History of games
Encyclopedia
The history of games dates to the ancient past. Game
s are an integral part of all societies. Like work and relationships, they are an expression of some basic part of the human nature. Games are formalized expressions of play which allow people to go beyond immediate imagination
and direct physical activity. Games capture the ideas and behaviors of people at one period of time and carry that through time to their descendants
. Games like Liubo
, Xiangqi
, and Go illustrate the thinking of the military leaders who employed them centuries ago. When archaeologists excavate an ancient society they find artefacts related to living, working, family and social activities, games often become an archival record of how individuals and groups played in earlier times.
appear to be among the earliest pieces of specialised gaming equipment used by humans, having been used throughout Asia
since before recorded history, the oldest known examples being a 3000-year-old set unearthed at an archaeological site in southeastern Iran
. Notable dice games have included Hazard
, a game popular in Europe
from the 14th through the 18th centuries, Chuck-a-luck
, a related game also known as birdcage, Craps
, which replaced Hazard in popularity during the 19th century, and Sic bo
, a Far East
ern Chuck-a-luck variant which evolved into a popular casino game
in the 20th century.
writings no later than 1900. The earliest definite references to Chinese dominoes
are found in the literature of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), while Western-style dominoes
are a more recent variation, with the earliest examples being of early-18th century Italian
design. The tile game Mahjong
, also of Chinese origin, first appears in the written record in the mid-19th century, and was first mentioned in a publication written in a language other than Chinese in 1895.
s discovered by archaeologists and historians are a number of games the exact rules of which have been forgotten, with rules sometimes being completely unknown today and sometimes being only partially understood, although in many cases proposed or theorised rulesets for these games have been offered by historians and board game manufacturers. Among the earliest examples of board games whose rules have been lost is Senet
, a game found in Predynastic
and First Dynasty
burial sites in Egypt
(circa 3500 BCE and 3100 BCE, respectively) and in heiroglyphs dating to around 3100 BCE.
The extinct Chinese board game Liubo
was immensely popular during the Han Dynasty
(202 BCE-220 CE). Early Chinese records indicate that Liubo was already a popular game by the Warring States Period
(476 BCE - 221 BCE). Although the game's rules have been lost, gameplay was apparently not unlike Senet in that playing pieces were moved about a board using sticks thrown to determine movements.
The Tafl games
were a family of ancient Germanic and Celtic board games played across much of Northern Europe
from earlier than 400
CE until the 12th century, although the rules of the games were never explicitly recorded and are only partially understood today.
, or Game of Twenty Squares, dated from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BCE, has been documented as still being played in Iraq
.
Go, also known as Weiqi, Igo, or Baduk (in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, respectively), has been evident in the archaeological record as far back as 200 BCE - 200 CE, with the earliest definite literary references dating to the 4th century BCE, and possible references occurring earlier. Go is played by an estimated 27 million people throughout the world today, professionally in many countries
.
Backgammon
, which came into its current form in the 6th or 7th century CE, is closely related to similar games dating back even further, excavations at Shahr-e Sokhteh in Iran
having shown examples of such games dated as early as 3000 BCE.
The earliest evidence of Mancala
consists of fragments of pottery boards and several rock cuts found in Aksumite in Ethiopia
, Matara
(now in Eritrea
), and Yeha
(also in Ethiopia), which have been dated by archaeologists to between the 6th and 7th century CE. The game is today played worldwide, with many distinct variants representing different regions of the Third World
.
Nine Men's Morris
and its variants, which likely emerged from the Roman Empire
, peaked in popularity in medieval England. Along with other significant games of the period, it is both described and depicted in the Libro de los juegos
, completed in 1283.
