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The Infinite Playground by Bernard De Koven
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The Infinite Playground

A Player's Guide to Imagination

A Player's Guide to Imagination

By Bernard De Koven
Edited by Celia Pearce and Eric Zimmerman
Contributions by Holly Gramazio

By Bernard De Koven
Edited by Celia Pearce and Eric Zimmerman
Contributions by Holly Gramazio

By Bernard De Koven
Contributions by Holly Gramazio

By Bernard De Koven
Contributions by Holly Gramazio

Best Seller
Paperback $22.95

Jun 21, 2022 | ISBN 9780262543866

Ebook $17.99

Jul 28, 2020 | ISBN 9780262358811

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    The Infinite Playground by Bernard De Koven
    Paperback $22.95
    Jun 21, 2022 | ISBN 9780262543866

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    About The Infinite Playground

    In his final work, a visionary game designer reveals how a surprising range of play-based experiences can unlock our imagination and help us capture the power of fun and delight.

    Bernard De Koven (1941–2018) was a pioneering designer of games and theorist of fun. He studied games long before the field of game studies existed. For De Koven, games could not be reduced to artifacts and rules; they were about a sense of transcendent fun. This book, his last, is about the imagination: the imagination as a playground, a possibility space, and a gateway to wonder. The Infinite Playground extends a play-centered invitation to experience the power and delight unlocked by imagination. It offers a curriculum for playful learning.
     
    De Koven guides the readers through a series of observations and techniques, interspersed with games. He begins with the fundamentals of play, and proceeds through the private imagination, the shared imagination, and imagining the world—observing, “the things we imagine can become the world.” Along the way, he reminisces about playing ping-pong with basketball great Bill Russell; begins the instructions for a game called Reception Line with “Mill around”; and introduces blathering games—Blather, Group Blather, Singing Blather, and The Blather Chorale—that allow the player’s consciousness to meander freely.
     
    Delivered during the last months of his life, The Infinite Playground has been painstakingly cowritten with Holly Gramazio, who worked together with coeditors Celia Pearce and Eric Zimmerman to complete the project as Bernie De Koven’s illness made it impossible for him to continue writing. Other prominent game scholars and designers influenced by De Koven, including Katie Salen Tekinbaş, Jesper Juul, Frank Lantz, and members of Bernie’s own family, contribute short interstitial essays.

    About The Infinite Playground

    In his final work, a visionary game designer reveals how a surprising range of play-based experiences can unlock our imagination and help us capture the power of fun and delight.

    Bernard De Koven (1941-2018) was a pioneering designer of games and theorist of fun. He studied games long before the field of game studies existed. For De Koven, games could not be reduced to artifacts and rules; they were also about experiencing fun. This book, his last, is about the imagination: the imagination as a plaything, a gateway to wonder. The Infinite Playground extends a play-centered invitation to experience the power and delight unlocked by imagination. It offers a curriculum for playful learning, as De Koven guides the readers through a series of observations and techniques, interspersed with games.

    Also by Bernard De Koven

    The Well-Played Game
    See all books by Bernard De Koven

    Also by Bernard De Koven

    The Well-Played Game
    See all books by Bernard De Koven

    Product Details

    Category: Games, Crafts & Activities | Philosophy | Psychology

    Paperback | $22.95
    Published by The MIT Press
    Jun 21, 2022 | 208 Pages | 5-3/8 x 8 | ISBN 9780262543866

    Category: Games, Crafts & Activities | Philosophy | Psychology

    Ebook | $17.99
    Published by The MIT Press
    Jul 28, 2020 | 208 Pages | 5-3/8 x 8 | ISBN 9780262358811

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    Praise

    “This book is magical, sacred, beautiful, and inspired. It will reintroduce you to mysterious joys of play you may have long forgotten. It will reveal to you surprising powers of gaming that will help you make a better future. Read this book now. Keep it as a treasured favorite forever.”
    – Jane McGonigal, author of New York Times bestsellers Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World and SuperBetter: The Power of Living Gamefully

