Board Games and Mental Health

Episode 2: Small World and Play

Here is the second episode of the series I’ve been developing through The Seattle School, with some of my colleagues around the intersection of board games, psychology, and theology. In this video we both play the game, Small World, and discuss the nature of play as a psychic state where we are able to maintain a paradox. Our conversation also touched on issues of colonialism and capitalism as well as the liturgical practice of carnival (Paul Steinke and I have recently published on our experience of playing a game for carnival here in Christ and Cascadia).

For those not interested in the actual game, I recommend skipping past some of the beginning parts of the video where I teach the rules.

We will be continuing this series in the coming months. Our next episode should be released in a few weeks and will feature Jermaine Ma hosting the game Wingspan while we talk about winning and win conditions.