Cosplayers: Gender and Identity is an examination of identity practices in cosplay, as expressed by cosplayers themselves. It challenges the assumed correlation between cosplay and cosplayer identity and considers the lived experiences of cosplayers engaging in the fan practice of sartorial performance. Through a series of chapters covering the blurring lines of gender, sexualized fantasy in real spaces, and nostalgia, the author argues that observational data run the risk of affirming normative expectations of identity in the absence of cosplayer narratives, and produce misreadings that generalize. The work develops and builds an understanding of a complex cultural system of art, engaging with multiple methodologies to make identity, fandom, and critical analysis on the parts of participants and observers alike. This is an accessible and innovative study suitable for scholars and students in gender studies, cultural studies, sexuality studies, sociology, and media studies.

Do you believe in unicorns? What about their magical friends? Discover 8 different mythological horses, from water horses to flying horses, whilst playing four classic family games: Snap, Happy Families, Swap and Pairs! This boxed card deck is the perfect way to enjoy spending time with the whole family, and also features a leaflet containing fun trivia about the mystical creatures featured.

A Real Simple gift guide pick for 2017 A fun board game based on the best-selling Listography journal series: Listography: The Game invites players to create and share lists based on fun and thought-provoking topics - from geography and pop culture to toothpaste and constellations! With the goal of being the first around the game board, players score points according to the number of similar or unique answers. Every round in the game results in creative thinking, surprise outcomes, and lots of laughs. May the best list win! * Small and compact for travel and to take to dinner parties * Game makes a fun and unique housewarming gift * Lisa Nola is the creator of the Listography book series and the popular list-making website, listography.com. With over one million copies sold, her books inspire creative auto-biography and reinvention through list-making Listography: The Game will appeal to list-lovers who want to have a good time laughing with friends. * For 3-6 players, ages 12 and up * Includes: 300 cards (300 list topics), game board, 6 player tokens, sand timer, 6 list pads * Great ice-breaking game and for groups to get to know each other

The games of Mikhail Botvinnik, world chess champion from 1948 to 1963, have been studied by players around the world for decades. But little has been written about Botvinnik himself. This book explores his unusual dual career--as a highly regarded scientist as well as the first truly professional chess player--as well as his complex relations with Soviet leaders, including Josef Stalin, his bitter rivalries, and his doomed effort to create the perfect chess-playing computer program. The book has more than 85 games, 127 diagrams, twelve photographs, a chronology of his life and career, a bibliography, an index of openings, an index of opponents, and a general index.

A tense, economic eurogame for one to four players, charting the rise and fall of the 12th Century's greatest city.

The ancient city of Merv. A gateway between the East and the West. A hub of scholarship and trade. The greatest city in the world.

In Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road players are vying to amass power and wealth in the prosperous city at the centre of the land. Through careful court intrigue, timely donations to the grand mosque, and securing favourable trade deals, players attempt to redirect as much of that prosperity as possible into their own pockets.

Meanwhile, beyond the city walls Mongol hordes approach. If you help construct the city walls you give up on precious opportunities to build up your own stature, but leave it unprotected and you will burn with the city. Every decision is weighty and the consequences of each misstep are dire. Will you rise to prominence or fade into oblivion?

Number of players: 1-4
Ages: 14+
Play time: 90 - 120 minutes
Components: Board, 25 tiles, 48 cards, 100+ wooden pieces, 100+ tokens

This reference work continues a comprehensive series chronicling men's chess competitions. Listed in this volume are the results of chess competitions from all over the world-including individual and team matches-from 1986 through 1990. Entries record location and, when available, the group that sponsored the event. First and last names of players are included whenever possible and are standardized for easy reference. Compiled from contemporary sources such as newspapers, periodicals, tournament records and match books, this work contains 1,419 tournament crosstables and 194 match scores, and is indexed by events and by players.

