A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometim

es used as an educational tool.[1] Games are distinct from work, which is usuall
y carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression
of aesthetic or ideological elements. However, the distinction is not clear-cut,
and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of
spectator sports or games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an
artistic layout such as Mahjong, solitaire, or some video games).
Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games gene
rally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help de
velop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an edu
cational, simulational, or psychological role.
Attested as early as 2600 BC,[2][3] games are a universal part of human experien
ce and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are som
e of the oldest known games.[4]
Contents [hide]
1 Definitions
1.1 Ludwig Wittgenstein
1.2 Roger Caillois
1.3 Chris Crawford
1.4 Other definitions
2 Gameplay elements and classification
2.1 Tools
2.2 Rules
2.3 Skill, strategy, and chance
2.4 Single-player games
3 Types
3.1 Sports
3.1.1 Lawn games
3.2 Tabletop games
3.2.1 Dexterity and coordination games
3.2.2 Board games
3.2.3 Card games
3.2.4 Dice games
3.2.5 Domino and tile games
3.2.6 Pencil and paper games
3.2.7 Guessing games
3.3 Video games
3.3.1 Online games
3.4 Role-playing games
3.5 Business games
3.6 Simulation
4 See also
5 References
6 Further reading
Definitions
Look up game in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
Ludwig Wittgenstein
Ludwig Wittgenstein was probably the first academic philosopher to address the d
efinition of the word game. In his Philosophical Investigations,[5] Wittgenstein
argued that the elements of games, such as play, rules, and competition, all fa
il to adequately define what games are. From this, Wittgenstein concluded that p
eople apply the term game to a range of disparate human activities that bear to
one another only what one might call family resemblances. As the following game
definitions show, this conclusion was not a final one and today many philosopher
s, like Thomas Hurka, think that Wittgenstein was wrong and that Bernard Suits'
definition is a good answer to the problem. [6]
Children's Games, 1560, Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Roger Caillois
French sociologist Roger Caillois, in his book Les jeux et les hommes (Games and
Men),[7] defined a game as an activity that must have the following characteris
tics:
fun: the activity is chosen for its light-hearted character
separate: it is circumscribed in time and place
uncertain: the outcome of the activity is unforeseeable
non-productive: participation does not accomplish anything useful
governed by rules: the activity has rules that are different from everyday life
fictitious: it is accompanied by the awareness of a different reality
Chris Crawford
Computer game designer Chris Crawford, founder of The Journal of Computer Game D
esign, has attempted to define the term game[8] using a series of dichotomies:
Creative expression is art if made for its own beauty, and entertainment if made
for money.
A piece of entertainment is a plaything if it is interactive. Movies and books a
re cited as examples of non-interactive entertainment.
If no goals are associated with a plaything, it is a toy. (Crawford notes that b
y his definition, (a) a toy can become a game element if the player makes up rul
es, and (b) The Sims and SimCity are toys, not games.) If it has goals, a playth
ing is a challenge.
If a challenge has no "active agent against whom you compete," it is a puzzle; i
f there is one, it is a conflict. (Crawford admits that this is a subjective tes
t. Video games with noticeably algorithmic artificial intelligence can be played
as puzzles; these include the patterns used to evade ghosts in Pac-Man.)
Finally, if the player can only outperform the opponent, but not attack them to
interfere with their performance, the conflict is a competition. (Competitions i
nclude racing and figure skating.) However, if attacks are allowed, then the con
flict qualifies as a game.
Crawford's definition may thus be rendered as[original research?]: an interactiv
e, goal-oriented activity made for money, with active agents to play against, in
which players (including active agents) can interfere with each other.
Other definitions
"A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined b
y rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome." (Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerma
n)[9]
"A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions i
n order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal." (Greg
Costikyan)[10] According to this definition, some "games" that do not involve c
hoices, such as Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and War are not technically game
s any more than a slot machine is.
"A game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to
achieve their objectives in some limiting context." (Clark C. Abt)[11]
"At its most elementary level then we can define game as an exercise of voluntar
y control systems in which there is an opposition between forces, confined by a
procedure and rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome." (Elliot Avedo
n and Brian Sutton-Smith)[12]
"A game is a form of play with goals and structure." (Kevin J. Maroney)[13]
"to play a game is to engage in activity directed toward bringing about a speci c
state of affairs, using only means permitted by speci c rules, where the means per
mitted by the rules are more limited in scope than they would be in the absence
of the rules, and where the sole reason for accepting such limitation is to make
possible such activity." (Bernard Suits)[14]
"When you strip away the genre differences and the technological complexities, a
ll games share four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and volun
tary participation." (Jane McGonigal)[15]
Gameplay elements and classification
Games can be characterized by "what the player does."[8] This is often referred
to as gameplay. Major key elements identified in this context are tools and rule
s that define the overall context of game.
