Booth - Game Play

Game Play

Game Play

Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games

Paul Booth

Bloomsbury Academic

An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc

Bloomsbury Academic

An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Inc

www.bloomsbury.com

BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published 2015

Paul Booth, 2015

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

ISBN: HB: 978-1-6289-2744-3

PB: 978-1-6289-2743-6

ePub: 978-1-6289-2742-9

ePDF: 978-1-6289-2741-2

Typeset by Deanta Global Publishing Services, Chennai, India

I dedicate this book with love to my family, who have been playing games with me since I was young. Thank you for the fun times and great memories and for letting me win once in a while.

Contents

This book would not have been possible without the help and support of many. First, I thank all my friends and family who came over for the monthly board game days (and nights)Anna Booth, Katie Booth, Amber Davisson, Alan Francisco, Ashlyn Keefe, Kate Lander, Brendan Riley, Natalie Wolfe, and Chris Woodthis book would not have happened without your patience, sense of fun, and stimulating conversations. Thank you for the times that you put up with some strenuous rule reading, and for being willing to try out pretty much any game. Brendan, especially, has been a wonderful gameplaying friend for over a decade and I am grateful for his continued friendship and the wonderful game nights with Jenny, Avery, and Finn.

The seeds for this book were first planted by Bethan Jones and Wickham Clayton, who edited a special issue of Intensities: The Journal of Cult Media about transmedia and board games. I contributed Playing Dead: Transmedia Pathos and Plot in The Walking Dead Board Games, which has become Chapter 3 in this volume. I am particularly grateful to them for providing abstracts for the other articles so that I could properly shape additional chapters and research. Some of the research in this book also comes from Crowdfunding: A Spimatic Application of Digital Fandom, which I wrote for Lucy Bennett, Bertha Chin, and Bethan Joness special issue of New Media and Society on crowdfunding, and I am appreciative of their feedback on the content, as well as the feedback of the anonymous reviewers.

Both Matt Hills and Nicola Balkind were kind enough to send me pre-publication versions of some of their work, and I am grateful for their thoughtful conversations. Many thanks to Ian Peters, who commented on a version of Chapter 5, and who along with Lincoln Geraghty and Kyle Moody helped shape the direction of the book for the 2015 Society for Cinema and Media Studies conference. Thanks to Milan Rancic for permission to use his Battlestar Galactica fan card. Many thanks also to the thoughtful comments of Jonathan Gray in the early stages of writing; they helped immensely in the development of these ideas. I am also so thankful for, and appreciate, the keen eyes of Tom Vincent, editor extraordinaire, and the thoughtful editorial comments of Ashlyn Keefe. Now the student has become the master.

When one first expresses an idea to write a book about board games based on cult media, one tends to invite some sideways glances and cocked eyebrows. I am grateful to be working at an institution that not only didnt bat an eye, but also actively encouraged me to continue this line of research. Many thanks to DePaul Universitys University Research Council, whose grant allowed me to purchase many of the games studied in this book. I have been so lucky to find a group of editors at Bloomsbury who have also given their time and energyKatie Gallof is a dream to work with and I am indebted to Mary Al-Sayed for all her design work and help.

As always, I am indebted to my family. Colin and Deb Booth are not only great parents, but also great people. I wish I had realized that when I was a teenager, but I am glad that I do now. My sister, Anna, is perhaps the most competitive game player I have met and makes every game much more fun. My thanks also to Tom Vincent and Wendy Vincentyour support means a lot. And thanks to Gary and Jane Booth, who very kindly held onto some games for me in the UK.

It is true that the best writing happens with a cat on your lap, and so I am so thankful that Gizmo spent a great deal of time there. If Black Kitty had been braver then perhaps my writing would have been better. And to my stalwart friends Slinky and Rosie, I can only praise you by giving you more treats, rubbing your belly, and throwing the ball a few times. It is not really repayment enough for the companionship. But without a doubt, none of this would have been possible without Katie, who not only read through the manuscript and offered valuable insights on every detail, but also encouraged me throughout the entire project. And although we both always want to be the green piece, I am so grateful that you let me have it once in a while.

Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games

Paul Booth

Volume Keywords: Board Game, Paratext, Cult Media, Fan, Adaptation, Play, Digital, New Media

Volume Abstract:

Game Play presents analyses of paratextual games games that are based on already extant media products like books, films, and television programsas both unique media texts and as they contribute to an understanding of todays media culture. Todays franchised media environment presents board games as key media products. As such, they reflect aspects of the culture from which they develop. Often stigmatized as a fannish way to cash in on the popularity of a blockbuster film, paratextual board games exist in a more complex relationship with their corresponding text than other ancillary products dothey are both part of and apart from the main text. And in a paratextual media environment, where transmedia, franchises, sequels, and adaptation are standard, we need to look at the many connections between all these texts to understand our larger media culture. Game Play uses a unique cross-game analysis to examine paratextual board games that are adaptations of elements in media franchises. Analyzing multiple games reveals important insights about the franchises on which theyre based, as well as about the media culture in which they reside. Through this multi-franchise look at contemporary media, I analyze how different modes of gameplay and game mechanics reflect and problematize the ways we examine cult narratives. Ultimately, through a combination of in-depth textual analysis, media/cultural criticism, and the presentation of 15 Principles of Paratextual Board Games, Game Play not only offers an exploration of vibrant new styles of gameplay, but also opens up new avenues in media criticism.

Board games in a digital culture

We are in the midst of a board game renaissance. Board games are commonly associated with family game nights, rainy days on vacations, or lazy Sunday afternoons, so there is something heartwarming about learning that hundreds of thousands of people still get together on weekends or in the evenings, in dining rooms and pubs, with friends and loved ones, simply to play games.