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Board game

A board game is a game Game

A game is a structured or semi-structured, contrived [i], usually undertake ... 

 played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a "board" . Simple board games often make ideal "family entertainment" since they are often appropriate for all ages. Some board games, such as chess Chess

Chess is an abstract strategy [i] board game [i] and mental sport [i] for two pl ... 

, go ', xiangqi Xiangqi

x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor [i] architecture first developed and manufact ... 

 ', shogi Shogi

, or Japanese chess, is the most popular of a family of chess variant [i]s native to Japan [i]. ... 

, or oware Oware

Oware is an abstract strategy game [i] and the mancala [i] game most widely considered suitable for seri ... 

, have intense strategic value and have been classics for centuries. There are many different types of board games. Many games simulate aspects of real life. Popular games of this type include: *Monopoly Monopoly

In economics [i], a monopoly is defined as a persistent market [i] situation where there is only one pr ... 

, which simulates the real estate market *Cluedo Cluedo

Cluedo is a crime fiction [i] board game [i] originally published by Waddington Games [i], UK [i] ... 

/Clue Cluedo

Cluedo is a crime fiction [i] board game [i] originally published by Waddington Games [i], UK [i] ... 

,which simulates a murder mystery

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Encyclopedia

A board game is a game Game

A game is a structured or semi-structured, contrived [i], usually undertake ... 

 played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from, or moved across a "board" . Simple board games often make ideal "family entertainment" since they are often appropriate for all ages. Some board games, such as chess Chess

Chess is an abstract strategy [i] board game [i] and mental sport [i] for two pl ... 

, go ', xiangqi Xiangqi

x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor [i] architecture first developed and manufact ... 

 
', shogi Shogi

, or Japanese chess, is the most popular of a family of chess variant [i]s native to Japan [i]. ... 

, or oware Oware

Oware is an abstract strategy game [i] and the mancala [i] game most widely considered suitable for seri... 

, have intense strategic value and have been classics for centuries.

There are many different types of board games. Many games simulate aspects of real life. Popular games of this type include:

  • Monopoly Monopoly

    In economics [i], a monopoly is defined as a persistent market [i] situation where there is only one pr ... 

    , which simulates the real estate market
  • Cluedo Cluedo

    Cluedo is a crime fiction [i] board game [i] originally published by Waddington Games [i], UK [i] ... 

    /Clue Cluedo

    Cluedo is a crime fiction [i] board game [i] originally published by Waddington Games [i], UK [i] ... 

    ,which simulates a murder mystery
  • Risk, which simulates warfare


Other games only loosely, or do not at all, attempt to imitate reality. These include:

  • abstract strategy games like chess Chess

    Chess is an abstract strategy [i] board game [i] and mental sport [i] for two pl ... 

    , checkers Draughts

    Draughts or checkers is a group of abstract strategy [i] board game [i]s between two players w ... 

     or go
  • word games, like Scrabble Scrabble

    Scrabble is a popular word game [i] and board game [i] in which 2-4 players score points by forming word ... 

  • trivia games, like Trivial Pursuit Trivial Pursuit

    Trivial Pursuit is a board game [i] where progress is determined by a player's ability to answer general knowledge [i] ... 

    .


A new genre of board games, DVD games DVD TV game

A DVD TV game is a standalone game that can be played on set-top DVD players [i]. ... 

, was introduced into the marketplace in 2002 with the launch of the first edition of Scene It? Scene It?

Scene It? is a DVD TV [i] board game [i] in which players answer trivia [i] questions about ... 

 , and have spawned their own game category.

History


Board games have been played in most cultures and societies throughout history; some even pre-date literacy skill development in the earliest civilizations. A number of important historical sites, artifacts and documents exist which shed light on early board games. Some of these include:

  • Senet Senet

    Senet, a board game [i] from predynastic [i] and ancient Egypt [i] ... 

     has been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials of Egypt Egypt

    [i] country in [[North Africa]... 

    , c. 3500 BC and 3100 BC respectively . Senet is the oldest board game known to have existed, having been pictured in a fresco found in Merknera's tomb .
  • Mehen is another ancient board game from Predynastic Egypt.
  • The Royal Tombs of Ur Ur

    Ur was an ancient city in southern Mesopotamia [i], located near the original mouth of the Euphrates [i]... 

     contained, among others, the Royal Game of Ur. They were excavated by Leonard Woolley, but his books document little on the games found. Most of the games he excavated are now housed in the British Museum British Museum

    The British Museum in London [i] is one of the world's largest and most important museum [i]s of human history [i] ... 

     in London London

    London is the capital [i] city of England [i] and of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

    .
  • Buddha games list is the earliest known list of games.

Timeline

  • 3500 BC - Senet Senet

    Senet, a board game [i] from predynastic [i] and ancient Egypt [i] ... 

     found in Predynastic Egyptian burials.
  • 1400 BC - Game boards including alquerque Alquerque

    Alquerque is a board game [i] that is thought to have originated in the Middle East [i]. ... 

    , three men's morris, nine men's morris Nine Men's Morris

    Nine Men's Morris is a two-player strategy board game [i] with a long history in Europe [i]. ... 