Tools
A selection of pieces from different games. From top: Chess pawns, marbles, Mono
poly tokens, dominoes, Monopoly hotels, jacks and draughts pieces.
Games are often classified by the components required to play them (e.g. miniatu
res, a ball, cards, a board and pieces, or a computer). In places where the use
of leather is well established, the ball has been a popular game piece throughou
t recorded history, resulting in a worldwide popularity of ball games such as ru
gby, basketball, football, cricket, tennis, and volleyball. Other tools are more
idiosyncratic to a certain region. Many countries in Europe, for instance, have
unique standard decks of playing cards. Other games such as chess may be traced
primarily through the development and evolution of its game pieces.
Many game tools are tokens, meant to represent other things. A token may be a pa
wn on a board, play money, or an intangible item such as a point scored.
Games such as hide-and-seek or tag do not utilise any obvious tool; rather, thei
r interactivity is defined by the environment. Games with the same or similar ru
les may have different gameplay if the environment is altered. For example, hide
-and-seek in a school building differs from the same game in a park; an auto rac
e can be radically different depending on the track or street course, even with
the same cars.
Rules
Whereas games are often characterized by their tools, they are often defined by
their rules. While rules are subject to variations and changes, enough change in
the rules usually results in a "new" game. For instance, baseball can be played
with "real" baseballs or with wiffleballs. However, if the players decide to pl
ay with only three bases, they are arguably playing a different game. There are
exceptions to this in that some games deliberately involve the changing of their
own rules, but even then there are often immutable meta-rules.
Rules generally determine the time-keeping system, the rights and responsibiliti
es of the players, and each players goals. Player rights may include when they ma
y spend resources or move tokens. Common win conditions are being first to amass
a certain quota of points or tokens (as in Settlers of Catan), having the great
est number of tokens at the end of the game (as in Monopoly), or some relationsh
ip of ones game tokens to those of ones opponent (as in chess s checkmate).
Skill, strategy, and chance
A games tools and rules will result in its requiring skill, strategy, luck, or a
combination thereof, and are classified accordingly.
Games of skill include games of physical skill, such as wrestling, tug of war, h
opscotch, target shooting, and stake, and games of mental skill such as checkers
and chess. Games of strategy include checkers, chess, go, arimaa, and tic-tac-t
oe, and often require special equipment to play them. Games of chance include ga
mbling games (blackjack, mah-jongg, roulette, etc.), as well as snakes and ladde
rs and rock, paper, scissors; most require equipment such as cards or dice. Howe
ver, most games contain two or all three of these elements. For example, America
n football and baseball involve both physical skill and strategy while tiddlywin
ks, poker, and Monopoly combine strategy and chance. Many card and board games c
ombine all three; most trick-taking games involve mental skill, strategy, and an
element of chance, as do many strategic board games such as Risk, Settlers of C
atan, and Carcassonne.
Single-player games
Most games require multiple players. However, single-player games are unique in
respect to the type of challenges a player faces. Unlike a game with multiple pl
ayers competing with or against each other to reach the game s goal, a one-playe
r game is a battle solely against an element of the environment (an artificial o
pponent), against one s own skills, against time, or against chance. Playing wit
h a yo-yo or playing tennis against a wall is not generally recognized as playin
g a game due to the lack of any formidable opposition.
If the computer is merely record-keeping, then the game may be validly single-pl
ayer.
Many games described as "single-player" may be termed actually puzzles or recrea
tions.
Types
See also: List of types of games
Games can take a variety of forms, from competitive sports to board games and vi
deo games.
Sports
Main article: Sport
Association football is a popular sport worldwide.
Many sports require special equipment and dedicated playing fields, leading to t
he involvement of a community much larger than the group of players. A city or t
own may set aside such resources for the organization of sports leagues.
Popular sports may have spectators who are entertained just by watching games. A
community will often align itself with a local sports team that supposedly repr
esents it (even if the team or most of its players only recently moved in); they
often align themselves against their opponents or have traditional rivalries. T
he concept of fandom began with sports fans.
Stanley Fish cited[citation needed] the balls and strikes of baseball as a clear
example of social construction, the operation of rules on the game s tools. Whi
le the strike zone target is governed by the rules of the game, it epitomizes th
e category of things that exist only because people have agreed to treat them as
real. No pitch is a ball or a strike until it has been labeled as such by an ap
propriate authority, the plate umpire, whose judgment on this matter cannot be c
hallenged within the current game.
