resources

main texts

• The primary text for the course is Salen and Zimmerman's Rules of Play. We'll read most of this over the course of the semester and you should make sure you have access to a copy (there is a copy on reserve in the library).
• An alternative to Rules of Play is Characteristics of Games by Elias, Garfield and Gutschera (link is to the electronic version in our library). It takes a pretty similar approach to Rules of Play and we might use it to give a slightly different or deeper take on some topics.
• Plugging "game studies" into the library catalogue search gives a good selection of interesting books, far more than we can cover. Check them out and see if there is an angle you'd like us to spend some/more time on. (N.B. The physical and electronic book holdings need different searches and both are valuable.)

game specific items

Heroscape

• Between the college summer program and my collection, we have a big stash of Heroscape to play with. We'll work out the best way to make it accessible during the first week of class.
• Short video introducing Heroscape. And a longer, five-part one.
• The website for all things Heroscape is heroscapers.com. (Bragging: as I write this on 17th January, one of the unit designs I was heavily involved with has a front page announcement.)

Pandemic

• The library has a copy of Pandemic on reserve and also a copy of Pandemic: Iberia on the way.
• There is an app, available for Android or through iTunes on which you can play as a single player controlling all the characters (which works, as it's a co-op game). It has a good interface and what seems to be a good tutorial for learning the game. On the downside, it's not free.

Summoner Wars

• The library has a copy of Summoner Wars on reserve.
• There is an app for Summoner Wars that lets you play against an AI opponent or real-life ones on either Android or iOS. It's free to register and play, but for money you get access to more factions.
• The Plaid Hat Games site is the place for discussion and information about Summoner Wars, including Learn to play video.

other games

• Here's the BGG page for Tsuro, the game we played in the first class.
• Dots and Boxes rules (from wikipedia):
  • Starting with an empty grid of dots, two players take turns adding a single horizontal or vertical line between two unjoined adjacent dots. The player who completes the fourth side of a 1×1 box earns one point and takes another turn. (A point is typically recorded by placing a mark that identifies the player in the box, such as an initial). The game ends when no more lines can be placed. The winner is the player with the most points.

puzzles

• A sudoku website

other readings etc.

general sources

• Boardgame Geek (BGG) has all of the information, data and discussion that you could possibly wish for on most games. A great place to start when you are investigating a new game or want deeper insights into one you're already playing.