• Atari 2600 Encyclopedia, The: Volume One: Official Gamer's Guide
        Slaton, Derek

9-997-64242-2; Outlet; 2015; [$?]; [?]p; PB

0-517-42476-2; Crescent/Publications International Ltd.; 2015; [$?]; 160p. PB.  Notes: 1 of 4 volumes planned to cover 400-500 games.  The first volume covers over 100 games, and each game is given 4 pages of information and photos.  The original title of the book was "The Atari Video Computer System" but unfortunately was changed prior to printing, and the cover shows the joystick graphic turned for some reason (button should be in upper-left).  The page layouts are similar to how JoyStik did theirs, although the iBook version lacks this.  The book contains some serious factual errors (such as crediting Air Raid to Garry Kitchen), so researchers take note. 

• Atari 2600 Holiday Homebrew Companion
        Matherne, Brian

1-731-02020-1; [independently published]; December 23rd, 2018; $18.99; 390p; PB  Notes: Covers a total of 56 homebrews and hacks that are Christmas or winter themed video games, starting in 2001.

• Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion: Volume 1
        Matherne, Brian

1-980-96939-6; [independently published]; May 1st, 2018; $12.99; 182p; PB  Notes: Foreword by Michael Thomasson.  The games covered are: 2048-2600, A-VCS-Tec Challenge, Assembloids 2600, Asses of Fire, Blinky Goes Up, Bomb on Pixel City, Conquest of Mars, Crazy Valet, Defend Your Castle, Desert Bus 2600, Edtris 2600, Explosive Diarrhea, Fall Down, Four-Play, Halo 2600, Juno First, L.E.M., Lady Bug, LEDHead/BLiP Football, Mappy (WIP), Medieval Mayhem, Miss It!, Okie Dokie, Princess Rescue, Reindeer Rescue, Scramble, Space Rocks, Spies in the Night, Stay Frosty 2: Stay Frostier, Three.S, Toyshop Trouble, Wall Jump Ninja, Yahtzee, & Zippy the Porcupine.

• Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion: Volume 1 Deluxe Edition
        Matherne, Brian

1-981-06089-8; [independently published]; May 9th, 2018; $12.99; 182p; PB  Notes: Foreword by Michael Thomasson.  The deluxe edition is printed in full color, and covers the exact same game titles as the volume 1 black and white edition.

• Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion: Volume 2
        Matherne, Brian

1-983-38527-1; [independently published]; July 7th, 2018; $12.99; 182p; PB  Notes: Foreword by Darrell Spice Jr.  The games covered are: 2005 Minigame Multicart, Alien Attack, Alien Greed, AStar, Astronomer, Climber 5, Diamond Drop, Dominant Amber, Donkey Kong VCS, Gauntlet VCS/Golden Legends, Give Me My Pancake!, GoSub, Jay Walker, Larry The Lemon, Lost Cat, Nexion 3D, Piñata, Rally-X, Skee-Ball , Space Cactus Canyon, Space Raid, The Realm of No!, and Upp!

• Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion: Volume 2 Deluxe Edition
        Matherne, Brian

1-983-38571-9; [independently published]; July 13th, 2018; $30.99; 182p; PB  Notes: Foreword by Darrell Spice Jr.  The deluxe edition is printed in full color on white paper and covers the exact same game titles as the volume 2 black and white edition.

• Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion: Volume 3
        Matherne, Brian

1-676-94717-5; [independently published]; December 19th, 2019; &12.99; 210p; Kindle  Notes: Foreword by Brett Weiss.  The games covered are: 2048 4vcs, Alien Greed II, Anguna, Bombs Away, Chase It!, Conjoined, Doom Patrol, Drive!, E.T. Book Cart, Evil Magician Returns, Flappy, Jump VCS, Man Goes Down, Mine Dig, R.P.S. (Rock, Paper, Scissors), River Raid 3, Seawolf, Shoot S#!t, Star Castle, Stell-A-Sketch/Okie Dokie, Super Cobra Arcade, Upp!+, Video Simon, and Z-Blocks.

• Atari 2600/7800: a visual compendium
        Matherne, Brian

1-999-35338-2; Bitmap Books; June 7, 2020; $47; 528p; HC
1-999-35339-0; Bitmap Books; June 7, 2020; $42; 528p; PB  Notes: Features over 200 classic games, with articles on the leading third-party developers, interviews with key figures in the industry and features on subjects such as cover art, prototypes and homebrew releases.

• Atari 2600 Homebrew Companion: Volume 4
        Matherne, Brian

979-8-650-66444-4; [independently published]; June 21st, 2020; $13.99; 207p; Kindle  Notes: Foreword by Joe Gaisaffi.  The games covered are: 2600tris, Alien Greed 3, CGE Adventures, Dead of Knight, Delta Force Sniper, Elevators Amiss, Escape It!, Evil Magician Returns II, Flappo Bird, Orb, Poker Squares, Project Z, Qb, Road Blaster, Road Duel, Solar Plexus, Star Castle Arcade, Strip Off, Sunset Drive, Sync, and Vault Assault.

• Atari Design: Impressions on Coin-Operated Video Game Machines
        Guins, Raiford

1-474-28455-8; Bloomsbury Visual Arts; December 2nd, 2020; $19.99; 280p; PB  Notes:

• Atari Flashback: The Essential Companion
        Prima Games

0-744-01886-2; Prima Games; November 21st, 2017; $13.84; 240p; PB  Notes: What is there to say about this?  If you think the Flashbacks are worth spending time and money on, then you'll probably think this book is, too.

• Atari, Inc.
        Aristotle, Jacob

978-6201612846, 620161284X; Secut Press; 2012; $37; 64p; PB. Notes: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online.

• Atari Inc.: Business is Fun
        Goldberg, Martin and Curtis Vendel

0-985-59740-2; Syzygy Press; November 2012; $50; 800p; PB. Notes: It's hard to find anything positive to say about this.  800 pages of some of the worst writing you'll ever find, littered with every type of writing error you can imagine (no editing or proof-reading was done), with several hundred pages of photos – most of which were simply stolen from websites, and all of which are of very low quality.  As soon as you open their book, you notice there's 4(!) forewords - Ted Dabney (a co-founder of Atari, but ultimately a bit player in the company's history), Ralph Baer (certainly one of the most notable person in the history of video games.... buuuut this is a book about Atari, a company he never worked for or with.  Plus he outright hates Nolan Bushnell, much like both authors), with the last two being written by the "authors" themselves (which pretty much sets the stage for 'quantity over quality' right there).  Considering all the people they claimed to have interviewed for this there's very little direct quotes presented.  Some of the “facts” presented are flat-out wrong (the result of extremely poor research, despite their claims of vetting everything), with no evidence to support them (no index was included), no doubt the result of solely relying on a person's memories from decades ago.  On top of everything, it’s cheaply printed.  It’s just a complete mess, from cover to cover.  The persons responsible for it claim they spent some 7 years writing it, and had the gall to elicit funding for it via Kickstarter the same year it was released, claiming it was needed to fund a “final round of interviews” and to cover printing costs, but it’s obvious the money went towards something else (such as a certain ex-felon's nearly $18,000 tax debt) and not this book.  The book was also 4 months late in being released, which is something any customer of Vendel's is well versed in by now (how's that 7800XM by the way?).  Although used copies were selling for half retail price a year later, it still isn't worth buying.  It's unfortunate so many trees were felled in vain to make copies of this.  Chances are any positive reviews you find online like those on Amazon are from shill accounts.  Other books were planned, with the next one to focus on Jack Tramiel's time running Atari, but his death made that impossible, since neither of them bothered to talk to him.  Maybe they should have used their Kickstarter money to actually do what they promised to do.  Then again, the subject of video games hardly needs another poorly-written and researched book from a couple of fake writers, so we can at least thank Jack Tramiel for that.

• Atari Jaguar: Official Gamer's Guide
        Meston, Zach

1-884-36413-6; Sandwich Islands Pub; 1995; [$?]; 252p. PB.

• Attract Mode: The Rise and Fall of Coin-Op Arcade Games
        Lendino, Jamie

1-732-35522-3; Steel Gear Press; September 27th, 2020; $18; 435p. PB.  Notes: For all the footnote or source annotation numbers, the book is rife with factual errors and misspellings.  Plus the photos are all b&w.

• Be A Home Videogame Superstar:  Secrets To The Best Games For Your Atari VCS
        Zavisca, Ernest, Ph.D. and Gary Beltowski

0-516-08984-6 (cover), 0-832-62262-1 (title page); Delair Publishing, Inc.; 1983; no cover price; 247p; HC.  Notes: This illustrated tome covers strategies, hints and solutions for Atari VCS/2600 games from Atari, Activision, Apollo, Imagic, and Spectravision.

• Before the Crash: Early Video Game History
        Wolf, Mark J.P.

978-0814334508, 0814334504; Wayne State Univ Pr; 2012; $27.95; 272p; Notes: An interesting book that's more of a collection of articles from several writers.  Although most pre-NES sytems are mentioned, none are discussed in any great length, and the focus of most articles is on either the early Pong-type systems or coin-op games.  The title is a bit misleading, since there were 2 video game market crashes (a chapter is devoted to the first crash, but there's no real discussion pertaining to the second).  And, as usual, there are a number of factual mistakes mentioned in the book.

• Best Texas Instruments Software, The
        Consumer Guide

9-997-64242-2; Outlet; 1987; [$?]; [?]p; PB

0-517-42476-2; Crescent/Publications International Ltd.; 1984; [$?]; 160p. HC

Notes: As stated in the title, this book covers a lot of software. Page 69 to 146 is dedicated to games. This is an interesting book because it offers a review and info about what genre, who made it, requirements, price and format as well as warranty periods.

• Billiards, Bowling, Table Tennis, Pinball, and Video Games:  A Bibliographic Guide
        Craven, Robert R.

0-313-23462-0; Greenwood Publishing Press; 1983; $59.00; 163p; HC.  Notes: Includes indexes.

• Black Art of Video Game Console Design, The
        LaMothe, Andre

0-672-32820-8; Sams; 2005; $59.99; 984p; PB.  Notes: written for the programmer and/or hobbyist interested in software game development, but also wants to understand the hardware games are implemented on. This book assumes no prior knowledge of Electrical Engineering or Computer Architecture, but takes you on a breathtaking journey from atomic semiconductor theory to the design and construction of basic video game consoles that you can build and write your own games for! Included in the book is the entire design of numerous embedded game systems including the XGameStation systems and much more.

• Bit by Bit: An Illustrated History of Computers
        Augarten, Stan

0-899-19268-8 (HC), 0-899-19302-1 (PB); Houghton Mifflin Company; 1984; $[?]; 304p; HC, PB.

• Blips!:  The First Book of Video Game Funnies
        Stine, Bob

0-590-32721-6; Scholastic; 1983; $[?]; 80p; PB.  Notes: Illustrations by Bryan Hendrix. Humor. Includes "Video Games Hall of Fame", "Video Games That Didn't Go Over", and "How to Clean Your Video Game" (which shows the inside of a game cartridge as containing magnetic tape!). There are at least 2 variations of this book: Front cover: 1) Up left side "Scholastic 0-590-32721-6/$1.95 US/$2.50 CAN". 2) Just the ISBN. Back cover: 1) 1/4" of red, 1" yellow, 2-1/2" red, 1/2" yellow, rest white with big UPC ISBN, and Scholastic Inc. 2) 1" red, same until bottom, which is red, no UPC, "cover illustration:  Bryan Hendrix"; Scholastic Book Services. Identical otherwise except for title page.

• Blood, Sweat, and Pixels: The Triumphant, Turbulent Stories Behind How Video Games Are Made
        Schreier, Jason

0-062-65123-4; Harper Paperbacks; September 5th, 2017; $12; 304p; HC, PB.  Notes: Developing video games—hero's journey or fool's errand? The creative and technical logistics that go into building today's hottest games can be more harrowing and complex than the games themselves, often seeming like an endless maze or a bottomless abyss.

• Blue Wizard Is about to Die!: Prose, Poems, and Emoto-Versatronic Expressionist Pieces about Video Games (1980-2003)
        Barkan, Seth Fingers Flynn & Warren Wucinich

0-974-10000-5; Rusty Immelman Press (R.i.P.); 2004; $15; 160p; HC, PB.  Notes: Claims to be the first book of poetry written about video games. The poems are very post-modern and some are simply deconstructionisms of the games they are about. Parents take note- there’s plenty of inappropriate language therein.

• The Book of Atari Software 1983
        Stanton, Jeffrey, Robert P. Wells, Ph.D, and Sandra Rochowansky

0736-2706; The Book Company; 1983; $19.95; 347p; PB.  An excellent book that reviews software for the Atari 8-bit computers as well as 52 games for the VCS, controllers, and peripherals.

• Book of Atari Software,1984, The
        Stanton, Jeffrey, Robert Wells, Ph.D, Sandra Rochowansky, & Michael Mellin, Ph.D

0-912-00304-9; The Book Company; 1984; $19.95; 430p; PB.   Notes: Reviews of Atari 8-bit computer software with many B&W screenshots comprise most of the book, with 4 pages on 5 5200 carts, 28 pages on 54 Atari VCS/2600 carts, and 4 pages on joysticks, 2 being pictures.

• Book of Atari Software 1985, The
        Stanton, Jeffrey, Robert Wells, Ph.D, Sandra Rochowansky, & Michael Mellin, Ph.D

0-201-12019-4; Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.; 1985; $[?]; [p?]; PB. 

• Break a Million! at Pac-Man
        Zavisca, Ernest, Ph.D. and Gary Beltowski

0-832-62257-5; Delair; 1982; $1.75; 64p; PB. Arcade:  Ms. Pac-Man, Pac-Man. Notes: Republished in hard cover as Win at Pac-Man.

• Break into the Video Game Industry: How to get a Job Making Video Games
        Adams, Ernest

0-072-22660-9; McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 2003; $26.99; 352p; PB.

• Breakout: How Atari 8-Bit Computers Defined A Generation
        Lendino, Jamie

0-692-85127-5; Ziff Davis; March 2017; $17.71; 292p; PB.

• A Brief History of Video Games: The Evolution of a Global Industry
        Stanton, Richard

0-762-45615-9; Running Press Adult; July 14, 2015; $13; 288p; PB.  Notes: Provides a unique look at the history and culture of video games, starting with the 1960s classics like Pong to modern favorites such as Grand Theft Auto V and Bioshock.  Focusing on creative and scientific advances between 1962 and today, A Brief History of Video Games offers a global perspective on gaming's past and its cutting-edge future with the evolution of virtual reality, 3D graphics, and thought-interface technology.  It also addresses the design process from concept to packaging, considers the influence of manga and anime, and explores the relationship between video games and movies.

