Donovan's collection of essays about the development of board games is made up of two rather awkwardly intermingled halves. Roughly half the essays are about specific games: what led up to their development, how they achieved success, and then either how people have continued to build upon their cultural familiarity or how our culture's appreciation of them has shifted over time. The other half are about changing cultural values and how they are applied to board games over time, perhaps best typified by, but not limited to, a specific popular title. Though they may not sound very different at first, one set of essays satisfies, and one does not.

The essays driven by a single game are very satisfying because they tell coherent stories. By and large, these are found in the first half of the book - covering chess, backgammon, Monopoly, the Game of Life, Scrabble, and Clue - and while they occasionally divert into tangents, those seem connected to the original topic. The backgammon chapter examines its fall from grace with the celebrity set, who moved their attention to Texas Hold 'Em poker; the Scrabble chapter increasingly becomes about the development and purpose of Scrabble dictionaries. These little offshoots make sense. They are compelling. They clarify rather than confuse.

The second set of essays isn't nearly as attention-grabbing, mostly because they lack that cohesive, unified story. Sometimes they feel like they've each been bolted together from three or four smaller articles that couldn't stand on their own. The Risk chapter is only minimally about Risk, and far more about the use of war board games to strategize real conflict, from Kriegsspiel on up. The Trivial Pursuit chapter contextualizes Trivial Pursuit as just one game in a big social shift in the '80s to create "grown-up" board games. The Twister chapter somewhat clunkily veers from the sexual implications of Twister to the very real sexuality of Monogamy. Only two of these broader-style essays really come through clearly: the one about ancient games at the very beginning, and the one about the rise of German games at the end. For whatever reason, those have a cultural point to make that carries them above the specific games involved; they feel meaningful in a way that, say, an examination of the development of machine learning does not.

To Donovan's credit, there's a recognizable pattern in the essay titles. Almost all of the essays that focus directly on a specific game centralize that title, while others provide a specific game or games only in a subtitle. Still, a casual browser could be excused for making assumptions.

Overall, I recommend the book, especially as a library read. Just don't be surprised if the coherency feels like it starts to dwindle away the longer you go on. ( )

Based on a copy from NetGalley

If you love board games, you'll probably like this book. If you love trivia, you'll probably like this book. In general, you'll probably like this book (and will want to go out and play board games). ( )

Fun book about the history of board games. If you are a gamer, you probably should brush up on the history of your favorite past time. This book covers the origins of Monopoly, Risk, and all those plastic board games you played as a kid (Mouse Trap, Operation). The parts I found interesting were the ancient history of board games going back to the Egyptians. There was a lot about Chess since that is an old and extremely influential game.

Overall, good read and well written. Excellent book for anyone who enjoys games and/or history. ( )

A fun niche history of various popular board games as well as how trends in culture influenced their development (and vice versa). Donovan's writing is smooth and easy reading and there's plenty to enjoy here whether you're super into table top games or if you just have fond memories from childhood. My only problem was some weird copy editing things; the chapter on Clue misuses "gentile" twice in a context where it should have been either "gentle" or "genteel". Other than that small issue, I highly recommend the book if it tickles your fancy at all. ( )

Roll the dice. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. I love playing board games and It's All A Game - A Short History of Board Games by Tristan Donovan was a good read.

All the expected games are there: Chess, Backgammon, Trivial Pursuit, Scrabble, Cluedo, Pictionary and Monopoly and much more. I appreciated reading the history behind the formation of these games and learning about new - to me - ones.

The section on war games was interesting, however I was surprised and secretly excited to hear mention of The Ungame and Scruples.
I enjoyed reading about the evolution of my favourite game Monopoly, however was embarrassed to learn it was created in the USA first. I played the British version and ignorantly believed the American game board was the 'inferior' version. Whoops!

"By 2016 [Monopoly] had sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. It is, by far, the bestselling branded board game ever created and no other game, except maybe chess, has so imprinted itself on the world's collective consciousness." Page 95

I also enjoyed learning about the formation of Simon & Schuster on page 155:
Richard Simon was at his aunt's house for dinner in 1924 and she asked if there was a collection of cross words she could buy for her daughter.
"Together with his friend Lincoln Schuster, Simon founded a publishing company called Simon & Schuster" to publish a collection of cross word puzzles. The book became a sensation and "Simon & Schuster was on its way to becoming one of the biggest book publishers in the United States."

I read It's All A Game during Non Fiction November (hosted by A Book Olive) and it left me wanting to play boardgames again. Unfortunately I don't have any willing participants close by so now I'm playing Backgammon on Board Game Arena. My profile name is Carpe_Librum (naturally) if anyone wants to play.

Roll the dice.

* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin * ( )