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Who's in the Game? Identity and Intersectionality in Classic Board Games

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Who's in the Game? Identity and Intersectionality in Classic Board Games

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McFarland

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$32.99

$55.00

Some board games—like Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, Clue, Guess Who, The Game of Life, Monopoly, Operation and Payday—have popularity spanning generations. But over time, updates to games have created significantly different messages about personal identity and evolving social values. Games offer representations of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, age, ability and social class that reflect the status quo and respond to social change.

Using popular mass-market games, this rhetorical assessment explores board design, game implements (tokens, markers, 3-D elements) and playing instructions. This book argues the existence of board games as markers of an ever-changing sociocultural framework, exploring the nature of play and how games embody and extend societal themes and values.

This digital edition includes the EPUB and PDF versions of the book.

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Patrick B December 03, 2020 3:24 pm UTC

What in the world can you possibly gain by dissecting and picking apart classic family fun boardgames like Candy Land? It's like telling a child that Santa Claus isn't real. What good can come of it?

Ron D December 10, 2020 5:04 pm UTC

Santa Claus is not real.
I'd argue that the entire Santa Clause / Saint Nicolas charade is a valuable tool in teaching kids not to trust everything that they see, because people will tell lies if it suits them.

Adam W October 15, 2021 7:47 pm UTC

PURCHASER

If you've ever seen more than one release of The Game of Life, you'll see their differences are striking. The game literally evolves over the decades along with society. I wish I'd thought of this book idea first. It seems obvious in retrospect. By the way, Chutes & Ladders is itself an altered game - it's based on a traditional game called Snakes & Ladders. That alone should tell you something further. I'm actually really curious to see how Candy Land fits in, to be frank.

Adam W October 15, 2021 8:29 pm UTC

PURCHASER

Okay, so I bought the book and I am BEYOND impressed with it so far. As for Candy Land, it turns out that it was originally created in response to polio, with the goal being "Home, Sweet Home" (getting out of the hospital) rather than some mythical candy castle. The game changed when polio was eradicated! THERE's the good that can come of it. Also, there's "XXXopoly 69" on the last page of the index and it's not a throwaway joke (sexuality in games actually IS covered on that page, a masterstroke if you ask me), so yeah, there's a LOT of content in here covering a wide variety of topics in its over 200 pages. The asking price was a lot, but I think I'll find it was worth it.