• Buyer's Guide to Home Video Games, A
        Dionne, Roger

[ISBN?]; Banbury Books; 1983; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?]. Notes: It’s not known if this was ever released. The author wrote of his experience writing the book in the December 1982 issue of Video Games and talks about writing some 600 pages with over 250 reviews for the VCS, Odyssey2, Intellivision, and APF Electronics' MP-1000.

• Classic 80s Home Video Games Identification & Value Guide
        Wicker, Robert P. and Jason W. Brassard

1-574-32573-6; Collector Books; 2007; $24.95; 400p; PB.  Notes: This guide takes an in-depth look at the classic consoles, games, accessories, and related merchandise manufactured between the introduction of the Atari VCS/2600 in 1977 and the great video game crash of 1984. The great consoles from Atari - the VCS/2600, 5200 SuperSystem, and 7800 ProSystem are all covered in depth, as well as the amazing Coleco Vision, Intellivision, Odyssey2, and Vectrex gaming systems. More than 2,000 full-color photographs complement detailed listings for loose and boxed items. Consoles, cartridges, manuals, accessories, and related merchandise are listed and priced in an easy-to-use, checklist format. Products are listed by console and manufacturer for easy reference. See Donkey Kong, Frogger, Asteroids, Centipede, Pac-Man, and many other famous stars from the 1980s systems in this must-have title on classic video games. 2008 values.

• Classic Game Design: From Pong to PacMan with Unity
        Lanzinger, Franz

978-1-9375-8597-6; Mercury Learning & Information; 2013; $50; 300p; PB.  Notes: From the designer of Atari's Crystal Castles.  Uses five Unity projects to allow for quick experimentation with classic game concepts.  4-color throughout with companion DVD that includes source code, art, and full projects.  Includes historical anecdotes direct from one of the fabled Atari coin-op programmers.  Detailed step-by-step instructions, dozens of exercises, and rules of classic game design.  Contains unique insights on applying classic game design concepts to modern games.

• Classic Game Design: From Pong to Pac-Man with Unity: Second Edition
        Lanzinger, Franz

978-1-6839-2385-5; Mercury Learning & Information; June 14, 2019; $46; 296p; PB.  Notes: Includes a disc.

• Classic Home Video Games 1972-1984: A Complete Reference Guide
        Weiss, Brett

978-0-7864-3226-4; McFarland Publishing; 2007; $55; 316p; HC.

• Classic Home Video Games 1985-1988: A Complete Reference Guide
        Weiss, Brett

0-786-46937-4; McFarland Publishing; March 21, 2012; $25; 287p; PB.  Notes: Foreword by Bill Kunkel.

• Classic Home Video Games 1989-1990: A Complete Guide to Sega Genesis, Neo Geo and TurboGrafx-16 Games
        Weiss, Brett

1-476-66794-2; McFarland Publishing; September 21, 2016; $25; 344p; PB.  Notes: Forward by Leonard Herman.

• Classic Video Games: The Golden Age 1971–1984
        Eddy, Brian R.

0-747-81042-7; Shire Publications; March 20th, 2012; $2.50; 56p; PB and Kindle.  Notes: Simply a collection of information found from other sources.  Example: the section on Centipede mentions there's a grasshopper on the sideart of the cabinet, which there isn't.

• Classic Videogames Hardware 01: A collector's guide to history's greatest gaming machines
        Imagine Publishing

[ISBN?]; Imagine Publishing; 5-24-2011; $24.95; 408p; Kindle only?

• Chris Crawford on Game Design
        Crawford, Chris

0-131-46099-4; New Riders/Prentice Hall Ptr; 2003; $39.99; 496p; PB.  Notes: An update to Chris Crawford's cult classic, The Art of Computer Game Design.  Games industry cult leader, Chris Crawford, shares insider design secrets he's learned over the last 25+ years.A mastery of insider wisdom from THE games industry pioneer Chris Crawford, readers will walk away with tips and techniques they can immediately apply.Not a programming book but instead the book a developer or designer needs before they start writing.

• Coin Operated Americans: Rebooting Boyhood at the Video Game Arcade
        Kocurek, Carly A.

0-816-69183-5; Univ Of Minnesota Press; September 30, 2015; $22; 278p; PB.  Notes:

• Coleco: The Official Book
        Clerc-Renaud, Antoine

2-924-58106-0; BOOQC; July 2016; $34.99; 225p; PB.  Notes:

• Collecting Classic Video Games
        Galaxy, Billy

0-764-31456-4; Schiffer Books; 2002; $29.95; 144p; PB.  Notes: Questionable price guide for games of the 70s and 80s.  Includes over 1,000 color photos of home video games, hand-helds, and memorabilia.

• The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution
        Hennessey, Jonathan

0-099-57890-0; Ten Speed Press; October 2017; $12; 192p; PB. Notes: A complete, illustrated history of video games--highlighting the machines, games, and people who have made gaming a worldwide, billion-dollar industry/artform--told in a graphic novel format.

• Commodore: A Company on the Edge
        Bagnall, Brian

0-973-86496-6; Variant Press; 2010; $29.95; 548p; PB. Notes: 2nd edition of “On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore”.

• Commodore 64: A Visual Compendium
        Dyer, Sam

[ISBN?]; Bitmap Books; 2016; $25; 232p; PB. Notes: Foreword by Stoo Cambridge.  Illustrations by Oliver Frey.  50 supporters of the Kickstarter project received special Micro Hexagon C64 cartridges.

• Commodore Amiga: A Visual Compendium
        Jarrett, Steve

[ISBN?]; Bitmap Books; 2016; $30; 424p; PB. Notes: Foreword by Stoo Cambridge.

• Commodork: Sordid Tales from a BBS Junkie
        O'Hara, Rob

1-847-28582-1; Lulu.com; 2006; $`14.95; 169p; PB.  Notes. Rob takes the reader through some of his experiences as a teen-aged computer freak and software pirate starting in the 80s through to the 90s, which touches on BBSing, copyfests and the software trades, networking, and phreaking.

• Complete Book of Home Computer, The
        Waterford, Van

0-830-62423-6 (HC), 0-8306-2423-6 (PB); TAB Books Inc.; 1982; $[?]; 50p; HC, PB.   Astrocade, INTV. Notes: Covers APF Imagination Machine, Apple II & III, Bally Astrocade, Atari 400 & 800, Casio, Vic-20, Exidy Sorcerer, HP-85, IBM PC, Superbrain Video Computer System, Intellivison keyboard add-on, Challenger I and II, Quasar, Panasonic hand-held, PMC-80, TRS-80 I, III and CoCo, RCA single board, Rockwell International single board, Sinclair Z-80, and TI 99/4. Has lots of pictures, tech specs on most systems. Of interest to classic gamers mostly for the pictures and diagrams and info about the APF, the Bally Astrocade with Zgrass Keyboard, and Intellivision Keyboard Component.

• Complete Book of Video Games, The
        Consumer Guide

0-446-84449-3; Warner Books; 1977; $1.75; 222p; PB.  Notes: Lots of B&W photos. Focuses mainly on dedicated (or "pong-type") systems, but does include photos and articles on the original ODYSSEY and Fairchild, and a mention of the "soon to be released" Atari VCS/2600. This is a great book for those who collect dedicated systems. One of the most comprehensive lists (with photos) we’ve seen. 

• Complete Guide to Conquering Video Games, The: How to Win at Every Game in the Galaxy
        Rovin, Jeff

0-020-29970-2 (TPB); Collier Books; 1982; $5.95 (TPB); 408p; Notes: By the editor of Videogaming Illustrated. There also exists a hard cover edition - labelled "special book club edition" on the inside flap of the dust cover. Covers some 200 arcade and home games.  Games were grouped by type (i.e. Atari's Surround includes hints on Intellivision's Snafu and Bally's Checkmate) because the hints were virtually the same. Each game types has the following sections: object, rating, strategies, cross-references, and video originals. Each game also has a simple cartoon/illustration to go with it. Also includes chapters on taking care of your video games, computer games, the future of video gaming, an index, and a glossary.

• Complete Guide to Electronic Entertainment, The
        Blumenthal, Howard J.

0-722-11762-0; New American Library; 1981; $6.95; 214p; PB.  Notes: Concentrates on hand-held videogames as well as home systems such as the Atari VCS/2600, Intellivision, Odyssey, APF, etc.  The ISBN, page count, and format are from the UK/Australian edition. The U.S. price is an estimate from the UK (1.75 pounds) and Australian ($5.95) prices.

• Complete History of Computer and Video Games, The
        Glancey, Paul

[ISBN?]; Emap Images; 1996; $[?]; 98p; PB.  Notes: From Computer & Video Games.  History of video games, as told from a European perspective.

• Complete Video Warrior, The
        “Mayhem, Major”

0-307-46600-0; Golden Press; 1982; $3.95; 123p; TPB. Notes: Illustrations by Gary Tong. Illustrations are gray scale with red.

• Computer Basics
        Ellman, Hal

0-131-64574-9; Prentice-Hall; 1983; $[?]; 48p; [Format?]. Notes: Illustrated. Includes index. Surveys the world of computers including industrial robots, personal computers, video games, and microprocessors and considers their effects on our daily lives.

• Computer Gamesmanship
        Levy, David

0-671-49532-1; Simon & Schuster; 1983; $12.95; 272p; PB. Notes: Explains how computers are taught to play games well.  The author was a leading expert in the design of intelligent game-playing programs.  He's also the International Master who in 1968 beat 1,250 pounds that no computer would beat in a chess match within 10 years (he won the bet by winning a match against the top chess computer in 1978).

• Computers: Pascal, Pong, and Pac-Man
        Bly, Robert W.

0-886-93055-3; Banbury / Putnam Pub Group; 1984; $[?]; [?]p; PB.  Notes: Illustrated by Len Epstein.

• Computers and Video Games: How They Work and How to Win

[Author?]; [Publisher?]; [Date?]; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?].

• Computerspiele: Wie man sie benutzt. Wie man sie programmiert. Wie man sie uberlistet. (Computer Games: How to use. How to program. How to complete lists.)
        Sopart, Christa-Maria

3-426-03697-5; Knaur; 1984; $[?]; [p?]; PB.  Notes: Sopart's book is much lighter on the gaming strategies part, but of course it has to deal with a much broader market than Video Spiele covered two years before. The book not only introduces a big number of home computers, which had by then taken control of the market, but also consoles, LCD handhelds, "Mini Arcade" tabletops, even chess computers and the like.

• Confessions of the Game Doctor
        Kunkel, Bill

0-9643848-9-2; Rolenta Press; 2005; $21.00; 180p; PB.  Notes: Humorous and insightful look back at the golden age of video games with Electronic Games co-founder Bill Kunkel.  I admit, when I got this book, I couldn’t put it down until I had finished reading it.  If you grew up in the early 80s and were into video games (like everyone else was back then), you’ll probably find the book very entertaining.  Over the years, Kunkel and the other co-founders have had praise and respect heaped on them.  Yes, their magazine was very ground-breaking and helped fuel the interest and passion of players in what was then a new field.  But if you take the time to read some of their past writings (esp. their reviews), you’ll find them sorely lacking in any useful information.  There’s no depth to them as far as gameplay is concerned and instead are merely pedantic, as though they were simply parroting the same descriptions you’d find in any company’s advertising.  Quite often he'd forget to mention certain features or elements in a game, and admited he was famous for tossing manuals away because he hated reading them (pg. 136).  Kunkel also ‘confessed' to doing his share of excessive drug use back then, and although he doesn’t claim that it didn’t affect his work to some degree, it’s clear after going back and re-reading some of his past work, it affected his writing to a shocking degree.  As with any book on the subject of video games, Kunkel made his share of factual mistakes.

• Console Wars: Sega, Nintendo, and the Battle that Defined a Generation
        Harris, Blake J.

978-0-062-27669-8; It Books; 2014; $15; 576p; PB, HC.

• Consumer Microelectronics: Electronic Video Games

[Author?]; [Publisher?]; Creative Strategies; 1976; $[?]; 60p; [Format?]. Notes: Illustrated.

• Creative Computing: Guide to the Video Arcade Games
        Lubar, David and Owen Linzmayer

0-916-68835-6; Creative Computing Press; 1982; $3.95; 112p; PB.  Notes: Covers 20 different games.  B&W.  From David Lubar: "I'll be honest, up front, and confess that the book is dreadful. I never wanted to write it, but my boss pretty much told me I had to. So Owen and I went to the arcade, watched some people play some games, and talked to some of them. And we played a bit. My boss was trying to capitalize on the popularity of Ken Uston's Pac-Man book. As much as I love talking about games, I'd rather try to forget about that book."

• Cult of Mac, The
        Kahney, Leander

1-886-41183-2; No Starch Press; 2004; $39.95; 280p; HC.

• Debugging Game History: A Critical Lexicon
        Lowood, Henry and Railford Guins

0-262-03419-0; The MIT Press; 2016; $50; 464p; HC. Notes: This volume attempts to "debug" the flawed historiography of video games. It offers original essays on key concepts in game studies, arranged as in a lexicon -- from "Amusement Arcade" to "Embodiment" and "Game Art" to "Simulation" and "World Building."  Written by scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplines, including game development, curatorship, media archaeology, cultural studies, and technology studies, the essays offer a series of distinctive critical "takes" on historical topics. The majority of essays look at game history from the outside in; some take deep dives into the histories of play and simulation to provide context for the development of electronic and digital games; others take on such technological components of games as code and audio. Not all essays are history or historical etymology -- there is an analysis of game design, and a discussion of intellectual property -- but they nonetheless raise questions for historians to consider. Taken together, the essays offer a foundation for the emerging study of game history.  And yet, for all the scholars and practitioners involved, they still incorrectly claim VCS Adventure was released in 1978.  At least they credited me for my interview with Mark Lesser (pg. 61).

• Defending the Galaxy: The Complete Guide to Videogaming
        Rubin, Michael, Carl Winefordner, and Sam Welker

0-937-40417-9; Triad; 1982; $4.95; 224p; TPB. Notes: Brief one-paragraph descrtiption of about 120 games (including some photos). List of 18 books (including his own). Chapter on "Gamers", another on "Video Wear". Three pages of high scores (57 titles); NINE pages of names and addresses of arcades. Two page discussion of home games, with list of titles available. Five page list of terms.  illustrations by Jeff Webber and Rudy Young; photography by Michael Rubin.

• Defending the Galaxy: The Complete Handbook of Video Gaming
        Rubin, Michael, Carl Winefordner, and Sam Welker

0-937-40417-9; Triad; 1982; $4.95; 224p; PB. Notes: Illustrated by Rudy Young and Jeff Webber.  Appears to be the same as Defending the Galaxy: The Complete Guide to Videogaming.  Yet another book that takes a comical look at video games.  What (very little) useful information here can be found in numerous other books.

