Portal:Games
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Introduction
Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment.
A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually 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).
Games are sometimes played purely for entertainment, sometimes for achievement or reward as well. They can be played alone, in teams, or online; by amateurs or by professionals. The players may have an audience of non-players, such as when people are entertained by watching a chess championship. On the other hand, players in a game may constitute their own audience as they take their turn to play. Often, part of the entertainment for children playing a game is deciding who is part of their audience and who is a player.
Selected general articles
A lawn game is an outdoor game that can be played on a lawn. Many types and variations of lawn games exist, which includes games that use balls and the throwing of objects as their primary means of gameplay. Some lawn games are historical in nature, having been devised and played in different forms for centuries. Some lawn games are traditionally played on a pitch (sports field). Some companies produce and market lawn games for home use in a front or backyard. Read more...
Game of Charades involves single person acting out a phrase, with the rest of the group guessing the phrase.
A guessing game is a game in which the object is to use guessing to discover some kind of information, such as a word, a phrase, a title, or the identity or location of an object. A guessing game has as its core a piece of information that one player knows, and 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 well-known game of this type, and has spawned numerous commercial variants that involve differing rules on the type of communication to be given, such as Catch Phrase, Taboo, Pictionary, and similar. The genre also includes many game shows such as Win, Lose or Draw, Password and $25,000 Pyramid.
Many of the games are played co-operatively. In some games some player(s) know the answer, but cannot tell the other(s), instead they must help them to guess it. Guessing games are "readily adaptable for classroom use", as such a game "creates just enough tension to remain exciting, challenging, and competitive" for children, so long as the teacher designs effective rules "to eliminate unruly or unsportsmanship behavior". It has been noted, however, that children in therapy may initiate guessing games as a way to avoid talking about distressing issues, and that therapists who are using other kinds of games to facilitate communication should avoid being drawn into them. Read more...
Sport in childhood. Association football, shown above, is a team sport which also provides opportunities to nurture physical fitness and social interaction skills.
Sport includes all forms of competitive physical activity or games which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants, and in some cases, entertainment for spectators. Hundreds of sports exist, from those between single contestants, through to those with hundreds of simultaneous participants, either in teams or competing as individuals. In certain sports such as racing, many contestants may compete, simultaneously or consecutively, with one winner; in others, the contest (a match) is between two sides, each attempting to exceed the other. Some sports allow a "tie" or "draw", in which there is no single winner; others provide tie-breaking methods to ensure one winner and one loser. A number of contests may be arranged in a tournament producing a champion. Many sports leagues make an annual champion by arranging games in a regular sports season, followed in some cases by playoffs.
Sport is generally recognised as system of activities which are based in physical athleticism or physical dexterity, with the largest major competitions such as the Olympic Games admitting only sports meeting this definition, and other organisations such as the Council of Europe using definitions precluding activities without a physical element from classification as sports. However, a number of competitive, but non-physical, activities claim recognition as mind sports. The International Olympic Committee (through ARISF) recognises both chess and bridge as bona fide sports, and SportAccord, the international sports federation association, recognises five non-physical sports: bridge, chess, draughts (checkers), Go and xiangqi, and limits the number of mind games which can be admitted as sports. Read more...
A miniature wargame, Hannibal at the Gates, simulating a battle from Ancient Greece
Miniature wargaming is a form of wargaming in which players enact battles between opposing military forces that are represented by miniature physical models. The use of physical models to represent military units is in contrast to other tabletop wargames that use abstract pieces such as counters or blocks, or computer wargames which use virtual models. The primary benefit of using models is aesthetics, though in certain wargames the size and shape of the models can have practical consequences on how the match plays out. Read more...
A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls, and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the console, screen, speakers, and controls in one unit, allowing people to carry them and play them at any time or place.
In 1976, Mattel introduced the first handheld electronic game with the release of Auto Race. Later, several companies—including Coleco and Milton Bradley—made their own single-game, lightweight table-top or handheld electronic game devices. The oldest true handheld game console with interchangeable cartridges is the Milton Bradley Microvision in 1979. Read more...- Escape the room, also known as room escape or escape game, is a subgenre of point-and-click adventure game which requires a player to escape from imprisonment by exploiting their surroundings. The room usually consists of a locked door, objects to manipulate, and hidden clues or secret compartments. The player must use the objects to interact with other items in the room to reveal a way to escape. Escape the room games bore out of freeware browser games created in Adobe Flash, but have since become most popular as mobile games for iOS, and Android. Some examples include "Crimson Room", "Viridian Room", "MOTAS", and "Droom". The popularity of these online games has led to the development of real-life escape rooms all around the world.
