Moves in Mind: The Psychology of Board Games

Board games have long fascinated as mirrors of intelligence, skill, cunning, and wisdom. While board games have been the topic of many scientific studies, and have been studied for more than a century by psychologists, there was until now no single volume summarizing psychological research into board games. This book covers topics such as perception, memory, problem solving and decision making, development, intelligence, emotion, motivation, education, and neuroscience. It also briefly summarized current research on artificial intelligence aiming at developing computers playing board games, and critically discusses how current theories of expertise fare with board games. The book concludes by showing that the information provided by board-game research is quite relevant in the understanding of human psychology in general.

Alex de Voogt is at the University of Leiden and Managing Editor of the journal Board Game Studies.