Certain competitive sports, such as racing and gymnastics, are not games by defi
nitions such as Crawford s (see above) despite the inclusion of many in the Olym
pic Games because competitors do not interact with their opponents; they simply
challenge each other in indirect ways.
Lawn games
Lawn games are outdoor games that can be played on a lawn; an area of mowed gras
s (or alternately, on graded soil) generally smaller than a "field" or pitch. Va
riations of many games that are traditionally played on a pitch are marketed as
"lawn games" for home use in a front or back yard. Common lawn games include hor
seshoes, sholf, croquet, bocce, lawn bowls, and stake.
Tabletop games
Main article: Tabletop game
A tabletop game generally refers to any game where the elements of play are conf
ined to a small area and that require little physical exertion, usually simply p
lacing, picking up and moving game pieces. Most of these games are, thus, played
at a table around which the players are seated and on which the game s elements
are located. A variety of major game types generally fall under the heading of
tabletop games. It is worth noting that many games falling into this category, p
articularly party games, are more free-form in their play and can involve physic
al activity such as mime, however the basic premise is still that the game does
not require a large area in which to play it, large amounts of strength or stami
na, or specialized equipment other than what comes in the box (games sometimes r
equire additional materials like pencil and paper that are easy to procure).
Dexterity and coordination games
This class of games includes any game in which the skill element involved relate
s to manual dexterity or hand-eye coordination, but excludes the class of video
games (see below). Games such as jacks, paper football, and Jenga require only v
ery portable or improvised equipment and can be played on any flat level surface
, while other examples, such as pinball, billiards, air hockey, foosball, and ta
ble hockey require specialized tables or other self-contained modules on which t
he game is played. The advent of home video game systems largely replaced some o
f these, such as table hockey, however air hockey, billiards, pinball and foosba
ll remain popular fixtures in private and public game rooms. These games and oth
ers, as they require reflexes and coordination, are generally performed more poo
rly by intoxicated persons but are unlikely to result in injury because of this;
as such the games are popular as drinking games. In addition, dedicated drinkin
g games such as quarters and beer pong also involve physical coordination and ar
e popular for similar reasons.
Board games
Parcheesi is an American adaptation of a board game originating in India.
Main article: Board game
Board games use as a central tool a board on which the players status, resource
s, and progress are tracked using physical tokens. Many also involve dice or car
ds. Most games that simulate war are board games (though a large number of video
games have been created to simulate strategic combat), and the board may be a m
ap on which the players tokens move. Virtually all board games involve "turn-ba
sed" play; one player contemplates and then makes a move, then the next player d
oes the same, and a player can only act on their turn. This is opposed to "real-
time" play as is found in some card games, most sports and most video games.
Some games, such as chess and Go, are entirely deterministic, relying only on th
e strategy element for their interest. Such games are usually described as havin
g "perfect information"; the only unknown is the exact thought processes of one
s opponent, not the outcome of any unknown event inherent in the game (such as a
card draw or die roll). Children s games, on the other hand, tend to be very lu
ck-based, with games such as Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders having virtually
no decisions to be made. By some definitions, such as that by Greg Costikyan, th
ey are not games since there are no decisions to make which effect the outcome.[
16] Many other games involving a high degree of luck do not allow direct attacks
between opponents; the random event simply determines a gain or loss in the sta
nding of the current player within the game, which is independent of any other p
layer; the "game" then is actually a "race" by definitions such as Crawford s.
Most other board games combine strategy and luck factors; the game of backgammon
requires players to decide the best strategic move based on the roll of two dic
e. Trivia games have a great deal of randomness based on the questions a person
gets. German-style board games are notable for often having rather less of a luc
k factor than many board games.
Board game groups include race games, roll-and-move games, abstract strategy gam
es, word games, and wargames, as well as trivia and other elements. Some board g
ames fall into multiple groups or incorporate elements of other genres: Cranium
is one popular example, where players must succeed in each of four skills: artis
try, live performance, trivia, and language.
Card games
Main article: Card game
Further information: Collectible card game
Playing Cards, by Theodoor Rombouts, 17th century
Card games use a deck of cards as their central tool. These cards may be a stand
ard Anglo-American (52-card) deck of playing cards (such as for bridge, poker, R
ummy, etc.), a regional deck using 32, 36 or 40 cards and different suit signs (
such as for the popular German game skat), a tarot deck of 78 cards (used in Eur
ope to play a variety of trick-taking games collectively known as Tarot, Tarock
or Tarocchi games), or a deck specific to the individual game (such as Set or 10
00 Blank White Cards). Uno and Rook are examples of games that were originally p
layed with a standard deck and have since been commercialized with customized de
cks. Some collectible card games such as Magic: The Gathering are played with a
small selection of cards that have been collected or purchased individually from
large available sets.
