Material Game Studies

Chloé Germaine is a Senior Lecturer in English Literature and Film at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and a co-director of the Manchester Game Studies Network.Paul Wake is Reader in English Literature at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK and a co-director of the Manchester Game Studies Network.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsAbout the ContributorsIntroduction: Material Game Studies, Chloé Germaine Buckley (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) and Paul Wake (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK) Section 1: Provocations1. Thinking the Things We Play With, Miguel Sicart (IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark)2. Analog Games as Infrastructure, Aaron Trammel (University of South California, USA)Section 2: Materials3. Component parts: Board games as architecture and performance, Paul Wake (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)4. A Queer Touch of Fantasy Role-Play, Jack Warren (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)5. Lead Fantasies: The making, meaning and materiality of miniatures, Mikko Meriläinen, Katriina Heljakka, Jaakko Stenros (Tampere University, Finland)Section 3: Ideologies6. ‘Men Should Try Playing the Woman’s Part to See What it Feels Like. Remember ~ It’s Only a Game…’: The Representation of Gendered Experience in Chance-based Board Games, Holly Nielsen (Royal Holloway University, UK)7. Deterritorializing Game Boards: Mapping Imperialism in RISK and Modern Board Games, Jonathan Ray Lee (University of Washington, USA)8. Nature’ Games in a time of Climate Crisis, Chloé Germaine Buckley (Manchester Metropolitan University, UK)Section 4: Cultures9. Contested Spaces, Velvet Ropes, Exclusion Zones: The Pleasures and Dangers of Face-to-Face Play in Analogue Gaming Spaces, Tanya Pobuda (Ryerson and York University, Canada)10. ‘Hands, Face, Space’ - The Material Turn and COVID -19, Esther McCallum Stewart (University of Staffordshire, UK)Section 5: Hybridity11. The Cult of New (Stuff): Kickstarter’s Digital/Material Tensions, Paul Booth (DePaul University, Chicago, USA)12. The Logic of Analogue Adaptation, Nathan Altice (University of California Santa Cruz, USA)Index

This edited collection broadens the horizon of what game studies can do. Through an in-depth investigation of a number of case studies around tabletop and board games, the volume provides an essential contribution to contemporary debates around materialism, agency, and the non-human. It is essential reading for students and scholars interested in exploring the complexities of game culture.