Wikipedia:WikiProject Board and table games/Sources

This page contains a list of useful internet resources for writing about board and table games-related topics. It is maintained by the WikiProject Board and table games. There is no guarantee that sources listed here can be used for a particular purpose, and this page is not a substitute for understanding Identifying reliable sources.

For accessing sources, see also WikiProject_Board_and_table_games/Resources.

Printed sources available online

 * See also: WikiProject_Board_and_table_games/Resources

Listed here are only reliable published secondary and tertiary sources that include a broad survey of games, and are available at the Internet Archive (some public domain, some requiring free registration).

Mostly historical board games
Probably the most significant books in this category that are not currently available online are Finkel & Mackenzie: Asian Games: The Art of Contest (2004) and Parlett: The Oxford History of Board Games (1999; updated 2018 as Parlett's History of Board Games).
 * Although a reliable source by Wikipedian criteria, note that Bell is much like Wikipedia itself: a good place to start, but you should back up what you find here with another source. Beyond the fact that knowledge grows over time, Bell's aim is often to concoct a playable game, which can conflict with the transparent presentation of his source information, which is what we might have preferred. Fortunately, Bell provides very full documentation of his own sources, another feature making this a good place to start. Also note that since the revised Dover edition is a republication of 2 separate volumes without re-pagination, all page references must also specify volume (e.g. "Vol. 1, page 63"), as page number alone will be ambiguous.
 * All of Culin's books are old but foundational. They consist chiefly of ethnographic descriptions, still of use. On his elaborate and somewhat philosophical historical speculations, however, note that later scholars have called into question our ability to assign historical precedence among randomizing activities such as divination, impartial decision-making, gambling, and game-playing, and that elements of his monolithic genealogy of games have been called "absurd". Other books by Culin are available too, but these 3 present the lion's share of his work on games (with 1 exception, below).
 * All of Culin's books are old but foundational. They consist chiefly of ethnographic descriptions, still of use. On his elaborate and somewhat philosophical historical speculations, however, note that later scholars have called into question our ability to assign historical precedence among randomizing activities such as divination, impartial decision-making, gambling, and game-playing, and that elements of his monolithic genealogy of games have been called "absurd". Other books by Culin are available too, but these 3 present the lion's share of his work on games (with 1 exception, below).
 * All of Culin's books are old but foundational. They consist chiefly of ethnographic descriptions, still of use. On his elaborate and somewhat philosophical historical speculations, however, note that later scholars have called into question our ability to assign historical precedence among randomizing activities such as divination, impartial decision-making, gambling, and game-playing, and that elements of his monolithic genealogy of games have been called "absurd". Other books by Culin are available too, but these 3 present the lion's share of his work on games (with 1 exception, below).
 * All of Culin's books are old but foundational. They consist chiefly of ethnographic descriptions, still of use. On his elaborate and somewhat philosophical historical speculations, however, note that later scholars have called into question our ability to assign historical precedence among randomizing activities such as divination, impartial decision-making, gambling, and game-playing, and that elements of his monolithic genealogy of games have been called "absurd". Other books by Culin are available too, but these 3 present the lion's share of his work on games (with 1 exception, below).
 * All of Culin's books are old but foundational. They consist chiefly of ethnographic descriptions, still of use. On his elaborate and somewhat philosophical historical speculations, however, note that later scholars have called into question our ability to assign historical precedence among randomizing activities such as divination, impartial decision-making, gambling, and game-playing, and that elements of his monolithic genealogy of games have been called "absurd". Other books by Culin are available too, but these 3 present the lion's share of his work on games (with 1 exception, below).

Mostly historical card games
Probably the most significant books in this category that are not currently available online are Dummett & Mann: The Game of Tarot: from Ferrara to Salt Lake City (1980) and its partial replacement, Dummett & McLeod: A History of Games Played with the Tarot Pack: The Game of Triumphs (2004, 2 volumes + its 2009 supplement).
 * Many, many "Hoyles" are available; only a handful from the mid-18th-century have anything to do with Hoyle. This is perhaps the best edition to have fallen into the public domain.
 * Several more of Parlett's books are available from the Internet Archive; these 2 are almost certainly the most useful for Wikipedian purposes.
 * Several more of Parlett's books are available from the Internet Archive; these 2 are almost certainly the most useful for Wikipedian purposes.
 * Several more of Parlett's books are available from the Internet Archive; these 2 are almost certainly the most useful for Wikipedian purposes.
 * Several more of Parlett's books are available from the Internet Archive; these 2 are almost certainly the most useful for Wikipedian purposes.

Mostly historical dice and/or domino games
Several "Hoyles" have small sections on dice or dominoes. More comprehensive is Reiner Knizia: Dice Games Properly Explained (1999).

Additional printed sources available online



 * A large collection of scanned magazines is available at the Internet Archive's Game and Gamer Magazines Archives.

Printed Sources
Individual user collections and collections from other WikiProjects can be found at the following locations:
 * Games magazine collection (via WP:VG)
 * Dragon magazine collection (this list emphasizes video games, but the magazine covers board and tabletop games as well) (via WP:VG)
 * Ares collection (via User:BOZ)
 * Imagine collection (via User:BOZ)
 * Games International collection (via User:BOZ) - general games magazine that later transitioned into Computer Games Magazine
 * The Games Machine collection (via User:BOZ) - video game magazine that also covered tabletop games early in its run
 * The Space Gamer collection (via User:BOZ)
 * White Dwarf collection (via User:BOZ)

WikiProject Board and table games collections:
 * Miscellaneous print sources

Unreliable

 * ArtStation Magazine  - Website without editorial policies.
 * BoardGameGeek  - User-based content.
 * Board Game Quest  - Self-published source without editorial control.
 * Jedisjeux  - The website does not have information on editorial policies or their editors, and is considered to be generally unreliable.
 * Meeple Mountain  - The website has a list of editors, but its coverage is routine. Its editorial control is also unclear, with no indication of expertise for the editors.
 * RPGNet - There is weak consensus that the user-generated forum RPGNet is unreliable. See discussion.

Undetermined
This is a list of sources that have been found but not discussed yet on whether they're reliable or not.


 * Web


 * Di6dent (French; used to be released as a magazine as well but is now only published online)
 * GameFan
 * TheGamer
 * Gry-Online (Polish)
 * Guide du Rôliste Galactique (French; in addition to their own content and their database, they have licensed some reviews from out-of-print French RPG magazines, which are added to the corresponding items' entries in the database)
 * ICv2
 * Mir Fantastiki (Russian)
 * SciFi-Universe (French)
 * SF Site
 * Tabletop Gaming Magazine (also exists as a magazine)
 * Techraptor
 * Tom's Hardware (Italian)
 * Tor.com
 * Unification France (French)
 * Valkyrie
 * abstractgames.org


 * Printed


 * Australian Realms
 * Backstab (French)
 * Casus Belli (French)
 * Computer + Videogiochi (Italian; focused on video games, but also covered TTRPGs)
 * Dragão Brasil (Portuguese)
 * Dragon
 * Envoyer (German; also has some reviews available online)
 * Fenix (Swedish; also has some reviews available online)
 * The Games Machine (Italian; focused on video games, but also covered TTRPGs)
 * Magia i Miecz (Polish)
 * Mephisto (German)
 * Realms of Fantasy
 * Rollespilsmagasinet Fønix (Danish)
 * Rue Morgue
 * Saga (Danish)
 * Shadis
 * Świat Gier Komputerowych (Polish; focused on video games, but also covered TTRPGs)