Portal:Games

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A game is a structured type of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. 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 enjoyment, 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. A toy and a game are not the same. Toys generally allow for unrestricted play whereas games present rules for the player to follow.

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational, or psychological role. (Full article...)

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Liubo (Chinese: 六博; Old Chinese *kruk pˤak “six sticks”) was an ancient Chinese board game for two players. The rules have largely been lost, but it is believed that each player had six game pieces that were moved around the points of a square game board that had a distinctive, symmetrical pattern. Moves were determined by the throw of six sticks, which performed the same function as dice in other race games.

The game was invented no later than the middle of the 1st millennium BCE, and was popular during the Han dynasty (202 BCE – 220 CE). However, after the Han dynasty it rapidly declined in popularity, possibly due to the rise in popularity of the game of Go, and it became totally forgotten. (Full article...)

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...that the virtual economy of massively multiplayer online games sometimes attracts virtual crime, which is punishable by real laws in some countries?
...that since 1998 All Nippon Airways has operated Pokémon Jets (pictured)?
...that the World Chess Hall of Fame originally used cardboard plaques to honor past grandmasters, and was located in the basement of a New Windsor, New York, building?
...that the Japanese role-playing game Night Wizard! was adapted into an animated television series consisting of thirteen episodes?
...that a 2009 Pennsylvania court case ruled that poker is a game of skill, thus not subject to the state laws related to gambling?

General images

The following are images from various game-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Hounds and jackals (Egypt, 13th Dynasty) (from Board game)
Image 2The Mansion of Happiness (1843) (from Board game)
Image 3Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling tokens used in scoring and bidding of card games. (from Card game)
Image 4Typical MUD interface for God Wars II (from Role-playing game)
Image 5A group playing a tabletop RPG. The GM is at left using a cardboard screen to hide dice rolls from the players. (from Role-playing game)
Image 6An adventurer finds a teleportation portal while exploring a dungeon in the role-playing video game Falcon's Eye. (from Role-playing game)
Image 7Patolli game being watched by Macuilxochitl as depicted on page 048 of the Codex Magliabechiano (from Board game)
Image 8Royal game of Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600–2400 BCE (from Board game)
Image 9Backgammon is a game of skill. Strategy can give players advantages, but there is also an element of chance. (from Game of skill)
Image 10The Card Players by Lucas van Leyden (1520) depicting a multiplayer card game (from Game)
Image 11Preferans, a trick-taking card game version popular in Croatia (from Card game)
Image 12Two Qataris playing the traditional board game of damah (from Board game)
Image 13Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment. (from Game)
Image 14Ancient Egyptian senet game board inscribed for Amenhotep III with separate sliding drawer, from 1390 to 1353 BC, made of glazed faience, dimensions: 5.5 × 7.7 × 21 cm, in the Brooklyn Museum (New York City). (from Game)
Image 15Playing Cards, by Theodoor Rombouts, 17th century (from Game)
Image 16The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts (from Card game)
Image 17Association football is a popular sport worldwide.
Image 18Senet, one of the oldest known board games (from Board game)
Image 19 Men Playing Board Games, from The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript (from Board game)
Image 20Historically, card games such as whist and contract bridge were opportunities for quiet socializing, as shown in this 1930s magic lantern slide photo taken in Seattle, Washington. (from Card game)
Image 21Han dynasty glazed pottery tomb figurines playing liubo, with six sticks laid out to the side of the game board (from Board game)
Image 22Mamluk playing card (king of cups), c.15th century (from Card game)
Image 23A selection of pieces from different games. From top: Chess pawns, marbles, Monopoly tokens, dominoes, Monopoly hotels, jacks and checkers pieces. (from Game)
Image 24The modern German board game Catan is printed in 30 languages and sold 15 million by 2009. (from Board game)
Image 25A ball-in-a-maze puzzle requires fine motor skills. (from Game of skill)
Image 26Students using 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. (from Game)
Image 27A fantasy LARP group (from Role-playing game)
Image 28Parcheesi is an American adaptation of a Pachisi, originating in India. (from Game)
Image 29The number of board games published by year (1944–2017), as listed on BoardGameGeek. Expansion sets for existing games are marked in orange. (from Board game)
Image 30The board game Monopoly is licensed in 103 countries and printed in 37 languages. (from Board game)
Image 31Young girls playing a board game in the Iisalmi library in Finland, 2016 (from Board game)