    , and a possible mancala Mancala

    Mancala is a family of board game [i]s played around the world, sometimes called sowing games or ' ... 

     board etched on the roof of the Kurna Temple.
  • 200 BC - A Chinese China

    China is a cultural region [i] and ancient civilization [i] in East Asia [i]. ... 

     go board pre-dating 200 BC was found in 1954 in Wangdu County. This board is now in Beijing Historical Museum. .
  • 116-27 BC - Marcus Terentius Varro's Lingua Latina X contains earliest known reference to latrunculi Ludus latrunculorum

    Ludus latrunculorum, latrunculi, or simply latrones is a game played by the ancient Romans [i] ... 

    .
  • 79-8 BC - Liu Xiang's Shuo yuan, contains earliest known reference to Xiangqi Xiangqi

    x86 or 80x86 is the generic name of a microprocessor [i] architecture first developed and manufact ... 

    .
  • 1 BC-8 AD - Ovid Ovid

    Publius Ovidius Naso , a Roman [i] poet known to the English [i]-speaking ... 

    's Ars Amatoria Ars Amatoria

    The Ars Amatoria is a series of three books by the Roman poet Ovid [i]. ... 

     contains earliest known reference to ludus duodecim scriptorum Ludus duodecim scriptorum

    Ludus duodecim scriptorum, or XII scripta, was a tables game [i] popular during the time o ... 

     and the smaller merels.
  • 220-265 - Nard enters China China

    China is a cultural region [i] and ancient civilization [i] in East Asia [i]. ... 

     under the name t'shu-p'u
  • c.400 onwards - Tafl games Tafl games

    Tafl games are a family of ancient Germanic [i] board game [i]s played on a checkered bo ... 

     played in Northern Europe.


Board games first became widely popular among the general population early in the 20th century 20th century

The 20th century started on 1 January [i] 1901 [i] and ended on 31 December [i] 2000 [i], according to t... 

 when the rise of the middle class Middle class

The middle class, in colloquial usage, consists of those people who have a degree of economic independen... 

 with disposable income and leisure time made them a receptive audience to such games. This popularity expanded after the Second World War World War II

World War II, or the Second World War, was a worldwide [i] conflict [i] fought betwe ... 

, a period from which many classic board games date. Computer game Computer and video games

A computer game is a computer [i]-controlled game. ... 

s are closely related to board games, and many acclaimed computer games such as Civilization Civilization

The word civilization has a variety of meanings related to human society [i]. ... 

 are based upon board games.

Many board games are now available as computer games, including the option to have the computer act as an opponent. The rise of computers has also led to a relative decline in the most complicated board games, as computers require less space, and the games don't have to be set up and cleared away. With the Internet Internet

The Internet is the worldwide, publicly accessible network of interconnected computer network [i]s that ... 

, many board games can now be played online against a computer or other players . Some web sites allow play in real time and immediately show the opponent's moves, while most use e-mail to notify the players after each move .

The modern board game industry is rife with corporate mergers and acquisitions, with large companies such as Hasbro Hasbro

Hasbro is an American [i] toy [i] and game [i] company. ... 

 owning many subsidiaries and selling products under a variety of brand names. It is difficult to successfully market a new board game to the mass market. Retailers tend to be conservative about stocking games of untested popularity, and most large board game companies have established criteria that a game must meet in order to be produced. If, for instance, Monopoly Monopoly

In economics [i], a monopoly is defined as a persistent market [i] situation where there is only one pr ... 

 were introduced as a new game today, it might not meet the criteria for production.

Luck, strategy and diplomacy

One way of defining board games are between those based upon luck Luck

... 

 and strategy. Some games, such as chess Chess

Chess is an abstract strategy [i] board game [i] and mental sport [i] for two pl ... 

, have no luck involved. Children's games tend to be very luck based, with games such as Sorry!, Candy Land Candy Land

Candy Land is a simple racing board game [i]. ... 

 and snakes and ladders Snakes and ladders

Snakes and Ladders is a classic children's board game [i] played between 2 or more player [i]s on a play ... 

 having virtually no decisions to be made. Most board games have both luck and strategy. A player may be hampered by a few poor rolls of the dice Dice

A die is a small polyhedral [i] object, usually cubical, used for generating random number [i] ... 

 in Risk or Monopoly Monopoly

In economics [i], a monopoly is defined as a persistent market [i] situation where there is only one pr ... 

, but over many games a player with a superior strategy will win more often. While some purists consider luck to not be a desirable component of a game, others counter that elements of luck can make for far more complex and multi-faceted strategies as concepts such as expected value and risk management must be considered. Still most adult game players prefer to make some decisions during play, and find purely luck based games such as Top Trumps Top Trumps

Top Trumps is a card game [i]. The aim is collect all the cards in the pack. ... 

 quite boring.

The third important factor in a game is diplomacy Diplomacy


Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiation [i]s between representatives of groups or ... 

, or players making deals with each other. A game of solitaire Solitaire

Solitaire or Patience is any of a family of single-player card game [i]s of a generally similar ch ... 