Elements of escape the room games can be found in other adventure games, such as such as Myst and Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, where a complete puzzle is solved by evaluating the elements within a single room. Games like The Room may also present virtual puzzle boxes that are solved in a similar manner to escape games, by finding out how to open the puzzle box using visual clues on the box and around the environment. Read more... 
American board game Monopoly is licensed in 103 countries and printed in 37 languages.
A board game is a tabletop game that involves counters or pieces moved or placed on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Some games are based on pure strategy, but many contain an element of chance; and some are purely chance, with no element of skill.
Games usually have a goal that a player aims to achieve. Early board games represented a battle between two armies, and most modern board games are still based on defeating opponents in terms of counters, winning position, or accrual of points. Read more...
Dice games are games that use or incorporate one or more dice as their sole or central component, usually as a random device.
The following are games which largely, if not entirely, depend on dice: Read more...
Chess has been a popular board game for centuries
Tabletop games are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniatures wargames or tile-based games. Read more...- Platform games, or platformers, are a video game genre and subgenre of action game. In a platformer the player controlled character must jump and climb between suspended platforms while avoiding obstacles. Environments often feature uneven terrain of varying height that must be traversed. The player often has some control over the height and distance of jumps to avoid letting their character fall to their death or miss necessary jumps. The most common unifying element of games of this genre is the jump button, but now there are other alternatives like swiping a touchscreen. Other acrobatic maneuvers may factor into the gameplay as well, such as swinging from objects such as vines or grappling hooks, as in Ristar or Bionic Commando, or bouncing from springboards or trampolines, as in Alpha Waves. These mechanics, even in the context of other genres, are commonly called platforming, a verbification of platform. Games where jumping is automated completely, such as 3D games in The Legend of Zelda series, fall outside of the genre.
Platform games originated in the early 1980s, which were often about climbing ladders as much as jumping, with 3D successors popularized in the mid-1990s. The term describes games where jumping on platforms is an integral part of the gameplay and came into use after the genre had been established, no later than 1983. The genre is frequently combined with elements of other genres, such as the shooter elements in Contra, Beat 'em up elements of Viewtiful Joe, adventure elements of Flashback, or role-playing game elements of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Read more... 
Backgammon is a game of skill, strategy can give players advantages, but there is also an element of chance.
A game of skill is a game where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical skill, rather than by chance. Some commonly played games of skill include: poker, collectible card games, contract bridge, backgammon and mahjong.
However, most games of skill also involve a degree of chance, due to natural aspects of the environment, a randomizing device (such as dice, playing cards or a coin flip) or guessing due to incomplete information. Some games of skill such as poker may involve bluffing and other forms of psychological warfare. Read more...- A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by casual gamers. Casual games may exhibit any type of gameplay or genre. They are typically distinguished by simple rules and by reduced demands on time and learned skill, in contrast to more complex hardcore games. They typically impose low production and distribution costs on the producer.
Casual games are often played on a personal computer online in web browsers, but are also popular on game consoles and mobile phones. Casual gamers are typically older than traditional computer gamers, and more often female, with over 74% of casual gamers being female as of 2007. Read more... - A console game is a form of interactive multimedia entertainment, consisting of manipulable images (and usually sounds) generated by a video game console and displayed on a television or similar audio-video system. The game itself is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld device connected to the console, called a controller. The controller generally contains a number of buttons and directional controls such as analogue joysticks, each of which has been assigned a purpose for interacting with and controlling the images on the screen. The display, speakers, console, and controls of a console can also be incorporated into one small object known as a handheld game.
Console games usually come in the form of an optical disc, ROM cartridge, digital download or in the case of dedicated consoles, stored on internal memory. Read more...
Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), also known as action real-time strategy (ARTS), is a subgenre of strategy video games that originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, in which a player controls a single character in a team who compete versus another team of players. Often the objective is to destroy the opposing team's main structure with the assistance of periodically-spawned computer-controlled units that march forward along set paths; MOBA games can have other goals, like defeating every player on the enemy team. Player characters typically have abilities that improve over the course of a game and that contribute to a team's overall strategy. MOBAs are a fusion of action games, role-playing games and real-time strategy games, though MOBA players usually do not construct buildings or units and there is examples of MOBA games that cannot be considered RTS at all (Smite, Paragon).
The first widely-accepted game in the genre was Aeon of Strife (AoS), a custom map for StarCraft in which four players each control a single powerful unit and, aided by weak computer-controlled units, compete against a stronger computer. Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a map based on Aeon of Strife for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and The Frozen Throne, was one of the first major titles of its genre and the first MOBA for which sponsored tournaments have been held. It was followed by the two spiritual successors, League of Legends and Heroes of Newerth, and eventually a sequel, Dota 2, as well as numerous other games in the genre such as Heroes of the Storm and Smite. Read more...- A quiz is a form of game or mind sport, in which the players (as individuals or in teams) attempt to answer questions correctly. It is a game to test your knowledge about a certain subject. In some countries, a quiz is also a brief assessment used in education and similar fields to measure growth in knowledge, abilities, and/or skills.
