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To examine the effectiveness of board games and programs that use board games, the present study conducted a systematic review using the PsycINFO and PubMed databases with the keywords “board game” AND “trial;” in total, 71 studies were identified. Of these 71 studies, 27 satisfied the inclusion criteria in terms of program content, intervention style, and pre–post comparisons and were subsequently reviewed. These 27 studies were divided into the following three categories regarding the effects of board games and programs that use board games: educational knowledge (11 articles), cognitive functions (11 articles), and other conditions (five articles). The effect sizes between pre- and post-tests or pre-tests and follow-up tests were 0.12–1.81 for educational knowledge, 0.04–2.60 and − 1.14 – − 0.02 for cognitive functions, 0.06–0.65 for physical activity, and − 0.87 – − 0.61 for symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The present findings showed that, as a tool, board games can be expected to improve the understanding of knowledge, enhance interpersonal interactions among participants, and increase the motivation of participants. However, because the number of published studies in this area remains limited, the possibility of using board games as treatment for clinical symptoms requires further discussion.

In this edited volume, eighteen scholars examine the increasing role of digital media technologies in identity construction through play. Going beyond computer games, this interdisciplinary collection argues that present-day play and games are not only appropriate metaphors for capturing postmodern human identities, but are in fact the means by which people create their identity. From discussions of World of Warcraft and Foursquare to digital cartographies, the combined essays form a groundbreaking volume that features the most recent insights in play and game studies, media research, and identity studies.

This inquiry concerns the cultural history of the chess-player. It takes as its premise the idea that the chess-player has become a fragmented collection of images, underpinned by challenges to, and confirmations of, chess’s status as an intellectually-superior and socially-useful game, particularly since the medieval periodThis inquiry concerns the cultural history of the chess-player. It takes as its premise the idea that the chess-player has become a fragmented collection of images, underpinned by challenges to, and confirmations of, chess’s status as an intellectually-superior and socially-useful game, particularly since the medieval period

Board games are played by moving game pieces in particular ways on special boards marked with patterns. To clarify the possible roles of board game use in psychosomatic medicine, the present review evaluated studies that investigated the effects of this activity on health education and treatment. A literature search conducted between January 2012 and August 2018 identified 83 relevant articles; 56 (67%) targeted education or training for health-related problems, six (7%) examined basic brain mechanisms, five (6%) evaluated preventative measures for dementia or contributions to healthy aging, and three (4%) assessed social communication or public health policies. The results of several randomized controlled trials indicated that the playing of traditional board games (e.g., chess, Go, and Shogi) helps to improve cognitive impairment and depression, and that the playing of newly developed board games is beneficial for behavioral modifications, such as the promotion of healthy eating, smoking cessation, and safe sex. Although the number of studies that have evaluated board game use in terms of mental health remains limited, many studies have provided interesting findings regarding brain function, cognitive effects, and the modification of health-related lifestyle factors.

Go (Weiqi in Chinese) is one of the most popular games in East Asia, with a steadily increasing fan base around the world. Like chess, Go is a logic game but it is much older, with written records mentioning the game that date back to the 4th century BC. As Chinese politics have changed over the last two millennia, so too has the imagery of the game. In Imperial times it was seen as a tool to seek religious enlightenment and was one of the four noble arts that were a requisite to becoming a cultured gentleman. During the Cultural Revolution it was a stigmatized emblem of the lasting effects of feudalism. Today, it marks the reemergence of cultured gentlemen as an idealized model of manhood. Marc L. Moskowitz explores the fascinating history of the game, as well as providing a vivid snapshot of Chinese Go players today. Go Nation uses this game to come to a better understanding of Chinese masculinity, nationalism, and class, as the PRC reconfigures its history and traditions to meet the future.

In the autumn of 1933, two young go players, Kitani Minoru and Go Seigen, launched a revolutionary change in the game’s opening style. Initially controversial, shinfuseki as the style came to be known, attracted amateur and professional players alike and helped to reshape the way that the game was played. This has come to be seen as a modernist revolution, stressing speed, scale, and the center of the board over slower, more piecemeal approaches which had predominated. However, I argue that database analysis of the games which were played at the time, as well as textual analysis of contemporary writing, reveals a more complex trajectory. While shinfuseki can indeed be seen as a strategic part of a broader modernization of the game of go, interpreting it requires nuance. Firstly, Kitani and Go’s innovations were built upon a foundation of other players’ experiments: while 1933 was certainly seen at the time as a moment of dramatic change, it was one that had been some time in coming. Secondly, the aim of their experiments was cast not in terms of speed and scale and the center of the board (as has since tended to be the prevailing interpretation), but balance and harmony and by reference to an East Asian classic, the doctrine of the mean. Ultimately, the significance of 1933 as a turning point was less grounded in specific moves than in the emergence of a greater sense of freedom to experiment.

