Analog Game Studies Journal

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Analog Games

Analog Games refer to non-video games. Marco Arnaudo of Indiana University argues that that Games Studies, particularly Games History, needs to include Analog games as a significant subfield within the discipline. [12]

History

The articles in AGS frequently approach Games Studies through intersectional lenses of race, gender, sexuality, disability, and other identities and experiences. Analog Game Studies launched its first issue on August 1, 2014. [13] The editors were Aaron Trammell, Evan Torner, and Emma Waldron. The idea for the journal emerged from conversations at the national conference of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCAACA) in March 2013, which was held in Washington, DC. According to the inaugural editors, "Analog Game Studies is committed to providing a periodically published platform for the critical analysis, discussion of design, and documentation of analog games." [14]

In 2018, AGS was a finalist for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming, citing that "over the last four years the journal has established itself as a place where scholars of non-digital games discuss their research in an accessible manner. ...It is an important scholarly voice in the analytical tradition discussing hobby games that has, in the past, included sites such as Interactive Fantasy, The Forge, and the Knutepunkt books." [15]

Format and Editorial Policy

Since its founding in 2014, the journal publishes three to five issues a year. Each issue contains three to six scholarly articles, academic book reviews, even interviews.

AGS publishes in English but includes authors and perspectives from around the world.

Analog Game Studies uses a peer review process that stresses mentorship, collaboration, transparency, conversation, and timeliness. [16] Depending on the number of issues, the journal accepts between 9 and 15 articles a year.

Topics Covered

Services and Platforms

Generational Analog

Starting in 2020, AGS organizes Generation Analog, an annual online tabletop games and education conference, co-presented with Game in Lab. [17]

The talks are available on Analog Games Studies YouTube Channel: Analog Game Studies

Books

Other Games Studies Journals

References

  1. 1 2 "About Game Studies", Game Studies, https://gamestudies.org/2301/about.
  2. "About", International Journal of Role-Playing, https://journals.uu.se/IJRP/index.
  3. "Aim & Scope", Board Game Studies Journal, https://sciendo.com/journal/BGS?content-tab=aim-and-scope.
  4. "About Boardgame Historian", Boardgame Historian, https://bghistorian.hypotheses.org/ueber-unsere-beitraege. (in German)
  5. "Games and Gaming," Duke University Libraries, https://guides.library.duke.edu/c.php?g=867369&p=6223416.
  6. Rachael Kowert, "Games Research Journals," https://rkowert.com/games-research-journals/.
  7. Bowman, Sarah Lynne; Diakolambrianou, Elektra; Brind, Simon, eds. (2025). Transformative Role-playing Game Design. Uppsala University Publications. p. 241. doi:10.33063/23xd2197. ISBN   978-91-513-2301-5.
  8. Sousa, Micael; Rye, Sara; Sousa, Carla (2025), Rye, Sara; Sousa, Micael; Sousa, Carla (eds.), "Game Systems in Analogue Game-Based Learning" , Transformative Learning Through Play: Analogue Games as Vehicles for Educational Innovation, Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland, pp. 131–177, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-78523-8_5, ISBN   978-3-031-78523-8 , retrieved 2025-08-07
  9. Zagal, José P.; Deterding, Sebastian (2024-04-25). The Routledge Handbook of Role-Playing Game Studies (1 ed.). New York: Routledge. p. 11. doi:10.4324/9781003298045&type=googlepdf (inactive 16 August 2025). ISBN   978-1-003-29804-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of August 2025 (link)
  10. ETC Press, Carnegie Mellon University, https://press.etc.cmu.edu/search?keys=analog+game+studies
  11. Play Story Press https://playstorypress.org/
  12. Marco Arnaudo, " Analog Game History: Notes for a Discipline in the Making," ROMchip, Vol. 1, No. 1 (July 2019), https://romchip.org/index.php/romchip-journal/article/view/65.
  13. "Analog Game Studies Archive," The Online Books Page, edited by John Mark Ockerbloom, https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/serial?id=analoggames.
  14. Evan Torner, Aaron Trammell, and Emma Leigh Waldron, "Reinventing Analog Game Studies," Analog Game Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1 (August 2014), https://analoggamestudies.org/2014/08/reinventing-analog-game-studies/.
  15. "The 2018 Award Finalists,"The Diana Jones Award For Excellence in Gaming https://www.dianajonesaward.org/the-2018-award/
  16. Nick Mizer, "New Journal Alert: Analog Game Studies," The Geek Anthropologist, 20 Aug. 2014, https://thegeekanthropologist.com/2014/08/20/new-journal-alert-analog-game-studies/.
  17. Generation Analog 2024, Game in Lab, https://www.game-in-lab.org/event/generation-analog/.