Video Games Around the World


Book Description

Thirty-nine essays explore the vast diversity of video game history and culture across all the world's continents. Video games have become a global industry, and their history spans dozens of national industries where foreign imports compete with domestic productions, legitimate industry contends with piracy, and national identity faces the global marketplace. This volume describes video game history and culture across every continent, with essays covering areas as disparate and far-flung as Argentina and Thailand, Hungary and Indonesia, Iran and Ireland. Most of the essays are written by natives of the countries they discuss, many of them game designers and founders of game companies, offering distinctively firsthand perspectives. Some of these national histories appear for the first time in English, and some for the first time in any language. Readers will learn, for example, about the rapid growth of mobile games in Africa; how a meat-packing company held the rights to import the Atari VCS 2600 into Mexico; and how the Indonesian MMORPG Nusantara Online reflects that country's cultural history and folklore. Every country or region's unique conditions provide the context that shapes its national industry; for example, the long history of computer science in the United Kingdom and Scandinavia, the problems of piracy in China, the PC Bangs of South Korea, or the Dutch industry's emphasis on serious games. As these essays demonstrate, local innovation and diversification thrive alongside productions and corporations with global aspirations. Africa • Arab World • Argentina • Australia • Austria • Brazil • Canada • China • Colombia • Czech Republic • Finland • France • Germany • Hong Kong • Hungary • India • Indonesia • Iran • Ireland • Italy • Japan • Mexico • The Netherlands • New Zealand • Peru • Poland • Portugal • Russia • Scandinavia • Singapore • South Korea • Spain • Switzerland • Thailand • Turkey • United Kingdom • United States of America • Uruguay • Venezuela




Play with Us


Book Description

Tells how to play more than one hundred games that are played by children throughout the world, ranging from board games and jacks to jumping and hand games.




Card Games Around the World


Book Description

A leading inventor and collector of games, Sid Sackson is also an expert on game history. For this highly entertaining volume, the self-proclaimed "game addict" has selected over 60 popular games from around the world. A brief but fascinating introductory chapter to the history of card playing is followed by a valuable glossary of terms associated with this popular pastime. Additional chapters supply instructions, detailed illustrations, and an abundance of clear examples for playing such intriguing diversions as Sampen, Kowah, Kabu, Cha Kau Tsz' and Khanhoo from Asia; Skat, Blackjack, Old Maid, Fan Tan, Eights, Klondike, La Belle Loucie, Accordion, and Hearts from Europe; Whist, Blackout, Cribbage, Spoil Five, and Casino from the British Isles; Pif Paf, Samba, Bolivia, and Canasta from Latin America; and Poker, Pinochle, Contract Bridge, Rummy, and Oklahoma Gin from the United States. Most games can be played by children or adults with a common deck of 52 playing cards (a few will need additional cards from a second deck).




Games Around the World (Around the World)


Book Description

Discover countries, cultures, and traditions in this new series! Every day, all around the world, kids go to school, eat lunch and play games... And yet, these universal experiences, can look very different between different countries. These books will take our readers on a trip around the globe to celebrate diverse cultures and traditions, and will show us how different (and how similar) we all are!




Jobs Around the World


Book Description

It may seem obvious to adults, but many young readers don't yet know that all cultures have the same kinds of activities. We all cook, we all entertain ourselves, we all wear things, we all transport ourselves, we all sleep, and much more. This important book allows readers to journey around the world and cultivate an early interest in the global community they belong to by understanding how people from elsewhere contribute their time, skills, and effort to their work. Full-color photography enhances comprehension on every spread.




Games Around the World


Book Description

Describes the games that children play in different countries of the world, including the Excited Burro in Cuba and dreidel in Israel.




Money Madness


Book Description

What's all this madness about money? Long ago, people traded rocks or sheep for the items they wanted, but rocks were heavy and sheep ran away. This beginning guide to economics will have readers thinking about the purpose, and not just the value, of money.




More Math Games and Activities from Around the World


Book Description

Presents games and other activities from different countries and cultures that teach a variety of basic mathematical concepts.




Power Play


Book Description

“An insider’s view of the good things that can emerge from being glued to a screen. . . . A solid piece of pop-culture/business journalism.” —Kirkus Reviews The phenomenal growth of gaming has inspired plenty of hand-wringing since its inception—from the press, politicians, parents, and everyone else concerned with its effect on our brains, bodies, and hearts. But what if games could be good, not only for individuals but for the world? In Power Play, Asi Burak and Laura Parker explore how video games are now pioneering innovative social change around the world. As the former executive director and now chairman of Games for Change, Asi Burak has spent the last ten years supporting and promoting the use of video games for social good, in collaboration with leading organizations like the White House, NASA, World Bank, and The United Nations. The games for change movement has introduced millions of players to meaningful experiences around everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the US Constitution. Power Play looks to the future of games as a global movement. Asi Burak and Laura Parker profile the luminaries behind some of the movement’s most iconic games, including former Supreme Court judge Sandra Day O’Connor and Pulitzer Prize–winning authors Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. They also explore the promise of virtual reality to address social and political issues with unprecedented immersion, and see what the next generation of game makers have in store for the future.




Pretty Salma


Book Description

In this version of "Little Red Riding Hood, " set in Ghana, a young girl fails to heed Granny's warning about the dangers of talking to strangers.