A new edition of a classic game, perfect for couples and families. Take on the role of a mythical raven in a race around the world, using your cards to speed your journey or play tricks upon your opponent! Every morning Odin sends his ravens, Huginn and Muninn, across the world to bring back news of what life is like on Earth. Naturally, after thousands of years, they've gotten a little competitive... Race through the landscape in opposite directions to be the first to return to Odin. Focus on speed, or enlist the help of the trickster god Loki to create shortcuts and hinder your opponent. Can you be certain Loki's changes won't help your opponent instead? There's only one way to find out! This revised edition of Thorsten Gimmler's award-winning game has been completely redesigned, with new rules and a beautiful new art style inspired by Norse mythology. 2 Players Playing Time: 20-30 minutes Ages 8+

Throughout its hundred-year history, the game Jetan has influenced many writers and game designers. Invented by author Edgar Rice Burroughs for his 1922 novel The Chessmen of Mars, Jetan has been played by enthusiastic fans and serious gamers alike. This first-ever book on Jetan explores the game's rules in depth and provides new interpretations based on up-to-date research. It chronicles the game's history, explores tactics and variants and provides a complete standard for notating games. Also included are three annotated Jetan playthroughs and several practice exercises. Over 80 diagrams and photographs are used as illustrations, and an essay about Edgar Rice Burroughs' lifelong interest in sports and games further contextualizes the game.

A vibrant oracle deck that allows new and current young fans of divination to continue growing their practice. This adaptation of Nikki Van De Car's The Junior Astrologer's Handbook is the perfect tool for young mystics looking to harness the energies of the cosmos as they figure out the role astrology plays in their every day life. The 44-card deck complements our stunning handbook, while also serving as a standalone deck for users who may be coming to divination on their own. A 96-page companion booklet offers a variety of ways to use the deck to help users as they navigate difficult situations (with friends, at home, or at school), while offering them a better understanding of the power they have over their own life/decisions. Whether looking to do a daily pull for inspiration or in need of answers to specific questions, users will learn what the elements, planets, moon phases, and signs all mean in a reading.

This reference work continues a comprehensive series chronicling men's chess competitions. Listed in this volume are the results of chess competitions from all over the world-including individual and team matches-from 1981 through 1985. Entries record location and, when available, the group that sponsored the event. First and last names of players are included whenever possible and are standardized for easy reference. Compiled from contemporary sources such as newspapers, periodicals, tournament records and match books, this work contains 1,508 tournament crosstables and 205 match scores, and is indexed by events and by players.

One of the greatest chess legends of all time, Aron Nimzowitsch (1886-1935), is best known for founding the Hypermodernism school of chess, which emerged after World War I to challenge the chess ideologies of traditional central European masters. This first full-scale biography of Nimzowitsch chronicles his early life in Denmark, his family and education, and his fascination with the game that would become the focus of his life. Also included are explorations of his tournament games and records, his dispute with influential chess teacher Siegbert Tarrasch, and his role in the development of Hypermodern Chess. With detailed accounts of nearly 450 games and the only narrative of Nimzowitsch from 1914 to 1924, a period formerly cloaked in mystery, this volume offers the most thorough profile available of one of chess's greatest innovators.

When viewed through the context of an interactive play, a video game player fulfills the roles of both actor and spectator, watching and influencing a game's story in real time. This book presents video gaming as a virtual medium for performance, scrutinizing the ways in which a player's interaction with the narrative informs personal, historical, social and cultural understanding. Centering the author's own experiences as both video game player and performance scholar, the book thoroughly applies concepts from theatre and performance studies. Chapters argue that the posthuman player position now challenges what can be contextualized as a lived experience, and how video games can change players' relationships with historical events and contemporary concerns, ultimately impacting how they develop a sense of self. Using the author's own gaming experiences as a framework, the book focuses on the intersection between player and narrative, exploring what engagement with a storyline reveals about identity and society.

Learn the language of flowers in this blossoming memory game. Match flowers to their uses and meanings, and collect the most pairs to win. From lillies at funerals, to 'flower power' carnations - this fun game is an ideal gift for nature lovers. Pair up the flowers with their typical uses and meanings in this beautiful and simple memory game. To play, place the cards face down and see if you can remember where the matching pairs are located. Collect more pairs than your opponent to win! With all kinds of flowers included - from marigolds in Mexican Day of the Dead displays to Japan's cherry blossom season, and from Van Gogh's Sunflowers to the first flower germinated in space - this fun and educational game is an ideal gift for nature lovers everywhere.

Prior to the arrival of the Sega Genesis, video games were still largely considered "kid stuff," but with a far more mature and eclectic range of titles, and an understanding of what gamers wanted, Sega and its Genesis/Mega Drive console began to shift the expectations for what gaming could be. Never scared to innovate, Sega's impact on the industry continues to this day through the games they originally developed and the technology their consoles pushed into the mainstream. Featuring interviews with the creators of over 40 games on the Sega Genesis console including Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Altered Beast, Aladdin, Earthworm Jim and NHL 95, this book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the creation of some of the influential, iconic, and sometimes forgotten games on Sega's most important contribution to the game industry. The interviewees reveal the challenges of working with mega publishers, the uncertainties of public reception, and the creative processes that produced some of the 16-bit era's classic titles.

