The Impossible Reversal

Name: The Impossible Reversal
Price: 270 AUD
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ISBN: 9781517916213

A History of How We Play

Peter D. McDonald

$270

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

University of Minnesota Press
03 June 2026

History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -; Art & design styles: from c 1960; Media studies; Age groups: children; Ethical & social aspects of computing

Tracing the cultural history of play-from Fluxus to SimCity

Games and gamified activities have become ubiquitous in many adults' lives, and play is widely valued for fostering creativity, community, growth, and empathy. But how did we come to our current understanding of what it means to play? The Impossible Reversal charts the transformation of notions of playfulness beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, when a legion of artists, academics, and engineers developed new ways of theorizing, structuring, and designing ludic activity.

Through examples ranging from experimental Fluxus games to corporate role-playing exercises and from the Easy Bake Oven to Tetris, The Impossible Reversal presents four styles of playfulness characteristic of the ""era of designed play"": the impossible reversal, which puts a player in a seemingly hopeless scenario they must upend with a tiny gesture; expending the secret, which involves silly rules that gain an obscure power and require players to embrace failure; simulated freedom, a satiric criticism of the ordinary world; and oblique repetition, a way of playing that stumbles toward unimaginable outcomes through simple, meaningless, and endlessly iterated acts.

A unique genealogical account of play as both concept and practice, The Impossible Reversal illuminates how playfulness became essential for understanding cultural, technical, and economic production in the United States.

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By: Peter D. McDonald
Imprint: University of Minnesota Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 216mm, Width: 140mm, Spine: 18mm
Weight: 510g
ISBN: 9781517916213
ISBN 10: 1517916216
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 03 June 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Contents Introduction: Interpreting Play Part I. The Impossible Reversal 1. Play Without Rules: George Brecht and the Uncertainty of Judgment 2. Pinball Logics: From the EM Arcades to The Incredible Machine Part II. Expending the Secret 3. Play Without Knowing: Yoko Ono and the Anthropology of Ritual 4. Act Natural: From Therapeutic Role-Play to Super Mario World Part III. Simulated Freedom 5. Play Without End: Benjamin Patterson and Liberal Subjectivity 6. Model Citizens: From Management Training to SimCity Part IV. Oblique Repetition 7. Play Without Meaning: Shigeko Kubota and the Semiotics of Chess 8. Adventures in Abstraction: From Media Panic to Tetris Conclusion: Synthesizing Video Games Acknowledgments Notes Index

Peter D. McDonald is associate professor of design, informal, and creative education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of WisconsinMadison.