, a board game which developed in India
during the 6th century CE, was the apparent common ancestor of Xiangqi
(Chinese
; the earliest Xiangqi pieces yet discovered dating from the Song dynasty
, 960
- 1279 and the earliest definite written source being the Xuanguai lu, authored by the Tang Dynasty
minister Niu Sengru
(779
–847
)), Shogi
(Japan
ese; the earliest generally accepted mention being circa 1060), and Chess
(occasionally called Western or International Chess to distinguish it from Far East
ern varieties, which came into its current form in Europe
during the 15th century), as well as Makruk
(Thai
), Sittuyin
(Burmese
), and Janggi
(Korea
n).
is believed to have originated in India
as Moksha Patam, emphasising the role of fate or karma
; the game dates at least to the 16th century as part of a family of dice board games, including Pachisi
(a descendant of the earlier game Ludo).
by George Fox in 1800, The Mansion of Happiness
became the prototype for commercial board games for at least two centuries to follow. While demonstrating the commercial viability of the ancient race game format, its moralistic overtones were countered by Milton Bradley
in 1860 with the introduction of a radically different concept of success in The Checkered Game of Life, in which material successes came as a result of material accomplishments, such as attending college. Likewise the Game of the District Messenger Boy (1886), which also focused on daily rather than eternal life.
board game L'Attaque was first commercially released in 1910, having been designed two years prior as a military-themed imperfect knowledge game based upon the earlier Chinese children's board game Dou Shou Qi. L'Attaque was subsequently adapted by the Chinese into Luzhanqi
(or Lu Zhan Jun Qi), and by Milton Bradley
into Stratego
, the latter having been trademarked in 1960 while the former remains in the public domain.
First published in 1936, the origins
of the board game Monopoly
run as far back as 1903. Initially designed in 1938, Scrabble
received its first mass-market exposure in 1952, two years prior to the release of Diplomacy
, in 1954. Originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde ("The Conquest of the World") in France
, the Cold War
-themed Risk
was first published under its English title in 1959.
A concentrated design movement towards the German-style board game
, or Eurogame, began in the late 1970s
and early 1980s
in Germany
, and led to the development of board games such as Carcassone
, The Settlers of Catan
, and Puerto Rico.
(618
–907
). The earliest reference to card games in literature appears during the same period, in the Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang. Playing cards first appeared in Europe
during the 14th century, most likely by way of Mamluk Egypt
, with suits
very similar to the tarot
suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins, as continue to be used
in traditional Italian
, Spanish
and Portuguese
decks today. The four suits
most commonly encountered today (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs) appear to have originated in France circa 1480.
The game of Cribbage
appears to have developed in the early 17th century, as an adaptation of the earlier card game Noddy
. Pinochle
was likely derived from the earlier Bezique
, a game popular in France during the 17th century. The game of Whist
was widely played during the 18th and 19th centuries, having evolved from the 16th century game of Trump (or Ruff) by way of Ruff and Honours
. The earliest references in print to the Poker
family of games occur in the first half of the 19th century. While possibly dating back as far as the reign of Charles VIII of France
(1483–1498), Baccarat
first came to the attention of the public at large and grew to be widely played as a direct result of the Royal Baccarat Scandal
of 1891, and bears resemblances to the card games Faro
and Basset, both of which were very popular during the 19th century. The rules of Contract bridge
were originally published in 1925, the game having been derived from Bridge games with rules published as early as 1886, Bridge games, in turn, having evolved from the earlier game of Whist.
Collectible card game
s such as Magic: The Gathering
, while bearing similarities to earlier games in concept, first achieved wide popularity in the 1990s
.
(a game whose origins are uncertain), the earliest table games appear to have been the Cue sports, which include Carom billiards, Pool, or Pocket billiards, and Snooker
. The cue sports are generally regarded as having developed into indoor games from outdoor stick-and-ball lawn game
s (retroactively termed ground billiards), and as such to be related to trucco, croquet
and golf
, and more distantly to the stickless bocce
and balls.
Roulette
has been played in its present form since the late 18th century, and is generally understood to have been adapted from English wheel games such as Roly-Poly and E.O., with influences from the Italian board games Hoca and Biribi.
Fan-Tan
was widely played throughout the 19th century, peaking in popularity during the last few decades prior to 1900, although it can still be found in many Macau casinos
today.
