New Books in Game Studies Peter D. McDonald, "The Impossible Reversal: A History of How We Play" (U Minnesota Press, 2026)
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Apr 11, 2026 
Peter D. McDonald, author and scholar of play history, explores how mid-20th-century artists, designers, and engineers reshaped play. He traces Fluxus influences, outlines four styles of designed play, and examines corporate role-playing, toys, and early digital games. Short reflections consider play as both resistance and control and point toward future forms like ARGs and tabletop RPGs.
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Project Originated From My Fluxus Experiments
- McDonald’s project began from Mary Flanagan’s Critical Play and his Fluxus experiments and alternate reality games at the University of Chicago.
- Those personal game designs pushed him to question what counts as play and informed his book’s trajectory.
Playfulness Is Historically Plural
- Playfulness is plural, not a single timeless instinct, and different practices (e.g., Fluxus vs. Surrealists) enact distinct kinds of play.
- Peter D. McDonald derived this by comparing works like Yoko Ono’s all-white chess set to other avant-garde practices to show variety.
Impossible Reversal Is Passive Transformative Play
- The impossible reversal style puts players in hopeless scenarios that transform via a tiny perceptual shift rather than active intervention.
- Examples include riddles, pinball, Rube Goldberg machines, and George Brecht’s puzzles.
