Play Matters

Resources

We write about play as seriously as we play it. Here are our essays and reviews, the notes from the table, and the „Science of Play” pillar pages — with author, date and sources on show.

Reviews 4At the Table 2Essays 2Science of Play 1
Close-up of the Everdell board with a brown wooden moose figure carrying a pale worker meeple across a green forest landscape dotted with resource tokens and cards.

FeaturedReviews

Everdell: Seasons of Endless Charm

The game that started it all — and why I keep returning to its gentle woodland valley.

Ioana Vulturar4 min read

Articles

Rows of Wingspan bird cards with pastel eggs placed on them, seen at a low angle across the player mat.

Reviews

Wingspan – When Birds Get Intense

Wingspan: charming on the surface, intense underneath. On components, illustration and quiet competition. An essay by Ioana Vulturar.

Ioana Vulturar3 min read

A hand holds an Unconscious Mind card illustrated with a figure leaping in a sunlit attic bedroom, above the blurred game board.

Essays

Is it just a game?

Is it just a game? On how board games reshaped the way I live. An essay by Ioana Vulturar.

Ioana Vulturar2 min read

Reference shelf

Pages written slowly and revised: the science of play, the ecosystem, and the first „From the Table” piece.

Why play matters — what the research says

What research syntheses say about play — and, just as important, what they don't.

When play becomes infrastructure

In Wales play is public policy; in Switzerland toy libraries form a national network. What that means for Cluj.

Un joc, două faze: masa și ecoul

Why the conversation after a game is half the game — the first „La masă” piece (in Romanian).

in Romanian

The Play Matters team

We publish 1–2 pieces a month — in a month with an event, the note from the table is the piece. We prefer a kept rhythm to big promises.