• Designing Arcade Computer Game Graphics
        Feldman, Ari

1-556-22755-8; Worldwide Publishing; 2000; $49.95; 400p; PB.  Notes:

• Difficult Questions About Videogames
        Simons, Iain and James Newman

0-954-88250-4; Suppose Partners; 2004; $28.04; 320p; PB.

• Digital Deli: The Lunch Group
        Ditlea, Steve

0-894-80591-6; New York Workman Publishing; 1984; $[?]; 382p; PB. Notes: He summarizes much of the history of computers in easy-to-read vignettes, discusses pros and cons of cutting-edge technology such as the Commodore 64, the TS-1000 and the line of Apple IIs, and basically is a great read. He also states (correctly) that the first guy to create Pong was Willy Higinbotham in 1958, who "developed a method for simulating tennis" on an analog computer and oscilloscope screen. He writes about the Baer and Bushnell stuff too, but hails Higinbotham as "the grandfather of video games."  I'd recommend the book.

• Digital Deli: The Comprehensive, User-Lovable Menu of Computer Lore, Culture, Lifestyles and Fancy.
        Ditlea, Steve

[ISBN?]; New York Workman Publishing; 1984; $[?]; 382; PB. Notes: 2^nd edition of Digital Deli: The Lunch Group.

• Digital Play: The Interaction of Technology, Culture, and Marketing (Paperback)
        Kline, Stephen, Nick Dyer-Witheford, and Greig De Peuter

0-773-52591-2; McGill-Queen's University Press; 2003; $24.95; 424p; PB. Notes: Offers a thorough analysis of the video game industry.

• Digital Retro: The Evolution and Design of the Personal Computer
        Laing, Gordon

0-782-14330-X; Sybex; 2004; $29.99; 192p; PB.  Notes: The photographs are the main reason for owning this book, as the text + facts accompanying them is sparse, and sometimes incorrect.

• Dizionario dei VIDEOGAME
        Rossi, Fabio

88-11-90422-6; Garzanti Editore s.p.a., Milano; 1993; L.10000; 438 pages.  Notes: Written by Fabio Rossi for Domino-Vallardi. It is a dictionary about videogames, with many funny oddities...and some mistakes (eg. the first system is not the "Odissey 100").

• Donkey King Activity Book
        Marshall, Jo-Ann, Curt Weiss, & Stacy Sherman

NO ISBN; Modern Promotions/Publishers; 1982; $1.95; 64p; TPB. Notes: A juvenile activity book with a Donkey Kong theme. Contains "crosswords, mazes, hidden words, matching, unscrambles, word spells, and more."  Uses Pauline as the fair damsel's name. James Sherman & Curt Weiss supplied the art.

• Downright Bizarre Games
        Thomasson, Michael

978-1-366-90833-9; [publisher?]; 2016; $39.99; 224p; PB.  Notes: Pokes fun at the video game industry, an entertainment business that often takes itself much too seriously. This is a hilarious look at the odd side of the industry, from games outside of the norm to bad art and outlandish dialogue. Also featured are unfortunate headlines, marketing fiascos and publicity stunts gone awry.  Foreword by Keith Robinson.

• Dragon's Lair Presents "Dirk the Daring Battles the Black Knight"
        Weyn, Suzanne

0-871-35003-3; Marvel Books; 1984; $0.99; HC. Notes: Coloring and Activity book. Illustrated by Don Bluth Studios.

• Dragon's Lair presents "Dirk the Daring Battles the Crypt Creeps"
        Weyn, Suzanne

[ISBN?]; Marvel Books; 1984; $0.99; [?]p; HC. Notes: Coloring and activity book. Illustrated by Don Bluth Studios.

• Dragon's Lair presents "Dirk the Daring Battles the Giddy Goons"
        Weyn, Suzanne

[ISBN?]; Marvel Books; 1984; $0.99; [?]p; HC. Notes: Coloring and activity book. Illustrated by Don Bluth Studios.

• Dragon's Lair presents "Dirk the Daring in the Quest for the Stolen Fortune”
        Weyn, Suzanne

0-871-35018-1; Marvel Books; 1984; $0.99; 35p; HC. Notes: Coloring and activity book. Illustrated by Don Bluth Studios.

• Dragon's Lair presents "The Magic Sword"
        Weyn, Suzanne

[ISBN?]; Marvel Books; 1984; $0.99; [?]p; HC. Notes: Coloring and activity book. Illustrated by Don Bluth Studios.

• Dungeons and Dreamers: The Rise of Computer Game Culture, from Geek to Chic
        King, Brad, and John Borland

0-072-22888-1; McGraw-Hill Osbourne; 2003; $24.99; 273p; HC. Notes: Covers the careers of notable programmers such as John Carmack, John Romero, Warren Spector, and especially Richard Garriott.

• Electronic Classics: Collecting, Restoring and Repair
        Emmerson, Andrew

0-750-63788-9; Newnes; 1998; $60.95; 400p; PB.

• Electronic Games
        D'Ignaio, Fred

0-531-04396-7; Franklin Watts; 1982; [$?]; 64p. Notes:  Covers computers, handhelds, consoles, and arcade games.

• Electronic Games: Design, Programming, and Troubleshooting
        Buchsbaum, Walter H. & Robert Mauro

0-070-08721-0; McGraw-Hill; 1979; $17.50; 335p; HC. Notes: It deals primarily with various pong-type games at the HARDWARE level; it is essentially a textbook. The final chapter contains photos and technical information & specifications on the following systems:  Odyessy 2000,3000,4000; RCA Studio II; Fairchild Channel F; Atari VCS/2600 (no technical info) Coleco Telstar Arcade (no technical info but 3 screenshots), various “Pong” systems, Tic Tac Quiz (arcade), and Fonz (arcade).  Illustrated. Includes index.

• Electronic Plastic
        Gielens, Jaro, and Buro Destruct

3-931-12644-7; Die Gestalten Verlag; 2001; $44.00; 176p; PB. Notes: A visual history of electronic handhelds.  There’s also a website- http://www.handhelden.com/

• The Encyclopedia of Arcade Video Games
        Kurtz, Bill

0-764-31925-6; Schiffer Publishing; 2003; $39.95; 240p; HC. Notes: Includes over 600 photos as well as a price guide.  Unfortunately, most of those photos are of poor quality - some of which are so bad, it defies any rational explanation for them, and some of the worst are for common games like Breakout, Galaxian, and Tempest.  Just from the cover alone, there's a 'hacked' photo of a Star Castle cabinet that's made to look like it's only half as tall from the side art, but the front shows the image cut right across the middle of the coin door!  The same image appears elsewhere in the book.  Overall the book looks like so many scrapbooks that kids would make from cutting up magazines and newspapers, which is fine for kids, but not so fine for a $40 hard cover book.  Seriously Bill, you couldn't take the time to visit a few arcades and take some high quality photos?

• Encyclopedia of Game Machines, The: Consoles, Handhelds, & Home Computers 1972-2005
        Forster, Winifred

3-000-15359-4; Magdalena Gniatczynska; 2005; 224p; PB. Notes: Originally published in Germany and translated by Rafael Dyll and David McCarthy, this book covers the history of video games, from Atari to Sega, from Apple to Nintendo DS: The illustrated history of 450 machines with 600 pictures, history & technical data.

• Encyclopedia of Video Games : The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming
        Wolf, Mark

031337936X, 978-0313379369; Greenwood; 2012; $189; 740p; HC. Notes: This is a 2-volume set.  Nolan Bushnell had this to say about it: "I have to say that your material is the most succinct and accurate that I've seen. Congratulations!"

• Extra Life: Coming of Age in Cyberspace
        Bennahum, David S.

0-465-01236-1; Perseus Books Group; 1999; $15.95; 238p; PB. Notes: One person’s experience in  the early years of personal computing.

• Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter
        Bissell, Tom

0-307-47431-3; Vintage; 2011; $15.95; 256p; PB. Notes: In Extra Lives, acclaimed writer and life-long video game enthusiast Tom Bissell takes the reader on an insightful and entertaining tour of the art and meaning of video games. In just a few decades, video games have grown increasingly complex and sophisticated, and the companies that produce them are now among the most profitable in the entertainment industry. Yet few outside this world have thought deeply about how these games work, why they are so appealing, and what they are capable of artistically. Blending memoir, criticism, and first-rate reportage, Extra Lives is a milestone work about what might be the dominant popular art form of our time.

• Family Playbook for Intellivision Games, The
        Hoye, David

0-806-50799-3; Citadel; 1982; $5.95; 188p; [Format?].   INTV. Notes: Covers early Intellivision titles, with detailed info.

• Finding the Next Steve Jobs: How to Find, Keep and Nurture Creative Talent
        Bushnell, Nolan and Gene Stone

0-988-87951-4; Net Minds Corporation; 2013; $25; 194p; PB. Notes: Legendary figure Nolan Bushnell's first book describes how to find and hire employees who have the potential to be the next Steve Jobs.

• Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer
        Frieberger, Paul and Michael Swaine

0-071-35892-7; McGraw-Hill Professional; 1999; $16.95; 463p; PB.

• Fire in the Valley: The Making of the Personal Computer,Collector's Edition
        Frieberger, Paul and Michael Swaine

0-071-35895-1; McGraw-Hill Professional; 1999; $34.95; 463p; HC.

• The First Quarter: A 25-Year History of Video Games
        Kent, Steven L.

0-970-47550-0; BWD Press; 2000; $21.95; 466p; PB.  Notes: Preface by Peter Molyneux.  A decent history book on the creation and development of the video game industry, and would have been a perfect companion to Leonard Herman’s Phoenix books, if not for several dozen factual mistakes and the need for some serious editing and proofreading.  The author doesn't take kindly to constructive criticism, and when asked about sources for some of his information, claimed he no longer has any notes from when he wrote the book.  He also lavished praise on another, similar book that's filled with more egregious factual errors and even worse editing and proofreading than any book I've ever read, on any subject, which should make you question his credibility as a historian.  I know I did.

• Future of Video Games 1995-2000, The
        Buxton, Chris

[ISBN?]; Future Publishing; 1994; $[?]; 98p; PB.

• Future was Here, The: The Commodore Amiga
        Maher, Jimmy

0-262-01720-2; MIT Press; 2012; $26.95; 344p; PB. Notes: Maher argues that the Amiga's capacity to store and display color photographs, manipulate video (giving amateurs access to professional tools), and use recordings of real-world sound were the seeds of the digital media future: digital cameras, Photoshop, MP3 players, and even YouTube, Flickr, and the blogosphere.

• Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife
        Guins, Raiford

0-262-01998-1; The MIT Press; 2014; $24.95; PB.

978-0-262-01998-9; The MIT Press; 2014; $35; HC.

• Game Console, The: A Photographic History from Atari to Xbox
        Amos, Evan

159-32-77431; No Starch Press; November 6th, 2018; $15; 264p; HC.  Notes: A tour through the evolution of video game hardware, with gorgeous full-color photos of 86 consoles. You’ll start your journey with legendary consoles like the Magnavox Odyssey, Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, and the Commodore 64. The visual nostalgia trip continues with systems from the 1990s and 2000s, and ends on modern consoles like the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Wii U.

• Game Console Hacking: Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo, Atari, & Gamepark 32
        Grand, Joe

1-931836-31-0; Syngress; 2004; $39.95; 592p; PB.  Notes: Foreword by Ralph Baer. Follow-up to Hardware Hacking, again with several authors contributing. It provides detailed instructions on how to customize and reconfigure consoles to a wide variety of ends--from the cosmetic case modifications to the ambitious porting of Linux to the Nintendo GameCube. Platforms covered in this book include Atari, Sega, Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox, and Game Boy.

• Game Design: The Art and Business of Creating Games
        Bob Bates

0-761-53165-3; Premier Press; 2001; $29.99; 336p; PB.

• Game Development Essentials: Video Game Art
        Gantzler, Todd

1-401-84066-3; Thomson Delmar Learning; 2004; $60.95; 320p; PB.

• Game Machines 1972-2012: The Encyclopedia of Consoles, Handhelds & Home Computers
        Forster, Winnie Forster, Heinrich Lenhardt, and Nadine Caplette

0-987-83050-3; Enati Media; 2011; $49.95; 248p; PB. Notes: 2nd edition of Encyclopedia of Game Machines, The: Consoles, Handhelds & Home Computers 1972-2005.

• Game Makers, The: The Story of Parker Brothers, from Tiddledy Winks to Trivial Pursuit
        Orbanes, Philip

1-591-39269-1; Harvard Business School Press; 2003; $29.95; 256p; HC. Notes: Written by a former Parker Bros. executive, this text is a semi- official history of the game company. Founder George Parker is portrayed as an innovator who managed to imbue the company with values and principles that contributed to the company's long rise to fame and fortune between 1883 and the beginning of the 1980s, and later how General Mill's video-game-stoked greed and lack of prudence brought on the decline of the once so respected game maker.

• Game On: The History and Culture of Videogames
        King, Lucien

0-789-30778-2; Universe Publishing; 2002; $25.00; 144p; PB.

• Game Over:  How Nintendo Zapped an American Industry, Captured Your Dollars, and Enslaved Your Children
        Sheff, David

0-679-40469-4; Random House; 1993; $25.00; 445p; HC. Notes: (The following notes are excerpts from a post on RGVC.  Text in quotes are chapter names.)  Very interesting novel about the history of Nintendo.  Went into great detail about the origin of the company in Japan (creating playing cards), all the way to about mid '92.  "I, Mario" details key creative people, including Sigeru Miyamoto, the creator of Donkey Kong, which introduced the Mario character.  "For A Fistful of Quarters" explored Nintendo of America's offering of a table top version of Donkey Kong in bars.  It goes into Sidney Sheinberg's lawsuit against NOA for the use of the King Kong character in the Donkey Kong game (the lawsuit failed).  "Reversal of Fortune" goes into the history of Nolan Bushnell, and Atari's rise and fall.  Check out Sam Derboo's excellent, thorough review.

• Game Over:  How Nintendo Conquered the World
        Sheff, David

0-679-73622-0; Knopf Publishing Group (Vintage Books); 1994; $13.00?; 451p; PB. Arcade:  Donkey Kong. Notes: There is supposed to be a significant difference between the hard cover and paperback. Please submit more information if you have it.

• Game Over UAB
        Sheff, David and Michael Russotto

0-736-62910-6; Books on Tape, Inc.; 1995; $104.00; audio.  Notes: Unabridged, 13 Cassettes.

• Game Over
        Sheff, David

0-517-17908-3; Random House Value Publishing, Incorporated; 1997; $[?], [?]p, HC.

