From treetops to tabletops: a preliminary investigation of how plants are represented in popular modern board games

Abstract

Plants have been elements in games throughout history. In an era where “digital pushback” is becoming more common, the impressions that representations of plants in board games have on an audience is not to be overlooked. By acknowledging the importance, beauty and history of the botanic world and its considerable impact on the daily lives of human beings connected to it, modern board games may offer an entertainment route towards awareness as well as an educational resource to challenge plant blindness. Summary. Plant blindness is the inability to appreciate plants in one's own environment, in the biosphere as a whole and their relationship to human affairs. Here, we discuss a community of interests in which we suggest that an appreciation of plants is vital for success: namely the world of modern board gaming. We present a classification system for the presentation of plants in the 500 most popular modern board games, where games are categorised based on their complexity, and representation and portrayal of plants. This initial mapping exercise defines a potential scope for the future analysis of how modern board games may offer a novel and interactive entertainment mechanism to challenge plant blindness and a framework for future analysis work in this area.