The Book of Fun An Illustrated History of Having a Good Time

• Board Games: The world's oldest tabletop games (Senet, Go, Chess) and its most enduringly popular (Monopoly, Dungeons & Dragons, Settlers of Catan)
• Toys: The history of your favorite playthings, like Barbie, Beanie Babies, Slinky, Furby, and LEGO
• Video Games: The console wars of the '90s, the birth of game streaming, and unexpected Pokémon Go consequences
• Theme Parks: Stories behind Coney Island's Cyclone, Disneyland's opening-day woes, and the bizarre parks built in a nuclear power plant and a Soviet bunker
• Sports: The most fascinating athletic endeavors across the globe, from gladiatorial battles to Lucha Libre, pumpkin boat racing, and sumo wrestling
• Stunts: Harry Houdini, Evel Knievel, Jackie Chan, and the incredible stunt artists you may not know
• Festivals: From Carnival celebrations around the world to the stories of Woodstock, Burning Man, and a Spanish baby-jumping festival
• Dressing Up: The origins of jesters, Halloween, cosplay, drag queen style, and more
• Roadside Attractions: Wacky spectacles like the 65-foot-tall Lucy the Elephant in New Jersey, the Mystery Hole in West Virginia, and the Cabazon Dinosaurs in California

Russ Frushtick is the co-founder of Vox Media’s games vertical Polygon. He has covered video games and technology for over a decade, writing for The New York Times, Edge Magazine and The Verge. 

Sonny Ross is a freelance Illustrator based in the UK whose clients include The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian, Google, Polygon, and many others. 

Table of Contents:
Foreword by Justin McElroy
Introduction: Welcome to the History of Fun
BOARD GAMES

• Excavating the Oldest Board Games
• Go and Chess
• Monopoly
• The Great Monopoly Heist
• Dungeons & Dragons
• Silly Creatures in D&D History
• Catan
• Catain Starting to Feel Stale?

TOYS

• Ancient Toys
• Mini-Knights
• How Dolls Evolved from Corn
• China Dolls
• The Rise of Barbie
• Barbie Takes Off
• Rubik’s Cube
• The Slinky
• Early Building Blocks
• Hello LEGO
• From Teddy Bears to Beanie Babies
• Water Guns
• Toy Robots
• Uh-oh, they’re getting smarter . . .
• The Furby Phenomenon

VIDEO GAMES

• How Nuclear Power and Tennis Launched the Video Game Empire
• The Great Video Game Crash of 1983
• Nintendo to the Rescue
• The ’90s Console Wars
• GoldenEye’s Hospital Visit
• How World of Warcraft Prepared Us for a Pandemic
• Unexpected Pokémon Go Consequences
• The Birth of Game Streaming
• The Secrets of Video Game Development

THEME PARKS

• The World’s Oldest Amusement Park
• The First Roller Coasters
• The Early Days of Coney Island
• Luna Park and the Cyclone
• Disneyland’s Opening Day Disaster
• The Republic of Children
• Sanrio Puroland
• Soviet Bunker Park
• The Park Built in a Nuclear Power Plant

SPORTS

• The Gladiatorial Games
• Medieval Jousts
• Sumo Wrestling
• The Life of a Sumo Wrestler
• Origins of Soccer
• Cheese Rolling
• Lucha Libre
• Kaiju Big Battel
• Swedish Bunny Hopping
• The Windsor Pumpkin Regatta

STUNTS

• The Birth of the Daredevil
• Harry Houdini and the Art of Escape
• The Uninsurable Man: Evel Knievel
• Robbie Knievel Jumps the Grand Canyon
• Early Skydiving
• Skydiving from the Stratosphere
• The Father of Movie Stunts: Buster Keaton
• Helen Gibson
• Annie Edson Taylor
• Jackie Chan Shouldn’t Be Alive

• The Day of the Dead
• La Tomatina
• Behold Spain’s Baby-Jumping Festival
• The Origins of Carnival
• Carnivals around the World
• St. Patrick’s Day
• Holi Festival
• Chau Bun Festival
• Krampusnacht
• Icelandic Christmas
• Finding a Home for Woodstock
• Burning Man

DRESSING UP

• Deadly Masquerade Balls?
• Clowns versus Kings: A Battle for the Ages
• Gone Guising for Halloween
• Halloween Trends in North America
• A Very Wet Ren Faire
• The Three Types of War Reenactors
• Cosplay
• The Greatest Cosplay Crossovers
• The Origins of Drag
• It’s Time for Drag Queen Story Hour

ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

• Lucy the Elephant: A Roadside Behemoth
• The Smallest House in Great Britain
• The Cabazon Dinosaurs
• The Mystery Hole: West Virginia
• The Icelandic Phallological Museum
• The Hair Museum of Avanos
• The Thing: Arizona
• Nagoro Village
• The House on the Rock
• Official Center of the World: California

Index
Acknowledgments
About the Author/About the Illustrator

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