New Rules is a collection of writing about play and games during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a mix of essays and reflections and poems, posted online over December 2020 and January 2021. It’s almost all freely available here on this site, though if you prefer you can also buy it as a DRM-free ebook.
New Rules was edited by Holly Gramazio (who wrote a little introduction), and features:
Aaron Lim on how Blaseball was everywhere
Adefoyeke Ajao on getting interested in games for the first time
Aga Serugo-Lugo on a catastrophic Zoom quiz
Anna Kate Blair on digital fortune-telling
Ariane Parry on playing Zelda
Ava Wong Davies on Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Catherine Bennett on a neighbourhood playing on its balconies
Danny Hawk on folk games and Tiktok
Elspeth Wilson on The Sims
Gabrielle de la Puente on Mutazione
Hannah Nicklin on Zwift and cycle racing in lockdown
Joy Frank-Collins on high school football
Krishan Coupland on escape rooms in lockdown
Lu Oulton on indoor play with children
Matt Turner and Steph Watts on travel in videogame form
Maz Hamilton on jigsaws
Miriam Oudin on No Man’s Sky
Nadia Bailey on Quest for Glory
Orla Foster on football without spectators
Pema Monaghan on a neighbouring wood pigeon
Phoebe Whitlock on dominoes
Raquel Motta on The Sims 4
Romie Stott on tabletop RPGs over Zoom
Samuel Barker on jigsaw puzzles and his father
Sedera Ranaivoarinosy on family games over Zoom
Stephanie Boluk and Patrick LeMieux on Sudoku and terror
Toussaint Egan on the game Garden Song
Violet Adele Bloch (book version only)
Zainab Ismail on the Rubik’s cube
Zainabb Hull on solo tabletop games
Several of the essay commissions were supported by Sharna Jackson and Adrian Hon.
Contact: holly@hollygramazio.net