". Through the 1950s
and 1960s
the majority of early computer games
ran on university mainframe computer
s in the United States. Beginning in 1971, arcade game
s began to be offered to the public for play. The first home video game console
, the Magnavox Odyssey
, was released in 1972. A second generation of video game consoles
, released between 1977 and 1983, saw increased popularity. This same time period saw the advent of the personal computer game
, specialised gaming computers, early online gaming, and the introduction of handheld LED
games.
Game
A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment 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...
s are an integral part of all societies. Like work and relationships, they are an expression of some basic part of the human nature. Games are formalized expressions of play which allow people to go beyond immediate imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
and direct physical activity. Games capture the ideas and behaviors of people at one period of time and carry that through time to their descendants
Lineal descendant
A lineal descendant, in legal usage, refers to a blood relative in the direct line of descent. The children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc...
. Games like Liubo
Liubo
Liubo is an ancient Chinese board game played by two players. For the rules, 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...
, Xiangqi
Xiangqi
Xiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...
, and Go illustrate the thinking of the military leaders who employed them centuries ago. When archaeologists excavate an ancient society they find artefacts related to living, working, family and social activities, games often become an archival record of how individuals and groups played in earlier times.
Dice games
DiceDice
A die is a small throwable object with multiple resting positions, used for generating random numbers...
appear to be among the earliest pieces of specialised gaming equipment used by humans, having been used throughout Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
since before recorded history, the oldest known examples being a 3000-year-old set unearthed at an archaeological site in southeastern Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. Notable dice games have included Hazard
Hazard (game)
Hazard is an Old English game played with two dice which was mentioned in Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in the 14th century.Hazard is not interchangeable with "Grand Hazard," which is played with three dice; Grand Hazard is similar to Sic bo....
, a game popular in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
from the 14th through the 18th centuries, Chuck-a-luck
Chuck-a-luck
Chuck-a-luck, also known as birdcage, is a game of chance played with three dice. It is derived from grand hazard, and both can be considered a variant of sic bo, a popular casino game, although chuck-a-luck is more of a carnival game than a true casino game...
, a related game also known as birdcage, Craps
Craps
Craps is a dice game in which players place wagers on the outcome of the roll, or a series of rolls, of a pair of dice. Players may wager money against each other or a bank...
, which replaced Hazard in popularity during the 19th century, and Sic bo
Sic bo
Sic bo , also known as tai sai , dai siu , big and small or hi-lo, is an unequal game of chance played with three dice, and of ancient Chinese origin. Grand hazard and chuck-a-luck are variants, and of English origin...
, a Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
ern Chuck-a-luck variant which evolved into a popular casino game
Casino game
Games available in most casinos are commonly called casino games. In a casino game, the players gamble casino chips on various possible random outcomes or combinations of outcomes. Casino games are available in online casinos, where permitted by law...
in the 20th century.
Tile games
What appear to have been the earliest references to gaming tiles are mentions of kwat pai, or "bone tiles", used in gambling, in ChineseChina
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
writings no later than 1900. The earliest definite references to Chinese dominoes
Chinese dominoes
Chinese dominoes are used in several tile-based games, namely, Tien Gow, Pai Gow, Che Deng, Tiu U and Kap Tai Shap. In Cantonese they are called 骨牌 "Gwat Pai", which literally means "bone tiles", it is also the name of a northern Chinese game, where the rules are quite different from the southern...
are found in the literature of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), while Western-style dominoes
Dominoes
Dominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...
are a more recent variation, with the earliest examples being of early-18th century Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
design. The tile game Mahjong
Mahjong
Mahjong, sometimes spelled Mah Jongg, is a game that originated in China, commonly played by four players...
, also of Chinese origin, first appears in the written record in the mid-19th century, and was first mentioned in a publication written in a language other than Chinese in 1895.
