Games & Activities

The story of white masculinity in geek culture through a history of hobby gaming

Geek culture has never been more mainstream than it is now, with the ever-increasing popularity of events like Comic Con, transmedia franchising of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, market dominance of video and computer games, and the resurgence of board games such as Settlers of Catan and role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. Yet even while the comic book and hobby shops where the above are consumed today are seeing an influx of BIPOC gamers, they remain overwhelmingly white, male, and heterosexual.

The Privilege of Play contends that in order to understand geek identity’s exclusionary tendencies, we need to know the history of the overwhelmingly white communities of tabletop gaming hobbyists that preceded it. It begins by looking at how the privileged networks of model railroad hobbyists in the early twentieth century laid a cultural foundation for the scenes that would grow up around war games, role-playing games, and board games in the decades ahead. These early networks of hobbyists were able to thrive because of how their leisure interests and professional ambitions overlapped. Yet despite the personal and professional strides made by individuals in these networks, the networks themselves remained cloistered and homogeneous—the secret playgrounds of white men.

Aaron Trammell catalogs how gaming clubs composed of lonely white men living in segregated suburbia in the sixties, seventies and eighties developed strong networks through hobbyist publications and eventually broke into the mainstream. He shows us how early hobbyists considered themselves outsiders, and how the denial of white male privilege they established continues to define the socio-technical space of geek culture today. By considering the historical role of hobbyists in the development of computer technology, game design, and popular media, The Privilege of Play charts a path toward understanding the deeply rooted structural obstacles that have stymied a more inclusive community. The Privilege of Play concludes by considering how digital technology has created the conditions for a new and more diverse generation of geeks to take center stage.

Creating Q*bert and Other Classic Video Arcade Games takes you inside the video arcade game industry during the pivotal decades of the 1980s and 1990s. Warren Davis, the creator of the groundbreaking Q*bert, worked as a member of the creative teams who developed some of the most popular video games of all time, including Joust 2, Mortal Kombat, NBA Jam, and Revolution X.

In a witty and entertaining narrative, Davis shares insightful stories that offer a behind-the-scenes look at what it was like to work as a designer and programmer at the most influential and dominant video arcade game manufacturers of the era, including Gottlieb, Williams/Bally/Midway, and Premiere.

Likewise, the talented artists, designers, creators, and programmers Davis has collaborated with over the years reads like a who’s who of video gaming history: Eugene Jarvis, Tim Skelly, Ed Boon, Jeff Lee, Dave Thiel, John Newcomer, George Petro, Jack Haeger, and Dennis Nordman, among many others.

The impact Davis has had on the video arcade game industry is deep and varied. At Williams, Davis created and maintained the revolutionary digitizing system that allowed actors and other photo-realistic imagery to be utilized in such games as Mortal Kombat, T2, and NBA Jam. When Davis worked on the fabled Us vs. Them, it was the first time a video game integrated a live action story with arcade-style graphics.

On the one-of-a-kind Exterminator, Davis developed a brand new video game hardware system, and created a unique joystick that sensed both omni-directional movement and rotation, a first at that time. For Revolution X, he created a display system that simulated a pseudo-3D environment on 2D hardware, as well as a tool for artists that facilitated the building of virtual worlds and the seamless integration of the artist’s work into game code.

Whether you’re looking for insights into the Golden Age of Arcades, would like to learn how Davis first discovered his design and programming skills as a teenager working with a 1960's computer called a Monrobot XI, or want to get the inside scoop on what it was like to film the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band Aerosmith for Revolution X, Davis’ memoir provides a backstage tour of the arcade and video game industry during its most definitive and influential period.

Over half a million copies sold

Six murders. One hundred pages. Millions of possible combinations… but only one is correct. Can you solve Torquemada’s murder mystery?

In 1934, the Observer’s cryptic crossword compiler, Edward Powys Mathers (aka Torquemada), released a novel that was simultaneously a murder mystery and the most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle ever written.

The pages have been printed in an entirely haphazard order, but it is possible – through logic and intelligent reading – to sort the pages into the only correct order, revealing six murder victims and their respective murderers.

Only three puzzlers have ever solved the mystery of Cain’s Jawbone: do you have what it takes to join their ranks?

Please note: this puzzle is extremely difficult and not for the faint-hearted.

This is the perfect book for fans of Journal 29, and those who want to re-create an exciting escape-room experience in their own home!

You are Adam Parkinson, an intrepid journalist who has recently been employed by the time-travelling Wexell Corporation. Adam is invited to an unusual art gallery, filled with objects and artworks donated by a mysterious figure. It will be up to you to help Adam unravel the mysteries of the Gallery, and you will travel from Ancient Egypt to Victorian England – and beyond – to do it. And, quite possibly, to save the world!

Escape from the Gallery is an immersive escape-room experience that provides a visual feast as well as a tricky puzzle adventure. Featuring artworks ranging from Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs to Mexican masterpieces, you will need to solve visual riddles and discover the hidden secrets that lie within the artworks if you want to figure out what is going on, and why this might be the most important visit to a gallery you have ever made.

Puzzles from the Nether re-creates the retro world of Hawkins, where Eleven, Mike, Will, Dustin, Lucas, Max and their ever-frazzled parents navigate the Upside Down, fight off herds of demodogs and eat far too many Eggo's.

To help the team, you must guide Hopper through the demogorgon tunnels, reveal the codes to help Bob escape Hawkins Lab and solve eerie riddles to earn your place in the gang.

There are more than 100 puzzles and riddles based on the world of Stranger Things with both fantastically frightening and whimsically retro artworks throughout the book to illustrate every brainteaser.

52 cards to prompt journalling; helping us to better understand ourselves and our priorities

Journaling is one of the most effective ways to regain direction and calm: but what we should ideally be journaling about isn’t always clear.

This set of prompt cards directs us to some of the most fruitful topics for reflection and self-exploration. Use them as you journal to find inspiration and encouragement. Each of the prompts engages the mind in some of the things that matter most and helps us to better understand ourselves and our priorities.

The prompts tackle key topics around relationships, careers, emotions and ambitions. They invite us to go on new journeys within ourselves that will leave us more joyful, self-aware and serene.

Instructions

• Flip through the cards when the urge to journal strikes.
• Stop where it feels relevant; and let the prompt guide you towards new insights and awareness.
• Write as much or as little as feels relevant.
• Repeat regularly.
• Alternatively, use the cards to inspire reflections that don’t get written down. You might even use them in a discussion with a friend.

60 cards for understanding how we feel

It can sometimes be very hard to know – let alone tell others – what we actually feel. This is a product to help us begin this therapeutic journey.

Each card puts a finger on an emotion that we might be experiencing without being able to pin it down exactly. The cards range in themes from the happy to the sad, the agitated to the serene. The backs of the cards are beautifully illustrated by artist Helen Cann, and can be arranged into a mindful map of emotions.

Use with a friend, a partner, a therapist, a child or a parent – in any situation where we want to sift through a range of emotional options in order to define what is truly coursing through us. With charm and ease, we become clearer to ourselves – and a lot more understandable and open to others.

A set of 52 question cards to spark insightful and playful encounters 

Great dates are made up of great conversations: ones where we find out more about one another, discover what makes us both tick, share some of what we like and reveal how we see the world. 