Quizzes are usually scored in points and many quizzes are designed to determine a winner from a group of participants – usually the participant with the highest score. They may also involve eliminating those who get too many questions wrong, the winner being the last man standing. Read more...
A play-by-post role-playing game (or sim) is an online text-based role-playing game in which players interact with each other and a predefined environment via text. It is a subset of the online role-playing community which caters to both gamers and creative writers. Play-by-post games may be based on other role-playing games, non-game fiction including books, television and movies, or original settings. This activity is closely related to both interactive fiction and collaborative writing. Compared to other roleplaying game formats, this type tends to have the loosest rulesets. Read more...- Educational games are games explicitly designed with educational purposes, or which have incidental or secondary educational value. All types of games may be used in an educational environment. Educational games are games that are designed to help people to learn about certain subjects, expand concepts, reinforce development, understand a historical event or culture, or assist them in learning a skill as they play. Game types include board, card, and video games.
An educational game is a game designed to teach humans about a specific subject and to teach them a skill. As educators, governments, and parents realize the psychological need and benefits of gaming have on learning, this educational tool has become mainstream. Games are interactive play that teach us goals, rules, adaptation, problem solving, interaction, all represented as a story. They satisfy our fundamental need to learn by providing enjoyment, passionate involvement, structure, motivation, ego gratification, adrenaline, creativity, social interaction and emotion in the game itself while the learning takes place. Read more... 
Chess is one of the most well-known and frequently played strategy games.
A strategy game or strategic game is a game (e.g. video or board game) in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree style thinking, and typically very high situational awareness.
The term "strategy" comes ultimately from Greek, (στρατηγια or strategia) meaning generalship. It differs from "tactics" in that it refers to the general scheme of things, whereas "tactics" refers to organization and execution. Read more...- Pub games are games played in or outside pubs and bars, particularly traditional games that are or were played in English pubs. Most are indoor games, though some are played outdoors, e.g., in the pub garden or on the village green. Read more...
Girls playing "London Bridge" in 1898
A singing game is a activity for young children based on a particular verse or rhyme, usually associated with a set of actions and movements. They have been studied by folklorists, ethnologists and psychologists and are seen as important part of childhood culture. The same term is also used for a form of video game that involves singing. Read more...- A minigame (also spelled mini-game or mini game, sometimes called a subgame or microgame) is a short video game often contained within another video game, and sometimes in application software or on a display of any form of hardware. A minigame contains different gameplay elements than the main game, may be optional, and is often smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained. Minigames are sometimes also offered separately for free to promote the main game. For instance, the Pokémon Stadium minigames involve merely pressing a few buttons at specific intervals, with little complexity. Some minigames can also be bonus stages or secret levels. Read more...
- A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or an RPG as well as a computer role-playing game or a CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (and/or several party members) immersed in some well-defined world. Many role-playing video games have origins in tabletop role-playing games (including Dungeons & Dragons) and use much of the same, settings and game mechanics. Other major similarities with pen-and-paper games include developed story-telling and narrative elements, player character development, complexity, as well as replayability and immersion. The electronic medium removes the necessity for a gamemaster and increases combat resolution speed. RPGs have evolved from simple text-based console-window games into visually rich 3D experiences. Read more...
Did you know...
- ... that after Adriana Araújo won a medal at the 2012 Olympics, she said she would not compete at the 2016 Games, but was ultimately given one of the automatic qualification spots?
- ... that one member of South Sudan's delegation to the 2016 Summer Olympics was informed by email eight days prior to the Games that he would not be competing?
- ... that the Olympic boxer Joseph Cordina won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and was the only British gold medallist at the 2015 European Championships?
- ... that Spencer Weisz was the Most Valuable Player of the 18-under basketball competition of the 2013 Maccabiah Games?
- ... that Ruth Taubert Seeger represented the United States in the 1957 Deaflympics and was still competing successfully in the 2002 Senior Games of San Antonio?
- ... that Mauritian boxer Kennedy St-Pierre has won two gold medals at the African Games, one in the middleweight division and one in the heavyweight division?
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Selected images
Playing Cards, by Theodoor Rombouts, 17th century
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 on the board. The goal is to cover four squares in the row.
The Card Players by Lucas van Leyden (1520) depicting a multiplayer card game.
The Card Players, an 1895 painting by Paul Cézanne depicting a card game.
Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment.
Association football is a popular sport worldwide.
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In the news
- 12 February 2019 –
- Rikako Ikee, 18-year-old Japanese swimmer who won six gold medals at 2018 Asian Games, announces that she has been diagnosed with leukemia. (CNN)
