When Boardgames Meet Pop-Up Books: A New Frontier of Paper Engineering

Throughout this illustrated history series, we’ve journeyed from medieval volvelles worn by monks to the spectacular pop-up extravaganzas of Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart. We’ve explored pull-tabs, dioramas, and the art of paper engineering in its purest form. But what happens when the world of interactive books collides with the world of board games? The result is a fascinating hybrid genre that deserves its own deep dive.

Board games containing interactive books represent one of the most exciting developments in the 20th and 21st-century. These games use books not just as score keeping tools or rule references—they make the book itself the game board, the storytelling engine, and sometimes the most spectacular visual centerpiece of the entire experience.

A Brief History: From Adventure Books to Pop-Up Board games

The lineage of board games with interactive books traces back through several distinct threads:

• The first is the choose-your-own-adventure book tradition of the 1970s and 1980s, where readers made choices that determined the narrative path.

An example of how these books worked (although this one is in the form of a set of about 100 cards instead of a book) is Andor storytell. The pages/cards tell the story and somewhere while reading, the reader makes a decision, like:

• turn left,
• turn right,
• enter the center gate,
• ask someone a question,
• etcetera.

This decision triggers a move from that page/card to another one which is not strictly the next one. This happens over and over again thus, depending on the reader’s decisions, making every run through the book/stack of cards a new unique adventure …

… Examples of these are Andor StoryQuest: Dark trails, Robin Hood and Animals of Baker street. (All of these examples are from the 21th century, but the idea behind them is from the 1970’s).

• The second thread is the legacy (from novels, movies and comic books) board game movement, which emerged prominently around 2015 with games like Pandemic Legacy, introducing permanent changes to game components based on player decisions. So the book or movie serves as an inspiration for the board game. Some other examples of this are: Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit based games, Thorgal, Treasure island, Jaws and Robinson Crusoe. (As a true collector of everything Tolkien related I own a quite substantial collection of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit related board games and two of the pictures beneath show my cupboard where I stacked those).

• The third is also a thread that started in the 70’s and it is the most basic one considering the topic. Interactive or pop up books in relation to board games. In this thread we see the actual development of complete boards or puzzles that are printed on the pages of books, making them interactive. Examples of these are: Kijkspel, Thorgal, Sleeping Gods and Meadow expansion: adventure book. (I have to mention a different group of interactive books here too: Puzzle books. I won’t delve deep into the books containing Crosswords, Sudokus and Rebuses, but the ingenuity of these types of books is expanding quickly and some remarkable examples of those are the letter book containing a riddle to solve, like e.g. Dubious Documents (previously described in issue 5 of this blog post series)… and the quite new Murdokus and Murddles……, of which Murdokus are a variant of the Sudoku and Murdles are more like a variant on Cluedo, both requiring the reader to solve a murder.

• The fourth is a development where not legacy legends are translated into board games, but new stories are invented and they become legacies of their own. Books derive from these new stories. Although books are related to these board games, they are not really interactive, except maybe because little mini board game expansions were added, but for me that does not count them in).

Famous are Legends of Andor and Everdell. (The examples below even have maps of the newly invented worlds accompanying those board games).

But most of the above led to normal books like those of Andor and Everdell …

… or interactive books, like those of Thorgal and Sleeping Gods (see further down).

• The Fifth thread—perhaps the most relevant to our history—is the pop-up book tradition itself. For centuries, paper engineers created movable structures for purely aesthetic or educational purposes. It took the modern board game industry’s appetite for innovative mechanics and spectacular table presence to finally merge these worlds into what we now call “pop-up games” or “interactive book games.” It leads to Pop up books based upon board games (like e.g. The World of Warcraft Pop up Book by Matthew Reinhart) , but also the other way around to a board game which utilizes multiple pop ups. An example of this rather new thread is Wonderbook (and for now it is the only example I found).

Beneath I’ll delve deeper in the interactive and pop up examples of books connected with board games…

Kijkspel: Het Wilde Westen, De Riddertijd, and Ruimteavontuur

The Kijkspel (View Game/Spectacle Game) series represents a Dutch tradition of educational interactive books that evolved into board games. The series was published in the 1970’s. These titles form an important category in the history of interactive book-games, continuing centuries-old interactive book techniques for modern audiences.

Kijkspel 1: Het Wilde Westen (The Wild West)

An educational interactive book/game about the American Wild West that teaches children about frontier life, cowboys, and American history as part of the Dutch educational publishing tradition.

It s a classic kijkspel format with 4 board games including background info, paper pieces that can be cut out with scissors and glued to a piece of cardboard and game rules.

Kijkspel 2: De Riddertijd (The Knight’s Age/Medieval Times)

An educational interactive book/game about medieval knights and castles that teaches about medieval life, chivalry, castles, armor, heraldics and knights as part of the Dutch educational tradition teaching history through play.

