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The video game industry’s early history from the ’70s and ’80s makes for fascinating reading, and if that’s what you’re in the mood for, you can check out this new book examining that era of gaming. Written by Mike Diver, From Coin-Ops to Table-Tops: The Essential Electronic Games looks back at how early electronic tabletop games brought the spirit of arcade games into homes for the first time. It’ll be released on July 31 for $50, and is available for preorder at Amazon.
“Electronic tabletop games, a portal to nostalgic joy, captured our hearts with their pixelated magic. The allure lies in their tangible connection to a simpler time, where friends and family huddled around, vying for high-score victory amid battery-powered blips and beeps,” the synopsis for the book’s original Kickstarter campaign reads.
Fans of those retro gaming gadgets can expect a hardcover package with pages dedicated to the history of these devices, including full-page images showing them off in all their glory. While Diver is the book’s main author, it also includes contributions by several other experts–British comedian and YouTube personality Ashens, The Gadget Show’s Jason Bradbury, Retro Dodo’s Brandon Salt, retro gaming YouTuber John Hancock, vintage tech analyst Nostalgia Nerd, and gaming historian Slopes Game Room have all contributed to this project.
For a few more books on the topic of gaming, Amazon has a rich selection available. You can check out some more of Diver’s great books below, as well as several excellent reads from Bitmap Books.
Gaming history books
The Console: 50 Years of Home Video Gaming — $36 ($40)Retro Gaming: A Byte-sized History of Video Games – From Atari to Zelda — $10Indie Games: The Complete Introduction to Indie Gaming — $18A Guide to Japanese Role-Playing Games — $45From Ants to Zombies: Six Decades Of Video Game Horror — $42.50Go Straight: The Ultimate Guide to Side-Scrolling Beat-‘Em-Ups — $45NES/Famicom: A Visual Compendium — $47The Art of the Box — $45Super Nes-Super Famicom: A Visual Compendium — $75The SNES Pixel Book — $48.80
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