Black Ops is a skirmish wargame of tactical espionage combat that recreates the tension and excitement of modern action-thrillers such as the Bond and Bourne films. The fast-play rules keep all the players in the thick of the action, while the mission generator provides a wide range of options for scenarios - from stealthy extraction or surveillance missions to more overt raids and assaults. Stealth, combat, and technical expertise all have a role to play, and players may recruit a number of different operative types - spies, mercenaries, criminals, hackers, special forces, and many more - to recruit the best possible team for the job. Players may also choose to join a faction - powerful organizations, intelligence agencies, criminal syndicates, militaries, or rebel groups, each with a stake in international affairs. By doing so, their team may receive certain benefits, but may also find itself limited at a crucial time. With the variety offered by the characters, factions, and scenarios, no two games of Black Ops should ever be the same!

A 2-4 player card game of trains, tracks, and tricky decisions designed by the award-winning design duo Brett J. Gilbert and Matthew Dunstan. In the sleepy English countryside, life continues undisturbed as it has for centuries. It is up to you to travel to every corner of this land, bearing the promise of modernisation, accommodating the oddly specific demands of the locals, and ushering in the age of steam. In Village Rails, you will be criss-crossing the fields of England with railway lines, connecting villages together, and navigating the complex and ever-changing demands of rural communities. Connect stations and farmsteads to your local network while placing your railway signals and sidings ever so carefully. Meet the exacting standards of cantankerous locals planning strangely specific trips, and weigh their demands against your limited funding. There is much to balance in this tricky tableau-building card game of locomotives and local motives. Players: 2-4 Playing Time: 45 mins Age: 14+ Contents: 122 mini cards, 50+ tokens, 4 scoring dials

Welcome to Dungeon Academy, where monsters and creatures train for the dark world that awaits just beyond the Dungeon walls. Something BIG has come knocking on the gates of Dungeon Academy! The undefeated Waterdeep Dragons have arrived for the Tourney of Terror games, which happens every fifty years and features every monster's favourite sport: Goreball! The Dungeon Academy Flumphs are outnumbered, outsized, and outmonstered! But our hero, Zelli Stormclash (a forbidden human, secretly disguised as a minotaur), is no stranger to impossible odds. Just a few weeks ago, Zelli and her crew, the Danger Club, came face-to-face with a maniacal necromancer and his army of undead! If this wasn't enough to raise scales Zelli's reoccurring nightmare of a dark entity annihilating her world may be more than just a bad dream. Something sinister is lurking in the halls of the academy, and only Zelli seems to notice. But when Zelli uncovers a dark past hidden beneath Dungeon Academy, she unlocks something that will concern everyone at school, every dragon at Waterdeep, and everything within the Forgotten Realms. Get ready for humor, heart, magic, and adventure as middle graders and beyond learn to embrace who they are, accept others' differences, and discover the hidden secrets that dwell deep within themselves, and within Dungeon Academy!

Video Games in Psychotherapy provides the reader with a practical session-by-session framework for using video games, interactive media, and gaming metaphors to help make the process of psychotherapy more engaging for today's youth. Using concepts from narrative, collaborative, cognitive behavioral, and other evidenced-based approaches to psychotherapy, the book gives examples of possible therapist questions, responses, and activities involving language and concepts that are appealing to young gamers. Addressing issues with psychophysiological self-regulation, anxiety disorders, and autism spectrum disorders, among others, this book uses multiple case examples to demonstrate each idea and is written in a way that is understandable for all mental health providers, regardless of their own familiarity with gaming. A review of over 40 popular video games with specific ideas for their use in psychotherapy is provided, allowing mental health providers to easily individualize therapy based on client goals and gaming preferences. Concepts for individual and group psychotherapy using games and interactive media, ranging from Pac Man to virtual reality, are also covered. Providing the reader with useful templates, worksheets, and other therapy resources, this book is a must-have for mental health providers working with children, adolescents, and transition-age youth.

