Reacting to the Past is an award–winning series of immersive role-playing games that actively engage students in their own learning. Students assume the roles of historical characters and practice critical thinking, primary source analysis, and argument, both written and spoken. Reacting games are flexible enough to be used across the curriculum, from first-year general education classes and discussion sections of lecture classes to capstone experiences, intersession courses, and honors programs.
Reacting to the Past was originally developed under the auspices of Barnard College and is sustained by the Reacting Consortium of colleges and universities. The Consortium hosts a regular series of conferences and events to support faculty and administrators.
UNC Press is proud to now be the publisher of Reacting to the Past game books, as of July 1, 2022. For more information on the transition, including book schedules, placing course adoption orders, and more, please contact Dino Battista at dino.battista@uncpress.org.
Examination copies and desk copies information (including how to request FREE electronic exam and desk copies) can be found on our For Educators page.
A list of currently available books is below–as well as the titles we have in process to be available following July 2022. Click on a title for more information.
Additional resources for instructors are available for many titles. Instructors do not need to be members of the Reacting Consortium to access these basic instructor materials for published games. All is needed is to set up an instructor account (to prevent students from accessing the role sheets, etc). Here’s the link for creating a non-member account.
Instructors are, however, encouraged to become members, and membership is offered at a minimal cost.
Visit the Reacting Consortium website for more information.
You are also invited to subscribe to the UNC Press RTTP email list. You’ll recieve email alerts whenever new game books are published. To subscribe, click this link.

Engines of Mischief
Technology, Rebellion, and the Industrial Revolution in England, 1817-1818
By Louise Blakeney Williams , Brendan Palla , Megan Squire
Reacting to the Past™
Published: October 2024

Ending the Troubles
Religion, Nationalism, and the Search for Peace and Democracy in Northern Ireland, 1997-1998
By John M. Burney , Andrew J. Auge
Reacting to the Past™
Published: October 2024

Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism, 1862-1864, Second Edition
By Marsha Driscoll , Elizabeth E. Dunn , Dann Siems Edited by Raymond A. Kimball , Amanda E. Rollinson By B. Kamran Swanson , Frederick H. Burkhardt
Reacting to the Past™
Published: October 2024

Constantine and the Council of Nicaea, Second Edition
Defining Orthodoxy and Heresy in Christianity, 325 CE
Reacting to the Past™
Published: October 2024

Bacon's Rebellion, 1676-1677
Race, Class, and Frontier Conflict in Colonial Virginia
By Verdis LeVar Robinson , Paul Otto
Reacting to the Past™
Published: March 2024

Watergate, 1973-1974
Reacting to the Past™
Published: December 2023

The Crisis of Catiline
Rome, 63 BCE
Reacting to the Past™
Published: October 2023

Wrestling with the Reformation in Augsburg, 1530
Reacting to the Past™
Published: October 2023

The Prado Museum Expansion
The Diverse Art of Latin America
Reacting to the Past™
Published: September 2023

Greenwich Village, 1913, Second Edition
Suffrage, Labor, and the New Woman
Reacting to the Past™
Published: April 2023