Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals [Hardcover]

The Summary
This is the BEST BOOK ON BOARD GAME DESIGN that I have read and I have read many! The book is well written, it is thorough in its analysis, has references and bibliographies that allow you to explore the authors' research yourself. I had high expectations for this book and that normally leads to being a little disappointed, but this book not only met my high expectations but actually exceeded them! This book isn't for the impatient programmer who just wants to know how to write the next First Person Shooter, or the person who wants to be told some quick methods to come up with new ideas for games. This is for the serious student who wants to really understand game design and what it truly means to design immersive, balanced and compelling game play.

I have been reading and researching game design for over 10 years now. I have been writing computer games for over 20 years. Over the last 4 years I have been researching board games, since discovering the European board games that have been doing so well across the pond, I got hooked and realized that these games were the embodiment of great game design. I decided that to become better at designing computer games I should learn what makes games like Settler's of Catan and Carcassonne so compelling. So for the last few years I have been exploring the theory of game design. Since there wasn't much out on board game design specifically, I read newsgroups, web site articles and the plethora of books coming out on computer game design. I also diversified my research and delved into psychology, mathematics, game theory, and anthropology and information architecture. Well all I can say is that if this book, Rules of Play had been available 10 years ago I would saved myself many years of reading! This book brings together all the different strands of game design, going into the theoretical aspects, delving into board game design from the Landlord game (the earliest form of the Monopoly type game) to Reiner Knizia talking about how he designed Lord of the Rings. It explores computer games from Pong to the recent slew of First Person Shooters. It explores psychology, anthropology, cybernetics, mathematics, probability etc... This has the broadest coverage of topics that relate to game design. If you want to know the fundamental principles behind what makes great games, then you need to understand people and why play and games are important. You need to understand how people think and the underpinnings of why reward schedules works. There are a lot of books out there that refer to reward schedules, flow and game balancing but this is the first one that truly explores the subjects and their roots. I found this book to be amazing. I am of the personality, when I start something I want to learn everything I can about the subject, and this book allowed me to be immersed in game design.

Here is a list of some of the most interesting parts of this book:
- Reiner Knizia - writing about how he designed the Lord of the Rings Board game
- Richard Garfield (Sibling Rivalry), Frank Lantz (Iron Clad), Kira Snyder (Sneak) and James Ernest (Caribbean Star) - design board games for the book and each of them describe how they went about designing. (Note: James Ernest's game Caribbean Star is available as part of a game collection he released from his company Cheapass games - check out "Chief Herman's Next Big Thing" )
- There are game design exercises that students or teachers can use to learn more about each of the concepts. These exercises are split into 3 categories: game creation, game modification and game analysis.
- Complexity, Emergence, self organization as they refer to games
- Probability and Randomness (luck) in games
- Information Theory - uncertainty, noise and redundancy
- Systems of Information - public and private information
- Cybernetics - Feedback loops and game balancing
- Game Theory - Cake division and the prisoner's dilemma
- Conflict and Cooperation
- Interactivity
- Flow - Entrainment, reward schedules, behavior theory and addiction
- Edward De Bono's L Game
- Narrative play - story arcs etc..
- Simulations - games as simulations
- Metagames - the larger social context of games
- Open Source Games - like Icehouse
- Game modifications - Alterations, Juxtapositions, Reinventions
- Blurring the boundary between "real" and "play"

A part of me of wants to keep this book and all these amazing insights that I have read to myself, since then I could have that added advantage. But I know the best way to ratchet up the quality of games is to share information and the game industry as a whole will be improved.

On the brighter side, if you're a game player with a passing interest in old school design, or just want to know the opinions of some retro-gamers, you might care to check this book out. For anyone else, I'd suggest alternatives: "Game Design: Theory and Practice" and especially "Chris Crawford on Game Design". Both contain intelligent analysis from truly experienced designers with much more relevance to modern game design.

The bottom line is that there are just too many good alternatives to be interested in this instantly forgettable material.

If you are interested in game design, skip this one and look to others like Chris Crawford for intellectual stimulation.