It's All a Game: A Short History of Board Games eBook : Donovan, Tristan: Amazon.co.uk: Books

As someone who works in the toy-and-game industry - both as a writer and creative consultant - I bought this book thinking it would be a useful resource. While I was right about that, I must confess I’d underestimated how interesting and well-written it might be.It looks to me as if the author, Tristan Donovan, has avoided the two most-obvious traps: skimming the surface of some games but getting bogged down by others. As a result, this book moves along at a most-agreeable pace meaning it’s an excellent read in its own right. In the interests of disclosure, I should add that I did once meet the author when I wanted a few signed copies of the book as gifts.Moreover, I subsequently used Mr. Donovan’s work as a reference when writing a book on how to create your own board games. The author has not, however, solicited this review - which is just as well given how long it took me to get to it. All in all: this is an excellent read and a great resource.

Took this on holiday for an easy dip-in dip-out read. For me it was the perfect choice. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Lots of great stories, some of which will be familiar to anyone with an existing interest in the subject (e.g. origins of Monopoly), but plenty here that I was learning for the first time and even the more familiar stories contained details that were new to me, in no small part to the author interviewing people who were actually involved instead of relying on desk based research. It's not all killer, no filler, and your interest in each chapter/game may vary, but all chapters are well written and contain some great stories & gaming trivia. Would throughly recommend to anyone with a casual interest in board games.