    “First, close your eyes; next, imagine a world where the deep connections between games, play, imagination, compassion, love, life, and fun are all wonderfully clear and frame our every experience in life. Now, stick out your tongue and blow a great big raspberry of joy! Welcome to Bernie’s playground! For those who are not familiar with the work of Bernie ‘Blue’ De Koven, this book could very well change your life. For those who have read his prior work, played his games, laughed and clapped hands with him, I can tell you that this final volume comes closer than ever to what he has always been trying to tell us about the importance of playing well, living well, and imagining our own beautiful playgrounds of life.”
    – Tracy Fullerton, Director, USC Game Innovation Lab

    Table Of Contents

    BEGINNING BEFORE THE BEGINNING xi
    Foreword: Press Play xi
    Celia Pearce
    Introduction: Editing Bernie xvi
    Holly Gramazio
    What-if-ing xix
    Rocky De Koven
    INTRODUCTORY 1
    Pre-posthumous 1
    The University of Imagination 5
    Something to Play: Prui 7
    Imagining a New World 11
    Jesper Juul
    Every Now and Then 12
    Lee Rush
    A Million Ways to Play with Bernie, at Least 14
    Gonzalo Frasca
    THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PLAY 17
    Something to Play: Reception Line 17
    Occupy Fun 19
    Occupy Play 21
    Something to Play: J’Accuse 23
    The Well-Played Game 25
    Having Fun Together 28
    Something to Play: Tag 30
    Changing the Game 31
    When Can We Play? 33
    Getting People Playing 35
    Something to Play: Eclipse 36
    After You’ve Played 38
    Imagination and Possibility 39
    Something to Play: Sound Travel 41
    Compassion for the Play of Others 43
    Sebastian Quack
    A Lifetime of Play 45
    Frank Lantz
    Girls Own This Playground 48
    Katie Salen Tekinbaş
    THE PRIVATE IMAGINATION 51
    Strengthening the Imagination 51
    Something to Play: Silly You and Serious You 52
    Something to Play: Walking Games 55
    Failure of the Imagination 57
    Something to Play: Blather 59
    Flowing with Imagination 61
    Something to Play: Making Faces 63
    The Imagined Audience 64
    Something to Play: The Orchestra and the Conductor 67
    Slow Play 70
    Tracy Fullerton
    Ever Since 73
    Adriaan de Jongh
    Roll with It 74
    Greg Trefry
    THE SHARED IMAGINATION 77
    Something to Play: Darkroom 78
    The Collective Imagination 80
    Coliberation 82
    Something to Play: Group Blather 87
    Of Me and We 89
    Something to Play: Signifying Nothing 92
    Risking Coliberation 95
    Something to Play: Moving Pictures for the Community Theater 97
    Encouraging Coliberation 99
    Something to Play: Zen Counting 101
    Something to Play: Handland 102
    Tilt-Mate 104
    Ian Bogost
    Focus on the Fun 106
    Zack Wood
    Play Sets Us Free! 108
    Stephen Conway
    Come Out & Play 110
    Catherine Herdlick
    THE WORKING IMAGINATION 113
    Something to Play: Singing Blather 114
    Daydreams and Doodles 115
    Something to Play: Drawing Together 116
    Imagination and Creativity 118
    Making Imagination Real 119
    Something to Play: Foley a Capella 122
    Imagination and Science 123
    Strengthening the Group Imagination 126
    Why Imagine? 127
    Something to Play: The Label Game 129
    Play, Imagination, and Business 131
    Something to Play: The Orchestra Game 133
    Enter the Dragon 136
    Mary Flanagan
    Coliberation 139
    Douglas Wilson
    Like Many of My Generation 141
    Akira Thompson
    BEING IN THE WORLD 143
    Imagination’s Role in Creating the World 143
    Something to Play: The Blather Chorale 145
    The Ecological Imagination 147
    Something to Play: Ways of Bee-ing 148
    The Compassionate Imagination 150
    Something to Play: There Must Be a Good Reason 153
    The Moral Imagination 154
    Having Fun Together 157
    Something to Play: Passing Humanity 158
    Imagination and Endings 160
    We, the Prui . . . 163
    Colleen Macklin
    Stepping Aside 165
    John Sharp
    A Lightening 166
    Tassos Stevens
    A LACK OF CONCLUSION 169
    Quitting Is Heavenly 172
    Elyon De Koven
    Afterword 174
    Eric Zimmerman
    FURTHER READING 177
    CONTRIBUTORS 183

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