Portal:Games

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The Games Portal

Ancient Egyptian ivory game board in the exhibition of Tutankhamun's treasure in Paris (2019)

A game is a structured form of play, usually undertaken for entertainment or fun, 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 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 come with present rules.

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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Elfern or Elfmandeln, is a very old, German and Austrian 6-card, no-trump, trick-and-draw game for two players using a 32-card, French-suited Piquet pack or German-suited Skat pack. The object is to win the majority of the 20 honours: the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and Ten in a Piquet pack or the Ace, King, Ober, Unter and Ten in a Skat pack. Elfern is at least 250 years old and a possible ancestor to the Marriage family of card games, yet it is still played by German children. (Full article...)

List of selected articles
Chess The Turk Wii Super Nintendo Entertainment System History of the board game Monopoly Chariot racing Dragon kill points GISHWHES The Mansion of Happiness Wizards of the Coast Royal Game of Ur Dave Arneson Robert Abbott (game designer) Magic: The Gathering Hyborian War Gary Gygax Golem Arcana Ogre (board game) Once Upon a Time (game) Tute The Harbingers Tafl games Pinball Arcade game World Chess Championship Pinochle Backgammon Blackjack Cribbage Game design Tic-tac-toe Gen Con Daldøs Dominoes Darts Dana Fischer Warhammer (game) Skat (card game) World of Warcraft Trading Card Game Trivial Pursuit Play-by-mail game Japan Shogi Association Frank Chadwick Collectible card game Liubo Contract bridge Button Men Xiangqi Stratego Star Fleet Battles

Did you know? - show different entries

...that the internet casino GoldenPalace.com won a bid to name a type of New World monkey: the GoldenPalace.com Monkey?
...that the F-Zero series of video games is renowned for its sheer visceral impression of speed?
...that Eduardo Iturrizaga became Venezuela's first and only chess grandmaster, at the age of 19?
...that the Pacific Pinball Museum (pictured) has 800 pinball machines in storage in a secret location?
...that in the computer game Crush, Crumble and Chomp! the player controls a disaster movie monster and destroys cities?

General images

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

Image 1Senet, one of the oldest known board games (from Board game)
Image 2Students 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 3Children's Games, 1560, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (from Game)
Image 4Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling tokens used in scoring and bidding of card games. (from Card game)
Image 5Parcheesi is an American adaptation of a Pachisi, originating in India. (from Game)
Image 6The oldest full deck of playing cards known, the Flemish Hunting Deck, c. 1475–1480, paper with pen, ink, opaque paint, glazes, applied silver and gold, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art from New York City (from Game)
Image 7The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts (from Card game)
Image 8Historically, 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 9The Mansion of Happiness (1843) (from Board game)
Image 10Tomb models of two men playing a game of liubo, Han dynasty (from Board game)
Image 11A fantasy LARP group (from Role-playing game)
Image 12Han dynasty glazed pottery tomb figurines playing Liubo, with six sticks laid out to the side of the game board (from Board game)
Image 13The Card Players by Lucas van Leyden (1520) depicting a multiplayer card game. (from Game)
Image 14Association football is a popular sport worldwide.
Image 15 Men Playing Board Games, from The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript (from Board game)
Image 16Hounds and Jackals (Egypt, 13th Dynasty) (from Board game)
Image 17Game of the District Messenger Boy (1886) (from Board game)
Image 18Ancient Egyptian ivory game board in the exhibition of Tutankhamun's treasure in Paris (2019) (from Game)
Image 19Preferans, a trick-taking card game version popular in Croatia (from Card game)
Image 20Backgammon is a game of skill. Strategy can give players advantages, but there is also an element of chance. (from Game of skill)
Image 21Young girls playing a board game in the Iisalmi's library in 2016 (from Board game)
Image 22Ancient Egyptian gaming 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 23The Card Players, an 1895 painting by Paul Cézanne depicting a card game, in Courtauld Institute of Art (London) (from Game)
Image 24Patolli game being watched by Macuilxochitl as depicted on page 048 of the Codex Magliabechiano (from Board game)
Image 25Royal Game of Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400 BCE (from Board game)
Image 26Playing Cards, by Theodoor Rombouts, 17th century (from Game)
Image 27A selection of pieces from different games. From top: Chess pawns, marbles, Monopoly tokens, dominoes, Monopoly hotels, jacks and checkers pieces. (from Game)
Image 28Two Qataris playing the traditional board game of Damah (from Board game)
Image 29Mamluk playing card (king of cups), c.15th century (from Card game)
Image 30The modern German board game Catan is printed in 30 languages and sold 15 million by 2009. (from Board game)
Image 31The 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 32Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment (from Game)
Image 33A 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 34An adventurer finds a teleportation portal while exploring a dungeon in the role-playing video game Falcon's Eye. (from Role-playing game)
Image 35The board game Monopoly is licensed in 103 countries and printed in 37 languages. (from Board game)
Image 36Typical MUD interface for God Wars II. (from Role-playing game)