This is a collection of cards that can be used on a date to help provoke the best kinds of discussion. This pack includes 52 cards, each one posing an intriguing question or setting a challenge, designed to provoke, entertain and stimulate. As a bonus, the cards are graded according to how probing they are (Easy, Medium and Hard) so that you can playfully match the discussion with the flow of an evening.

A stunning spiritual toolkit for Ramadan and beyond, to build healthy new habits and strengthen existing practices.

This stunning illustrated journal is an opportunity for you to (re)connect with your faith and help you explore themes and concepts such as compassion, self-awareness, mindfulness, acceptance, and commitment.

Written by psychotherapist Humza Khan, this handy journal features an array of mindful activities and exercises to help you prepare for Ramadan, as well as offering simple yet effective strategies to use throughout the holy month and beyond. This is your spiritual toolkit to help you develop your discipline, build on what Ramadan entails, and work toward a more mindful approach to your faith.

Curl up by the window with this gorgeous, illustrated activity book and enjoy the beauty of birds in winter.  

With dozens of word searches on resident and migrating birds and cozy winter themes, The Christmas Bird Search celebrates the wonders of the season—and the birds that bring it to life. Throughout, find fascinating bird facts, tips on watching and supporting your resident winter birds, and journal prompts to hone your powers of observation and bring your focus to the unique seasonal joys that surround you. And when you spot a feathered friend taking refuge in your area, you can record it in the book’s handy bird-tracking chart.  

Offering moments of calm and contemplation, The Christmas Bird Search is perfect for bird lovers, bird-watchers, and anyone who relishes the turn of the seasons.  

A Sherlock Holmes Escape Book: The Adventure of the Two Flying Scotsmen is a unique form of puzzle book, in which the reader must solve the riddles to escape the pages.

The fifth title in this ingenious series of Sherlock Holmes Escape Books, The Adventure of the Two Flying Scotsmen is an exhilarating combination of escape room, puzzle book and adventure story. In this latest tale, Sherlock Holmes and Watson find themselves trapped on a Flying Scotsman bound for Edinburgh after being mistakenly led to believe that Sherlock is needed in Scotland to thwart a plot against the Queen. Readers will quickly discover that the actual plot in motion is to rig a rail race between the two Flying Scotsmen happening that day. A race where the Queen’s son Bertie has ill-advisedly lent money to a small gang of ne’er-do-wells within the household of the socialite Daisy Greville. A woman with whom Bertie is having a secret affair.

With Sherlock trapped on one train and the gang rigging the other, readers will face many challenges in order to thwart the gang and prevent the news of Bertie’s affair reaching the public. Something readers must do before the race between the two locomotives concludes in Edinburgh.

The readers as Sherlock must solve the puzzles aboard the train and alert the authorities before reaching the stop at York. However, this isn’t the only challenge the readers will face as anti-monarchists – aware of the gang’s plot, also seek to destroy the reputation of the monarchy by attempting to derail one of the trains so the money can be lost and Bertie’s secrets can be exposed.

With the reputation of royalty at stake, readers will follow Sherlock as he strives to solve the puzzles and prevent the royal scandal from breaking. If Holmes fails to solve the mystery, not only a train but also the reputation of the monarchy could be catastrophically derailed.

Puzzles include: Riddles, Logic Puzzles, Timed Challenges, Mathematical Brainteasers, Maps and Mazes.

The Alcatraz Escape Book is a unique form of puzzle book, in which the reader must solve the riddles to escape the pages.

An exhilarating combination of escape room, puzzle book and adventure story, this book is inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms as well as the history surrounding America’s most infamous prison.

Readers will take on the role of Scott Wilson, a member of an underground US environmental movement called the Wilderness, who has discovered that a farming lobby is illegally using toxic pesticides to sell large amounts of land cheaply to corrupt politicians. There is enough evidence safely tucked away in a secret location to bring these criminals to justice, but failed sting operation takes place which leaves an FBI agent dead and Scott framed for the murder.

Framed as a traitor and a murderer and sent to Alcatraz as a result, the reader must escape the forbidding, top-security jail, recover the lost evidence and stop the pollution and land sale before it’s too late. Surrounded by the most notorious, dangerous and unpredictable inmates, the reader will quickly learn that their only means of escape will be from solving hidden puzzles using the code wheel left behind by the renowned criminal mastermind Robert Stroud – the famous Birdman of Alcatraz.

Nobody has ever escaped Alcatraz alive, and with time quickly running out, the reader will have to find unlikely allies who can help them break out and aid them when they come to face the perilous waters surrounding the prison in order to escape the Rock.

Combines riddles, logic puzzles, timed challenges, mathematical brain-teasers, maps and mazes.

Inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms, where players tackle challenges while trapped in a locked room, this is an escape room in the form of a locked book: filled with codes, ciphers, riddles and red herrings, plus an ingenious Hieroglyphic Code Wheel set into the cover. Taking on the role of Sherlock Holmes, in this new adventure readers find themselves trapped with Watson in the Enlightenment Gallery of the British Museum after a curator collapses in the Egyptian Collection. With King George V due to arrive at the nearby tube station, and rumors of an anarchist plot, Holmes and Watson must find their way through the museum, and fathom the involvement of both Mycroft and Colonel Sebastian Moran, if they are to win their freedom and save the day.

A Sherlock Holmes Escape Book: The Adventure of the Tower of London is a unique form of puzzle book, in which the reader must solve the riddles to escape the pages.

The fourth title in this ingenious series of Sherlock Holmes Escape Books, The Adventure of the Tower of London is an exhilarating combination of escape room, puzzle book and adventure story. Inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms, where players tackle puzzles while trapped in a locked room, it is an escape room in the form of a locked book, filled with codes, ciphers, riddles and red herrings, and a clever Code Wheel set into the cover.

In the latest adventure in the series, readers will take on the role of the world’s foremost consulting detective, Sherlock Holmes. Holmes’s nemesis Moriarty has locked Sherlock’s friend, the musician Odon von Mihalovic, with the Crown Jewels in a cage in Tower Bridge the night before a special ceremony is due to be held for the Queen. Holmes and Watson are themselves trapped in the nearby Tower of London by Moriarty, and they must work through the night and against the clock to find and free Odon from the cage to prevent him being disgraced in the ceremony the following morning.

Combines riddles, logic puzzles, timed challenges, mathematical brain-teasers, maps and mazes.

This ingenious series is a spin on the current urban craze for 'Escape Rooms', in which participants are locked in rooms, and must solve the puzzles they find there to make good their escape. Here, the book becomes the locked room, the pages become the path, and the reader can take on a challenge every bit as brain-teasing from the comfort of their own home. Visual clues are hidden among the intriguing illustrations; fiendish riddles, logic puzzles, and timed challenges unlock hidden doors and reveal the direction of travel; and mathematical problems provide the codes required to follow the correct path. There are maps and mazes to explore; references to the original Sherlock Holmes adventures to unravel; and a code-wheel that holds the key to unlocking the next page. Solve the puzzles correctly to escape. Get them wrong, and you will find yourself further and further along the path to your own demise.

Do you keep forgetting where you put things – and, even, what those things are called? Has 'thingy' become one of your commonly used words? Do you find yourself feeling a bit befuddled? If so, it sounds like you're suffering from what is commonly known as 'Senior Moments'. But never fear, Senior Mind Gym is a comprehensive mental workout wrapped up in one handy book that will help reboot your scatterbrain. With fun quizzes, conundrums, crosswords, word games, suduko, mazes and escape-the-page games you can sharpen your little grey cells with a daily workout. 