It is a classic kijkspel format with 4 board games including background info, paper pieces that can be cut out with scissors and glued to a piece of cardboard and game rules. Games included are: The battle of Arsoef (De slag om Arsoef), Seize (Beleg) (of a Castle), Plunders (Rooftochten) and Tournament (Toernooi).

Kijkspel 3: Ruimteavontuur (Space Adventure)

An educational interactive book/game about space exploration that teaches about astronomy, spacecraft, planets, and space travel as part of the Dutch educational publishing tradition, bringing space age content to classic interactive book format.

Another classic kijkspel format with 4 board games including background info, paper pieces that can be cut out with scissors and glued to a piece of cardboard and game rules.

The series stopped after number 3.

 

Robin Hood and Its Expansions

Robin Hood (Base Game)

Robin Hood is a cooperative board game about Robin Hood and his band fighting against the tyranny of Prince John in medieval England. Players work together to outwit the sheriff and help the poor through a narrative-driven campaign with historical English folklore setting.

Uses book-based narrative mechanics where the story unfolds through pages. The interactive storybook elements reveal quests and plot developments, and the book-based mechanics require turning pages and making narrative choices that affect the cooperative game play.

Robin Hood: Friar Tuck (Expansion)

This expansion adds the beloved Friar Tuck character with new abilities and story lines, introducing additional quests, characters, and narrative branches that enhance cooperative game play with new character dynamics.

Introduces new book pages and interactive story elements, expanding the interactive book sections with new mechanical possibilities. The expansion adds more complex book-based mechanics requiring physical page interaction, deepening the narrative experience.

 

The Robin Hood series demonstrates how interactive book mechanics can enhance traditional board game settings. The folklore-rich setting of Sherwood Forest pairs naturally with the storytelling tradition of books, creating a cohesive experience where the medium reinforces the message.

Sleeping Gods

Sleeping Gods is a narrative adventure board game where players sail a steampunk airship on a quest to recover lost gods. Players choose destinations, make decisions, and record their journey as they travel between ports, encounter events, and collect artifacts. The game features a branching story with multiple endings based on choices made during play.

The game includes a beautifully illustrated journal/logbook that is CENTRAL to game play. The book becomes a tangible record of your adventure—players write, mark, and interact with it physically. The logbook is the primary interface, with no separate app or reference sheet needed. Interactive journal mechanics require players to physically engage with the book throughout the voyage.

Beneath you’ll see note cards, a log book, a story book which drives the narrative forward and an atlas which is a compilation of maps/boards which together form a large map/game board.

Sleeping Gods represents the pinnacle of the “journey log” approach to interactive book games. The book isn’t just a component; it’s the captain’s log, the map, the story, and the memory of your entire voyage. This recalls the medieval tradition of voyage narratives and the 19th-century tradition of explorer journals, but with modern game mechanics integrated throughout.

Thorgal

Thorgal is a board game based on the famous Belgian comic series by Jean van Hamme and Grzegorz Rosiński. Set in Viking-age fantasy combining Norse mythology with science fiction elements, it’s an adaptation of the beloved comic series’ storytelling approach where players experience the Thorgal universe through game mechanics.

Beneath is the Book of Tales, which drives the narrative forward via 10 scenarios…

Uses comic book aesthetics translated into board game mechanics. The comic book panels and sequential art influence game layout and presentation. Interactive elements are drawn from comic book page-turning and panel progression, creating immersive storytelling through book/comic-based narrative structure.

Beneath is the atlas, which is a compilation of game boards, one for each scenario…

Thorgal represents a unique intersection: the comic book tradition (itself a form of interactive sequential art) meeting board game mechanics. The Belgian comic series has decades of history, and the game translates that visual storytelling tradition into interactive game play.

Meadow: Adventure Book Expansion

Meadow: Adventure Book is a story-based experience where players explore journeys through different scenarios contained in a beautifully illustrated book. It’s an expansion that adds more variety to the core Meadow game, creating a legacy-like experience with scenarios that build up a campaign.

This is a hybrid product combining notebook and board game features. The beautifully illustrated book forms the core game play mechanism, continuing the highly appreciated artistic style by Polish artist Karolina Kijak. Players mark, and interact with the book itself as part of progression, making the book a personal artifact of your gaming journey.

 

Rather than spectacular pop-ups, Meadow uses the book as series of board games that represent different aspects of walks. The serene beauty of nature exploration through game play is enhanced by the tangible, personal nature of the journal.

Storyfold: The Dark Forest

Storyfold: The Dark Forest is an innovative solo narrative adventure game with beautiful artwork and an immersive campaign. Players experience a single-player narrative with progressive story development, making choices that affect story outcomes.

