Turn the Page, Take Your Turn: Book and Board Game Pairings

When I’m not crocheting or beating Jess at Spots on Board Game Arena (Owner’s note: she barely beat me one time), I can be found in my recliner with a book in hand, also being partially smothered by an adorable blond child or two.

Not uncommonly, I find myself thinking, “This book would go great with such and such game.” You might be wondering how a book can go with a game, because you can’t read a book and play a game at the same time, unless you’re particularly accomplished at multi-tasking, which I think research has proven is just doing a bunch of different things worse than if you’d just focused on one thing.

But I’m all about setting the atmosphere. When it’s stormy and raining, I want a cup of tea and to watch “Midsomer Murders” or “Murder, She Wrote” while I crochet. I like doing something similar while I read or play board games.

I’ve put together some books and board games that I think pair well thematically. Some of the board games popped into my mind while I read, whereas some of the pairings came from playing the games. Check out the matchups below.

Hues and Cues and “The Secret Lives of Color” by Kassia St. Clair

Hues and Cues is a simple but entertaining party game wherein the cue-giver describes a particular color on the game board with a one- or two-word clue. The other players place pawns on the squares of color they think best match the cue, and they have 480 options from which to choose.

Familiarity with the other players is helpful, because the way you communicate translates to your success in communicating about color with a short phrase.

Playing Hues and Cues may cause you to wonder - why do we call certain colors by the names we use for them? The name for eggplant may be obvious, but what about fuschia?

“The Secret Lives of Color” by Kassia St. Clair is a fascinating history of various colors, from whitewash and beige to saffron, Mountbatten pink, obsidian and everything in between.

The edge of each page is color-coordinated with the color St. Clair is discussing, so you don’t have to wonder what verdigris looks like.

Fuschia, by the way, is named after a flower.

My Shelfie and “Bookshops and Bonedust” by Travis Baldree

Someone cleverer than me called My Shelfie “Connect 4” for grownups, and while there’s a bit more to it than that, I still think of it that way.

In My Shelfie, players arrange book, board game, trophy and other tiles in their libraries - which look similar to a Connect 4 board - to reach personal and common goals. 

My Shelfie is a cozy game (not least because it has cat tiles) that goes well with anything by Travis Baldree, but best with his “Legends and Lattes” prequel, “Bookshops and Bonedust.”

In “Bookshops and Bonedust,” Viv is an injured orc mercenary recovering in an out-of-the-way town. She rather unexpectedly strikes up a friendship with the owner of a floundering bookshop, helping to rejuvenate it.

My Shelfie and “Bookshops and Bonedust” are a match made in book heaven.

Witchcraft! and “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” by Grady Hendrix

I was reading “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” by Grady Hendrix when I got the idea for this blog post, because the game Witchcraft! was a fairly new addition to the cafe.

I wonder if that would be a good companion game to this book, I thought.

I decided to find out.

Witchcraft! is a one-player game where you, a witch, are using your powers to fight back against a dark force threatening your village. As you face challenges and gather your coven, you must choose whether or not you’ll use greater power, in turn revealing and alienating yourself from the townfolk who will eventually take you to trial for witchcraft.

Though “Witchcraft for Wayward Girls” takes place in slightly more modern times - the 1970s - it shares a theme of giving power to previously powerless women.

The story centers around Fern, a pregnant, unwed teenager sent to a home in Florida by her family. She and the other girls there are completely powerless and have no say over anything in their lives. The scales shift when a librarian gives Fern a book of spells.

Witchcraft is the obvious connection between the titles mentioned here, but they’re also both about knowing when to wield power.

Last Light and “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir

I initially wanted to write about Last Light simply because it’s a beautiful game. The 3D planets and rotating game board are the cherry on top of an already very solid strategy game: you and your opponents are alien factions racing to collect the last light in the universe in order to save your respective civilizations.

Though setup is a bit daunting, it pays off as you begin exploring, mining and collecting pretty little light crystals. 

But it didn’t take me long to think of a book that paired well with the game.

A solar dimming event threatens the extinction of humanity in “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir. Rylund, a middle school science teacher, is asked to study an alien microbe associated with the dimming event. In a strange twist of events, he is sent to the Tau Ceti system on a “hail Mary” mission to stop the solar dimming and save humanity.

Rylund’s encounter with an alien race even further strengthens the parallels between this book and Last Light.

I’ll probably never be able to resist the temptation to match board games with books, but there’s a whole universe of pairings to go with the games in our library and shop - just ask us! We’re like game sommeliers.