• Game Over: Press Start to Continue, Vol. 1
        Sheff, David & Andy Eddy

0-966-96170-6; Cyberactive Publishing; 1999; $19.95; 494p; PB.  Notes:  Revised edition of Game Over.

• Gamemaster: Complete Video Game Guide 1995, The
        Rovin, Jeff

0-312-95439-5; St. Martin’s Paperbacks; 1995; $[?]; 390p; PB.

• Gamers: Writers, Artists, and Programmers on the Pleasures of Pixels
        Compton, Shanna

1-932-36057-3; Soft Skull Press; 2004; $14.95; 280; PB.  Notes: According to the press release, it’s “The first book to ever seriously explore the culture of video and online games.” It’s basically a collection of essays.

• Games That Weren't, The
        Gasking, Frank

[USDN?]; Bitmap Books; 2020; £30; 644p; HC. Notes: Showcases and pays tribute to well-known and not so well-known unreleased titles (with new details and information), as well as titles never heard of until now.  Soon to be a 'must have'. LINK

• Gamester's Guide to Arcade Video Games
        Kordestani, Paul

0-830-60181-3; Tab Books Inc.; 1983; $16.50; 376p; TPB. Notes: Includes B&W illustrations of each game’s screen.

• Gaming Hacks
        Carless, Simon

0-596-00714-0; O'Reilly Media; 2004; $24.95; 304p; PB.

• Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding The Market (Advances in Computer Graphics and Game Development Series)
        Ray, Sheri Graner

1-584-50239-8; Charles River Media; 2003; $39.95; 350p; HC.

• Getting Gamers: The Psychology of Video Games and Their Impact on the People who Play Them
        Madigan, Jamie

[USDN?]; Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 2015 (reprint); $15, $30; 315p; PB, HC.

• Golden Age of Video Games, The
        Dillon, Roberto

[ISBN?]; A K Peters/CRC Press; April 19th, 2016; $45, $185; 218p; PB, HC.  Notes: Focuses on the history of video games, consoles, and home computers from the very beginning until the mid-nineties, which started a new era in digital entertainment. The text features the most innovative games and introduces the pioneers who developed them. It offers brief analyses of the most relevant games from each time period. An epilogue covers the events and systems that followed this golden age while the appendices include a history of handheld games and an overview of the retro-gaming scene.

• Good, The Bad, and the Bogus, The
        Lockard, Nathan

1-881-58304-X; Adventure Press; [Date?]; $[?]; 270p; PB.

• Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever
        Beck, John C. and Mitchell Wade

1-578-51949-7; Harvard Business School Press; 2004; $29.95; 208p; HC.

• Greatest Games of All Time, The
        Costello, Matthew J.

0-471-52975-3; John Wiley & Sons Inc.; 1991; $14.95; 192p; PB.  Notes: Written by an experienced gamesman, who is a frequent contributor to Games, it features dozens of games that can be played on simple boards or on sheets photocopied from the book. A must-have for all game enthusiasts and history buffs, it includes trivia about the unusual and often eccentric people behind history's most popular games--from the legendary board games of the pharoahs and ancient Egypt, to the social parlor games of the Victorians, to more contemporary perennials such as Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. Also discusses the phenomenon of war and survival games as well as video games and the high-tech future of games, including CD-I--a compact-disc interactive system that will offer films with which players can interact. Features a Buyer's Guide to the best games. Includes 81 illustrations.

• Greatest Games, The:  The 93 Best Computer Games of All Time
        Gutman, Dan & Shay Adams

0-942386-95-7; Compute; 1985; $9.95; 285p; TPB. Notes: Originally mentioned in the last issue of Computer Games, and was to be published by Simon & Schuster under the title, "From Archon to Zork, The World's All-Time Greatest Computer Games".  Although this is mainly a computer cartridge book, there are several video games listed and discussed in it. Classic cart games listed: One-on-One, Summer Games, Ballblazer, Miner 2049er, Popeye, Pole Position, Turbo, Oil's Well, and Ms. Pac-Man. The rest of the list is mainly Atari 800, Apple, C-64, and PC programs. This book contains no screenshots, but has some really cool (not) blue line drawings (they look like a 2-year-old drew them).

• Greatest Moments in Video Game History
        Weston, D.B.

[ISBN?]; Amazon Digital Services LLC; August 7th, 2012; $3.99; 167p; Digital. Notes: Covers video game history from 1947 to 2012.

• Guide to the Video Arcade Games
        Lubar, David and Owen Linzmayer

[ISBN?]; Creative Computing; June 1982; $3.95; 109p; PB. Notes: Covers various classic arcade games from the “golden” era.  This is the same person (David Lubar) that programmed several Atari VCS/2600 games!

• Guinness World Records 2010: Gamer’s Edition
        Brady Games

0-744-01183-3; Brady Games; 2010; [$?]; 224p; PB.

• Hacker Crackdown, The: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier
        Sterling, Bruce

0-553-08058-X (HC), 0-553-56370-X (PB); Bantam Books; 1992; $23.00 (HC), $7.50 (PB); 328 pages; HC, PB.

• Hacker Crackdown, The: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier
        Sterling, Bruce

1-404-30640-4 (HC), 1-404-30641-2 (PB); IndyPublish.com; 2002; $30.75 (HC), $20.99 (PB); 292 pages; HC, PB.  Notes: Revised edition.

• Hackers
        Levy, Steven

[ISBN?]; [Publisher?]; 1984; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?].

• Hackers:  Heroes of the Computer Revolution
        Levy, Steven

0-385-31210-5; Delta Books; 1994; $12.95; [?]p; TPB?. Notes: It's got a whole part dedicated to 'Game Hackers'. And the new paperback has a followup on what the people in the book are doing today.

• Hackers:  Heroes of the Computer Revolution
        Levy, Steven

0-141-00051-1; Penguin USA; 2001; $14.00; 464p; PB. Notes: Updated edition.

• Hackers:  Heroes of the Computer Revolution
        Levy, Steven

1-449-38839-6; O'Reilly Media; 2010; $14.00; 520p; PB, HC. Notes: Another updated edition, to honor the 25th anniversary of the first edition.  This one is marked first edition (?).  With updated material from noteworthy hackers such as Bill Gates, Mark Zukerberg, Richard Stallman, and Steve Wozniak.

• Hacking Video Game Consoles: Turn your old video game systems into awesome new portables
        Heckendorn, Benjamin

0-764-57806-5; John Wiley & Sons; 2005; $29.99; 574p; PB. Notes: Best known for making custom Atari VCS/2600 portable systems, he applies the same expertise knowledge to making portables of NES, SNES, and Playstation systems as well.  If you’ve ever wanted to make one for yourself, and you know which end of a soldering iron to hold, this is the book for you.

• Hallowed Whispers
        Panks, Paul

1-411-61049-0; Lulu, Inc.; 2004; $8.74; 128p; PB. Notes: The author recounts his days as a Commodore user and enthusiast,  and stories about writing adventure games.  Includes some full-color pictures.

• Hamlet on the Holodeck: The Future of Narrative in Cyberspace 
        Murray, Janet H.

0-262-63187-3; MIT Press; 1998; $25; 324p; PB.

• Hardware Hacking: Have Fun While Voiding Your Warranty
        Grand, Joe

1-932266-83-6; Syngress; 2004; $39.95; 576p; PB. Notes: Although the majority of the book covers modifications for video game consoles (on everything from the Atari VCS/2600 to PlayStation 2) it also includes Apple USB mouse controllers, CueCat, iPod, PC home theater setups, and more.  A total of 8 different authors are credited!

• High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games
        DeMaria, Rusel and Johnny Lee Wilson

0-072-22428-2; McGraw-Hill Osborne; 2002; $24.99; 328p; PB.

• High Score! The Illustrated History of Electronic Games
        DeMaria, Rusel and Johnny Lee Wilson

0-072-23172-6; Mcgraw-Hill Osborne; 2003; [$?]; 400p; PB.  Notes: 2^nd edition.  Includes new material by Chris Kohler.

• History of Ocean Software, The
        Wilkins, Chris and Roger M. Kean

[ISBN?]; December 2013; [$?]; 264p; PB.  Notes:

• History of Video Games, The
        Fish, Charlie

1-526-77897-1; White Owl; August 12, 2021; $10.45; 120p; HC.  Notes: A short book with some unique photos.

• How Things Work
        unknown

[ISBN?]; [date?]; [$?]; [pages?]; HC.  Notes: Very little is known about this book.

• How to Beat Atari, Intellivision, and Other Home Video Games
        Blanchet, Michael

0-671-45909-0; Simon & Schuster (Fireside); 1982; $4.95; 128p; PB. Notes: Illustrated (very poorly) by R.B. Backhaus. Also contains a chapter on "Converting the Atari Joystick for Left-Handed Use."

• How to Beat the Video Games
        Blanchet, Michael

0-671-45375-0; Simon and Schuster (Fireside); 1982; $3.95; 112p; TPB. Notes: Includes basic information and playing strategies for 20 arcade games, from video game wizard and tournament champion Michael Blanchet.  According to the linear notes from his 2nd book, this was a best-seller, selling 80,000 copies, which led to his syndicated newspaper column.

• How to Conquer Dragon’s Lair
        Zavisca, Ernest, Ph.D and Gary Beltowski

0-941-12606-4; Meadowlark Press; 1984; $[?]; 60p; PB.

• How to Design & Build Your Own Custom TV Games
        Heiserman, David L.

0-830-69859-0 (HC), 0-830-61101-0 (PB); Tab Books; 1978; $14.95 (HC), $9.95 (PB); 544p; HC, PB. Notes: Pong Era; a virtual ECE textbook. Illustrated. Includes index.

• How to Master Home Video Games
        Hirschfeld, Tom

0-553-20195-6; Bantam; March 1982; $2.95; 198p; PB.  Notes: Originated by Roberta Grossman and Walter Zacharius.  Copyright Norfolk Publishing Corp.  Covers 16 different home games - Asteroids, Combat, Missile Command, Space Invaders, Warlords, Armor Battle, Astrosmash, Sea Battle, Space Armada, Space Battle, Dragster, Freeway, Kaboom!, Laser Blast, Stampede, and an early preview of Pac-Man.  Several pages are devoted to each game, which is presented with a B&W illustration of the board with pointers to what each part of the screen represents and then has the following sections in outline format: controls, scoring, dangers, observations, and strategies.  The following Atari VCS/2600 games also have a game variation matrix (in case you lose your manual, I guess): Asteroids, Combat, Missile Command, Space Invaders, and Warlords.  Credit is also given to several notable players such as Bill Heineman.  Also includes sections on high scores, clubs, exact instructions on how to find the secret room in Adventure, brief descriptions of 10 arcade games (Defender, Pac-Man, Asteroids, Centipede, Scramble, Phoenix, Gorf, Galaxian, Berzerk, and Asteroids Deluxe), and manufacturer addresses.  Hirschfeld was 19 years old at the time when he wrote this, and the book went on to sell 650,000 copies.

• How to Master the Video Games
        Hirschfeld, Tom

0-553-20164-6; Bantam; November 1981; $2.95; 180p; PB. Notes: Originated by Roberta Grossman and Walter Zacharius.  Copyright Norfolk Publishing Corp.  Covers 30 different arcade games - Armor Attack, Asteroids, Asteroids Deluxe, Astro Blaster, Astro Fighter, Battlezone, Berzerk, Centipede, Crazy Climber, Defender, Galaxian, Gorf, Missile Command, Monaco GP, Moon Cresta, Pac-Man, Phoenix, Pleiades, Rally-X, Scramble, Sky Raider, Space Fury, Space Invaders, Space Invaders Part II, Space Odyssey, Space Zap, Star Castle, Targ, Venture, and Wizard of Wor.  Each game is presented with a B&W illustration of the board (Wizard Of Wor includes a diagram of every maze) with pointers to what each part of the screen represents and then has the following sections in outline format: controls, scoring, dangers, observations, and strategies. This would be a good reference for anyone writing a computer version of these classics.  Credit is also given to several notable players such as Leo Daniels.  There are (at least) 5 variations of this book and all can be distinguished by the appearance of the cover. The rarest version is the one that was published by Troll as indicated on the front cover and the spine (but the inside info says that it was published by Bantam); the other 4 were published by Bantam. Two of the Bantam versions have a yellow triangle in the lower-right corner of the front cover that says, "INCLUDES THE HOTTEST TIPS ON PAC-MAN" (the Troll version has this, too).  They differ in that one says "SPECIAL BOOK CLUB EDITION" in small letters to the right of the "HOW TO" portion of the title and the other does not (some of those may have a "SPECIAL EDITION" sticker in the top-right corner).  The other two (non-"Pac-Man" Bantam) variations are identical except for the very top portion of the spine where the rooster logo can be either red or yellow.  There are other minor differences as well but the text content appears to be the same.  One version has a yellow triangle in the upper-left corner of the front cover that's an add for GCE's Game-Time, Arcade-Time, and Sports-Time handheld games.  The first 2 pages as well as the back cover are ads for them as well.  The last 3 pages are ads for CGE's Vectrex system and games, as well as for their Space -N-Counter and Chase-N-Counter handheld games.

• How to Master the Video Games, Book 2
        Hirschfeld, Tom and Leo Daniels

[ISBN?]; Bantam; [date?]; $2.95; [?]p; PB.  Notes: Updated version of the original.

• How to Play Space Invaders: Secrets From An Expert
        Hirschfeld, Tom and Leo Daniels

[ISBN?]; Taito; 1980; $1.95; 62p; PB.  Notes: An extremely rare book published by Taito and written by an anonymous “Japanese Space Invaders champion”.  Includes plenty of screenshots.

•   How to Repair Video Games
        Goodman, Robert L.

0-830-69906-6 (HC), 0-830-61028-6 (PB); Tab Books; 1978; $9.95 (HC), $7.95 (PB); 270p; HC, PB. Notes: Illustrated. Includes index. Excellent reference for repairing early home video games. Includes schematics, parts lists and know-how. In some cases it includes (probably outdated) ordering information. Games covered: Radio Shack Games Scoreboard models 60-3051, 60-3052, 60-3054, 60-3055, 60-3056, 60-3057; Magnavox Odyssey models YF-7010, YF-7015, BG7500, BG7510, BG7511, BG7514, BG7516, BG7520, ITL200 BK12 &BLAK Odyssey Game Simulators T991 TV chassis with built-in Odyssey; RCA Studio II model 18V100; General Instrument Game Chips AY-3-8500, AY-3-8500-1, AY-3-8550, AY-3-8550-1, AY-3-8515, AY-3-8515-1, AY-3-8600, AY-3-8600-1, AY-3-8615, AY-3-8615-1, AY-3-8700, AY-3-8700-1; Texas Instruments Game Chips SN76410N, SN76499N, SN76477, SN76427, SN76430N, SN76431N, SN76484N, SN76440, SN76432, SN76460/SN76462, SN76483N; National Semiconductor Video Game System MMS7106N, MM53104, LM1889; Atari Pong; and Midway Home Pinball Games 606-100 & 614-1000/3000/614-2000, 614-2000.

