- on board game designers and manufac- text of the present and future of the study turers, Donovan maps the evolution of of play. This article functions as the per- our modern-day relationship with board fect closing for the book, neatly providing games across time, international bound- a summary of the present and past of the aries, and cultures. He also examines the study of play while urging future studies impact this leisure activity has had on to embrace this duality between modern popular psychology. Donovan concludes Book Reviews 231 that games have “shaped us, explained us, type of war game invented by a Prussian and molded the world we live in” (p. 7). army officer as a way to calculate military In sixteen chapters, the author takes operation outcomes. These games mapped his readers on a journey that underscores tactical maneuvers for global conflicts the history and evolution of ancient until computers, with their more accurate games and their contemporary coun- ability to determine artillery-firing rates, terparts. Donovan traces the Indian and replaced plotting scenarios on a board. Persian influences on chess, highlighting The concepts of re-creating, developing, the game’s journey along the Silk Road and practicing military strategies inspired trade routes and how the rules and game modern games, such as Risk, and launched pieces evolved to reflect first Muslim and Avalon Hill, a company that “helped fos- then European societies. He examines ter a community of armchair generals” (p. how games such as backgammon, Milton 102). Building on this analysis of military Bradley’s The Checkered Game of Life, themes, Donovan examines the roles of and Monopoly developed as games that games in both geopolitical and ideologi- required both strategy and luck. As with cal conflicts. He recounts how the British chess, Donovan emphasizes the ways in government used Monopoly in World War which the original versions of these games II, infusing the game with secret compart- addressed the concerns of the day and ments containing money, compasses, and then evolved over time. silk maps before sending them to British Donovan devotes much of his book prisoners of war via military intelligence to twentieth-century games and illustrates agencies disguised as relief organizations. the international influences of modern Other games—particularly the venerable games and how changing mores affected game of chess—came to reflect the Cold games and game play. He discusses the War between the United States and the development of popular games such as Soviet Union. Donovan also traces the Clue and Scrabble, and he recounts the history of world chess tournaments and history of Marvin Glass, an eccentric and the Soviet Union’s use of its domination paranoid toy inventor whose infusion of of the game as a means to highlight the plastics into board games (such as Opera- superiority of communist rationalism. tion and Mouse Trap), melded the board With the exception of America’s Bobby game industry with the toy industry. Fischer, Soviet players dominated com- Donovan also highlights the importance petitive chess until the USSR collapsed in of Twister and how it was designed as a 1991. With each of these topics, Donovan party game but became a game that unin- effectively underscores the role of games tentionally “echoed Western society’s sex- beyond home entertainment purposes. ual journey” and paved the way for other Game innovations, Donovan argues, games with sexual themes (p. 178). have had significant effects on games In addition to exploring game devel- played beyond childhood. He spends a opment, Donovan dedicates a portion of chapter explaining the importance of his book to connecting board game play Trivial Pursuit as a game that “broke board to warfare, most notably Kriegsspiel, a games free from the toy box” and created a 232 AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PLAY • WINTER 2018 market for adults (p. 223). Another inno- of play that can be found in other board vation is the use of strategic cooperation game histories, such as David Parlett’s The and planning, a notable feature of Settlers Oxford History of Board Games (1999), of Catan (a game that encourages players images would have been useful to read- to cleverly manage their paths to success as ers in explaining some of the details of the opposed to direct racing and eliminating games. Donovan or his publisher assumes opponents). While Catan has a niche fol- that readers are familiar with most of the lowing, Donovan argues that other game games mentioned, but photographs would designers infused these methods into their have enhanced his arguments on the man- products, such as Monopoly Empire, cre- ner in which contemporary events influ- ating a more communal environment for enced game design. Additionally, Donovan play. After all, Donovan posits, the social assumes all games prior to Monopoly were function of board games is what has main- race games and infers that games prior to tained their popularity for centuries. Trivial Pursuit were intended primarily In addition to historical and socio- for children. While there was a plethora cultural mutations, Donovan explores of race games prior to Monopoly, strategy the psychology of games and empha- and capture games did exist, particularly sizes the dichotomy of games into two those that re-created Spanish-American camps—math-based strategy games and War battles scenes. Furthermore, in the games that focus on emotions and feelings. American board game industry, most Chess and Brain Buster games fall into one games were initially marketed for family camp, while games that have no winners fun or adult social gatherings—not just for but explore our inner thoughts, such as children. Such drawbacks are nonetheless the Ungame, fall into the other. Donovan minor. It’s All a Game is a well-researched argues that games challenge us mentally and engaging monograph that will appeal and socially and that manufacturers and to the general reader and scholars alike. educational experts have capitalized on games’ motivating aspects to foster social —Susan Asbury, Penn State, Harrisburg, and developmental skills. Chess and other Harrisburg, PA strategy-based games, Donovan notes, have also served as a motivation for sci- entists exploring artificial intelligence in a playful way. What to Do When Children It’s All a Game provides an interna- Clam Up in Psychotherapy: tional snapshot of board games that both Interventions to Facilitate influenced game play and reflected chang- Communication ing cultural mores. The work is insight- Cathy A. Malchiodi and David A. ful, emphasizing some game designers’ Crenshaw, eds. motives to incorporate paratextuality (role New York: The Guilford Press, 2017. playing) as discussed in Paul Booth’s 2015 About the Editors, preface, and index. book Game Play. While Donovan does 247 pp. $23.80 paper. not dwell on the strategic descriptions ISBN: 9781462530427.