The Philosophy of Board Games

By Caroline Taggart

Throughout history, people have sought to conquer, strategize, and journey across imagined worlds laid out in two dimensions. From the murky origins of humanity's earliest pastimes, where fortune-telling and play often overlapped, to modern classics such as Monopoly, board games have influenced everything from military strategy to artistic expression.

What makes them so enduring, so addictive, and so open to endless reinvention?

In The Philosophy of Boardgames, Caroline Taggart brings her trademark warmth and wit to a lively cultural history that reveals the checkered past of games and the ideas behind them. She explores how board games reflect our desires, anxieties, and ambitions, and how they have evolved alongside society.

The book ranges across a wide variety of subgenres, including early games, race games, chess, combat games, puzzle games, word games, quiz games, role-playing games, and collaborative games. Insightful and entertaining, it invites readers to look at the board from a new perspective.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0712355987
• ISBN13: 9780712355988
• Release Date: October 2026
• Publisher: British Library
• Length: 112 Pages