First, I'm not sure what the intended audience for this book is. It isn't me (a deeply invested board gamer). The book reads like it's trying to capitalize on the broadening interest in board games... but also seems to have very little insight or depth. That said, it didn't hold my attention past chapter five.

Second, Chapter 2 introduces designer and publisher Phil Eklund to illustrate a change in the kinds of games that have driven board game design innovation in the last thirty years. I was surprised by this, to say the least, because Eklund is one of the most notoriously racist game designers currently active and the only one of which I know who attaches his racism to many of his games in the forms of essays and rule book commentary. To then subsequently quote Eklund reflecting on an early design as 'more or less a racist concept' because it involved human beings fighting science fiction alien races in space is almost unfathomable, as it effectively hides Eklund's very real, very current hostility toward and insistence on the inferiority of non-white, non-Western human beings. I couldn't stomach reading Kay's chapters further, particularly not his deeper reflection on Eklund's psuedo-scientific alt-history 'Greenland' in which he takes another opportunity to reflect on the superiority of (often anachronistic) proto-Western ideals.

In short, alternately boring and disturbing.

The back and forth of the two authors' analysis of the assortment of games discussed in this book was delightful to read. Each had insight to offer as he or she explained how each game is played and what we as a society can learn from it. What a great book!

Through connections to board games, Moriarty and Kay clue us in on what we're really after when we're playing these, with results that can have you staring blankly at the page with its jaw-dropping profoundness at one end, and cackling like a fool at the other.

Before you even get into the philosophical minutiae and observations of human behavior, a reader could glean a pretty good education on board games alone (especially if, like me, you're out of the mix on what's "cool" nowadays) without getting too specific. The prose of each of the two authors makes for some easy reading--something you definitely learn to miss when that attribute's just not there.

Establishing the downsides (by and large) of Monopoly, Scattergories, and Cards Against Humanity while waxing poetic about D&D and other popular role-playing board games might seem like it's vomit coming from a purist, but take heart, because the book's keenly aware of this, and Kay/Moriarty are working through things just like you are...they just probably know more about board games than you do. Their insight into these games, what they say about us, what we seek to get out of them, etc. is all up for question here.

As it approaches its conclusion, the book does feel like it decelerates to a finish, but not to its detriment. There's a poignant moment or two that demands a call back to your own childhood, back when you probably used some of these same board games to spend time with family and friends, helped to establish long-standing relationships (or figured out that it was time to let a few sputter out), maybe even a time when you experienced some level of self-realization.

It's a work to be proud of. Hopefully it gets the recognition it deserves.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sutherland House for the advance review.