• How to Talk about Videogames
        Bogost, Ian

0-816-69912-7; Univ Of Minnesota Press; 2015; $16; 208p; PB. Notes:

• So gewinnt man gegen Video- und Computerspiele (How to Win Against Computer and Video Games)
        Consumer Guide

3-806-80644-6; Niedernhausen / Falken Verlag; 1982; [$?]; 159p; PB. Notes:

• How to Win at Atari Home Computer Games
        Consumer Guide

0-671-49558-5; Holiday House; 1987; $[?]; 64p; PB. Notes:  

• How to Win at Donkey Kong
        Consumer Guide

0-671-45840-X; Pocket Books; 1982; $1.95; 32p; PAM. Notes: Basically an expanded version of the Donkey Kong section from Consumer Guides' How to Win at Video Games (0-517-381192). Color illustrations. Has a nice section on "Donkey Kong Grandstanding", describing hard-to-do tricks.

• How to Win at Dragon's Lair
        Ferguson, Laren

0-590-33258-9; Scholastic; 1984; $1.50; 35p; PAM. Notes: Patterns for all Dragon's Lair screens, and a bit on scoring.

• How to Win at ET the Video Game
        Consumer Guide

0-440-13767-5; Dell; 1982; $2.50; 32p; PAM?. Notes: Everything you need to know on how to get the little guy safely back home.  The authors are Scott and Todd "the Fraud" Rogers, and the editor was Jim Gorzelany.

0-517-40841-4; Random House; 1988; $[?]; [?]p; [format?].

• How to Win at ET the Video Game
        Consumer Guide

0-440-13767-5; Dell; 1983; $2.50; 32p; PAM?. Notes: This is a condensed version of the original (in both size and information) that came out the following year.

• How to Win at Home Video Games
        Consumer Guide

0-517-39870-2; Crescent; 1982; $[?]; [?]p; HC. Notes: Covers 70 games for the Intellivision, Colecovision, Odyssey 2, and especially the Atari VCS/2600. Strategies and tips were provided from several top gamers at the time, including Todd "the Fraud" Rogers. Also available in a beautiful spiral-bound form.  The author is Suzan D. Prince, who also did several reviews for Electronic Fun with Computers & Games.

• How to Win at Pac-Man
        Consumer Guide

0-671-45361-0; Pocket Books; 1982; $2.25; 32p; PB. Notes: One of many strategy guides for Pac-Man.  There are at least 2 different versions - one cover has a "Play It... Beat It!" in the lower-left corner.  Midway considered this one too good and unsuccessfully tried to sue Pocket Books in an attempt to ban it.  Includes a section on VCS Pac-Man.

• How to Win at Video Games
        Consumer Guide

0-517-38119-2; 978-0-517-38119-9; Crescent; 1982; $3.95; 64p; PB and spiral-bound PB. Notes: Covers 9 of the top video games at the time, as well as 4 'contenders' and up-and-coming games and home systems.  Title is in the same style as the subtitle on early issues of JoyStik. The two have the same publisher. Color photos of all cabinets. Color illustrations of each main game. Each main game also has a section on the home version, if it existed at the time. Those that didn't have a home version talk about some other "similar" home game. Each main game, except the 4 'contenders' - Frogger, Missile Command, Ms. Pac-Man, and Turbo - ends with a short section summarizing bonus, popularity, location, enemies, approachability, sex appeal, age appeal, control comfort, skill vs. strategy, clocked or not, special effects, value for money, and pros & cons. Has one page for "up-and-coming" (secondary) games and another page for home systems, including a picture of the then-unreleased Atari Video System X which, as any video game fan knows, was the early name for the 5200.

• How to Win at Video Games: A Complete Guide
        Sullivan, George

0-590-32630-9; Scholastic; 1982; $1.95; 175p; PB. Notes: To emphasize the importance of Pac-Man on classic video games, Pac-Man and Ms. Pac-Man are each covered in their own chapters. It also covers the Atari VCS/2600 and Coleco table-top versions. Each game is described with a B&W illustration (not to scale), a brief description, and sections on the controls, scoring, and strategy & tactics. There's also a chapter on home systems, listing "the five companies that offer home video games" (Atari VCS/2600, Intellivision, Odyssey^2, ActiVision [sic], and Channel F). Another on handheld and table-model games, and finally "Great Dates in Video Games", which includes the "Arkie" awards up to 1982, and a brief glimpse of the future.  Galaxian is listed as being available for the VCS (pg. 147), although the game wasn't released until the following year!

• How to Win at Video Games: Complete Strategies for Top Arcade Games
        Consumer Guide

0-517-42470-3, Publications International, Ltd.; 1983; $[?]; 64p; HC (spiral-bound). Notes: Covers 17 arcade games, most with great color pictures, plus tricks and settings sections. Everything is reprinted exactly as it appeared in various issues of JoyStik! Also includes photos of Tad Perry and Eric Ginner, who provided all the advanced tricks and strategies.

• How to Win at Video Games: Complete Strategies for Top Arcade Games
        Consumer Guide

0-881-76111-7; Publications International, Ltd.; 1983; $[?]; 64p; TPB (staple-bound). Notes: Same content as spiral-bound book (ISBN 0-517-42470-3), with small changes in the publisher info. This version seems to be the more rare of the two.

• How to Win Video Games
        Consumer Guide

0-671-45841-8; Publications International Ltd. (Pocket); July 1982; $2.95; 96p; PB. Notes: Has a chapter on Vital Video Statistics, which ranks each game except Frogger, Missile Command, Ms. Pac-Man, and Turbo, in the following categories:  Bonus, Popularity, Enemies, Approachability, Sex Appeal, Age Appeal, Skill vs. Strategy, Pros, and Cons. Also contains a chapter on Up-and-Coming Games, which refers to Eliminator, Hyperball, Mousetrap, and Stargate.  Seems to be VERY similar, but not identical, to How to Win at Video Games (0-517-381192).

• How to Win! At Video Games
        Giguette, Ray

0-941-01802-4; Martin Press; 1982; $2.50; 46p; PB. Notes: A brief ‘primer’ on strategies for 10 games.

• I Am 8-Bit
        Gibson, Jon

0-811-85319-5; Chronicle Books Llc; 2006; $22.95; 156p; PB. Notes: Art Inspired by classic video games of the ‘80s, featuring 156 full-color pages of the best images from the gallery exhibit "i am 8-bit" (co-sponsored by Intellivision Productions). 70 cutting-edge artists share their reinterpretations and outlandish depictions of the all-time greats, including pieces inspired by Donkey Kong, Joust, Q*bert, The Legend of Zelda and Tron. This is more than a walk down memory lane - the artists inject a degree of thought-provoking analysis and self-reflection into their work as they revisit their youth. The ultimate coffee table book for gamers and art lovers alike.

• I Hate Videots: Today the Arcade, Tomorrow the World
        Baker, Mark

0-671-45688-1; Simon & Schuster (Fireside); 1982; $3.95; 96p; PB. Notes: Illustrations by Greg Crawford. Humor. Includes sections on a history of famous video game dates from 1900 B.C. to A.D. 1982, tell-tale signs of a videot, and deprogramming a videot.

• InfoWorld's Essential Guide to Atari Computers
        Mace, Scott

0-066-69006-4; Harper & Row; 1984; $16.95; 292p; PB.

• Inside Electronic Game Design
        Katz, Arnie

1-559-58669-9; Prima Lifestyles; 1995; $[?]; 288p; PB. Notes: Includes interviews with 24 designers, including Atari programmer John Skruch.

• Introduction to Game Development
        Rabin, Steve

1-584-50377-7; Charles River Media; 2005; $15; 978p; HC. Notes: Based on the curriculum guidelines of the IGDA, Introduction to Game Development is the first book to survey all aspects of the theory and practice of game development, design, and production. The book, which might be used as a text for introductory courses or as a comprehensive reference for game developers and designers, is divided into seven independent parts:

• Introduction to Game Development: Second Edition
        Rabin, Steve

1-584-50679-2; Cengage Learning; 2009; $[?]; 1,008p; HC. Notes:

• Invading Spaces: A Beginner's Guide to Collecting Arcade Games
        O'Hara, Rob

[ISBN?]; Lulu.com; 2008; $20; 172p; PB. Notes. An introductory look at the hobby of collecting arcade games.

• Invasion of the Space Invaders: An Addict’s Guide To Battle Tactics, Big Scores and the Best Machines
        Amis, Martin

0-458-95350-4; Methuen Publications; 1982; $11.95; 127p; PB.   Notes: Covers plenty of classic games, from arcade to home systems and handhelds. There’s also quite a few pictures, as well as some b&w and color illustrations, making this worthwhile of tracking down for your personal  library. This is an Australian printing of the book.

• Invasion of the Space Invaders: An Addict’s Guide To Battle Tactics, Big Scores and the Best Machines
        Amis, Martin

0-890-87351-8; Celestial Arts; 1982; $11.95; 127p; PB. Notes: Covers plenty of classic games, from arcade to home systems and handhelds. There’s also quite a few pictures, as well as some b&w and color illustrations, making this worthwhile of tracking down for your personal  library. This is an American printing of the book.

• It’s Not a Bug, It’s a Feature!: Computer Wit and Wisdom
        Lubar, David

0-201-48304-1; Addison-Wesley; 1995; $14.99; 202p; PB.  Notes: This is the same person that programmed several Atari VCS/2600 games!  David Lubar has compiled a collection that offers wry and discerning commentary on the triumphs and tribulations of the computer age, with quotes by everyone from Steve Jobs to Woody Allen. 

• iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It
        Wozniak, Steve and Gina Smith

0-393-06143-4; W. W. Norton; 2006; $25.95; 288p; HC. Notes: Woz’s account of the birth of Apple. 

• Joystick Nation:  How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired Our Minds
        Herz, J. C.

0-316-36007-4; Little, Brown & Co.; 1997; $23.95; 228p; HC. Notes: This book has not been very well received by the classic video game community, which should tell you something. 

• Joysticks: An illustrated History of the Game Controller 1972-2004
        Forster, Winnie and Stephan Freundorfer

3-000-12183-8; Take 2 Interactive; 2004; $23; [?]p; PB. Notes: Entirely in German.

• Ken Uston's Guide to Buying and Beating the Home Video Games
        Uston, Ken

0-451-11901-0; Signet; 1982; $3.95; 676p; PB. Notes: Covers 180 games total. Includes patterns for Atari VCS/2600 Pac-Man.  Roger Dionne interviewed Ken Uston in the December 1982 issue of Video Games.

• Ken Uston's Home Video '83
        Uston, Ken

0-451-12010-8; Signet; 1982; $2.95; 210p; PB. Notes: The first chapter compares the home systems of the time: Atari VCS/2600, Intellivision, Astrocade, Odyssey^2, Channel F (CHNF), Arcadia-2001, ColecoVision, and Atari 5200. The second chapter rates *every* cartridge available for these systems at the time. This is done with charts listing the title, number of players possible, and manufacturer of each game, plus rating from 1 to 5 of "hand-eye coordination" and "mental challenge."  The third chapter covers "The 20 Best New Game."  Given for each game are "evaluation and basic objective," "scenario", "the boards," "controls," "facts you should know," and "strategies."  The fourth chapter covers "The 5 Classic Games" in the same format as the third.  Roger Dionne interviewed Ken Uston in the December 1982 issue of Video Games.

• Kid's Guide to Home Computers, The
        Cohen, Daniel & Susan

0-671-49361-2; Pocket Books; 1983; $1.95; 118p; PB. Notes: Though this book would seemingly be only about computers, it contains a fair amount of video game information also. Contains several B&W system and game photos of several systems (INTV, Odyssey, Coleco, Adam, Aquarius, 800, Apple, C-64, Vic 20, etc.)! Also contains some INTV computer system game shots of these unreleased games:  Number Jumbler, Flinstones:  Keyboard Fun, Game Maker and Basic Programmer. Also contains a section on peripherals that covers joysticks (Spectra-video, Coleco Super Action), printers, monitors, etc., a "turn your game system into a computer" section (which features a brief discussion of ADAM, Aquarius, INTV and Atari VCS/2600 computer add-ons), as well as a mention of an Intellivision-III (not the INTV-III) with battery-operated controls and built-in speech synth. Interesting.

• Kid's Guide to Home Video, The
        Cohen, Daniel & Susan

0-671-52731-2; [Publisher?]; [Date?]; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?]. Notes: [Info?]

• Kids’ Video Game Guide, The: All the Strategies, Tips, and Clues You Need to be a Star Videonaut!
        Lackmann, Ronald W.

[ISBN?]; Weekly Reader Books; 1983; [$?]; 96p; PB.

• Know the Score:  Video Games in Your High-tech World
        Skurzynski, Gloria

0-027-82922-7; Bradbury Press/Simon and Schuster Children’s Publishing;1994; $[?]; 64p; HC. Notes: Color illustrations. Includes bibliographical references and index. May not contain any classic video game information.

• Lawyers on Trial: Understanding Ethical Misconduct
        Abel, Richard L.

0-199-76037-3; Oxford University Press, Inc.; December 2010; [$?]; 516p; HC.  Notes: Not your typical video game book, but chapter 4 ("Playing Games with Sega") details the account of how the Commodore 64 computer ended up with 2 different versions of Zaxxon.

•   Life is a Game: The inspirational success story of a legendary game developer!
        Dinc, Mev

0-191-40785-9; Mev Dinc; April 6, 2021; $28; 322p; PB.  Notes: The story of Mev Dinc from his  humble beginnings to becoming an award-winning developer, a member of BAFTA and the founding father of the Turkish Gaming Sector.

• Look Inside Video Games, A
        Clark, James I.

0-817-21410-0; Raintree Publishers; 1985; $15.50; 48p; [Format?]. Notes: Juvenile literature. Illustrated, some in color. Explains how video games work, traces their history, and speculates on their future.

•   Lost in a Good Game: Why we play video games and what they can do for us
        Dr Etchells, Pete

1-785-78614-8; Icon Books; September 8, 2020; $15; 340p; PB.

• Lucky Wander Boy
        Weiss, D.B.

0-452-28394-9; Dutton/Plume; 2003; $13.00; 273p; PB.  Notes: Fictional account of one 20-something’s quest to write an encyclopedic history of games, and his search for the most obscure game ever made.  Check out the website for more info: http://www.luckywanderboy.com/

• Make It New: The History of Silicon Valley Design
        Katz, Barry M.

