Browse Items (8 total)

In addition to being a study of how games represent history, this site is also an experiment in method. The goal was to see how a digital tool like Omeka could be used as a means of scholarly publishing. The form of this site owes much to the…

When implementing historical representations into games there is a constant tension between fidelity and decision. Sid Meier has famously described games as "a series of interesting choices" (Rollings and Morris 2000, 38; cited in Juul 2005, 19).…

This small board is used in 1830 by the president of the Baltimore & Ohio; there is one such board for each public company. Its purpose is to store company assets, such as trains and money, and keep them separate from the player's personal…

A, if not the, key aspect of 1830: Railways and Robber Barons is the stock market. During the game players buy and sell shares in publicly-traded railroad companies. At the start of the game none of these companies actually exist: they only come into…

Fogu, Claudio. Digitalizing Historical Consciousness. In History and Theory, Theme Issue 47. May 2009, pg. 103 – 121. MPS Labs. Sid Meier's Civilization. Microprose, 1990. MS-DOS. Shelley, Bruce. A Very Good Year: Development Notes for 1830. The…

In his chapter Simulation, History and Computer Games, media scholar William Uricchio posits a continuum on which “historical games” can be placed: at one end are games addressing specific historical events, and on the other are games that model…

In 1830: Railways and Robber Barons, trains serve several purposes. First, they are purchased by publicly-held companies (such as the Baltimore & Ohio), and used to earn revenue for the company. An individual train is represented by a card like…

This snapshot is of the 1830: Railways and Robber Barons game board, specifically the South-Eastern most area. 1830 is a game wherein the players act as investors in publicly-held railroad corporations. The titular year suggests the year during which…