Extinct board games
Among the earliest board gameBoard game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
s discovered by archaeologists and historians are a number of games the exact rules of which have been forgotten, with rules sometimes being completely unknown today and sometimes being only partially understood, although in many cases proposed or theorised rulesets for these games have been offered by historians and board game manufacturers. Among the earliest examples of board games whose rules have been lost is Senet
Senet
Senet is a board game from predynastic and ancient Egypt. The oldest hieroglyph representing a Senet game dates to around 3100 BC. The full name of the game in Egyptian was zn.t n.t ḥˁb meaning the "game of passing."- History :...
, a game found in Predynastic
Predynastic Egypt
The Prehistory of Egypt spans the period of earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt in ca. 3100 BC, starting with King Menes/Narmer....
and First Dynasty
First dynasty of Egypt
The first dynasty of Ancient Egypt is often combined with the Dynasty II under the group title, Early Dynastic Period of Egypt...
burial sites in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
(circa 3500 BCE and 3100 BCE, respectively) and in heiroglyphs dating to around 3100 BCE.
The extinct Chinese board game Liubo
Liubo
Liubo is an ancient Chinese board game played by two players. For the rules, 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...
was immensely popular during the Han Dynasty
Han Dynasty
The Han Dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China, preceded by the Qin Dynasty and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms . It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han. It was briefly interrupted by the Xin Dynasty of the former regent Wang Mang...
(202 BCE-220 CE). Early Chinese records indicate that Liubo was already a popular game by the Warring States Period
Warring States Period
The Warring States Period , also known as the Era of Warring States, or the Warring Kingdoms period, covers the Iron Age period from about 475 BC to the reunification of China under the Qin Dynasty in 221 BC...
(476 BCE - 221 BCE). Although the game's rules have been lost, gameplay was apparently not unlike Senet in that playing pieces were moved about a board using sticks thrown to determine movements.
The Tafl games
Tafl games
Tafl games were a family of ancient Germanic and Celtic board games played on a checkered or latticed board with two teams of uneven strength. The size of the board and the number of pieces varied, but all games involved a distinctive 2:1 ratio of pieces, with the lesser side having a king-piece...
were a family of ancient Germanic and Celtic board games played across much of Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
from earlier than 400
400
Year 400 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus...
CE until the 12th century, although the rules of the games were never explicitly recorded and are only partially understood today.
Ancient board games
The Royal Game of UrRoyal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur, also known as the Game of Twenty Squares, refers to two game boards found in the Royal Tombs of Ur in Iraq by Sir Leonard Woolley in the 1920s. The two boards date from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BC, thus making the Royal Game of Ur probably the oldest set of board...
, or Game of Twenty Squares, dated from the First Dynasty of Ur, before 2600 BCE, has been documented as still being played in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
.
Go, also known as Weiqi, Igo, or Baduk (in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, respectively), has been evident in the archaeological record as far back as 200 BCE - 200 CE, with the earliest definite literary references dating to the 4th century BCE, and possible references occurring earlier. Go is played by an estimated 27 million people throughout the world today, professionally in many countries
Go professional
A Go professional is a professional player of the game of Go. The minimum standard to acquire a professional diploma through one of the major go organisations is very high. The competition is tremendous, and prize incentives for champion players are very large...
.
Backgammon
Backgammon
Backgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
, which came into its current form in the 6th or 7th century CE, is closely related to similar games dating back even further, excavations at Shahr-e Sokhteh in Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
having shown examples of such games dated as early as 3000 BCE.
The earliest evidence of Mancala
Mancala
Mancala is a family of board games played around the world, sometimes called "sowing" games, or "count-and-capture" games, which describes the game-play. Mancala games play a role in many African and some Asian societies comparable to that of chess in the West, or the game of Go in Eastern Asia...
consists of fragments of pottery boards and several rock cuts found in Aksumite in Ethiopia
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
, Matara
Matara, Eritrea
Matara is an archaeological site in Eritrea. Situated a few kilometers south of Senafe, it was a major city in the Dʿmt and Aksumite kingdoms. Since Eritrean independence, the National Museum of Eritrea has petitioned the Ethiopian government to return artifacts removed from the site...
(now in Eritrea
Eritrea
Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...
