Portal:Games

The Games Portal

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 video games) or art (such as games involving an artistic layout such as mahjong, solitaire, or some video games).

There are many types of games; popular formats include board games, video games, online games, and card games. Games can be played in a variety of circumstances, and some can be played even without any materials or company. Games can be played either for enjoyment or for competition; they can be played alone or in teams; they can be played offline or online.

In a notable, competitive setting, players may have an audience to watch them play. Examples of games that generally draw audiences are chess championships, e-sports, and professional sports. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

Arneson in 2008

David Lance Arneson (/ˈɑːrnɪsən/; October 1, 1947 – April 7, 2009) was an American game designer best known for co-developing the first published role-playing game (RPG), Dungeons & Dragons, with Gary Gygax, in the early 1970s. Arneson's fundamental early role-playing game (RPG) genre work pioneered now-archetypical devices, such as: cooperative play to develop a storyline instead of individual competitive play to "win"; and adventuring in dungeon, town, and wilderness settings as presented by a neutral judge who doubles as the voice and consciousness of all characters aside from the player characters.

Arneson discovered wargaming as a teenager in the 1960s, and he began combining these games with the concept of role-playing. He was a University of Minnesota student when he met Gygax at the Gen Con gaming convention in the late 1960s. In 1971, Arneson created the game and fictional world that became Blackmoor, writing his own rules and basing the setting on medieval fantasy elements. Arneson took the game to Gygax as the representative for game publisher Guidon Games, and the pair co-developed a set of rules that became Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). Gygax and Donald Kaye subsequently founded Tactical Studies Rules in 1973, which published Dungeons & Dragons the next year. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

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 1The 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 2Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment. (from Game)
Image 3 Men Playing Board Games, from The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript (from Board game)
Image 4This timeline was made with information from the Wikipedia articles on Board Game, Hasbro, Board Game Cafe, Tabletop Simulator, and Monopoly. All information on this timeline was from those Wikipedia pages as they were on November 24th, 2024 (from Board game)
Image 5An adventurer finds a teleportation portal while exploring a dungeon in the role-playing video game Falcon's Eye. (from Role-playing game)
Image 6Young girls playing a board game in the Iisalmi library in Finland, 2016 (from Board game)
Image 7A ball-in-a-maze puzzle requires fine motor skills. (from Game of skill)
Image 8Association football is a popular sport worldwide.
Image 9A selection of pieces from different games. From top: Chess pawns, marbles, Monopoly tokens, dominoes, Monopoly hotels, jacks and checkers pieces. (from Game)
Image 10Historically, 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 11Mamluk playing card (king of cups), c. 15th century (from Card game)
Image 12Students in Laos 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 13Backgammon is a game of skill. Strategy can give players advantages, but there is also an element of chance. (from Game of skill)
Image 14Two Qataris playing the traditional board game of damah (from Board game)
Image 15Parcheesi is an American adaptation of a Pachisi, originating in India. (from Game)
Image 16Painting in tomb of Egyptian queen Nefertari (1295–1255 BC) playing senet (from Board game)
Image 17A fantasy LARP group (from Role-playing game)
Image 18The Card Players by Lucas van Leyden (1520) depicting a multiplayer card game (from Game)
Image 19Playing Cards, by Theodoor Rombouts, 17th century (from Game)
Image 20Preferans, a trick-taking card game version popular in Croatia (from Card game)
Image 21The board game Monopoly is licensed in 103 countries and printed in 37 languages. (from Board game)
Image 22MUD interface for Furcadia (from Role-playing game)
Image 23A 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 24The modern German board game Catan is printed in 30 languages and sold 15 million by 2009. (from Board game)
Image 25Ancient 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 26Mehen game with game stones, from Abydos, Egypt, 3000 BC, Neues Museum (from Board game)
Image 27Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling tokens used in scoring and bidding of card games (from Card game)
Image 28The Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts (from Card game)