Evergreen Tabletops

In his second book focusing on evergreens, author and designer Robert Waite shares his secrets of combining fresh flowers, fruit, and live greenery to create beautiful centerpieces and more for any tabletop. His unexpected pieces incorporate juniper berries, fresh pomegranates, holly, ribbons, lotus pods, clementine oranges, pinecones, and wire spirals to create just the look and feel needed for any setting. Organic and inspired from the local and seasonal things at hand, Waite’s ideas will inspire you to make great use of greenery in your own backyard.

A tabletop can be an arrangement anywhere you want to draw attention. Robert Waite shares his secrets of combining fresh flowers, fruit, and live greenery to create beautiful centerpieces and more for any tabletop. His unexpected pieces incorporate juniper berries, fresh pomegranates, holly, ribbons, lotus pods, clementine oranges, pinecones, and wire spirals to create just the look and feel needed for any setting. Organic and inspired from the local and seasonal things at hand, Waite's ideas will inspire you to make great use of greenery in your own backyard.

How do we provide for and nurture millions of people without destroying the planet in the process? Author Doug Kent, an environmental specialist, believes a vital element in the solution is recognizing that urban landscapes are an essential partner in everyone’s wellbeing. He argues that urban landscapes can and must work harder. Urban landscapes can provide part of our energy needs, help cool our buildings and public spaces, help us make the most of our precious water. They can also help combat air pollution and reduce the likelihood of allergies and asthma. They can provide landscape materials and even contribute to our timber supply. Doug also advocates turning landscapes into a food source, and/or a perfumery, pharmacy, soap shop, or craft store. Doug has over 12 years of research in this book. He has spent years doing literature reviews, and many more years concocting, consuming, crafting, distilling, propagating, retting, sawing, sowing, and weaving its many recommendations. He has also travelled the length and width of California many times to interview the people and businesses already doing this incredible work. Regenerating Essential Goods and Services is not a manifesto. It is a user’s manual. You are the creative and energetic force that will ultimately drive sustainability and regeneration. Let’s go.

Tabletop and board games aren’t just for rainy days or awkward family events anymore. As the game industry grows, people of all ages are jumping to play “the original social network.” In our ever-increasing technological world, playing old-school games is a welcome retreat from the overexposure to Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of social media. Over the past few years, board games have become the hot new hobby. Instead of friends sitting around the same table and staring at their phones, they are now either working with or against each other. Millions upon millions of new fans have begun to join their friends in real life for a fun game of Pandemic, 7 Wonders, or Ticket to Ride. The Everything Tabletop Games Book shows how to play some of the best tabletop games in the world, from classic strategy games like Settlers of Catan to great new games like Gloomhaven. Throughout the book, you’ll learn the different genres of tabletop and board games; how to play each game; rules and strategies to help you win; and even where to play online—including new expansions to keep your favorite games fresh and exciting. So gather up some friends, pick a game from this book, and start playing! You’ll be having a blast in no time.

This foundational resource on the topic of tabletop game accessibility provides actionable guidelines on how to make games accessible for people with disabilities. This book contextualises this practical guidance within a philosophical framework of how the relatively abled can ethically address accessibility issues within game design. This book helps readers to build understanding and empathy across the various categories of accessibility. Chapters on each category introduce ‘the science’, outline the game mechanics and games that show exemplar problems, relate these to the real-world situations that every player may encounter, and then discuss how to create maximally accessible games with reference to the accessibility guidelines and specific games that show ‘best-in-class’ examples of solutions. This book will be of great interest to all professional tabletop and board game designers as well as digital game designers and designers of other physical products.

"If games were lands to be explored, they would be far too large for one explorer to master. Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design is a much-needed atlas for the explorer—giving a framework of what to look for in a game, and a focus for game play that will be useful for understanding the whole. The game scholar will find this invaluable." —Richard Garfield, creator of Magic: The Gathering "People talk about the art of game design or the craft of game design. Engelstein and Shalev hone in on the science of game design with a razor-sharp scalpel. This book will be within arm’s reach as I work on games and I expect it to be consulted often." —Rob Daviau, creator of Risk: Legacy and Chief Restoration Officer of Restoration Games "The most comprehensive and well-researched encyclopedia of game mechanisms that I’ve seen to date." —Matt Leacock, creator of Pandemic Building Blocks of Tabletop Game Design: An Encyclopedia of Mechanisms, Second Edition compiles hundreds of game mechanisms, organized by category. The book can be read cover-to-cover and used as a reference to solve a specific design problem or for inspiration and research on new designs. This second edition collects even more mechanisms, expands on and updates existing entries, and includes color images. Building Blocks is a great starting point for new designers, a handy guidebook for the experienced, and an ideal classroom reference. Each Game Mechanisms Entry Contains: The definition of the mechanism An explanatory diagram of the mechanism Discussion of how the mechanism is used in successful games Considerations for implementing the mechanism in new designs Geoffrey Engelstein is a game designer and educator. His designs include the Space Cadets series, The Dragon & Flagon, The Expanse, and Super Skill Pinball. He has published several books on game design, including GameTek: The Math and Science of Gaming, Achievement Relocked, and Game Production. He is on the faculty of the NYU Game Center as an adjunct professor for Board Game Design and has been invited to speak about game design at PAX, GenCon, Metatopia, and the Game Developers Conference. Isaac Shalev is a game designer, author, and educational games consultant. He has designed tabletop titles including Seikatsu, Waddle, and Show & Tile. He runs Sage70, Inc., a data strategy and games-based learning consultancy that serves nonprofit organizations. He lives in Cary, North Carolina with his wife, three children, and a dog.

Cynthia Reyes has done it again. Picking up from the early days of her recovery from a car accident, as told in her first book, A Good Home, she shares in this new book intensely lyrical stories of life with her husband in her historic farmhouse north of Toronto. You will hear the birds sing, smell the flowers in their lavish gardens, and taste the red currant jelly and other dishes from plants grown on their property. You will be challenged as the author immerses you in the reality of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and the courage it takes to live with chronic pain. And you will say a wrenching farewell to the farmhouse as she opens a new chapter in a life still devoted to creating beauty out of the materials that life serves up to her, be they dark and haunting or light and joyful. Praise for the author’s previous book, A Good Home: “...full of warmth, deep emotions, and a vibrant understanding of just what a home can mean.” —YVONNE BLACKWOOD, author of Into Africa: The Return “Reyes’ glass is almost always half full, but ours, as we read her uplifting story, always brims over.” —COLIN McALLISTER and JUSTIN RYAN, www.colinandjustin.tv “...There is magic in these words.” —DEBRA USHER, President and Editor-in-Chief, Arabella Magazine “...proves — word by word, line by line, and page by page — you can go home again.” —LEE GOWAN, author of Confession “... contains some of the most moving and recognizable accounts of happiness and grief that I have ever come across.” —HILARY CUSTANCE GREEN, author of Surviving the Death Railway: A POW’s Memoir and Letters from Home