GAM 206 FINAL Game Research Paper

GAM 206 FINAL Game Research Paper

FINAL Game Research Paper

Your research project this quarter will be to identify, analyze, and contextualize a
particular game that was invented and played prior to 1945. (This used to be set at before
1900 in prior versions of the course.) You must write a Final Paper containing your
Game’s Identity, History, Rules, Analysis, Personal Reactions and Summary.
The Final Paper should be ABOUT 10 pages double-spaced, not including Bibliography,
which is additional. The body of a typical 10 pages double-spaced paper averages 3000
words. Some have done well with slightly less than 3000 words and some use much more.
You cannot pick one of the main games we are playing together during the course. (SENET,
TRADITIONAL MODERN CHESS, FARO, TEXAS HOLD ‘EM POKER, BLACKJACK (21) or
GAVITT’S STOCK EXCHANGE)
Instead, you may choose a game that has some relevance to your own cultural background or
that is from a historical era that you find particularly interesting. You do not necessarily need to
study the moment of a game’s origin. (For many games, this may be unknown.) You should
select a particular historical era in which there is evidence of the game’s play and popularity.
Please note In prior versions of this course: Each project had to be unique, that is, you could
not choose the same game as another student had chosen in the same class section.
Now: As long as you chose individually, there may be some duplication allowed as long as you
individually research and write your paper.
Regardless of the game you choose, your research should center on the following questions:
1) How was the game played? By whom? Where? In what circumstances?
2A) Clear layout of the rules.
2B) Why was the game fun, interesting, compelling, challenging, or otherwise
engaging for its players?
3) Why was the game culturally significant? What does the game and its
popularity reveal about the society that produced and played it?
In order to answer these questions you will need to:
Do Research
Locate and analyze primary and secondary sources that provide
information about the game, its rules and materials, its players, its historical
context, and its evolution. For the final paper, you must use in a meaningful way
a minimum of three primary sources (if possible), one of which must be the game itself.
Photographs, accounts of the time …
Play the Game
You will need to play the game on some regular basis and
teach at least one other person how to play. Your friends or family, roommates …
Game Analysis
The game itself is an indispensable historical source. By playing and
teaching the game, you will be in a position to try to understand its structure and
appeal. What aspects of its rules and play may be thought of as culturally and
historically significant? Throughout this course, we will be developing our skills in
analyzing historical sources, in particular game rules and experiential qualities. This
project will be your opportunity to put these skills to use.
Final Paper
This paper will describe the findings of your research and your
experience in playing the game. You will be attempting to understand what the game’s appeal
and significance were in the particular context of your investigation.
What to Do
There are several milestones throughout the quarter to keep you on track to
completing this project.
Identification of Game and Context
By a to-be-determined date, you must identify the game and precise historical context that
you will be researching for this project.
Preliminary Bibliography
By a to-be-determined date your bibliography will identify the game and its era as well as two
other relevant primary sources. You also need to identify the secondary sources you will draw
on to help contextualize the game, including your source for the game’s rules if there is no
primary source available for them. The primary sources do not necessarily need to refer to the
game itself, but they must be relevant to your discussion of it in the Final Paper.
If you want to submit a Draft of your Game Analysis and Annotated Bibliography
you may do so before the Finalized Paper is due.
Game Analysis
By this time, you will have played the game multiple times and
taught at least one other person how to play it. In the paper, you will reflect on the
structure and characteristics of the game and their possible relevance to the historical
context. What characteristics might have made this game compelling to a particular group of
people at a particular time?
Annotated Bibliography
For this you will finalize your sources and more fully investigate them, writing a brief
descriptive and evaluative sentence or two or a paragraph for each, informing the reader of
the relevance, accuracy, and quality of the source. You only need footnoted references if you
embed quotations in the body of your

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