), and Yeha
Yeha
Yeha is a town in northern Ethiopia, located in the Mehakelegnaw Zone of the Tigray Region. The Central Statistical Agency has not published an estimate for this village's 2005 population.- Archeology :...
(also in Ethiopia), which have been dated by archaeologists to between the 6th and 7th century CE. The game is today played worldwide, with many distinct variants representing different regions of the Third World
Third World
The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...
.
Nine Men's Morris
Nine Men's Morris
Nine Men's Morris is an abstract strategy board game for two players that emerged from the Roman Empire. The game is also known as Nine Man Morris, Mill, Mills, Merels, Merelles, and Merrills in English....
and its variants, which likely emerged from the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
, peaked in popularity in medieval England. Along with other significant games of the period, it is both described and depicted in the Libro de los juegos
Libro de los juegos
The Libro de los Juegos, , or Libro de acedrex, dados e tablas, was commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile, Galicia and León and completed in his scriptorium in Toledo in 1283, is an exemplary piece of Alfonso’s medieval literary legacy.Consisting of ninety-seven leaves of parchment, many with color...
, completed in 1283.
Chaturanga, Xiangqi, Shogi, Chess
ChaturangaChaturanga
Chaturanga is an ancient Indian game that is presumed to be the common ancestor of the games of chess, shogi, and makruk, and related to xiangqi and janggi.Chaturanga developed in Gupta India around the 6th century...
, a board game which developed in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
during the 6th century CE, was the apparent common ancestor of Xiangqi
Xiangqi
Xiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...
(Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
; the earliest Xiangqi pieces yet discovered dating from the Song dynasty
Song Dynasty
The Song Dynasty was a ruling dynasty in China between 960 and 1279; it succeeded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, and was followed by the Yuan Dynasty. It was the first government in world history to issue banknotes or paper money, and the first Chinese government to establish a...
, 960
960
Year 960 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Edgar the Peaceable is crowned King of England. Dunstan becomes Archbishop of Canterbury and Edgar's chief adviser. He reforms monasteries and enforces the rule of Saint Benedict: Poverty, Chastity and Obedience for...
- 1279 and the earliest definite written source being the Xuanguai lu, authored by the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
minister Niu Sengru
Niu Sengru
Niu Sengru , courtesy name Si'an , formally Duke Wenzhen of Qizhang , was an official of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty, serving as a chancellor during the reigns of Emperor Muzong and his sons Emperor Jingzong and Emperor Wenzong...
(779
779
Year 779 was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 779 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Europe :* Offa of Mercia defeats Cynewulf of Wessex...
–847
847
Year 847 was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar.- Europe :* Bari is captured by the Saracens....
)), Shogi
Shogi
, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...
(Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese; the earliest generally accepted mention being circa 1060), and Chess
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
(occasionally called Western or International Chess to distinguish it from Far East
Far East
The Far East is an English term mostly describing East Asia and Southeast Asia, with South Asia sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.The term came into use in European geopolitical discourse in the 19th century,...
ern varieties, which came into its current form in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
during the 15th century), as well as Makruk
Makruk
Makruk , or Thai chess, is a board game descended from the 6th-century Indian game of chaturanga or a close relative thereof, and therefore related to chess. It is regarded as the most similar living game to this common ancestor of all chess variants....
(Thai
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
), Sittuyin
Sittuyin
Sittuyin , is a chess-related game which is a direct offspring of the Indian game of Chaturanga which arrived in 8th century AD. Sit is the modern Burmese word for army or war, the word Sittuyin can be translated as representation of the four characteristics of army—chariot, elephant, cavalry...
(Burmese
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
), and Janggi
Janggi
Janggi , sometimes called Korean chess, is a strategic board game popular in Korea. It derived from Xiangqi , which itself is thought to be a descendent of the Indian chess game Chaturanga...
(Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
n).