Regularly challenging your brain will help to improve your mental agility, concentration levels, memory and problem-solving skills – something we can all benefit from, at any age! Sales points: Gift book aimed at seniors, but a broad age range can benefit from and enjoy the content Contains a variety of fun mental challenges to improve brain function.

Inspired by the urban craze for escape rooms, where players tackle puzzles while trapped in a locked room, it is an escape room in the form of a locked book, filled with codes, ciphers, riddles and red herrings, and a clever Code Wheel set into the cover. 

Taking on the role of Sherlock Holmes, in this new adventure readers find themselves trapped with Watson and aspiring engineer Henrietta Prince in the grand home of Bertram Alfreds, the last surviving child of Lord Byron. After being lured to the residence by an intriguing mechanical music box, Holmes and Watson must find their way through the mansion, foil a deceitful plot to destroy Henrietta's lifelong work – a replica of Babbage's Analytical Engine – and fathom the involvement of Moriarty, if they are to win their freedom and save the day.

Video Game Ecologies and Culture examines the environments that video games affect and are impacted by. The edited collection engages with the notion of ecology as a critical concept that allows to study video game conceptions of human, posthuman, and natural environments and explore the entangled eco-cultural formations in video games and gaming. The contributions discuss the theme of video game ecologies with an interdisciplinary emphasis on the cultural, political, social, and ecological discourses pertaining to the medium and reflect on the relations and imaginaries developed through eco/critical video game practices. These interrelations are carved out in essays on relationality, kinship, and capitalist ruins, immersion in virtual marine ecosystems, video games and the commodification of ecocriticism, eco-colonial power formations, playing and recording nature, gender and post-anthropocentric game worlds, time-loop chronotopes, and ludoaffective dissonance and survival in video games.

Grab the controller! Save the World!
One of the gaming industry’s leading women describes how gaming can be a force for global good.

Play is in our DNA, but gaming has always had a bad rap. Since the first humans carved a game board into the dirt, we’ve been told that playing around isn’t a useful way to spend our time. But gaming is as natural as we are. We game to experiment with ideas and to learn. We play to create new worlds so we can change this one. Gaming pushes us to imagine what more we can become. In Push Play: Gaming for a Better World, Dr. Songyee Yoon, Chief Strategy Officer at NCSOFT, lays out how gaming can help us craft a better world together.

While gaming has global implications, it has largely been created by, marketed to and associated with men. The gaming industry’s perception as a “boys club” has kept many talented women from pursuing their passions in STEM. As a leader and expert in the video game industry, Dr. Yoon shares her own experience in this male dominated field and her quest for a more diverse and equitable tech community. From encouraging more female lead characters in games to creating more supportive environments for working mothers, Dr. Yoon works to break down barriers for those who have been shut out of opportunities in STEM. After all, the game only gets better with more players.

Through stories from her career in the gaming industry and her deep passion for tech, she outlines how innovations in gaming push industries forward and create a more equitable world for everyone.

• Learn how gaming inspires Artificial Intelligence to consider everyone’s perspective.
  
• Master tips and tricks from gaming that can be used to lead diverse and thriving business teams.
  
• Explore the digital worlds of Massively Multiplayer Online Games and understand why we need digital communities where all humans can participate.
  

So, get those thumbs flexing with Push Play to unlock your power to play.

The next challenge for fans of Cain's Jawbone: the TikTok sensation and international bestseller.

A body is found stabbed to death in a locked room. The police find no weapon, no motive and no suspects.

However, the murderer has in their possession a box of one hundred cryptic picture postcards which – if properly understood – would explain not just this murder, but nine others. This book contains those cards.

Solvers must rearrange the pages of text to unravel the story and identify the murderer, victim and location for each of the ten murders. They must also consider the separate puzzles presented by the curious images on the other sides.

Torquemada taught us that complete dedication is key and from devising detective pinboards to daily investigation diaries, Cain’s Jawbone puzzlers did him proud. But now the time has come to dust off that magnifying glass, because a global movement to solve the first picture postcard puzzle is about to begin. Do you have what it takes to explain The Researcher’s First Murder?

Since 2016, podcasting legend Jeff Cannata has delighted Filmcast listeners with show-stopping movie reviews in poetic form. Now, lovers of the silver screen can enjoy reels of these laugh-out-loud limericks in Best Summed Up: a must-have quiz compendium for cinephiles.

From applauding filmmaking mastery in box office sell-outs to damning dismissals of action big hitters that have missed the mark, Cannata critiques every genre of contemporary film and unpicks all must-see releases from 2018 to 2024 with his signature wit and wisdom.

The challenge is simple: readers must identify the film described by each verse in five, delightfully moreish levels of brain-teasing poems. So grab some popcorn and see if you can achieve award-winning status of your own by completing the ultimate test for movie buffs.

Dive into the captivating world of British history shows with Fingers on Buzzers.

Whether you're a Pointless armchair aficionado, nostalgic for the days of Going for Gold, or a bona fide Mastermind, this funny trivia book is perfect for you!

British history through quizzes. Authored by Lucy Porter and Jenny Ryan, the dynamic duo behind the popular podcast "Fingers on Buzzers," this funny trivia book takes readers on a kaleidoscopic journey through the history of British quiz shows. From the early days of TV quizzes to the contemporary pub quiz craze, Fingers on Buzzers is packed with fun trivia, pop quizzes for the whole family, and fascinating insights on great Britain.

Dive into British History. Fingers on Buzzers features exclusive contributions from quiz legends such as James Harkin from QI, Roger Tilling, the voice of University Challenge, and big names like Richard Osman and the hosts of No Such Thing as a Fish. The book also includes insights from behind the scenes of your favorite TV quiz shows, making it a treasure trove for trivia lovers and the perfect present for history buffs.

Inside, you’ll find:

• An interactive and nostalgic celebration of the UK's beloved quiz culture.
• A timeless comprehensive guide to the Great British quiz.
• A perfect blend of entertainment and education in a book filled with important events in history and trivia.

If you liked What If? 2, The Very British Problems Quiz Book, or The Story Behind, you’ll love Fingers on Buzzers.

¿Te imaginas que pudieras influir en el estado de tu cuerpo y tu mente recitando ciertos números a una determinada cadencia? 

Un bestseller coreano que nos introduce en la llamada «Terapia de los números»

Esta revolucionaria guía ilustrada promueve grandes mejoras en el bienestar mediante la denominada «Terapia de los números». La repetición de ciertos números durante un período de 30 días en un orden y una cadencia concreta ofrece a los lectores la oportunidad de iniciar una reprogramación de su pensamiento que tendrá enormes beneficios para el bienestar, el nivel de energía personal, la memoria, la concentración.

El Chaseo Rules Institute, fundado por Park Byong‐won, es un centro de investigación y desarrollo que congrega a los especialistas más punteros de ámbitos tan diversos como el derecho, la medicina, la ingeniería, las humanidades, la educación, economía y finanzas, educación física, etcétera, para idear un marco de trabajo que combina hallazgos relacionados con el sistema numérico tradicional de Asia y la teoría de la música.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Can you imagine if you could influence the state of your body and mind by reciting certain numbers at a certain cadence? 

A Korean bestseller that introduces us to the so-called "Therapy of Numbers"

This revolutionary illustrated guide promotes great improvements in well-being through the so-called "Numbers Therapy". The repetition of certain numbers over a period of 30 days in a particular order and cadence offers readers the opportunity to initiate a reprogramming of their thinking that will have enormous benefits for well-being, personal energy level, memory, concentration.

