Abstract. We survey results and techniques in the topological study of simplicial complexes of (di-, multi-, hyper-)graphs whose node degrees are bounded from above. These complexes have arisen is a variety of contexts in the literature. The most wellknown examples are the matching complex and the chessboard complex. The topics covered here include computation of Betti numbers, representations of the symmetric group on rational homology, torsion in integral homology, homotopy properties, and connections with other fields.