As a kid growing up in the late 90s and early 2000s, I would absolutely devour every annual Guinness Book of World Records. It felt like a million little peeks into the extremes of life, the world, and human accomplishment that I would never have even considered looking into myself if it weren't all compiled into a printed format in front of me.

The 2020 Gamer's Edition has a similar appeal, though with a much narrower focus. The world it gives you a look into is the world of games, and the book makes an effort to stick to covering what's popular while still casting a wide net that hopes to cover all facets of the games industry. The coverage ranges from Resident Evil and Dark Souls to Mario and Sonic, touching on more niche releases such as Okami and Bayonetta along the way.

It's also worth noting that they have 14 pages exclusively dedicated to Fortnite-related content, because they know what sells.

One thing readers will notice, however, is that while the Gamer's Edition is a book made by the Guinness Book of World Records, it's not a record book exclusively. Yes, there are plenty of records on display (did you know someone beat Octopath Traveller in 52 minutes and 27 seconds?), the book has just as much of a focus on history and trivia.

photo: Phillip Moyer

It works, though, because the trivia scratches the same kind of general knowledge itch that the records do, so nothing really feels out of place.

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There is one major issue though, and its one that has to do with how long it takes for such a large publication to go to print. Despite being billed as a 2020 edition, much of the content is from 2018. While this doesn't cause many problems in sections devoted to long-running iconic franchises, it is made immediately obvious in the very beginning when the book focuses on all major gaming events that happened in 2018, and lists the 2018 games of the year.

Still, Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition 2020 is a fun little reference to flip through and learn some things that you probably didn't already know about characters and franchises you're already familiar with.

 

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