The Chaseo Rules Institute, founded by Park Byong‐won, is a research and development center that brings together the most cutting-edge specialists from fields as diverse as law, medicine, engineering, humanities, education, economics and finance, physical education, etc., to devise a framework that combines findings related to the traditional Asian numerical system and music theory.

YouTube sensation Stuart Ashen is back with his second instalment of terrible old computer games you’ve probably never heard of... because what the world needs right now is to know exactly how bad Domain of the Undead for the Atari 8-bit computers was.

Attack of the Flickering Skeletons is even bigger than the original Terrible Old Games You’ve Probably Never Heard Of – this second excavation of gaming’s buried past will not only unearth more appalling excuses for digital entertainment, but also feature guest contributors and several special interest chapters not based around single specific games.

These are NOT the games you’ve heard of a million times in YouTube videos. This is a compilation of truly obscure and dreadful games. Dripping with wry humour and featuring the best, worst graphics from the games themselves, this book encapsulates the atrocities produced in the days of tight budgets and low quality controls.

Welcome to a world of games you never knew existed. You will probably wish you still didn’t.

Videogames have always depicted representations of American culture, but how exactly they feed back into this culture is less obvious. Advocating an action-based understanding of both videogames and culture, this book delineates how aspects of American culture are reproduced transnationally through popular open-world videogames. Playing American proposes an analytic focus on open-world videogames' "ambient operations" and traces practices of "playing American" through the stages of videogame development, gameplay, and reception. Three case studies – concentrating on the Grand Theft Auto, Watch Dogs, and Red Dead Redemption franchises, respectively – highlight different figurations of "playing American." Thematic foci range from public discourses on systemic racism and neoliberal capitalism to the justification of real-world surveillance practices and to the reconfiguration of the Western in the digital age. Playing American provides those interested in either videogames or American culture with a fresh angle and new concepts regarding its subject matters. It demonstrates that videogames are agents of cultural reproduction that do distinct cultural work for American culture in the twenty-first century.

Video games are a global phenomenon, international in their scope and democratic in their appeal. This is the first volume dedicated to the subject of apocalyptic video games. Its two dozen papers engage the subject comprehensively, from game design to player experience, and from the perspectives of content, theme, sound, ludic textures, and social function. The volume offers scholars, students, and general readers a thorough overview of this unique expression of the apocalyptic imagination in popular culture, and novel insights into an important facet of contemporary digital society.

As Daniel Hardcastle careers towards thirty, he looks back on what has really made him happy in life: the friends, the romances… the video games. Told through encounters with the most remarkable – and the most mind-boggling – games of the last thirty-odd years, Fuck Yeah, Video Games is also a love letter to the greatest hobby in the world.

From God of War to Tomb Raider, Pokémon to The Sims, Daniel relives each game with countless in-jokes, obscure references and his signature wit, as well as intricate, original illustrations by Rebecca Maughan. Alongside this march of merriment are chapters dedicated to the hardware behind the games: a veritable history of Sony, Nintendo, Sega and Atari consoles.

Joyous, absurd, personal and at times sweary, Daniel's memoir is a celebration of the sheer brilliance of video games.

Test How Well You Know Our Most Beloved Festive Films This Christmas With Tricky Trivia for All the Family

Whether you're testing your memory on family favorites or expanding your knowledge of festive films, this book promises to make your holiday gatherings merrier, more fun, and full of memorable cinematic moments.

Christmas trivia questions. Are you ready to settle the age-old debate of which Christmas film deserves a prime spot in your heart and which one belongs on the naughty list? Quiz Actually is not just a fun trivia book, it's the perfect Christmas holiday movie trivia book to liven up your Christmas day celebrations.

Add a sprinkle of challenge and a dash of entertainment to your Christmas festivities. Quiz Actually celebrates the diverse array of films that have nestled their way into every family's holiday tradition. But here's the twist: how well do you really know these movies you watch year after year?

The ultimate Christmas day family game book. Fun and entertaining for the entire family, Quiz Actually is packed with over 750 questions and featured films including: Love, Actually; Home Alone; It's a Wonderful Life; Elf; The Grinch; The Nightmare Before Christmas; Scrooged; Bridget Jones's Diary; Harry Potter; The Holiday; Die Hard (yes; and many, many more!

Inside, you'll find:

• A treasure trove of fun and entertaining quiz questions
• Christmas fun that the whole family can enjoy
• Christmas classics and the unexpected holiday film

If you enjoy trivia activity books such as Broadway Musical Trivia Book, Christmas Trivia, or Your Brain on Facts, then Quiz Actually is for you.

Not all games are released equal. The barriers of language and culture can leave our world divided, and this includes the video games that we get the chance to play. Matt Barnes, Dazz Brown and Greg S-C of DidYouKnowGaming? created the YouTube series Region Locked to give people an insight into the weird and wonderful titles that never left their home countries, and now they bring their expertise to you in this book.

Encounter masterpieces you never knew existed from your favourite series and developers, as well as some utterly bizarre creations that seem so outlandish you might wonder how on earth they were released in the first place. The authors explore what it's like to play these games and investigate the fascinating characters behind them to discover why such remarkable creations never enjoyed international exposure.

The book covers games from all eras and a variety of platforms so there’s sure to be something to pique the interest of everyone, from casual gamers to hardcore fans.

"A labour of undiluted love and enthusiasm." — Daily Telegraph

As Daniel Hardcastle careers towards thirty, he looks back on what has really made him happy in life: the friends, the romances… the video games. Told through encounters with the most remarkable – and the most mind-boggling – games of the last thirty-odd years, Fuck Yeah, Video Games is also a love letter to the greatest hobby in the world.

From God of War to Tomb Raider, Pokémon to The Sims, Daniel relives each game with countless in-jokes, obscure references and his signature wit, as well as intricate, original illustrations by Rebecca Maughan. Alongside this march of merriment are chapters dedicated to the hardware behind the games: a veritable history of Sony, Nintendo, Sega and Atari consoles.

Joyous, absurd, personal and at times sweary, Daniel's memoir is a celebration of the sheer brilliance of video games.

Forty original contributions on games and gaming culture

What does Pokémon Go tell us about globalization? What does Tetris teach us about rules? Is feminism boosted or bashed by Kim Kardashian: Hollywood? How does BioShock Infinite help us navigate world-building?

From arcades to Atari, and phone apps to virtual reality headsets, video games have been at the epicenter of our ever-evolving technological reality. Unlike other media technologies, video games demand engagement like no other, which begs the question—what is the role that video games play in our lives, from our homes, to our phones, and on global culture writ large?

How to Play Video Games brings together forty original essays from today’s leading scholars on video game culture, writing about the games they know best and what they mean in broader social and cultural contexts. Read about avatars in Grand Theft Auto V, or music in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. See how Age of Empires taught a generation about postcolonialism, and how Borderlands exposes the seedy underbelly of capitalism. These essays suggest that understanding video games in a critical context provides a new way to engage in contemporary culture. They are a must read for fans and students of the medium.

Forty original contributions on games and gaming culture

What does Pokémon Go tell us about globalization? What does Tetris teach us about rules? Is feminism boosted or bashed by Kim Kardashian: Hollywood? How does BioShock Infinite help us navigate world-building?

