Jaakko Stenros

Jaakko Stenros (PhD) is a University Lecturer in Game Studies working at the Game Research Lab, Tampere University. He has published eleven books and a hundred articles and reports, and has taught game studies for fifteen years. Stenros studies play and games; his research interests include norm-defying play, game rules, queer play, role-playing games, pervasive games, game jams, and playfulness. Stenros has also collaborated with artists and designers to create ludic experiences and has curated several exhibitions at the Finnish Museum of Games. He lives in Helsinki, Finland.

Stenros is an author of The Rule Book: The Building Blocks of Games (2024), Playfulness, Play, and Games: A Constructionist Ludology Approach (2015), and Pervasive Games: Theory and Design (2009), as well as an editor of five books on role-playing games: Larp Design: Creating Role-Play Experiences (2019), The Magic of Participation (2017), Nordic Larp (2010), Playground Worlds (2008) and Beyond Role and Play (2004). He has also published three books are in Finnish; Pelit kulttuurina (2022) is a timely overview of games as culture, Seikkaluja ja sankareita (2018) provides an overview of tabletop role-playing games in Finland, while Minun pelihistoriani (2018) is an edited collection documenting personal play and gaming histories.