Ludic Interaction in Doctor Who - Game Play: Paratextuality in Contemporary Board Games - page 163

“play” the piano and children who “play” at imaginative games are both equally
participating in a rhetoric of play as imaginary.
In terms of imaginative ludic interaction, the Doctor Who games ofer
referents to the television series while forming completely new mechanics
and mechanisms that, even while echoing Doctor Who , do not mirror it. he
Interactive Electronic Board Game is themed around the irst series of the new
Doctor Who , featuring six diferent locations on the board, each of which matches
various places encountered by the Ninth Doctor: present day London; 200,000
years in the future on Satellite 5; 5 billion years in the future on Platform 1;
Victorian Cardif; 2012 in Utah; and London during the Blitz. At each location,
the player can imaginatively reexperience the Doctor's adventures. he game,
however, does not prescribe such readings. While in the Victorian London area,
for example, the game board displays an image of a horse-drawn carriage that
evokes moments from that episode; the image of Satellite 5 that accompanies
those spaces on the board similarly reminds players of the show. But the game
itself does not require, nor even reward, player knowledge of Doctor Who .
Although some versions of the game were produced that featured images of
the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) on the playing pieces, the version I
received depicted the Doctor in shadow—although the general outline of the
Ninth Doctor appears on the playing piece, there are few identifying marks and
it could be anyone (Figure 8.1). 20 Other fans have created their own version
of playing pieces that feature images of other Doctors as well. 21 he voice that
emanates from the Interactive TARDIS does not sound like that of any actor
Figure 8.1 Components of Doctor Who: he Interactive Electronic Board Game ©Toy
Brokers Ltd., 2005. Photo by the author.