The Impossible Reversal

Name: The Impossible Reversal
Price: 54.99 AUD
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ISBN: 9781517916220

A History of How We Play

Peter D. McDonald

$54.99

Paperback

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: 425g
ISBN: 9781517916220
ISBN 10: 1517916224
Pages: 352
Publication Date: 03 June 2026
Audience: College/higher education , Further / Higher Education
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

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

Reviews for The Impossible Reversal: A History of How We Play

""In this ambitious book, Peter D. McDonald traces the critical rise of play as a modern medium of expression and as an element of design. His analysis of commercial toys and games, the embodied role of the player, and the artistic production of the avant-garde artist offers a new model for thinking about imaginative intellectual engagement with the material world.""—Amy F. Ogata, University of Southern California