The 16th through 18th centuries
Snakes and LaddersSnakes and ladders
Snakes and Ladders is an ancient Indian board game regarded today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a game board having numbered, gridded squares. A number of "ladders" and "snakes" are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares...
is believed to have originated in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
as Moksha Patam, emphasising the role of fate or karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
; the game dates at least to the 16th century as part of a family of dice board games, including Pachisi
Pachisi
Pachisi is a cross and circle board game that originated in ancient India which has been described as the "national game of India". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross...
(a descendant of the earlier game Ludo).
The 19th century
Designed in EnglandEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
by George Fox in 1800, The Mansion of Happiness
The Mansion of Happiness
The Mansion of Happiness: An Instructive Moral and Entertaining Amusement is a children's board game inspired by Christian morality. Players race about a sixty-six space spiral track depicting virtues and vices with their goal being The Mansion of Happiness at track's end...
became the prototype for commercial board games for at least two centuries to follow. While demonstrating the commercial viability of the ancient race game format, its moralistic overtones were countered by Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley , an American game pioneer, was credited by many with launching the board game industry in North America with Milton Bradley Company....
in 1860 with the introduction of a radically different concept of success in The Checkered Game of Life, in which material successes came as a result of material accomplishments, such as attending college. Likewise the Game of the District Messenger Boy (1886), which also focused on daily rather than eternal life.
The 20th century
The FrenchFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
board game L'Attaque was first commercially released in 1910, having been designed two years prior as a military-themed imperfect knowledge game based upon the earlier Chinese children's board game Dou Shou Qi. L'Attaque was subsequently adapted by the Chinese into Luzhanqi
Luzhanqi
Luzhanqi is a two-player Chinese board game . There is also a version for four players. It bears many similarities to Dou Shou Qi, Game of the Generals and the Western board game Stratego...
(or Lu Zhan Jun Qi), and by Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley , an American game pioneer, was credited by many with launching the board game industry in North America with Milton Bradley Company....
into Stratego
Stratego
Stratego is a board game featuring a 10×10 square board and two players with 40 pieces each. Pieces represent individual officers and soldiers in an army. The objective of the game is to either find and capture the opponent's Flag or to capture so many of the opponent's pieces that he/she cannot...
, the latter having been trademarked in 1960 while the former remains in the public domain.
First published in 1936, the origins
History of the board game Monopoly
The history of the board game Monopoly can be traced back to the early 20th century. The earliest known design was by the American Elizabeth Magie created in 1903. A series of board games were developed from 1906 through the 1930s that involved the buying and selling of land and the development of...
of the board game Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
run as far back as 1903. Initially designed in 1938, Scrabble
Scrabble
Scrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
received its first mass-market exposure in 1952, two years prior to the release of Diplomacy
Diplomacy (game)
Diplomacy is a strategic board game created by Allan B. Calhamer in 1954 and released commercially in 1959. Its main distinctions from most board wargames are its negotiation phases and the absence of dice or other game elements that produce random effects...
, in 1954. Originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde ("The Conquest of the World") in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
-themed Risk
Risk (game)
Risk is a strategic board game, produced by Parker Brothers . It was invented by French film director Albert Lamorisse and originally released in 1957 as La Conquête du Monde in France. Risk is a turn-based game for two to six players...
was first published under its English title in 1959.
A concentrated design movement towards the German-style board game
German-style board game
German-style board games, frequently referred to in gaming circles as Euro Games or Euro-style, are a broad class of tabletop games that generally have simple rules, short to medium playing times, indirect player interaction and abstract physical components...
, or Eurogame, began in the late 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
and early 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, and led to the development of board games such as Carcassone
Carcassonne (board game)
Carcassonne is a tile-based German-style board game for two to five players, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede and published in 2000 by Hans im Glück in German and Rio Grande Games in English....
, The Settlers of Catan
The Settlers of Catan
The Settlers of Catan is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber and first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag as Die Siedler von Catan. Players assume the roles of settlers, each attempting to build and develop their settlement while trading and acquiring resources...
, and Puerto Rico.
Card games
Playing cards first appeared in Ancient China, where they were found as early as the 9th century during the Tang DynastyTang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...