Some board games include a deck of cards as a gameplay element, normally for ran
domization or to keep track of game progress. Conversely, some card games such a
s Cribbage use a board with movers, normally to keep score. The differentiation
between the two genres in such cases depends on which element of the game is for
emost in its play; a board game using cards for random actions can usually use s
ome other method of randomization, while Cribbage can just as easily be scored o
n paper. These elements as used are simply the traditional and easiest methods t
o achieve their purpose.
Dice games
Main article: Dice game
Students in Laos use dice to improve numeracy skills. They roll three dice, then
use basic math operations to combine those into a new number which they cover o
n the board. The goal is to cover four squares in the row.
Dice games use a number of dice as their central element. Board games often use
dice for a randomization element, and thus each roll of the dice has a profound
impact on the outcome of the game, however dice games are differentiated in that
the dice do not determine the success or failure of some other element of the g
ame; they instead are the central indicator of the person s standing in the game
. Popular dice games include Yahtzee, Farkle, Bunco, Liar s dice/Perudo, and Pok
er dice. As dice are, by their very nature, designed to produce apparently rando
m numbers, these games usually involve a high degree of luck, which can be direc
ted to some extent by the player through more strategic elements of play and thr
ough tenets of probability theory. Such games are thus popular as gambling games
; the game of Craps is perhaps the most famous example, though Liar s dice and P
oker dice were originally conceived of as gambling games.
Domino and tile games
Main articles: Tile-based game and Dominoes
Domino games are similar in many respects to card games, but the generic device
is instead a set of tiles called dominoes, which traditionally each have two end
s, each with a given number of dots, or "pips", and each combination of two poss
ible end values as it appears on a tile is unique in the set. The games played w
ith dominoes largely center around playing a domino from the player s "hand" ont
o the matching end of another domino, and the overall object could be to always
be able to make a play, to make all open endpoints sum to a given number or mult
iple, or simply to play all dominoes from one s hand onto the board. Sets vary i
n the number of possible dots on one end, and thus of the number of combinations
 and pieces; the most common set historically is double-six, though in more rece
nt times "extended" sets such as double-nine have been introduced to increase th
e number of dominoes available, which allows larger hands and more players in a
game. Muggins, Mexican Train, and Chicken Foot are very popular domino games. Te
xas 42 is a domino game more similar in its play to a "trick-taking" card game.
Variations of traditional dominoes abound: Triominoes are similar in theory but
are triangular and thus have three values per tile. Similarly, a game known as Q
uad-Ominos uses four-sided tiles.
Some other games use tiles in place of cards; Rummikub is a variant of the Rummy
card game family that uses tiles numbered in ascending rank among four colors,
very similar in makeup to a 2-deck "pack" of Anglo-American playing cards. Mah-J
ongg is another game very similar to Rummy that uses a set of tiles with card-li
ke values and art.
Lastly, some games use graphical tiles to form a board layout, on which other el
ements of the game are played. Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne are examples. I
n each, the "board" is made up of a series of tiles; in Settlers of Catan the st
arting layout is random but static, while in Carcassonne the game is played by "
building" the board tile-by-tile. Hive, an abstract strategy game using tiles as
moving pieces, has mechanical and strategic elements similar to chess, although
it has no board; the pieces themselves both form the layout and can move within
it.
Pencil and paper games
Pencil and paper games require little or no specialized equipment other than wri
ting materials, though some such games have been commercialized as board games (
Scrabble, for instance, is based on the idea of a crossword puzzle, and tic-tac-
toe sets with a boxed grid and pieces are available commercially). These games v
ary widely, from games centering on a design being drawn such as Pictionary and
"connect-the-dots" games like sprouts, to letter and word games such as Boggle a
nd Scattergories, to solitaire and logic puzzle games such as Sudoku and crosswo
rd puzzles.
Guessing games
Main article: Guessing game
A guessing game has as its core a piece of information that one player knows, an
d the object is to coerce others into guessing that piece of information without
actually divulging it in text or spoken word. Charades is probably the most wel
l-known game of this type, and has spawned numerous commercial variants that inv
olve differing rules on the type of communication to be given, such as Catch Phr
ase, Taboo, Pictionary, and similar. The genre also includes many game shows suc
h as Win, Lose or Draw, Password and $25,000 Pyramid.