From arcades to Atari, and phone apps to virtual reality headsets, video games have been at the epicenter of our ever-evolving technological reality. Unlike other media technologies, video games demand engagement like no other, which begs the question—what is the role that video games play in our lives, from our homes, to our phones, and on global culture writ large?

How to Play Video Games brings together forty original essays from today’s leading scholars on video game culture, writing about the games they know best and what they mean in broader social and cultural contexts. Read about avatars in Grand Theft Auto V, or music in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. See how Age of Empires taught a generation about postcolonialism, and how Borderlands exposes the seedy underbelly of capitalism. These essays suggest that understanding video games in a critical context provides a new way to engage in contemporary culture. They are a must read for fans and students of the medium.

Who were Canada's ten most romantic couples of the twentieth century? What were this country's worst disasters, its ten best beers, and its most controversial works of art in the past one hundred years? Where will you find the most haunted places in Canada and who are Canada's greatest heroes, its most accomplished athletes, and its most despised criminals?

The Great Canadian Book of Lists chronicles a century of achievements, trends, important and influential people, and fascinating events that have shaped this country as it heads into a new millennium. Award-winning writers Mark Kearney and Randy Ray, who have delighted readers with their bestselling books The Great Canadian Trivia Book and The Great Canadian Trivia Book 2, turn the spotlight on the twentieth century to determine the best, worst, and most significant happenings in our lives.

Not content with supplying a shopping list of items about Canada, Kearney and Ray provide plenty of details to support why certain people and events are included on the lists. And their statistical snapshots comparing a variety of societal trends over different years show readers how Canada has changed in the course of the past century.

You'll also learn how experts from the worlds of science, sports, lifestyle, literature, and politics rate the personalities and events that have made Canada what it is today. And several guest celebrities weigh in with lists they've created exclusively for The Great Canadian Book of Lists.

Enlightening, controversial and fun, The Great Canadian Book of Lists is bound to start as many arguments as it settles. Was Guy Lafleur a better hockey player than Rocket Richard? Why are rower Silken Laumann and actress Margot Kidder on the same list? What were the best Canadian novels of the twentieth century? And what are some key milestones achieved by Canadian women, medical doctors, inventors, and musicians?

Innovations and flops, successes and failures, comebacks and breakthroughs, record setters and trend setters: You'll find them all in The Great Canadian Book of Lists.

Mark Kearney and Randy Ray, Canada's Trivia Guys, thought they had covered it all with their previous best-selling trivia books, but it turns out this country has even more weird and wonderful tales to tell. Pucks, Pablum and Pingos is a unique collection of easy-to-read trivia bites, quizzes, and graphics that touches on history, sports, politics, entertainment, and more. Fun and full of factual fare, this book will satisfy the curious and indulge the inquisitive.

Test your 80s knowledge with this awesome trivia card game!

Do you know Boy George from your George Michael? Your Tetris from your Rubik's? Or your mullets from your Jheri curls? Then Best of the 80s: The Ultimate Trivia Challenge is the totally radical card game for you, containing 60 quiz cards spanning categories ranging from 1980s heartthrobs and artists to political figures, popular movies, dance moves and more. Challenge your friends and family to reveal their knowledge and discover who's, like, totally bitchin'!

Test your 00s knowledge with this awesome trivia card game!

Too soon to get nostalgic about the 2000s, noughties, aughts or whatever we're supposed to call them? Of course not: this is the decade that gave us cheap downloads and not-so-cheap iPods. Whether you preferred Love Actually or Avatar, Kanye or The Killers, this ultimate quiz card pack will make you nostalgic for the good times when socialising was all about MySpace and the Motorola Razr.

Test your 90s knowledge with this awesome trivia card game!

Welcome to the Best of the '90s, a fun trivia game that will take you on a sentimental journey through an exceptionally unforgettable decade! In this game you'll find 60 trivia cards with over 470 questions on the following subjects: Movies, Television, Music, Popular Culture, Politics, Sports, and Toys & Games. The questions probe topics ranging from Britney Spears to the Clinton years, from Pocahontas to Pokemon, and from eBay to Y2K.

So, gather your Friends around, break out the Crystal Pepsi, open the Dunkaroos and take a Quantum Leap back to The Wonder Years!

Test your wits against 210 brand-new killer sudokus with this formidable collection of the world's favourite puzzle.

This compilation draws on all the knowledge of the expert puzzle writers at the Guardian, whose killer sudokus are enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people every day. All of your logical reasoning will be required to solve these previously unpublished puzzles, specially designed to increase in difficulty as the book progresses.

Dive into this challenging collection of the world's favourite puzzle, with 210 brand-new sudokus to savour. 

The Guardian's sudoku puzzles are enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people every day and are now available in this carefully curated compilation. These previously unpublished puzzles increase in difficulty as the book progresses, so will test everyone from a sudoku novice to a seasoned expert.

Praise for Working the Phones:

“A sharp reminder of the difficulties faced by call-center workers.” —The Financial Times

“Jamie Woodcock shows us what call-centers can tell us about bleakness and resistance in the modern workplace.” —VICE

“Jamie Woodcock’s brilliant insider account of life in a British call-center reveals the dirty realities of digital capitalism . . . a book that is sure to become a classic.” —Peter Fleming, author of The Mythology of Work

“Woodcock knows not only his theory but his subject inside out. There’s casualization, cruelty, and regimentation, but also subversion, and his focus on employee resistance offers a flicker of hope.” —Times Higher Education

In Marx at the Arcade, acclaimed researcher Jamie Woodcock delves into the hidden abode of the gaming industry. In an account that will appeal to hardcore gamers, digital skeptics, and the joystick-curious, Woodcock unravels the vast networks of artists, software developers, and factory and logistics workers whose seen and unseen labor flows into the products we consume on a gargantuan scale. Along the way, he analyzes the increasingly important role the gaming industry plays in contemporary capitalism and the broader transformations of work and the economy that it embodies.

Jamie Woodcock is a sociologist of work, focusing on digital labor, the gig economy, and resistance. He is currently a fellow at the London School of Economics and is the author of the award-winning Working the Phones (2016). He is on the editorial board of Historical Materialism and an editor of Notes from Below, an online journal of workers’ inquiry.

In Marx at the Arcade, acclaimed researcher Jamie Woodcock delves into the hidden abode of the gaming industry. In an account that will appeal to hardcore gamers, digital skeptics, and the joystick-curious, Woodcock unravels the vast networks of artists, software developers, and factory and logistics workers whose seen and unseen labor flows into the products we consume on a gargantuan scale. Along the way, he analyzes the increasingly important role the gaming industry plays in contemporary capitalism and the broader transformations of work and the economy that it embodies.

How do we reconcile a videogame industry's insistence that games positively affect human beliefs and behaviors with the equally prevalent assumption that games are “just games”? How do we reconcile accusations that games make us violent and antisocial and unproductive with the realization that games are a universal source of human joy?
In Games are not, David Myers demonstrates that these controversies and conflicts surrounding the meanings and effects of games are not going away; they are essential properties of the game's paradoxical aesthetic form. Games are not focuses on games writ large, bound by neither digital form nor by cultural interpretation. Interdisciplinary in scope and radical in conclusion, Games are not positions games as unique objects evoking a peculiar and paradoxical liminal state – a lusory attitude – that is essential to human creativity, knowledge, and sustenance of the species.