Video gaming: it's a boy's world, right? That's what the industry wants us to think. Why and how we came to comply are what Carly A. Kocurek investigates in this provocative consideration of how an industry's craving for respectability hooked up with cultural narratives about technology, masculinity, and youth at the video arcade. From the dawn of the golden age of video games with the launch of Atari'sPongin 1972, through the industry-wide crash of 1983, to the recent nostalgia-bathed revival of the arcade,Coin-Operated Americansexplores the development and implications of the \"video gamer\" as a cultural identity. This cultural-historical journey takes us to the Twin Galaxies arcade in Ottumwa, Iowa, for a close look at the origins of competitive gaming. It immerses us in video gaming's first moral panic, generated by Exidy'sDeath Race(1976), an unlicensed adaptation of the filmDeath Race 2000. And it ventures into the realm of video game films such asTronandWarGames, in which gamers become brilliant, boyish heroes. Whether conducting a phenomenological tour of a classic arcade or evaluating attempts, then and now, to regulate or eradicate arcades and coin-op video games, Kocurek does more than document the rise and fall of a now-booming industry. Drawing on newspapers, interviews, oral history, films, and television, she examines the factors and incidents that contributed to the widespread view of video gaming as an enclave for young men and boys. A case study of this once emergent and now revived medium became the presumed enclave of boys and young men,Coin-Operated Americansis history that holds valuable lessons for contemporary culture as we struggle to address pervasive sexism in the domain of video games-and in the digital working world beyond.

The past decade has seen phenomenal growth in the development and use of virtual worlds. In one of the most notable, Second Life, millions of people have created online avatars in order to play games, take classes, socialize, and conduct business transactions. Second Life offers a gathering point and the tools for people to create a new world online. Too often neglected in popular and scholarly accounts of such groundbreaking new environments is the simple truth that, of necessity, such virtual worlds emerge from physical workplaces marked by negotiation, creation, and constant change. Thomas Malaby spent a year at Linden Lab, the real-world home of Second Life, observing those who develop and profit from the sprawling, self-generating system they have created. Some of the challenges created by Second Life for its developers were of a very traditional nature, such as how to cope with a business that is growing more quickly than existing staff can handle. Others are seemingly new: How, for instance, does one regulate something that is supposed to run on its own? Is it possible simply to create a space for people to use and then not govern its use? Can one apply these same free-range/free-market principles to the office environment in which the game is produced? \"Lindens\"-as the Linden Lab employees call themselves-found that their efforts to prompt user behavior of one sort or another were fraught with complexities, as a number of ongoing processes collided with their own interventions. InMaking Virtual Worlds, Malaby thoughtfully describes the world of Linden Lab and the challenges faced while he was conducting his in-depth ethnographic research there. He shows how the workers of a very young but quickly growing company were themselves caught up in ideas about technology, games, and organizations, and struggled to manage not only their virtual world but also themselves in a nonhierarchical fashion. In exploring the practices the Lindens employed, he questions what was at stake in their virtual world, what a game really is (and how people participate), and the role of the unexpected in a product like Second Life and an organization like Linden Lab.

Examining and developing courses of education for sustainable development (ESD) is the goal of this study. Building on the theory of game-based learning, this study develops teaching strategies that employ board games for ESD. The design context of the board game, entitled “Be Blessed Taiwan”, is situated in the dilemma between biological conservation and economic development. It incorporates four core systemic concepts: the economy, policies, society, and ecology. Students from two high schools played the game for 200 min and 400 min, respectively (100 min per week). The study collected complete pre-game and post-game data from 34 high school students, including the test of scientific concepts, and gameplay results. The research results indicate that students’ test scores significantly increased after the gameplay with a medium effect size; specifically, a large effect on the dimension of biodiversity concepts and a medium effect on the dimension of biological conservation concepts. The analysis of students’ gameplay results shows the difficulty for high-school students to achieve all four ESD goals.

The first profound ludemic studies are being done at the moment. Some projects are exploring the ludemic approach in video games and historic games. However, contemporary games known as modern board games are still underexplored. In this paper, the number one games, according to Board Game Geek since 2000, are analyzed according to a systemic approach. The authors propose exploring the game system and other dimensions of each game in order to find design patterns that help support a ludemic approach. By addressing ludemes, the authors seek to contribute to understanding the success of modern board games in an age of video game domination.