0-262-02963-4; MIT Press; September 2015; $20; 280p; PB. Notes:

• Make Your Atari Sing
        Bogas, Edgar Noel

[ISBN?]; [publisher?]; [November 1, 1984]; [$?]; [p?]; PB. Notes: Ed Bogas was hired by Atari to design the music for VCS Snoopy and the Red Baron as well as their CCW games.

• Making Games for the Atari 2600
        Hugg, Steven

1-541-02130-4; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 2016; $30; 258p; PB. Notes: Claims to be the first book about how to program games for the VCS.  Learn about the 6502 CPU, NTSC frames, scanlines, cycle counting, players, missiles, collisions, procedural generation, pseudo-3D, and more.  There's also a web-based IDE that can be used in conjunction with the book to write 6502 assembly code and see it run instantly in a browser.  The Kindle version has a different cover (2nd photo).

• Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
        Kushner, David

978-0-812-97215-3; Random House Trade Paperbacks; May 11th, 2004; $18; 368p; PB. Notes: The amazing true story of the Lennon and McCartney of video games: John Carmack and John Romero. Together, they ruled big business. They transformed popular culture. And they provoked a national controversy. More than anything, they lived a unique and rollicking American Dream, escaping the broken homes of their youth to co-create the most notoriously successful game franchises in history—Doom and Quake—until the games they made tore them apart.

• Mastering Pac-Man
        Uston, Ken

[ISBN?]; Futura; [year?]; [$?]; [p?]; PB. Notes: Was this the original version?  Roger Dionne interviewed Ken Uston in the December 1982 issue of Video Games.

• Mastering Pac-Man
        Uston, Ken

[ISBN?]; Sunset House; [year?]; [$?]; [p?]; PB. Notes A special edition also exists. The differences are as follows: No ISBN; no price; on front cover, below Pac-Man it reads in bold yellow print "Exclusive Sunset House Edition". Content is the same as original Mastering Pac-Man - not the revised edition.  Roger Dionne interviewed Ken Uston in the December 1982 issue of Video Games.

• Mastering Pac-Man
        Uston, Ken

0-451-11758-1; Signet; 1981; $1.95; 128p; PB. Notes: Written by Ken Uston, a renowned blackjack expert card counter at the time, who turned to 20-year-old Pac-Man expert Raymond Chan, to help write the book (he isn't credited for it, but is mentioned several times in the book). All about Pac-Man, with b&w diagrams and 7 patterns. The original press run was for 500,000, but preorders added another 250,000.  Roger Dionne interviewed Ken Uston in the December 1982 issue of Video Games.

• Mastering Pac-Man (Revised Edition)
        Uston, Ken

0-451-11899-5; Signet; January 1982; $2.50; 157p; PB. Notes: The original edition gave a standard Pac-Man pattern that does not work on the 7th and 8th key boards on an 'easy' machine, because the red monster is too fast then and moves far enough ahead to break the pattern. A later edition corrected this with what looked like an obviously hastily-added note. There's also chapters (but no patterns) for Ms. Pac-Man, as well as 2 illegal Pac-Man knockoffs - Puc-One and Mazeman, and chapters for the Pac-Man handhelds by Coleco, Entex, and Tomytronics, and even a chapter (with patterns) for the Atari VCS/2600 version! There are also copies (well, at least one) that say "special edition revised edition" on the cover.  Roger Dionne interviewed Ken Uston in the December 1982 issue of Video Games.

• Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created an Empire and Transformed Pop Culture
        David Kushner

0-375-50524-5; Random House; 2003; $24.95; 352p; HC.  Notes: The rise of Doom developer Id Software and 3D gaming, and the tempestuous partnership of founders John Carmack and John Romero.

• Media Lab: Inventing the Future at M. I. T., The
        Brand, Stewart

0-140-09701-5; Penguin; 1988; [$?]; 304p; PB. Notes: Originally published in 1980.

• Media Room, The:  Creating Your Own Home Entertainment and Information Center
        Blumenthal, Howard J.

0-140-46538-3; Penguin Books; 1983; $9.95; 184p; TPB. Notes: Contains a single chapter on "Videogames" [sic], although there are other mentions throughout the book. This chapter gives a very brief history of video games, starting with coin-op Pong and quickly switching to home systems. It concentrates on the Atari VCS/2600 and Intellivision, although the recently released 5200 and ColecoVision are also mentioned. Also contains some nice B&W pictures of the Atari VCS/2600, Intellivision, and 5200.

• Medium of the Video Game, The
        Wolf, Mark J.P.

0-292-79150-X; University of Texas Press; 2002; $19.95; 224; PB.  Notes: Foreword by Ralph H. Baer. The author and 4 other scholars conduct the first thorough investigation of the video game as an artistic medium. Unfortunately, he got at least one fact wrong - Atari VCS Adventure was released in 1980, not 1979.

• Memoirs of a Virtual Caveman
        Strangman, Rob

[ISBN?]; Lulu.com; 2008; $14.95; 153p; PB. Notes: One man’s experiences playing and collecting video games from the days of Atari through today.

• Microcomputer Controlled Toys & Games & How They Work
        Waterford, Van

0-830-60407-3; Tab Books; 1983; $14.95; 230p; PB.  Notes: Great book for handhelds, table-tops and other classic electronic games – covering  the Atari VCS/2600, Atari 5200, Bally Arcade Plus, Intellivision, Microvision, and more.

• Microprocessor-Based Electronic Games
        Buchsbaum, Walter H. & Robert Mauro

0-070-08722-9; McGraw-Hill; 1983; $9.95; 293p; PB. Notes: Updated version of Electronic Games, with focus on doing the same things, but with microprocessors. Also examines Odyssey^2, 5200, Intellivision, Colecovision, handhelds, Coleco's Pac-Man standalone, and from the arcade, Bosconian, Pac-Man, Frogger, and Zaxxon, with tech info and such stuff.

• Microsoft Arcade:  The Official Strategy Guide
        Schuytema, Paul

1-559-58724-5; Prima Publishing; 1995; $12.95; 182p; TPB. Notes: Includes B&W photos of the arcade games and Windows screenshots. It also has some history in it. Whether there is any information not covered in the software is unknown.

• Midnight Tiger, The: Complete Guide to Atari 2600 Games
        Coulson, Ben

1-844-26265-0; Upfront Publishing; 2003; $15.50; 188p; PB. Notes: If you’re looking for the “complete” guide to Atari VCS/2600 games, stick with ‘ABC to the VCS’.

• Mind and Media:  The Effects of Television, Video Games, and Computers
        Greenfield, Patricia Marks

0-674-57620-9 (HC), 0-674-57621-7 (PB); Harvard University Press, Cambridge; 1984; $[?]; 210p; HC, PB. Notes: Another psychological look at video games and other media on the developing child.

• Mind at Play:  The Psychology of Video Games
        Loftus, Geoffrey R. & Elizabeth F.

0-465-04609-6; Basic Books, Inc.; 1983; $14.95, 191p; HC. Notes: Psychological aspects of video games. Includes bibliographical references and index.

• Minds Behind The Games, The: Interviews with Cult and Classic Video Game Developers
        Hickey Jr., Patrick

1-476-67110-9; McFarland & Company; April 9th, 2018; $40; 250p; PB. Notes: Featuring interviews with the creators of 36 popular video games.

• Missile Commander: A Journey to the Top of an Arcade Classic
        Temple, Tony

1-838-53740-6; Tony Temple; September 16th, 2020; 25£; 278p; HC. Notes: The real-life story of one player's forty-year journey with Atari's Missile Command, which takes him from a run-down café as a teenager weighed down with fears of nuclear Armageddon, to finally being crowned the best player in the world by Guinness World Records. Along the way, he encounters game-changing bugs, paranoid rivals, private detectives, endless controversy and finally, a meeting with the very man who created the game.

• Monster Gaming: The Complete How-To Guide for Becoming a Hardcore Gamer
        Sawyer, Ben

1-932-11179-4; Paraglyph Press; 2003; $24.99; 350p; PB.

• More Pac-Mania: The 2nd Official Pac-Man Joke Book
        Schwarz, Haller

0-523-41993-7; Pinnacle Books, Inc.; 1982; $1.95; 94p; PB. Arcade: Pac-Man. Notes: Yes, they're "Pac" for more of these awful cartoons begun in Pac-Mania. Back cover has a picture of Pac-Mania book that is different from the 2 variations we’ve seen (price and stuff moved).

• More than a Game: The Computer Game as Fictional Form
        Atkins, Barry

0-719-06364-7; Manchester University Press; 2003; $69.95; 176p; HC.

• Ms. Pac-Man's Prize Pupil
        Albano, John

0-307-11791-X; [Publisher?]; 1983; $1.25; [?]p; [Format?]. Notes: A Golden Look-Look Book. Mazes, cartoons, story. Kid's book, but a neat item for a collection. Cover picture of Ms. Pac-Man pushing Baby Pac-Man in cart near tree.

• Naked Computer, The
        Cottonwood, Joseph

0-915-57250-8; Panjandrum; 1974; $[?]; [?]p; PB Notes: (from David Rolfe) “An obscure novel that was published in 1974. The main character was a programmer. It was the author's first book - a weird and irrational and somewhat clumsy tale, and it touched me because I thought it captured the spirit and personalities of the era.”

• Nature of Computer Games: Play As Semiosis, The
        Myers, David

0-820-46700-6; Peter Lang Publishing; 2003; $24.95; 200p; PB.

• Official How to Win at Zaxxon, The

[author?]; 0-671-46749-2; Pocket Books.; 1982; $2.25; 32p; PB. Notes: There’s no author credited for this.

• Official I-Hate-Videogames Handbook, The
        Prager, Emily

0-671-45804-3; Pocket; 1982; $2.95; 93p; TPB. Notes: Humor. Includes game parodies. Illustrated by Frank Morris.

• On The Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore
        Bagnall, Brian

0-973-86490-7; Variant Press; 2005; $29.95; 548p; PB. Notes: A masterfully-written account of the history of Commodore, and all the companies it affected along the way. Future writers of this type of subject matter would do well to soak up these pages.

• Once Upon Atari: How I Made History by Killing an Industry
        Bagnall, Brian

0-986-21866-9; Scott West Productions; December 14, 2020; $15; 328p; PB. Notes: A fantastic account of life at Atari during the 'golden era' of video games that includes some never-before-told stories.  It's also the perfect companion to Howard Scott Warshaw's must-see Once Upon Atari documentary. 

• Owning Your Home Computer
        Perry, Robert L.

0-896-96093-5; Everest House Publishers; 1980; $[?]; [?]p; [format?]. Notes: Deals mostly with old home computers, many of the machines discussed in the book were not widely marketed and are rather rare. Classic game material includes coverage of the APF Imagination Machine (computer upgrade for the MP-1000) and Intellivision's "keyboard component", as well as a short write-up of the planned computer upgrade for the Astrocade. There is a short reference to the Atari VCS/2600. (Which is odd, since it is one of the systems featured on the cover.) There are many B&W photos and diagrams. There is also a listing of each machine discussed, showing peripherals and software. Much of this hardware and software had not yet been released when the book was written - I suspect much of it never was. There are occasional inaccuracies, such as when the author states the Pong TV game preceded the Odyssey, but appears to be mostly accurate.

• Pac-Man and the Ghost Diggers
        Duncan, Brian and David Wilson

[ISBN?]; D W Systems, Inc.; 1982; $[?]; [25-30]p; PB. Notes: This book offers an easy 2 step method guaranteed for unlimited play and the 9th key pattern. Some copies may be autographed by Brian Duncan "World Champion 2-17-82".  This may have been a regional book.

• Pac-Man Are  You Ready? Secrets Revealed by World Champs
        Albano, John

0-307-11790-1; [Publisher?]; 1983; $1.25; [?]p; [Format?]. Notes: A Golden Look-Look Book. Mazes, cartoons, kid story. Still a neat item for a collection. Blue cover. Pac-Man pulling Baby Pac-Man in wagon.

• Pac-Man Collectibles (A Schiffer Book for Collectors.  With Price Guide)
        Palicia, Deborah

0-764-31554-4; Schiffer Pub Ltd.; 2002; $30; 160p; PB.

• Pac-Man Collector's Guide: A Definitive Review
        Bussler, Mark

1-973-18721-3; independent; October 2017; $25; 101p; PB.

• Pac-Man Guide Manual

[Author?]; [ISBN?]; [Publisher?]; 1999; $[?]; 127p; PB.  Notes: Only available in Japan.

• Pac-Man Riddle and Joke Book, The
        Thaler, Mike

0-671-46185-0; Pocket Books; 1982; $1.95; 122p; PB. Notes: By "America's Riddle King."  Children's book with simple black and white illustrations.

• Pac-Man:  An Activity Book

[Author?]; [ISBN?]; Whitman; 1982; $0.99; [?]p; COL?. Notes: Coloring, mazes, cut-outs, etc. A neat item. Cover shows Pac-Man playing a Pac-Man arcade machine.

• Pac-Man:  Birth of an Icon
        Terpstra, Arjan and Tim Lapetino

[1-789-09939-0; Titan Books; November 9th, 2021; $48; 340p; HC. Notes: For all the photos included, the exclusion of one showing a Ms. Pac-Man machine is glaringly odd considering the book covers the development of Crazy Otto/Ms. Pac-Man.

• Pac-Man - The Ultimate Key to Winning
        Mulliken, John D.

0-894-71173-3; Running Press; 1982; $1.95; 48p; PB.  Notes: Tips on both the home and arcade versions, however it’s anything but the “ultimate”.

• Pac-Man’s Method
        Iwatani, Toru

[ISBN?]; Enterbrain, Inc.; 2005; $[?]; 253p; PB.  Notes: Only available in Japan.

• Pac-Mania!  The Official Pac-Man Joke Book: 96 Pac Filled Pages of Biting Humour
        Schwarz, Haller

0-340-32805-3; Coronet Books; December 1982; $1.95; 96p; PB. Notes: Each page is a single, labeled, B&W illustration, such as “Count Pacula”, "Paccoon", and "Pac-Man solving the Rubik's Cube."  It’s possible The Pac-Man Riddle & Joke Book by Thaler is slightly more original, if you have to choose between the two. Note the spelling of "Humour" on the cover, denoting this is an import version.  Also, Haller Schwarz is not a person, but a group of people.

• Pac-Mania!  The Official Pac-Man Joke Book: 96 Pac Filled Pages of Biting Humor
        Schwarz, Haller

0-523-41925-2; Kensington Publishing / Outlet / Publications International, Ltd.; December 1982; $1.95; 96p; PB. Notes: There are two versions of this book: 1) $1.95 in dark yellow print in upper right. 2) Bigger $1.95 in black, towards lower right, below Pac-Man. Otherwise, they're identical.