Ringbearers collects together essays by established and leading figures within Game Studies, each focused on different aspects of the Massively Multiplayer Online game The Lord of the Rings Online.

The authors played the game extensively, yet they each come to it with different questions. Some essays focus on what players do with and in the game, whether that means asking about the opportunities provided for role-play or asking how the knowledge that fans bring to the game informs their experience of it. Others focus on the design of the game: for example the handling of narrative and its temporal dimensions, the articulation of core themes into ludic form, or the representational and aural strategies used. Moral rhetorics solicit discussion from various perspectives, as does the treatment of horror and the 'other'. Particular game mechanics are analysed in detail such as the game's crafting economy, or, more generally, the development of improbable conventions that players have learned to accept as the grammar of games.

As well as Design, Media and Game Studies students and scholars, Ringbearers will also prove of interest to those studying adaptation and to scholar-fans of JRR Tolkein's massively influential and popular fictional work.

In this new anthology, the editors of the widely acclaimed The Political Interests of Gender (1988) make a compelling case for reconstructing feminist theory in critical-realist terms, fostering more robust, multi-dimensional approaches to analyses of the political interests of gender.

Leading gender studies’ scholars utilise different research traditions to investigate topics including human rights, women’s movements, gendered labour markets, international monetary policy, equality policy, and queer politics. This unique anthology includes theoretical and empirical work, illustrating how to build bridges between materialist and discursive theoretical frameworks for understanding the politics of gender. It will be a trend-setting text for advanced gender studies political science, and sociology courses, as well as for professionals in these fields.

In this new anthology, the editors of the widely acclaimed The Political Interests of Gender (1988) make a compelling case for reconstructing feminist theory in critical-realist terms, fostering more robust, multi-dimensional approaches to analyses of the political interests of gender.

Leading gender studies’ scholars utilise different research traditions to investigate topics including human rights, women’s movements, gendered labour markets, international monetary policy, equality policy, and queer politics. This unique anthology includes theoretical and empirical work, illustrating how to build bridges between materialist and discursive theoretical frameworks for understanding the politics of gender. It will be a trend-setting text for advanced gender studies political science, and sociology courses, as well as for professionals in these fields.

With nearly 200 puzzles, this is a tricky collection perfect for anyone who works too hard and likes to reset their mental faculties with a classic logic test.

Continuing the popular Overworked & Underpuzzled series, Killer Sudoku is often seen as the most challenging Sudoku, and so this is the perfect puzzle book for anyone who loves to be tested during their coffee break.

With 200 all-time favorite puzzles, you'll have all the fun of puzzling, and still be able to decompress after a long day.

When you need to unwind, the last thing you want is to have to wrap your head around an intricate new puzzle type. Overworked and Underpuzzled: Puzzles to Unwind is the puzzle book for you. With 200 all-time favourite puzzles, you'll have all the fun of puzzling, and still be able to decompress after a long day.

Conundrum favorites included inside are crosswords, logic grids, jig words, Sudoku, spot the difference, riddles and more, and each challenge has been designed at a level to massage your mind when you need it most.

Test yourself against the world's favourite puzzle, with 210 previously unpublished sudoku to savour.

The Guardian's sudoku puzzles are enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people every day. These brand-new puzzles will provide hours of entertainment for anyone who enjoys unwinding with some mental gymnastics. The puzzles have been designed to increase in difficulty as the book progresses, meaning this book can be enjoyed by both novice and master alike. This is the first book in a new Guardian puzzle series.

Whether you’re a geek or not, this fun guide helps you win at life by harnessing the power of science!

While geeks’ obsessive desire for data makes them constant curators of useless information, it also drives them to great lengths to find the solutions to everyday problems. What moves will impress a hot date on the dance floor? Is there an optimum angle for skipping a stone? Science the Sh*t Out of Life reveals the geeky secrets to living smarter, offering scientifically sourced advice for dealing with everything life throws at you. 

Presented with top tips, infographics, and a sense of humor, this guide will appeal not just to Star Trek junkies and computer nerds but also to anyone seeking answers to eternal questions on health, career, love, leisure, travel, money, and technology.

Test your wits against 210 difficult previously unpublished killer sudoku puzzles in the first book in the new Guardian puzzle book series.

The Guardian's killer sudoku puzzles are enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people every day. While only a minimal level of mathematical knowledge is needed, all of your logical reasoning will be required to solve these brand-new puzzles. The puzzles have been designed to increase in difficulty as the book progresses, meaning this book can be enjoyed by novice and master alike.

Baseball Facts and MLB Trivia for the Ultimate Baseball Fan

In this third title published by National Baseball Hall of Fame Books, test your knowledge of baseball trivia against the experts—the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

The history of baseball is etched in its trivia. No American sport is chronicled through its trivia and statistics more than baseball. Now, the National Baseball Hall of Fame presents the ultimate baseball trivia book, So You Think You Know Baseball. 

Hit it out of the park at your MLB trivia night or in an after-dinner baseball quiz with your family. Selected by the historians and curators at the Baseball Hall of Fame, over 100 years of rich baseball history is packed into this virtual reference guide of facts, figures, and fascinating tidbits about our national pastime. 

In So You Think You Know Baseball, find 450 challenging baseball trivia questions organized into nine themed chapters covering a wide range of baseball history:

• Baseball Firsts – famous firsts for almost every aspect of baseball history
• First Year Phenoms – rookie sensations and first year wonders
• Legendary Sluggers – Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Babe Ruth & more
• Historic Hurlers – celebrated pitchers and their remarkable accomplishments on the mound
• Record Breakers – notable players and teams who left their mark in the record books
• Hall of Famers – baseball’s all-time greats enshrined in Cooperstown
• Baseball in Pop Culture – discover the many ways baseball has influenced American culture
• The Postseason – highlighting the celebrated moments in World Series history
• Baseball Potpourri – unique facts about America’s Pastime

Also don’t miss other titles published by National Baseball Hall of Fame Books, Picturing America’s Pastime, Memories from the Microphone, and Baseball Memories and Dreams.

Fun Trivia Questions and Answers for Brainiacs

“A fun collection of facts that will leave you full of information you never knew you needed to know!” ―Sophie Stirling, author of We Did That?

#1 Bestseller in Reference, Puzzles, Trivia, Curiosities & Wonders, Popular Culture

The world is full of things you didn’t know, things you thought you knew, and things you never knew you never knew. From the eponymous podcast comes Your Brain on Facts.

Train your brain. So what if you picked up some historical inaccuracies (and flat-out myths) in history class. Your Brain on Facts is here to teach and reteach readers relevant trivia. It explains surprising science in simple language, gives the unexpected origins of pop culture classics, and reveals important titbits related to current issues.

A brain food boost. Get ready for trivia night done right. Inside, find true facts, strange facts, and just plain weird facts. Your Brain on Facts features fun trivia questions and answers, offering science, art, technology, medicine, music, and history trivia to brainiacs everywhere.

Inside discover weird facts and just plain useless fun facts like:

• What’s the language of the stateless nation in the Pyrenees mountains
• Where the world-changing birth control pill was tested
• Who wrote lyrics for the Star Trek theme song that were never used

If you enjoyed Interesting Stories for Curious People, Stuff You Should Know, The Book of General Ignorance, The Best Bar Trivia Book Ever, The World's Greatest Book of Useless Information, or The Book of Unusual Knowledge, you’ll have a blast with Your Brain on Facts.

