The Rules We Break Lessons in Play, Thinking, and Design

Games and exercises to help designers understand how people think, how systems work, and how a design process can unfold.

Exercises in Play, Systems, and Design is a collection of hands-on, real-world exercises for designers of all kinds. Games and play can help designers understand how people think, how systems work, and how a design process can unfold. The exercises are sometimes played on a tabletop, and sometimes are physical and social games, but they are all thought-provoking and (of course!) very fun to play. The book is divided into three sections, games that can be played in 30 minutes, 2 hours, and a day or more. They are valuable for anyone who wants to know more about how people think, how systems work, how to create meaningful experiences, and how to redesign the world for the better.

Short, inspirational essays begin each section, where readers learn about productive collaboration, creative problem solving, how to communicate ideas, and analyzing how systems work.

Eric Zimmerman is a game designer and Professor of Game Design at the NYU Game Center, a program he helped design at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.