Video games
Main article: Video game
See also: Electronic game
Video games are computer- or microprocessor-controlled games. Computers can crea
te virtual spaces for a wide variety of game types. Some video games simulate co
nventional game objects like cards or dice, while others can simulate environs e
ither grounded in reality or fantastical in design, each with its own set of rul
es or goals.
A computer or video game uses one or more input devices, typically a button/joys
tick combination (on arcade games); a keyboard, mouse or trackball (computer gam
es); or a controller or a motion sensitive tool. (console games). More esoteric
devices such as paddle controllers have also been used for input.
There are many genres of video game; the first commercial video game, Pong, was
a simple simulation of table tennis. As processing power increased, new genres s
uch as adventure and action games were developed that involved a player guiding
a character from a third person perspective through a series of obstacles. This
"real-time" element cannot be easily reproduced by a board game, which is genera
lly limited to "turn-based" strategy; this advantage allows video games to simul
ate situations such as combat more realistically. Additionally, the playing of a
video game does not require the same physical skill, strength or danger as a re
al-world representation of the game, and can provide either very realistic, exag
gerated or impossible physics, allowing for elements of a fantastical nature, ga
mes involving physical violence, or simulations of sports. Lastly, a computer ca
n, with varying degrees of success, simulate one or more human opponents in trad
itional table games such as chess, leading to simulations of such games that can
be played by a single player.
In more open-ended computer simulations, also known as sandbox-style games, the
game provides a virtual environment in which the player may be free to do whatev
er they like within the confines of this universe. Sometimes, there is a lack of
goals or opposition, which has stirred some debate on whether these should be c
onsidered "games" or "toys". (Crawford specifically mentions Will Wright s SimCi
ty as an example of a toy.)[8]
Online games
Main article: Online game
Online games have been part of culture from the very earliest days of networked
and time-shared computers. Early commercial systems such as Plato were at least
as widely famous for their games as for their strictly educational value. In 195
8, Tennis for Two dominated Visitor s Day and drew attention to the oscilloscope
at the Brookhaven National Laboratory; during the 1980s, Xerox PARC was known m
ainly for Maze War, which was offered as a hands-on demo to visitors.
Modern online games are played using an Internet connection; some have dedicated
client programs, while others require only a web browser. Some simpler browser
games appeal to demographic groups (notably women and the middle-aged) that othe
rwise play very few video games.[citation needed]
Role-playing games
Main article: Role-playing game
Role-playing games, often abbreviated as RPGs, are a type of game in which the p
articipants (usually) assume the roles of characters acting in a fictional setti
ng. The original role playing gamesor at least those explicitly marketed as suchar
e played with a handful of participants, usually face-to-face, and keep track of
the developing fiction with pen and paper. Together, the players may collaborat
e on a story involving those characters; create, develop, and "explore" the sett
ing; or vicariously experience an adventure outside the bounds of everyday life.
Pen-and-paper role-playing games include, for example, Dungeons & Dragons and G
URPS.
The term role-playing game has also been appropriated by the video game industry
to describe a genre of video games. These may be single-player games where one
player experiences a programmed environment and story, or they may allow players
to interact through the internet. The experience is usually quite different fro
m traditional role-playing games. Single-player games include Final Fantasy, Fab
le, The Elder Scrolls, and Mass Effect. Online multi-player games, often referre
d to as Massively Multiplayer Online role playing games, or MMORPGs, include Run
eScape, EverQuest 2, Guild Wars, MapleStory, Anarchy Online, and Dofus. As of 20
09, the most successful MMORPG has been World of Warcraft, which controls the va
st majority of the market.[17]
Business games
Main article: Team building
Business games can take a variety of forms, from interactive board games to inte
ractive games involving different props (balls, ropes, hoops, etc.) and differen
t kinds of activities. The purpose of these games is to link to some aspect of o
rganizational performance and to generate discussions about business improvement
. Many business games focus on organizational behaviors. Some of these are compu
ter simulations while others are simple designs for play and debriefing. Team bu
ilding is a common focus of such activities.
Simulation
Main article: Simulation game
The term "game" can include simulation[18][19] or re-enactment of various activi
ties or use in "real life" for various purposes: e.g., training, analysis, predi
ction. Well-known examples are war games and roleplaying. The root of this meani
ng may originate in the human prehistory of games deduced by anthropology from o
bserving primitive cultures, in which children s games mimic the activities of a
dults to a significant degree: hunting, warring, nursing, etc. These kinds of ga
mes are preserved in modern times