Editors’ Introduction to the Special Issue

Even while digital games have meant a major transformation for the landscape of games and play, it can also be argued that all games are always also physical – or hybrid – by their nature. With traditional board or card games, for example, it is obvious that the tactile quality, materials and design of game boards, cards and playing pieces contribute to the look and feel of the game. And yet it is also equally clear that the physical characteristics of chess pieces, for example, do not contribute to the dynamics of game play in chess in a similar way as the rules of chess do. However, if the chess pieces are designed in non-conventional ways, like by making them very heavy, huge in size, or slippery, for example, the role of physical dimensions is again brought to the forefront of our game experience.