, for obvious reasons, has no player interaction. Two player games usually do not have diplomacy, as cooperation between the two players does not occur. Thus, this generally applies only to games played with three or more people. An important facet of Settlers of Catan Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan is a multiplayer board game [i] invented by Klaus Teuber [i], first published in 1 ... 

, for example, is convincing people to trade with you rather than with other players. In Risk, one example of diplomacy's effectiveness is when two or more players team up against others. Easy diplomacy consists of convincing other players that someone else is winning and should therefore be teamed up against. Difficult diplomacy consists of making elaborate plans together, with possibility of betrayal.

Luck is introduced to a game by a number of methods. The most popular is using dice Dice

A die is a small polyhedral [i] object, usually cubical, used for generating random number [i] ... 

, generally six sided. These can determine everything from how many steps a player moves their token, as in Monopoly, how their forces fare in battle, such as in Risk, or which resources a player gains, such as in Settlers of Catan Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan is a multiplayer board game [i] invented by Klaus Teuber [i], first published in 1 ... 

. Other games such as Sorry! use a deck of special cards that when shuffled create randomness. Scrabble does something similar with randomly picked letters. Other games use spinners, timers of random length, or other sources of randomness. Trivia games have a great deal of randomness based on which question a person gets. German-style board game German-style board game

German-style board games are a broad sub-genre of board game [i]s that generally feature simple rules, a ... 

s are notable for often having rather less luck factor than in many North American board games.

Common terms


Although many board games have a jargon all their own, there is a generalized terminology to describe concepts applicable to basic game mechanics and attributes common to nearly all board games.
  • gameboard — the surface on which one plays a board game; the namesake of the board game, gameboards are a necessary and sufficient condition of the genre Genre

    A genre [i] is a division of a particular form of art [i] or utterance [i] according to cr ... 

  • Game Piece — a player's representative on the game board. Each player may control one or more game pieces. In some games that involve commanding multiple game pieces, such as chess, certain pieces have unique designations and capabilities within the parameter Parameter

    In mathematics [i], statistics [i], and the mathematical science [i]s, parameters are quantities that d ... 

    s of the game; in others, such as Go, all pieces controlled by a player have the same essential capabilities.
  • Jump — to bypass one or more game pieces and/or spaces. Depending on the context, jumping may also involve capturing or conquering an opponent's game piece.
  • Space — a physical unit Units of measurement

    The definition, agreement and practical use of units of measurement [i] have played a crucial role in hu ... 

     of progress on a gameboard delimited by a distinct border Border

    Borders define geographic [i] boundaries of political entities [i] or lega... 



References


Further reading

  • Fiske, Willard. Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic Literature—with historical notes on other table-games). Florentine Typographical Society, 1905.
  • Falkener, Edward. Games Ancient and Oriental, and How To Play Them. Longmans, Green and Co., 1892.
  • Austin, Roland G. "Greek Board Games." Antiquity 14. September 1940: 257–271
  • Murray, Harold James Ruthven. A History of Board-Games Other Than Chess. Gardners Books, 1969.
  • Bell, Robert Charles. The Boardgame Book. London London

    London is the capital [i] city of England [i] and of the United Kingdom [i]. ... 

    : Bookthrift Company, 1979.
  • Bell, Robert Charles. Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications, 1980. ISBN 0-486-23855-5
    • Reprint: New York New York City

      [i] in the [[United States]... 

      : Exeter Books, 1983.
  • Sackson, Sid Sid Sackson

    Sid Sackson was a significant American board game [i] designer and collector.

... 

. A Gamut of Games. Arrow Books Random House

Random House is a publishing [i] division of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann [i] bas ... 

, 1983. ISBN 0-09-153340-6
    • Reprint: Dover Publications, 1992. ISBN 0-486-27347-4
  • Schmittberger, R. Wayne. New Rules for Classic Games. John Wiley & Sons John Wiley & Sons

    John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is a well-known publishing [i] company [i] specializing in reference boo... 

    , 1992. ISBN 0-471-53621-0
    • Reprint: Random House Value Publishing Random House

      Random House is a publishing [i] division of the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann [i] bas ... 

      , 1994. ISBN 0-517-12955-8
  • Parlett, David. Oxford History of Board Games. Oxford University Press Oxford University Press

    Oxford University Press is a highly-respected publishing house [i] and a department of the University of Oxford [i]... 

    , 1999. ISBN 0-19-212998-8


Note that some these works may suffer from cultural bias—especially Murray's work which, despite being the standard reference, tends to assume Western Western culture

Western culture or Western civilization is a term used to refer to the culture [i]s of the people... 

 cultural superiority.

See also

  • List of board games
  • DVD games DVD TV game

    A DVD TV game is a standalone game that can be played on set-top DVD players [i]. ... 

  • Card game
  • Wargaming
  • BoardGameGeek BoardGameGeek

    BoardGameGeek is a website [i] started in January 2000 by Scott Alden and Derk Solko as a resource for t ... 

    , A community for board game enthusiasts

External links

  • [news://rec.games.board rec.games.board] - A Usenet newsgroup dedicated to board games


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