(618
618
Year 618 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. The denomination 618 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.- Asia :* The Sui Dynasty ends and the Tang Dynasty...
–907
907
Year 907 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.- Asia :* Oleg leads the Kievan Rus' in a campaign against Constantinople ....
). The earliest reference to card games in literature appears during the same period, in the Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang. Playing cards first appeared in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
during the 14th century, most likely by way of Mamluk Egypt
Mamluk Sultanate (Cairo)
The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt was the final independent Egyptian state prior to the establishment of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in 1805. It lasted from the overthrow of the Ayyubid Dynasty until the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517. The sultanate's ruling caste was composed of Mamluks, Arabised...
, with suits
Suit (cards)
In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card...
very similar to the tarot
Tarot
The tarot |trionfi]] and later as tarocchi, tarock, and others) is a pack of cards , used from the mid-15th century in various parts of Europe to play a group of card games such as Italian tarocchini and French tarot...
suits of Swords, Staves, Cups and Coins, as continue to be used
Baraja (playing cards)
The Baraja is a deck of playing cards associated with Spain, it is usually called Baraja Española . It has four suits and is usually made up of 40 cards...
in traditional Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
decks today. The four suits
Suit (cards)
In playing cards, a suit is one of several categories into which the cards of a deck are divided. Most often, each card bears one of several symbols showing to which suit it belongs; the suit may alternatively or in addition be indicated by the color printed on the card...
most commonly encountered today (spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs) appear to have originated in France circa 1480.
The game of Cribbage
Cribbage
Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points...
appears to have developed in the early 17th century, as an adaptation of the earlier card game Noddy
Noddy (card game)
Noddy , Noddie, Nodde, is a 16th century English card game ancestor of Cribbage. It is the oldest identifiable card game with this gaming structure and a relative to the more-complicated 18th century game Costly Colours.- History :...
. Pinochle
Pinochle
Pinochle or Binocle is a trick-taking game typically for two to four players and played with a 48 card deck. Derived from the card game bezique, players score points by trick-taking and also by forming combinations of cards into melds. It is thus considered part of a "trick-and-meld" category...
was likely derived from the earlier Bezique
Bezique
Bezique is a 19th-century French melding and trick-taking card game for two players derived from Marriage via Briscan by the addition of more scoring features, notably the peculiar liaison of Q and J, under the names Bésigue, Binokel, Pinochle, etc., according to the country.-History:Bezique was...
, a game popular in France during the 17th century. The game of Whist
Whist
Whist is a classic English trick-taking card game which was played widely in the 18th and 19th centuries. It derives from the 16th century game of Trump or Ruff, via Ruff and Honours...
was widely played during the 18th and 19th centuries, having evolved from the 16th century game of Trump (or Ruff) by way of Ruff and Honours
Ruff and Honours
Ruff and Honours, a successor of the French game Triomphe with many different spellings, is a 17th century card game derivative of Ruff, the ancestor of Whist, which in turn was the forerunner of bridge and many other trick-taking card games like Whisk and Swabbers.-History:This game was first...
. The earliest references in print to the Poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
family of games occur in the first half of the 19th century. While possibly dating back as far as the reign of Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
(1483–1498), Baccarat
Baccarat
Baccarat is a card game, played at casinos and by gamblers. It is believed to have been introduced into France from Italy during the reign of King Charles VIII , and it is similar to Faro and Basset...
first came to the attention of the public at large and grew to be widely played as a direct result of the Royal Baccarat Scandal
Royal Baccarat Scandal
The Royal Baccarat Scandal, also known as the Tranby Croft scandal, was an English gambling scandal of the late nineteenth century involving the future King Edward VII.-Background:...
of 1891, and bears resemblances to the card games Faro
Faro (card game)
Faro, Pharaoh, or Farobank, is a late 17th century French gambling card game descendant of basset, and belongs to the lansquenet and Monte Bank family of games, in that it is played between a banker and several players winning or losing according to the cards turned up matching those already...
and Basset, both of which were very popular during the 19th century. The rules of Contract bridge
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
were originally published in 1925, the game having been derived from Bridge games with rules published as early as 1886, Bridge games, in turn, having evolved from the earlier game of Whist.
