Celebrating Board Games

by
Nina Chertoff

&

Susan Kahn

Sterling, October 2006, 144 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-4027-3895-1

Genre: Non-Fiction
Subgenre: Board Games
Reviewed: 1/21/2008

Reviewed by: Conan Tigard

Book Cover

Excerpt

Synopsis

Celebrating Board Games is a beautifully photographed book that looks a board games over the last one hundred years or so. It talks about the evolution of games. For instance, if you won a game up into the mid-1940's, you had the satisfaction of knowing that you were virtuous. But games changed during the war, and after they they were mostly about monetary gain.

This book is chocked full of great games that can no longer be found, or would be extremely difficult to find. Some are still manufactured today . . . which shows how truly successful some concepts can be.

Celebrating Board Games is a book pictorial look at board games during the last century and was written by Nina Chertoff and Susan Kahn.

Review

Personally, I love board games. I love to play any game, no matter what it is, just for the joy of playing. Maybe that is why I worked for SEGA in the early 90's. I don't need to win, I just like to play. So, when my mother gave me a copy of Celebrating Board Games for Christmas last month, I was excited to read this book. Boy, oh boy, don't I wish I could play some of the games shown here in beautiful color on these pages. There were a few times when I turned the page, froze, and thought, "Hold up. Hey, I remember that game!" What happened to all my games that I had as a child? I bet my mother either threw them away or sold them in garage sales. Either way, it is a bummer that I no longer have them, except a cartoon version of Clue, which I love, and The Partridge Family game, which is simple but satisfying.

The authors took some beautiful pictures of these games and I want to thank Tony Elam, the owner of all of these games, for letting the authors view his collection and pick his brain.

So, if you are looking for a fun coffee table book to have for guests to peruse through, or you are a lover of games like me, pick up a copy of Celebrating Board Games today. It is well-worth it. In the movie War Games (1983), the W.O.P.R asked Matthew Broderick, "Do you want to play a game?" My answer is, "I do . . . just not Global Thermonuclear War. Maybe something a little simpler . . ."