#1 Amazon Best Seller! ─ Which games are worth playing?

The 50 best games: From pixelated pioneer adventures to stunning space odysseys, the boundaries of the video game world are expanding every day. Grand epics and gritty mysteries. Fierce competition and friendly cooperation. Powerful emotions and uproarious laughter. Video games are fantastically diverse and wonderfully creative, but not all games are created equal. With so many games out there on so many different consoles, computers, and devices, how do you decide which games are worth playing? Backed by years of writing about games professionally and decades spent playing them, Chris Watters lays out a list of 50 games to entertain and enlighten you. Whether you’re trying to learn more about the world of gaming or strengthening your claim to true gaming fluency, these are the games you’ll want to play, and why you’ll want to play them.

The next challenge for fans of Cain's Jawbone: the TikTok sensation and international bestseller.

A body is found stabbed to death in a locked room. The police find no weapon, no motive and no suspects. However, the murderer has in their possession a box of one hundred cryptic picture postcards which – if properly understood – would explain not just this murder, but nine others. These are those cards.

Readers must rearrange the pages of text to unravel the story and identify the murderer, victim and location for each of the ten murders. They must also consider the separate puzzles presented by the curious images on the other sides. 

Torquemada taught us that complete dedication is key and from devising detective pinboards to daily investigation diaries, Cain’s Jawbone puzzlers did him proud. But now the time has come to dust off that magnifying glass, because a global movement to solve the first picture postcard puzzle is about to begin. Do you have what it takes to explain The Researcher’s First Murder?

“If you’re ready for an extra-hard, old-time challenge, have at it!”-- Will Shortz

From the creator and publisher behind the viral sensation Cain's Jawbone: A Very Novel Mystery, is a collection of 112 difficult cryptic crossword puzzles.

Before Edward Powys Mathers wrote the world's most fiendishly difficult literary puzzle, he was a cryptic crossword creator. Under his pseudonym "Torquemada", his puzzles would taunt readers for days. He created his first cryptic crossword puzzle in 1924 and went on to set them for the Saturday Westminster and the Observer for the next 15 years. His true identity was only revealed when he died in 1939. 

As well as earning the reputation for setting the world's toughest crosswords, Torquemada - or 'Torq' as he was often referred to - was also delightfully creative: with many puzzles written in perfectly constructed verse, or delivered as mini-narratives to their solvers. There's even a version where the clues are knock-knock jokes. 

For many years cryptic crosswords were simply known as puzzles in the 'Torquemada style'. This selection of Torquemada's best crosswords was originally published in 1942 and contains three short accounts of Torquemada's life and achievements, including one by his widow, R.C. Mathers as well as a foreword by the crossword puzzle editor for the New York Times, Will Shortz. The successful revival of Cain's Jawbone has inspired a new generation of puzzle solvers.

Here then is the next challenge for Torquemada's fans - dare you take it on?

Top New Release in Mixed Media

• Jigsaw Puzzles 500 Pieces - This delightful 500 piece jigsaw puzzle is made from premium material and cut precisely for a perfect fit. Its glossy, sturdy jigsaw puzzle pieces come packed in a beautiful box
  
  
• Unicorn Puzzle - This soothing art puzzle by THELATESTKATE offers an uplifting lettered quote with a whimsical unicorn worthy of her bestselling Thera-pets emotional support animal cards
  
  
• Great Gift Puzzle for Adults - Enjoy our cute 500 piece puzzle for adults. Unique gift for women, men, or family─Christmas, birthdays, Easter
  
  
• Iconic Artwork from Kate Allan (TheLatestKate) - Like her bestselling Thera-pets and You Can Do All Things, this puzzle keeps you feeling imaginative as you practice mindfulness and positive self-esteem that says “You Can Do This” with every entertaining piece
  
  
• High Quality - Our 500 piece jigsaw puzzle for adults is created using premium material and goes through intense quality control to ensure a perfect fitting jigsaw puzzle that will provide long term entertainment and pleasure

Improve your mind's power and unlock your full potential with the first in Welbeck's new brain-training series.

This full-color book guides you through eight chapters, each focused on a different aspect of your brain's ability to concentrate, from creativity and problem-solving to lateral and logical thinking.

Every chapter takes you through the science behind how your brain works, gives instruction on how to improve your concentration skills, and provides you with a series of puzzles and exercises to get you started on your brain-training journey!

Improve your powers of memory and recall and unlock your full potential with this brand-new title in Welbeck's brain-training series.

This full-color book guides you through eight chapters, each focused on your memory, how it works, and how you can both maintain and improve it.

From tricks of visualization and linking to mnemonics and mind palaces, as you progress your memorization skills will improve in both the short and long-term. The book will take you through the science behind memory, give instruction on how to improve yourself, and provide you with a series of puzzles and exercises to get you started on your memory-improving journey!

This collection of bite-sized crosswords provides more than 200 speedy challenges to tackle.

From the experts at the Guardian comes this brand new and entertaining collection, the fourth in the series of quick crossword puzzle books. The Guardian crosswords are enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people every day, celebrated for their wide variety of clues spanning a vast range of subjects.

"You know my methods, apply them."  - Sherlock Holmes

Join the world's greatest fictional detective and use your own powers of deduction to solve these ingenious enigmas. More than 70 specially commissioned puzzles set in the world of Sherlock Holmes, designed to test your powers of perception, logic and deduction. Solutions to each puzzle are included.

There's no greater (fictional) puzzle-solver. Now you can learn Holmes' methods and become a master sleuth!

Push the limits of your logical reasoning with these visually pleasing puzzles.

Train your brain by solving this superb collection of logic puzzles, designed to help your mind reach peak performance.

Perfect for both the puzzler-on-the-go or someone who simply wants to unwind, Perplexing Logic Puzzles contains more than 100 numerical logic puzzles of a variety of difficulty levels.

Challenge yourself with this essential puzzling partner.

The ability to think logically will help you to see the wood for the trees and allow you to make effective, reasoned decisions, even when faced with stressful situations.

Everyone can improve their logical-thinking abilities - it just takes an understanding of some basic principles and a good deal of practice. Even if you don't think of yourself as a logical thinker, you'll be amazed at the ways in which you can train your brain to think things through and come up with the right solutions. This title includes some basic exercises and logic puzzles to focus your brain and help you practise what you've learnt elsewhere in the book.

Inspired by the best-selling board game that has sold over 30 million copies, the Catan Puzzle Book is the perfect gift for fans of the Catan franchise who want to expand beyond the board game experience.

The timeless world of Catan is waiting for you to explore, build, settle... and solve! Inside the Catan Puzzle Book are 100 original puzzles based on the wildly popular board game, providing a narrative adventure that allows you to discover the unsettled island of Catan.

Alongside original artworks from Settlers of Catan, each puzzle contains its own pleasures and solving them allows you to win resources. Resources lead to victory points... and victory points lead to success!

Contents:

This book includes 10 chapters of puzzles, each containing 10 puzzles set in the Catan world. The puzzles may be solved on their own or as part of a narrative that runs through the book. Each correctly answered puzzle awards the reader resources, which can eventually be converted into achievements and victory points. Upon earning enough victory points, the reader wins the book! Catan Puzzle Book is also fantastically illustrated throughout with more than 150 in-world artworks.

The Most Difficult Math Tests provides an exceptional challenge for even the most adept of puzzlers.

