Submissions

2026 Call for Submissions

BGA is a conference and journal dedicated to the exploration of critical issues within the distinct yet overlapping communities of tabletop board and role-playing games.

Submissions for Volume IV in 2026 are now open. Submit your abstracts below.

 

Journal Description

While these communities are expanding, players, creators, and scholars of tabletop board and role-playing games have traditionally been late to addressing and including diverse representations and perspectives.

For instance, production companies such as Wizards of the Coast (best known for Dungeons & Dragons) have been criticized for their continued celebration of oppressive ideological perspectives, systems, and governments.

Our combined publication and academic conference aims to contextualize, historicize, and challenge the harmful ideologies rooted not just within gaming materials, but also their communities at large.

Submission Guidelines

Below is a summary of the guidelines for authors interested in submitting proposals for Volume IV of the journal and the 2026 Conference taking place in October at the Strong National Museum of Play.

For our 2026 issue, we welcome submissions from all disciplines, fields, and academic levels and affiliations. Works we are interested in publishing are reviews (800 words), commentaries (2000 words), and papers (3000-4000 words). 

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

  • issues related to the history of tabletop games and their play 
  • tabletop games in the class 
  • paratextual creation (fan and otherwise) within tabletop gaming communities
  • political economy of tabletop games
  • the mediated depictions of race, gender, sexuality, etc., within tabletop games. 
  • Tabletop games for therapeutic purposes
  • Usage and context of gaming in developmental processes

View a complete list of recommendations and author guidelines here. 

 

Submit Your Proposal

Abstracts of no more than 250 words for your paper and potential presentation should be submitted to submissions@boardgameacademics.com by February 28, 2026. Please also include a copy of your CV and preliminary works cited page as PDFs. Acceptance of proposals will be confirmed by April 1, 2026.

Authors whose proposals are accepted are invited to present at our Fall Conference, taking place in October 2026 at the Strong National Museum of Play. All presenters are tentatively accepted for publication in Volume IV of the journal, pending peer review.