$78 for A Theory of Fun

 Posted by (Visited 5158 times)  Writing
Jan 022008
 

I’ve been getting emails about this a lot in the last few days. Yes, A Theory of Fun is currently not available. It apparently did not restock before the holidays, and promptly sold out. Copies are now going for over $75 on Amazon (!) up from $50 just a few days ago (!). Universities are contacting me asking if they should just pirate it for their spring semester classes.

I tried to reach the publisher today. Hopefully, we can get it all sorted out soon. I don’t get any royalties on the $75. šŸ˜‰

  10 Responses to “$78 for A Theory of Fun”

  1. I’ve had mine on backorder for a couple months now. Thanks for the update, was close to emailing you myself!

  2. No digital edition yet? Strange, considering that “Paraglyph Press books are sold and distributed by O’Reilly Media.”

  3. Amazon’s UK site (http://www.amazon.co.uk) has it listed at 15.99 GBP (roughly $32). Out of stock there as well though.

  4. Can you make it available as an eBook on the Kindle? If you have the right to do so, I think it costs you nothing and improves your share of the sale price. Does it have other down-sides (like pissing off your publisher)?

  5. Christopher: While having an eBook of the book would be awesome, the Kindle uses DRM and ought to be boycotted. I think the EFF is using the catchphrase “Kindle Swindle” for this case.

    Their page on it is here: http://defectivebydesign.org/DRMEbookFlyer

  6. I was shopping this holiday season for 2 ametuer authors this year. I wanted to find anything on the ideas of building communities with online tools to promote their material. Nearly every ‘trade paper’ and even a really old, but suprisingly accurate book written in 1998 were all unavailable. Seems like a hot topic, doesn’t it?

  7. GameStop will soon be selling “A Theory of Fun” rainchecks to those of you who were unable to buy a copy of the book this holiday season. Copies are guaranteed by 12/25/2008.

  8. I am a happy owner of A Theory of Fun. I got my copy on Christmas. The giver got it for like $15, which is great, because that’s more other things for me!

    I’m about half way done, but I’ll need to read it twice for it to register. I don’t fully retain things the first time. I am a gamer after all. Learn through doing…. heh.

  9. I was the happy owner of a copy until about an hour ago when UCSD bought mine on Amazon for $70. Thanks for the heads-up. XD

    Its a fantastic book, and I’ll be sure to buy it again when the price comes back down. But I’m a student myself and a $50 premium on a book was too much to ignore.

  10. […] University of California San Diego is the new owner of my copy of Raph Koster’s magnificent “A Theory of Fun for Game Design“. The book, which typically […]

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