• Pac-Mania: Top Strategies for Home and Arcade Pac-Man
        Consumer Guide

[ISBN?]; [Publisher?]; 1982; 64p, [$?]; SB.

• Paid to Play: An Insider’s Guide to Video Game Careers
        Rush, Alice, David Hodgson, and Bryan Stratton

0-761-55284-7; Prima Games; 2006; $19.95; 272p; PB.

• Parents Guide to Video Games
        Sheff, David

0-679-75282-X; Random House, Inc.; 1994; $[?]; 136p; PB. Notes: Same as Video Games: A Guide to Savvy Parents.

• Pause & Effect: The Art of Interactive Narrative
        Meadows, Mark S.

0-735-71171-2; New Riders Press; 2002; $45; 272p; PB.

• Perfect Game, The: Confessions of a Pac-Man Addict
        Balderramos, Tim

1-612-25014-9; Mirror Publishing; 2011; $[?]; 100p; PB.

• Personal Electronics
        (prepared by Market Research Division)

NO ISBN; Fairchild Publications; 1983; $[?]; 59p; [Format?]. Notes: Chiefly tables.

• Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames
        Bogost, Ian

0-262-02614-7; MIT Press; 2007; $37; 432p; HC.

• Phoenix:  The Fall & Rise of Home Videogames (preview edition)
        Herman, Leonard

NO ISBN; Rolenta Press; 1993; $0; [?]p; TPB. Notes: Leonard Herman: “This was the Phoenix 'prototype'. It contains the full text of the 1st edition through 1991. The booklet was bound by staples and doesn't contain any appendices or indexes. It was sent to prozines and fanzines editors. Fortunately one of the fanzine editors happened to be Chris Johnston who just joined the new magazine EGM2 and reviewed it in that magazine's second issue. This was going to be the final edition until I discovered self publishing.”

• Phoenix:  The Fall & Rise of Home Videogames
        Herman, Leonard

0-964-38488-4; Rolenta Press; 1994; $19.99; 296p; TPB. Notes: Leonard Herman: “The first edition with a memorable cover designed by myself. Actually I had assumed that the printers would be able to design a cover but learned too late that that service would take longer and be more expensive. The book itself had been designed on an IBM-compatible with a 286 processor using WordPerfect  6.0 for DOS. There are places in the book where the font changes for no reason at all and the formatting itself is very poor. There are no pictures and the book ends with 1993. There are appendices on Multimedia and Virtual Reality and separate indexes for subject matter and game titles.”

• Phoenix:  1994
        Herman, Leonard

NO ISBN; Rolenta Press; 1994; $0; [?]p; TPB. Notes: Leonard Herman: “I had intended to sell the prototype copy of Phoenix for $14 a copy. Several fanzines wrote reviews and mentioned this price. It was shortly before these reviews were published that I made the decision to actually have the book printed and bound. This drove the retail price up to $19.99. The final kicker was when  EGM2 reviewed the book with the $14 price. Since it wasn't fair in my mind that some people paid $14 (postage free!) while others paid $19.99 + $2.50 postage, I decided to include a bonus for all who bought the book at the $19.99 price. The result was Phoenix: 1994 which supplements the original book. This also was the basis for the 1994 chapter in the second edition although the two are not exactly the same. Originally I had hopes to release a yearly update to Phoenix but that idea didn't last too long.”

• Phoenix:  The Fall & Rise of Videogames (second edition)
        Herman, Leonard

0-964-38482-5; Rolenta Press; 1997; $19.95; 315p; PB. Notes: Leonard Herman: “The second edition omitted the word 'home' from its subtitle as more coverage was given to major historical arcade games. The book contained over 130 system photographs and screen prints; a major enhancement over the first edition, The typeset was completely redone and the book included three additional chapters covering the years 1994-1996. The appendices from the first edition were disposed in favor of new sections covering classic cartridge based computers and an introduction to the Internet. The two indexes in the first edition were merged together to form one large index. Keith Feinstein from the Electronics Conservatory (Videotopia) designed a nice colorful cover which unfortunately wasn't ready by the time the book went to print so I put together the Pong-type design and the logo.  There are scarce differences between the three printings of this edition. The second printing contains an Errata page instead of the mail-in coupon at the back of the book. The third printing updated the magazine and website appendices..”

• Phoenix: The Fall & Rise of Videogames (third edition)
        Herman, Leonard

0-964-38485-X; Rolenta Press; 2001; $24.95; 388p; PB. Notes: With the third edition, Phoenix was expanded to a new 8.5 x 11 size. This was done to provide larger photos.  Originally it was hoped that the photos would be in color but this had proved too costly.  New for this edition are chapters on 1997 through 2000; a cover gallery of American video game magazines and books, and several Focus-On sections containing information on pertinent people and companies.  Also new for this edition is a foreword by Ralph Baer, the father of video games.

• Phoenix IV: The History of the Videogame Industry
        Herman, Leonard

1-539-03129-2; Rolenta Press; September 2016; $40; 828p; PB. Notes: It's been 15 years since the last edition, and this one has more than twice as many pages.  Also new for this edition are forewords by Atari co-founder Ted Dabney and Wired magazine writer/editor Chris Kohler.

• Pilgrim in the Microworld
        Sudnow, David

0-446-37521-7; Warner Books; January 1984; [price?]; 227p; PB.  Notes: The paperback has a white cover; the hard cover has a black cover.

0-446-51261-3; Warner Books; 1983; $15.50; 227p; HC. Notes: The author does a psychological case study on himself as he becomes addicted to Breakout, and covers his visit to Atari HQ to talk to Brad Stewart (who programmed the Atari VCS/2600 version), on his quest for gaming strategies and insight (which btw, are excellent).

• Play Anything: The Pleasure of Limits, the Uses of Boredom, and the Secret of Games
        Bogost, Ian

0-465-05172-3; Basic Books; 2016; $20; 288p; HC. Notes:

• Play Consoles and Home Computers
        Forster, Winnie

3-000-10658-8; Gameplan; 2005; $31; 144p; PB.  Notes: Entirely in German.

• Playboy's Guide to Rating the Video Games
        Lowe Jr., Walter

0-867-21212-8; Playboy Paperbacks; 1982; $2.95; 266p; PB. Notes: 16 pages of B&W photo quality illustrations, including standard marketing pseudo-screenshots. Contains price list for the five home systems.

• Player's Strategy Guide to Atari VCS Home Video Games, The
        Electronic Games

0-440-17068-3; Dell; June 1982; 224p; $2.95; PB. Notes: From the editors of Electronic Games. Arnie Katz wrote the reviews and "Video” Frank Tetro Jr. (3rd-place winner of Atari's National Space Invaders Competition) the playing strategies. Other EG staffers who helped were Joyce Worley, Ross Chambelain, Bill Heineman (1st-place winner of Atari's National Space Invaders Competition), and Henry Cohen. The book also had help from people at Atari, Activision, and Games by Apollo.

0-140-06602-0; Penguin Books Ltd; 224p; $[?], PB.
978-0-140-06602-9; Penguin Books Ltd; 224p; $[?], PB.
 

• Playing Donkey Kong to Win
        Video Game Books, Inc.

0-346-12584-7; Cornerstone Library; 1982; $2.50; 32p; PAM. Notes: Color illustrations. The content is the same as any other how to win at Donkey Kong book.  How else would you play….to lose?

• Playing Ms. Pac-Man to Win
        Video Game Books, Inc.

0-671-45759-4; Wallaby Books; 1982; $2.25; 32p; PAM. Notes: Color illustrations. Brief notes on each level. Patterns (patterns?) drawn in parts on separate mazes to help comprehension. Includes seconds monsters stay blue on each board. Has very, very basic description of algorithm used for monsters & fruit movement that might be useful if it's true.

• Playing with Power in Movies, Television and Video Games
        Kinder, Marsha

[ISBN?]; University of California Press; 1991; $[?]; 266p; [Format?]

• Playing with Power in Movies, Television and Video Games: From Muppet Babies to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
        Kinder, Marsha

0-520-07776-8; University of California Press; 1993; $29.75; 280p; PB. Notes: Reissue / updated version of 1991 book of similar title.

• Power Up: How Japanese Video Games Gave the World an Extra Life
        Kohler, Chris

0-744-00424-1; Pearson Education; 2004; [$?]; 312p; PB.

• Programmers At Work
        Lammers, Susan

0-914-84571-3; Microsoft Press; 1986; [$?]; 384p; PB.  Notes: In-depth interviews with 19 notable programmers such as Pac-Man’s creator, Toru Iwatani.

• Programmers At Work: Interviews With 19 Programmers Who Shaped the Computer Industry
        Lammers, Susan

1-556-15211-6; Tempus Books; 1989; [$?]; 400p; PB.  Notes: Revised version of the original 1986 edition.

• Programming Games for Atari 2600
        Gutiérrez, Oscar Toledo

9781387809967; [publisher?]; October 31st, 2022; $30; 340p; PB.

9781387838141; [publisher?]; October 31st, 2022; $40; 340p; HC.  Notes: Contains all the elements needed to learn the 6507 assembly language, how to control the graphic elements of the TIA, create music and sound, and a step-by-step guide to the creation of five amazing games: Game of Ball, Wall Breaker, Invaders, The Lost Kingdom, and Diamond Craze.  Foreword by David Crane.

• Programming Games for Intellivision
        Gutiérrez, Oscar Toledo

9781387929085; [publisher?]; July 20th, 2018; $14.64; 2046p; SC.

• Programming Video Games for the Evil Genius
        Cinnamon, Ian

0-071-49752-8; McGraw-Hill/TAB Electronics; 2008; $24.95; 316p; SC.

• Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine
        St. Clair, John

0-764-55616-9; Wiley; 2004; $29.99; 501p; PB. Notes: A complete step-by-step guide on how to put your own MAME cabinet together from scratch. Includes a CD-ROM with diagrams, MAME software, Pain Shop Pro, and links to hundreds of other arcade projects.

• Project Arcade: Build Your Own Arcade Machine (2nd edition)
        St. Clair, John

0-764-55616-9; Wiley; 2004; $29.99; 501p; PB. Notes:

• Q*Bert and His Friends Coloring Book

[Author?]; [ISBN?]; Parker Brothers; 1983; $[?]; [?]p; COL?. Notes: Green cover with large "Q" on front.

• Q*Bert's Quazy Questions:  A Riddle Book to Make You Laugh

[Author?]; [ISBN?]; Parker Brothers; 1983; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?]. Notes: Blue; large "Q" on front; top is round like the "Q".

• Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System
        Bogost, Ian and Nick Montfort

978-0262012577; MIT Press; 2009; $22.95; 192p; HC.  Notes: Covers the ancestry of the Atari VCS/2600 (including Pong and the Atari Home Pong systems), the hardware design of the machine and its implications for creativity, and discusses many influential Atari VCS/2600 games (Combat, Adventure, Pac-Man, Yars’ Revenge, Pitfall, and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back). It is illustrated throughout, and written to appeal to technically inclined general readers as well academics studying all sorts of creative work in digital media.

• Regulating Videogames
        Jaffe, Martin S.

NO ISBN; American Planning Association; 1982; $10.00 ($5.00 to subscribers); 30p; PB?. Notes: Subject is Video games--Law and legislation--United States. Illustrated. American Planning Association, Planning Advisory Service report no. 370. Cover title:  "Regulating Videogames:  Mixed Results in the Courts (Reprinted from Land Use Law & Zoning Digest), by Edward H. Ziegler, Jr":  p. 25-30.

• Repairing Your Home Video Game: How to Save a Buck, While Your Kids Drive You Insane
        Jennings, Gordon

0-881-90277-2; Datamost; 1984; $9.95; 126p; PB. Notes: Covers basic electronics repair, logical troubleshooting, the repair of power adapters, joysticks, TV/Game switches, cartridges, and consoles for the following systems:  Atari VCS/2600, Atari 2600A, Sears Telegames, Sears Video Arcade, Mattel Intellivision I, Tandyvision, Sears Super Video Arcade, and the Atari 5200.  5200 coverage is extremely minimal. Good coverage on the Atari VCS/2600 models. Contains a part number listing of frequent problem components as well as a list of suppliers for repair parts.

• Replay: The History of Video Games
        Donovan, Tristan

0-956-50720-4; Yellow Ant; 2010; $19.95; 516p; PB.  Notes: Foreword by Lord British himself, Richard Garriott.

• Resting Your Thumb: Books about Video Games
        Hall, Porter B.

[ISBN?]; [Publisher?]; [Date?]; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?].

• Retro Gaming: A Byte-sized History of Video Games
        Diver, Mike

1-912-78510-2; LOM Art; August 1st, 2020; $15.49; 192p; HC.  It's actually a history of HOME video games, even though arcade graphics from Pac-Man and Space Invaders are featured on the cover.  Plus there's more photos than text.

• Retro Gaming Hacks: Tips and Tools for Playing the Classics
        Lowe, Al and Chris Kohler

0-596-00917-8; O'Reilly Media; 2005; $29.95; 437p; PB.

• Retro Pop Culture A to Z: From Atari 2600 to Zombie Films
        Weiss, Brett

[ISBN?]; Dark Dreamers Publishing; 2014; $4.99; 210p; digital.  Notes: Contains a section on the 2600.  A few other sections also briefly touch on games relating to it.  Only available in digital format (LINK).

• Revolution in the Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac was Made
        Hertzfeld, Andy

0-596-00719-1; O’Reilly Media; 2004; $24.95; 320p; HC.

• Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals
        Salen, Katie and Eric Zimmerman

0-262-24045-9; MIT Press; 2003; $52; 688; HC.

• Score! Beating the Top 16 Video Games
        Uston, Ken

0-451-11813-8; Signet; March 1982; $2.50; 191p; PB. Notes: Has the following on each game:  B&W illustrations of the controls and screen(s); basic objective; scenario; novice, good, and expert scores; controls; the board; characteristics, strategies, and other versions (if any at the time), which includes arcade sequels such as Space Invaders Part II and Asteroids Deluxe. Also has a very brief section on home systems and table-tops. This book is full of details on each game!  Roger Dionne interviewed Ken Uston in the December 1982 issue of Video Games.

• Scoring Big at Pac-Man:  How to Munch the Monsters
        Kubey, Craig

0-446-30507-3; Warner Books; 1982; $1.25; 48p; PAM. Notes: Poor B&W illustrations. Only three patterns, each drawn entirely in one maze, reducing comprehension. Chart showing board number, fruit, and number of seconds monsters will be blue. No patterns for home version.

• Screen Play:  The Story of Video Games
        Sullivan, George

0-723-26251-9; F. Warne; 1983; $10.95; 93p; HC. Notes: Juvenile literature. Includes index. Traces the development of video games since 1966 when an electronics engineer named Ralph Baer invented and marketed the Odyssey home game system.