The title itself hints at the paper engineering at its heart—the “fold” in Storyfold suggests interactive book mechanisms. Beautiful artwork creates an immersive storytelling experience, and the book requires physical interaction to reveal story paths. Folding mechanisms and interactive book elements enhance immersion throughout the campaign.

As a solo narrative game, it creates intimacy through the book-based format, asking players to physically engage with the story mechanisms rather than simply reading passively. The book itself becomes the interface between player and narrative.

Wonder Book: The First Interactive Pop-Up Game

Wonder Book (dutch: This is the first ever interactive pop-up game. The game board IS a 3D pop-up book with an outstanding and interactive pop-up tree that draws crowds wherever it’s displayed. Each of the six chapters (called adventures) is neatly arranged in a different deck, and the pop-up book reveals different paths mechanically as players progress. Players must physically interact with all 3D mechanisms during real play—there’s no virtual simulation. The book literally becomes the game board and the pop up features influence the game play directly.

 

Created by an Italian designer living in Groningen, Netherlands, inspired by nostalgia for magical Italy, Wonder Book is revolutionary because it doesn’t just use a book as a component—it IS the book. The designer, who had never created pop-up books before, crafted a legacy game where opening each page reveals not just story text but a fully realized 3D game environment. This is the ultimate realization of what paper engineers have been working toward for centuries: making the book itself an active participant in the experience. Wonder Book was published earlier (it was released on May 31, 2021), then The Seven Trials of Rostam (mentioned earlier in this blog post series, which was published in November 2022). The spectacular centerpiece of Rostam must have been inspired by the main, spectacular pop up feature of Wonder Book. The used paper engineering technique where an elaborate pop up is flipped over by a pull tab is similar in both and I’ve not seen this anywhere else yet.

Why This Matters: The Convergence of Two Traditions

The emergence of board games with interactive books is not merely a novelty—it represents the convergence of two powerful traditions:

1. The interactive book tradition spanning centuries, from medieval volvelles to pop-up masterpieces
2. The board game tradition of tangible, shared experiences around a table

When these traditions merge, they create experiences where:

• The book IS the game board (Wonder Book, Thorgal)
• The book becomes a personal artifact (Meadow: Adventure Book, Sleeping Gods)
• The book drives narrative through physical interaction (Storyfold, Robin Hood)
• The book teaches through revelation and discovery (Kijkspel series)

 

The Paper Engineer’s New Challenge

For paper engineers, designing for board games presents new challenges compared to traditional pop-up books:

– Durability: Game books must survive repeated opening, closing, and manipulation during multiple play sessions
– Precision: Interactive mechanisms must work reliably every time, not just for aesthetic effect
– Functionality: Every pop-up or mechanism must serve game play, not just visual wonder
– Accessibility: Mechanisms must be understandable to players without prior paper engineering knowledge

This is the frontier where paper engineering meets game design—a place where the artistry of centuries past serves the interactive needs of modern gamers.

Looking Forward

As we’ve seen through this series, interactive books have constantly evolved: from serious scientific tools to playful tricks, from pull-tabs to spectacular pop-ups, from European masters to 21st-century laser cutting. Board games with interactive books represent the next logical step in this evolution.

The future may bring:

• More sophisticated pop-up game mechanics beyond Wonder Book’s pioneering work
• Integration of digital and physical interactivity (blending apps with paper mechanisms)
• Greater durability materials allowing more complex mechanisms
• Spread of the format beyond specialty publishers to mainstream board game companies

What began with monks rotating paper wheels to visualize astronomical data has become a medium where teenagers cooperate to fight dragons inside a 3D pop-up tree. The circle is complete: interactivity has always been about making knowledge and stories ACTIVE rather than passive.

Conclusion: The Book as Game, The Game as Book

Board games containing interactive books represent a fascinating synthesis. They honor the centuries-old tradition of paper engineering while pushing it into new territory. They respect the board game tradition of shared, tangible play while incorporating the intimate, personal nature of book-based storytelling.

Whether it’s the spectacular 3D pop-up tree of Wonder Book, the serene nature journal of Meadow, the immersive solo narrative of Storyfold, the cooperative adventure of Robin Hood, the steampunk voyage log of Sleeping Gods, the comic book heritage of Thorgal, or the educational traditions of the Kijkspel series, each of these games demonstrates that books and games are not opposites—they are complementary forms of interactive experience.

As The Wandelgek and The Booknook Librarian, I’ve collected interactive books for many years and studied their history deeply. Seeing them now integrated into board games is not just a novelty—it’s a testament to the enduring power of paper engineering to create wonder, to make stories physical, and to turn reading into doing.

The Wandelgek collects interactive books extensively and continues to explore their history. Most upcoming book-related posts will appear on Bluesky (The BooknookLibrarian) and Instagram (The Wandelgek), as well as on this weblog. Subscribe, follow, and engage to stay updated on upcoming posts in this series.