Video Games in Psychotherapy provides the reader with a practical session-by-session framework for using video games, interactive media, and gaming metaphors to help make the process of psychotherapy more engaging for today's youth. Using concepts from narrative, collaborative, cognitive behavioral, and other evidenced-based approaches to psychotherapy, the book gives examples of possible therapist questions, responses, and activities involving language and concepts that are appealing to young gamers. Addressing issues with psychophysiological self-regulation, anxiety disorders, and autism spectrum disorders, among others, this book uses multiple case examples to demonstrate each idea and is written in a way that is understandable for all mental health providers, regardless of their own familiarity with gaming. A review of over 40 popular video games with specific ideas for their use in psychotherapy is provided, allowing mental health providers to easily individualize therapy based on client goals and gaming preferences. Concepts for individual and group psychotherapy using games and interactive media, ranging from Pac Man to virtual reality, are also covered. Providing the reader with useful templates, worksheets, and other therapy resources, this book is a must-have for mental health providers working with children, adolescents, and transition-age youth.

With annual gross sales surpassing 100 billion U.S. dollars each of the last two years, the digital games industry may one day challenge theatrical-release movies as the highest-grossing entertainment media in the world. In their examination of the tremendous cultural influence of digital games, Daniel Reardon and David Wright analyze three companies that have shaped the industry: Bethesda, located in Rockville, Maryland, USA; BioWare in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; and CD Projekt Red in Warsaw, Poland. Each company has used social media and technical content in the games to promote players' belief that players control the companies' game narratives. The result has been at times explosive, as empowered players often attempted to co-op the creative processes of games through discussion board forum demands, fund-raising campaigns to persuade companies to change or add game content, and modifications ("modding") of the games through fan-created downloads. The result has changed the way we understand the interactive nature of digital games and the power of fan culture to shape those games.

A roleplaying game of fantastical inventions and Machiavellian politics in Renaissance Italy. It is the Year of Our Lord 1510, and one has to wonder how differently history could have played out if Niccolo Machiavelli, the military commissioner of the Republic of Florence, had not understood the true scale of Leonardo da Vinci's genius. In such a world, the visionary might simply have wasted his time painting portraits of women and doodling in a sketchbook. Instead, he unleashed a technological revolution where primitive computers, decorated with delicately painted cupids, run on water clocks; spring-powered tanks whir across the battlefield, cannons thundering from their flanks; and gliders flit across perfectly blue Tuscan skies. Gran Meccanismo is a roleplaying game of swashbuckling adventure in a Renaissance Italy where Florence's winding alleys play host to spies, scholars, and sell-swords alike. Players are nobles, mercenaries, inventors, and artisans who may find themselves crossing wits with Machiavelli, avoiding the dangerous charms of Lucretia Borgia, or hearing Christopher Columbus telling tales of the new world he has discovered...

Landscape science tells fascinating stories, whether in fiction or a role-playing game. Earth's varied terrain provides many examples of scene-specific challenges and resources for story characters, with distinctive land features, compelling locations, and intriguing traits. Landslides, floods, coastal erosion, glacier movement, and volcanism can deliver fresh plot points and alter the social character of an imagined region. Characters traveling different river types encounter very different puzzles, opportunities, and combat environments and the same variety awaits within other classic settings, such as caves, mountains, deserts, shorelines, and volcanic zones. Atypical landscapes such as tundra, karst, and vast glacier surfaces can breathe fresh air into any stories. This handbook is a reference source for creative writing and game world building. It delves deeply into many landscape characteristics that help set the tone, shape character behavior, and drive the plot. Chapters are divided into diverse geographic environments, from rivers and shorelines to caves and volcanoes, and show how knowledge of the terrain can deliver plot points, add veracity, pose key problems, establish conflict, and lead into the next scene. Discover how authors and game masters effectively weave land and terrain into their stories.

If you're looking to learn about the game of chess -- and win -- The Everything. Chess Basics Book provides you with the perfect introduction. Endorsed by the United States Chess Federation and coauthored by Anne Ashton, Director of Marketing, Advertising, and Outreach for the U.S.C.F. and Peter Kurzdorfer, editor of Chess Life magazine, The Everything. Chess Basics Book is an authoritative guide that appeals to chess players of all ages -- and skill.
From understanding the chess pieces to learning the basic moves to forming a winning strategy, The Everything. Chess Basics Book teaches readers all they need to know to sharpen their skills and pick up a few advanced techniques and tricks along the way.

The Everything. Chess Basics Book also features information on:
7Special moves
7Threats
7Types of chess
7Chess ethics and sportsmanship
7Notation, scoring, and timing

Packed with hundreds of clear diagrams, The Everything. Chess Book will have you declaring "Checkmate!" in no time.