Games are a popular diversion for people during leisure time. They provide us with entertainment, relieve stress, and promote good health. A game can be made up of anything that people want to do, but generally we consider games to have three broad categories: board games, card games, and computer games. There is considerable debate over what constitutes a game, so I will limit this article to games that can be safely called “games.”
Noun. a solitary game: the single-player common experience. The common experience refers to the shared experience of being a participant in a game with other players; it is usually interpersonal. the material or substance used in playing particular games: a retail store selling games and toys, a sports store offering baseball tickets or footballs, a club selling games and pool cues.
Adjective. a game in which there is no direct involvement of any participants: the ‘medal necklace’ game, or the game where one player acts as if they are a character in a story. In a tournament setting, a ‘game’ is considered to be an established competition, with fixed rules and parameters. A good game is defined by having a defined set of rules with emergent rules (based on shared experience) that are continually being refined and tested as the competition progresses and grows. A tournament game requires a set number of moves, established rules that can be changed to adjust the outcome of the competition.
Game includes everything that surrounds the rules of a game. Some examples are the rules for chess and backgammon. The word ‘game’ can also include non-player interaction, where each player acts in concert with every other person, without reference to anyone else. This includes a group of people playing a board game such as baccarat, in which all the players are strangers to each other, where the only thing that is visible to the other players is the game rules.
Solitaire games require a lot of thinking. For example, in a game like spades, where all the players to see all the squares that can have a marble in them, each player sees all of the squares that do not contain a marble. Therefore, it follows that there is no way to tell what the other players are seeing. Every player has to use their own judgment and estimation in arriving at the value of a stone. They do not need to consult anyone else about their estimates, since they are unable to see what other players are seeing.
There are many ways in which to play games with real world physics. People who are good at physics and real-world games can use this knowledge to create and develop new games, while those less skilled may find it difficult to apply their knowledge and creativity to real world situations. These people can therefore profit from a good game of brick breaker, even if they do not learn how to actually build a house.