All aspects of arithmetical thinking are tested by the world's finest puzzle-setters. With puzzles ranging from killer Sudoku to numerical crosswords, this colourful puzzle book will keep you entertained for hours.

Inspired by the hit board game that has sold over 12 million copies, travel the world from the comfort of your home with the Ticket to Ride Puzzle Book. 

Based on the award-winning board game, this book is packed full of 100 original, colourful and exciting challenges for puzzlers and board-game enthusiasts alike.

It's the year 1900, and you are a young tourist setting off on a global rail journey. Voyaging from city to city across countries and continents, you meet an entertaining set of characters who provide you with a perplexing set of brainteasers, from logic problems and train track puzzles to riddles and linguistic conundrums.

Climb aboard and ride across the world in 100 globe-trotting puzzles!

Step through the looking glass into a magical world of puzzles based on Lewis Carroll’s classic tale.

Sharpen your wit and wisdom with 80 conundrums set in Lewis Carroll's weirdly brilliant and brilliantly weird world. Carroll, an obsessive, inventive expert logician, would create elaborate "Pillow Problems" every evening. Some of these are in this collection, grouped by difficulty, so you can match your skills of deduction, reasoning, arithmetic, and creative thinking against the master's. All the familiar characters from his masterpiece appear, including the Mad Hatter with a puzzle about biscuits, the Cheshire Cat with a math quandary, and the Red Queen with a riddle to untangle—all beautifully illustrated with Sir John Tenniel’s original art.

Containing more than 100 enigmas, riddles and conundrums, all taking inspiration from their extraordinary stories and vivid worlds, explore new galaxies and new technologies while solving challenges all written in the distinctive and brilliant styles of these five stars of science fiction.

Enter the genre-defining worlds created by five masters of speculative fiction in The Science Fiction Puzzle Book. Featuring the prolific works of Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein and Ursula K. Le Guin, become part of their futuristic, dystopian and world-building adventures with this series of enigmatic puzzles.

'A knotty puzzle may hold up a scientist for a century'
– Isaac Asimov, The Robots of Dawn.

Psycho Puzzles re-creates the suspense and drama of Hitchcock's greatest films in more than 80 puzzles.

Each conundrum uses characters and situations from his movies to set the scene and you will be asked to calculate the answers to a number of gruesome questions, such as: Can Melanie Daniels survive inside a phone booth as the birds make their savage attack? How much hard liquor can Roger Thornhill consume while being chased by a crop duster? Can Norman sink Marion's car and return to the Bates Motel before the police catch him?

Highly illustrated throughout with period artworks, and with trivia questions about Hitchcock and his life and works as well, this is the perfect book for any movie-loving puzzle fan.

More than 80 puzzles and trivia questions inspired by the worlds and works of Alfred Hitchcock. All of his feature films are referenced, with particular attention paid to his most famous works, such as Psycho, North by Northwest, The Birds, Vertigo and Rear Window. Stylish artworks and illustrations are included to re-create the vivid atmosphere of his movies.

Based on the hit card game that has sold millions of copies around the world, the Unlock! Escape Adventure Puzzle Book provides a new way to enjoy the popular Unlock! Escape Adventure series.

Immerse yourself in this colourful escape-room experience, which can be enjoyed either at home on your own or with a group. There are three adventures for you to challenge yourself against, each with their own charming narrative: 

Enter a secret underground lab to recover a mysterious and important serum that has the potential to drastically change the world!

The dastardly Professor NoSide has trapped you in his lair! With the help of a friendly mouse, can you free yourself in time to foil his evil plans?

Your friend Professor Tempus has disappeared, just as you arrived to experiment with his time machine. Can you solve the mystery before our timeline is damaged forever?

Are you up to the challenge? You will have to use all of your wits, logic and skill to solve these puzzles, escape and SAVE THE WORLD!

The world’s greatest detective returns once more . . . to test your powers of deduction! Can you solve all the cases in this remarkable collection?

Written in the style of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's great stories, and told in the voice of Dr. Watson, this book offers an enlightening and diverting selection of puzzles—more than 200 of them. They range from elementary riddles to fiendish brainbusters, from simple riddles to full-out mysteries. Fans must follow threads of logic through convoluted labyrinths, unravel wordknots, figure out identities, solve a murder by looking at an illustration, and much more. Can you live up to Holmes’s exacting standards? Solvers will find tips and tricks for “deducing” the Sherlock way, along with all answers and explanations.

Chill-out Codewords contains hundreds of codeword puzzles perfectly designed to fit into your busy lifestyle.

This is a great challenge for anyone who works too hard and deserves to chill-out with a relaxing puzzle collection.

You and your team are the only things standing in the way of the deadly diseases that threaten the world. The fate of humanity is in your hands!

A pandemic has gripped the globe, endangering not just the health and wellbeing of billions of people, but society and the future of civilization itself. You must guide your team to turn the tide and save the world, but to do so you will have to solve a series of difficult puzzles to decode the diseases, identify their weaknesses and find the cure.

The book contains numerous team members and locations familiar to anyone who knows and loves the original board games. Each chapter contains visual cryptic conundrums for you to ponder over, translating the Pandemic game into a thrilling global narrative. Are you ready for this exciting puzzle adventure?

Isn't it frustrating when you know that the solution to a problem is right before you but you just can't see it?

Thinking and working out problems needn't be hard work - in fact, trying too hard can trap you in rigid thought patterns and blind you to unexpected but brilliant solutions. This enlightening guide will show you how to see and think in new ways. You'll gain fresh understanding of your powers of perception, and through simple exercises you'll develop the skills to think in new directions.

The Assassin's Creed Escape Room Puzzle Book is an exciting journey through history in which you must solve a series of puzzles and mysteries to save humanity.

You are Joey, a museum worker who comes across a mysterious blade that sets in motion a chain of events that completely upends your life. Drawn into the world of the Assassins, you must tour through time and space – from 5th century BCE Greece to the catacombs of medieval Venice – in order to foil a malevolent Isu plot.

Featuring characters and locations familiar to fans of the Assassin's Creed franchise and written by an experienced real-life escape-room creator, this immersive escape-room experience is both visually exciting and a difficult puzzle quest.

Can you solve the conundrums and reveal the Isu plan in time to save the world?

How do captains of industry and the greatest strategic minds come to the decisions they do?

Learn how to think in ways that will help keep you one step ahead, while completing enjoyable brain-training puzzles. Debating skills, sound logical reasoning and thinking outside the box are all examined, bringing you a new understanding of tactics, strategy and decision-making.

Includes an extended introduction with advice on how to think in tactical ways, as well as How to Think tips to improve your critical-thinking skills as you work through 50 testing puzzles.

Featuring 150 iconic artworks, The National Gallery Masters of Art Puzzle Book is a visually spectacular puzzle challenge perfect for any art-enthusiast. 

This must-buy gift book contains 100 puzzles reproducing and inspired by the world's most famous paintings, making it a truly one-of-a-kind decorative delight.

From pictorial puzzles such as Fake or Fortune, Jigsaw and Scrambled Image, to cryptic puzzles like Odd One Out or The Missing Link, through logic puzzles, riddles and even a series of progressively more difficult art knowledge quizzes, there is something for everyone, from the puzzle master to the art aficionado.

Featured paintings include Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh, The Fighting Temeraire by J.M.W. Turner, The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, The Hay Wain by John Constable, The Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci, Bathers at La Grenouillère by Claude Monet and many, many more