Paper Time Machines

James Dunnigan’s memorable phrase serves as the first part of a title for this book, where it seeks to be applicable not just to analog wargames, but also to board games exploring non-expressly military history, that is, to political, diplomatic, social, economic, or other forms of history. Don’t board games about history, made predominantly out of (layered) paper, permit a kind of time travel powered by our imagination? Paper Time Machines: Critical Game Design and Historical Board Games is for those who consider this a largely rhetorical question; primarily for designers of historical board games, directed in its more practice-focused sections (Parts Two, Three, and Four) toward those just commencing their journeys through time and space and engaged in learning how to deconstruct and to construct paper time machines.

More experienced designers may find something here for them, too, perhaps to refresh themselves or as an aid to instruction to mentees in whatever capacity. But it is also intended for practitioners of all levels of experience to find value in the surrounding historical contexts and theoretical debates pertinent to the creation of and the thinking around the making of historical board games (Parts One and Five). In addition, it is intended that the book might redirect some of the attention of the field of game studies, so preoccupied with digital games, toward this hitherto generally much neglected area of research.

Key Features:

• Guides new designers through the process of historical board game design
• Encapsulates the observations and insights of numerous notable designers
• Deeply researched chapters on the history and current trajectory of the hobby
• Chapters on selected critical perspectives on the hobby

Maurice W. Suckling teaches and researches games at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY. He is also a game designer. His first published game was Driver (1999) for the PlayStation, for which he wrote the script. The game won a BAFTA in the Interactive: Moving Images category. Since then, he has worked on over 50 published video games, including Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (2014), Civilization VI (2016), and Lost Words: Beyond the Page (2020). He has also published five board games. His second published game, Chancellorsville: 1863 (2020) won the Charles S. Roberts Award for the Best American Civil War Era Board wargame in 2021.