• Secrets of the Video Game Super Stars
        Albin, Len

0-380-80614-2; Avon Books; 1982; $2.50; 186p; PB. Notes: B&W illustrations of varying quality, but most are quite good. Each chapter is based on hints from a person somewhere in the U.S. who had a world record on the game or close to it. The final chapter has short discussion on what's available for the home market and what new games are coming (such as Sub-Roc 3-D and the Atari 5200). Also mentions the unique arcade game, OOPS! by Larry Rosenthal and the introduction has some tips on Wizard Or Wor.

• Sega Arcade History
        Famitsu DC

• Sega Consumer History
        Famitsu DC

• Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA
        Pettus, Sam

1-463-57847-4; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 2012; $17; 396p; PB. Description: Welcome to the complete history of Sega; starting with its humble beginnings in the 1950's and ending with its swan-song, the Dreamcast, in the early 2000’s. Written by Sam Pettus and brought to you by Eidolon's Inn, Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA explains in detail the wondrous story of a gaming company that always flew on the cutting edge and ultimately lost everything. Complete with system specifications, feature and marketing descriptions, unusual factoids, and almost 200 images make this the definitive history of Sega available. Read and learn about the company that holds a special place in every gamer’s heart.  Notes: It's described as the "Complete history of Sega", although there's hardly any mention of Sega's arcade business, or the cartridges they put out for the VCS/2600, or the licenses they gave to Coleco for Buck Rogers, Subroc 3D, etc.

• Service Games: The Rise and Fall of SEGA - Enhanced Edition
        Pettus, Sam

1-494-28835-4; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 2013; $20; 480p; PB.

• Sex in Video Games
        Brathwaite, Brenda

1-491-07926-6; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; July 2013; $14.99; 396p; PB. Notes: Brenda Brathwaite (now married to John Romero) is an award-winning game designer, artist, writer and creative director who entered the video game industry in 1981 at the age of 15. She is the longest continuously serving woman in the video game industry. Brenda worked with a variety of digital game companies as a game designer or creative director, including Atari, Sir-tech Software, Electronic Arts and numerous companies in the social and mobile space. She is presently the Game Designer in Residence at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Loot Drop, a social and mobile game company. She is presently Game Designer in Residence at the University of California in Santa Cruz.

• Shoot the Robot, Then Shoot Mom
        Skelly, Timothy

0-809-25541-3; Contemporary Books; 1983; $4.95; 106p; PB. Notes: The most interesting part of the book is the back cover of the book, with him on top of a couple Reactor machines. The cartoons are kinda lame, but it's still an curious piece of debris from the golden age of coin-ops.

• Simon and Schuster Guide to Atari's My First Computer, The
        Goodman, Danny

0-671-49255-1; Holiday House; 1984; $5.95; 128p; PB. Notes: Apparently this book was for the computer add-on module for the Atari VCS/2600 that was never released. Perhaps the author had a prototype copy? Supposedly released in January 1984, but some websites listed the date as January 1992. Either way, try to find a copy, or even a picture of it, even though nearly a dozen online websites have a listing for it.
978-0-671-49255-7; Holiday House
 

• Smartbomb: The Quest for Art, Entertainment, and Big Bucks in the Videogame Revolution
        Chaplin, Heather and Aaron Ruby

1-565-12346-8; Algonquin Books; 2005; $24.95; 288p; HC.

1-565-12545-2; Algonquin Books; 2006; $13.95; 304p; PB.

• So What's Wrong with Playing Video Games?
        Berry, Joy Wilt

0-849-98169-7; Word, Inc.; 1982; $2.95; 48p; PB. Notes: Juvenile literature.  Appears to be the same book as We Can’t Afford It!  Discusses the negative parts of playing too many games and also how to schedule your time and money around other activities. Pictures by Bartholomew.

• Software People: An Insider's Look at the Personal Computer Software Industry
        Carlston, Doug

0-671-50971-3 Simon & Schuster; October 1st, 1985 (1st edition); $35; 280p; HC. Notes: The co-founder of Broderbund Software profiles a cross-section of the movers and shakers of the software industry, as well as some of the industry's current down-and-outs, with portraits of Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Budge, Joyce Hakansson, and others.

• Soul of a New Machine, The
        Kidder, Tracy

0-316-49197-7; Back Bay Books; June 2000; $9; 320p; PB, HC.  Notes: Pulitzer Prize winner Kidder's 1981 volume was published when mini-supercomputers were still the stuff of science fiction. How the world has turned. Though technology has grown immeasurably since then, this volume still serves as an interesting history of the machine that conquered the world. Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

• SPACE INVADERS La vera storia dei videogames
        Carlà, Francesco

88-86232-81-0; Castelvecchi Editoria & Comunicazione srl, Roma; 1993; L.20000; 402 pages. Notes: The author founded Simulmondo in 1988, which created many of the Amiga titles. This book may be interesting for someone who likes unknown Amiga and PC titles, since the "history" of video games is extremely approximative (he talks about sports titles but devotes just one page about "Mr. Shigaru Miyamoto, unknown Japanese inventor”).

• Space Invaders, The: In Search of Lost Time - The Complete Interviews
        Von Ward, Jeff

1-493-75637-0; CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; July 2013; $25; 814p; PB. Notes: The story of arcade video games and their surprising second life in basements and garages all over the country.  This book contained all the transcribed interviews with arcade game collectors interviewed during the course of the award-winning documentary film.

• Sparrow Book of Video Games, The
        Webb, Frank

[ISBN?]; Sparrow; 1982; $[?]; [?]p; PB. Notes: Cheesy obvious plagarism of Score! and How to Master the Video Games; some pages have been directly copied. There’s no indication of licensing, so it appears to be a blatant ripoff. Covers the same games as most of the others. Does have some coverage of tabletop/handheld games as well though.

• Sports Gamer: The Best in Sports Video Games
        Rubenstein, Glenn

[ISBN?]; [Publisher?]; [Date?]; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?].

• Storytelling in Video Games: The Art of the Digital Narratives
        Green, Amy M.

1-476-66876-5; McFarland & Company; December 8th, 2017; $45; 235p; PB. Notes: Beginning with the structural features of design and play, this book explores video games as both compelling examples of story-telling and important cultural artifacts.

• Study of the Toy Market, Videogame [sic] Industry, Psychological Role of Toys, and Toy Construction in Relation to a Proposed Promotion Campaign for Mattel Electronics Intellivision Video System, A
        Dodd, John Carroll

NO ISBN; NO PUBLISHER; 1982; NO PRICE; 56p; bound photocopy. Notes: Okay, so it isn't a book. It's a School of Art honors paper at Kent State University. It was too good to pass up. If anyone goes to K.S.U. to look it up, I'd appreciate a photocopy.

• Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1971-1984
        Burnham, Van

0-262-02492-6;  MIT Press; 2001; $49.95; 448p; HC.  Notes: Illustrated history of video games.

0-262-02420-1;  MIT Press; 2003; $29.99; 448p; PB.  Notes: Most of the photos used are either low-quality scans of arcade flyers or MAME screenshots, all of which can easily be found online.  Although Vanessa Burnham is credited as the author, she was mainly just the editor – several other well-known writers in the genre contributed, such as Leonard Herman (who wrote the chapter on the Atari VCS/2600), Steven Kent (who's not the most reliable as far as facts are concerned), Lauren Fielder, and Joe Fielder.  Burnham broke contracts with several of the contributors, a few of whom apparently were on the verge of suing her at the time.  It's also believed this book was the first instance Willy Higginbotham's computer tennis game was incorrectly referred to as "Tennis For Two"; the game was never formally given that name or any other.

As a side note, a VCS game called Escape from Supercade was to be produced in a very limited quantity, for release in conjunction with the book, but it didn't happen.  At least 1 was made and was shown at CGE2K, at which there was both a high score contest (the winner, David Nelson, was to receive the "prototype" show copy) and a drawing to give away 25 copies. Needless to say, nobody received any copies. Ebivision programmed the game but reportedly was never paid by Burnham, so 2 years later they renamed and released it as Power Off.  Vanessa Burnham first claimed there was a chip shortage for the reason the game wasn't released (for a 4K game?  Really?), and years later claimed the company who was making the carts for her went out of business, which they didn't (she offered that excuse 6 years after the company, Ebivision, ended up shipping the game under a different name).  She never publicly mentioned Ebivision, and never publicly sought help from anyone to make the carts.  In 2019, she apparently had a change of heart and finally sent out the 25 carts to those she had promised them to, 19 years later.

• Supercade: A Visual History of the Videogame Age 1985-2001
        Burnham, Van

1-737-98381-8;  Dynamite Entertainment; February 28, 2023; $45; 528p; PB.  Notes: Follow-up to what's best known as a very over-hyped crappy coffee table book, and priced at the cost of the original's hard cover edition.  Sure seems like a money grab to me.

• Teach Yourself Game Programming in 21 Days
        LaMothe, Andre

0-672-30562-3; SAMS Publishing; [Date?]; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?]. Notes: On page 799 he talks about ... you guessed it, Atari VCS/2600 Adventure, and how it "inspired" him to write the example game used in that chapter.

• Terrible Nerd
        Savetz, Kevin

1-939-16900-3; Savetz Publshing; 2012; $14.99; 256p; PB. Notes: Tech journalist-turned-Web publisher Kevin Savetz' biography of personal computing, gaming, and online adventures as a child in the '80s, and follows the author as an Internet pioneer in the early '90s and into his present-day Web success

• They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. 1: 1971-1982
        Smith, Alexander

1-138-38990-0; Routledge; November 19th, 2019; $72.34; 606p; PB. Notes: The first in a three-volume set that provides an in-depth analysis of the creation and evolution of the video game industry.  Unfortunately, one of the sources used is "Atari Inc: Business Is Fun", so expect some factual errors.

• Toyland:  The High-Stakes Game of the Toy Industry
        Stern, Sydney Ladenshohn and Ted Schoenhaus

[ISBN?]; [Publisher?]; [Date?]; $[?]; [?]p; [Format?]. Notes: It's a history on the toy industry with a great chapter on video games. It's got detailed information on Atari's downfall but also quite a bit about Mattel and Coleco plus some stories about 3rd party developers. Later in the book it focuses on the industry circa 1988-9.

• Trigger Happy: The Inner Life of Videogames
        Poole, Steven

1-841-15121-1; Fourth Estate; 2000; $[?]; 256p; HC.

• Trigger Happy: The Inner Life of Videogames
        Poole, Steven

1-841-15121-1; Fourth Estate; 2001; $[?]; 256p; PB.

• Trigger Happy: Video Games and the Entertainment Revolution
        Poole, Steven

1-559-70539-6; Arcade Publishing; 2000; $25.95; 264p; HC.  Notes: Examines the cultural phenomenon of the video game.

1-559-70598-1; Arcade Publishing; 2002; $[?]; 304p; PB.  Notes: Revised edition.

• Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age
        Berlin, Leslie

1-451-65150-3; Simon & Schuster; November 7th, 2017; $20; 512p; HC.  Notes: Leslie Berlin is Project Historian for the Silicon Valley Archives at Stanford University. She has been a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences and served on the advisory committee to the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. She received her PhD in History from Stanford and her BA in American Studies from Yale.

• TV Today
        Maccarone, Grace

0-590-32815-8; Scholastic; 1983; $[?]; 103p; PB. Notes: If you wade through the spectacular stuff about Amy Linker (?), Lee Curreri (??), Kathy Maisnik (???) and Stephen Collins (????), you'll find stuff on Pac-Man, the Atari VCS/2600, Intellivision, Colecovision, and even PlayCable, the ill-fated Intellivision version of the Sega Channel Pac-Man graphic in lower right corner of front cover.

• Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design, The
        Dille, Flint and John Zuur Platten

1-580-65066-X; Lone Eagle; 2008; $19.95; 272p; PB.

• Ultimate History of Video Games, The: From Pong to Pokemon - The Story Behind the Craze That Touched Our Lives and Changed the World
        Kent, Steven L.

0-761-53643-4; Three Rivers Press; 2001; $19.95; 608p; PB. Notes: Revised edition of First Quarter that came out a year later.  An extra chapter was added at the end, and overall the book is larger and 142 pages longer, but that's mostly due to the generous page margins.  A few typos and even a few facts were corrected, but the large majority of factual errors remaining, and it's not worth getting if you have the first edition.

• Ultimate History of Video Games, The: Volume 1
        Kent, Steven L.

0-761-53643-4; Crown; September 6th, 2001; $19.95; 624p; PB. Notes: Revised edition of The Ultimate History of Video Games, with a different cover and 18 more pages.

• Ultimate History of Video Games, The: Volume 2
        Kent, Steven L.

1-984-82543-7; Crown; August 24th, 2021; $18.99; 592p; PB. Notes: Follow-up to Volume 1, covering the newer systems from Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony.

• Ultimate Sega Game Strategies for the Master and Genesis Systems.
        Sandler, Corey and Tom Badgett

0-553-35312-8; Bantam Books; 1990; $9.95; 266p; PB.

• Unauthorized Atari 2600 Activision Companion Collector's Edition, The
        Salzman, Michael D.

1-976-99609-0; [publisher?]; January 25th, 2018; $11.99; 211p; PB. Notes: One in a series of short, quickly thrown together books from Salzman.  Kindle version also available from Amazon.

•   Unauthorized Atari 2600 Arcade Companion Volume 1, The
        Salzman, Michael D.

1-973-10220-X; [publisher?]; October 19th, 2017; $9.99; 188p; PB. Notes: One in a series of short, quickly thrown together books from Salzman.  Kindle version also available from Amazon.

•   Unauthorized Atari 2600 Arcade Companion Volume 2, The
        Salzman, Michael D.

1-976-77102-1; [publisher?]; December 31st, 2017; $9.99; 184p; PB. Notes: One in a series of short, quickly thrown together books from Salzman.  Kindle version also available from Amazon.

•   Unauthorized Atari 2600 Coleco Companion, The
        Salzman, Michael D.

1-980-68337-9; [publisher?]; March 28th, 2017; $4.99; 75p; PB. Notes: One in a series of short, quickly thrown together books from Salzman.  Kindle version also available from Amazon.

•   Unauthorized Atari 2600 Guide to Adventure, The
        Salzman, Michael D.

1-980-87707-6; [publisher?]; April 20th, 2018; $7.75; 38p; PB. Notes: One in a series of short, quickly thrown together books from Salzman.  Kindle version also available from Amazon.

• Unauthorized Atari 2600 Imagic Companion, The
        Salzman, Michael D.

1-980-56429-9; [publisher?]; March 15th, 2018; $4.99; 82p; PB. Notes: One in a series of short, quickly thrown together books from Salzman.  Kindle version also available from Amazon.