Collectible card game
Collectible card game
thumb|Players and their decksA collectible card game , also called a trading card game or customizable card game, is a game played using specially designed sets of playing cards...
s such as Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering
Magic: The Gathering , also known as Magic, is the first collectible trading card game created by mathematics professor Richard Garfield and introduced in 1993 by Wizards of the Coast. Magic continues to thrive, with approximately twelve million players as of 2011...
, while bearing similarities to earlier games in concept, first achieved wide popularity in the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...
.
Table games
With the possible exception of CarromCarrom
Carrom is a family of tabletop games with gameplay that lies somewhere between billiards and table shuffleboard. Carrom is known by many names around the world, including carrum, couronne, carum, karam, karom, karum, fatta and finger billiards...
(a game whose origins are uncertain), the earliest table games appear to have been the Cue sports, which include Carom billiards, Pool, or Pocket billiards, and Snooker
Snooker
Snooker is a cue sport that is played on a green baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. A regular table is . It is played using a cue and snooker balls: one white , 15 worth one point each, and six balls of different :...
. The cue sports are generally regarded as having developed into indoor games from outdoor stick-and-ball lawn game
Lawn game
A lawn game is any outdoor game that can be played on a lawn. Many games that are traditionally played on a pitch are marketed as "lawn games" for home use in a front or back yard.Common lawn games include:*Horseshoes*Lawn darts*Croquet*Cornhole*Bocce...
s (retroactively termed ground billiards), and as such to be related to trucco, croquet
Croquet
Croquet is a lawn game, played both as a recreational pastime and as a competitive sport. It involves hitting plastic or wooden balls with a mallet through hoops embedded into the grass playing court.-History:...
and golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, and more distantly to the stickless bocce
Bocce
Bocce is a ball sport belonging to the boules sport family, closely related to bowls and pétanque with a common ancestry from ancient games played in the Roman Empire...
and balls.
Roulette
Roulette
Roulette is a casino game named after a French diminutive for little wheel. In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a single number or a range of numbers, the colors red or black, or whether the number is odd or even....
has been played in its present form since the late 18th century, and is generally understood to have been adapted from English wheel games such as Roly-Poly and E.O., with influences from the Italian board games Hoca and Biribi.
Fan-Tan
Fan-Tan
Fan-Tan, or fantan is a form of gambling game long played in China. It has similarities to roulette.-History:Fan-tan is no longer as popular as it once was, having been replaced by modern casino games, and other traditional Chinese games such as Mah Jong and Pai Gow. However, it was once a...
was widely played throughout the 19th century, peaking in popularity during the last few decades prior to 1900, although it can still be found in many Macau casinos
Gambling in Macau
Gambling in Macau has been legal since the 1850s when the Portuguese government legalized the activity in the colony. Since then, Macau has become known worldwide as the "Monte Carlo of the Orient"....
today.
Electronic games
The earliest reference to a purely electronic game appears to be a United States patent registration in 1947 for what was described by its inventors as a "cathode ray tube amusement deviceCathode ray tube amusement device
The cathode ray tube amusement device is the earliest known interactive electronic game. Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann constructed the game from analog electronics and a cathode ray tube in 1947....
". Through the 1950s
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
and 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
the majority of early computer games
Computer Games
"Computer Games" is a single by New Zealand group, Mi-Sex released in 1979 in Australia and New Zealand and in 1981 throughout Europe. It was the single that launched the band, and was hugely popular, particularly in Australia and New Zealand...
ran on university mainframe computer
Mainframe computer
Mainframes are powerful computers used primarily by corporate and governmental organizations for critical applications, bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, enterprise resource planning, and financial transaction processing.The term originally referred to the...
s in the United States. Beginning in 1971, arcade game
Arcade game
An arcade game is a coin-operated entertainment machine, usually installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars, and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are video games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games, redemption games, and merchandisers...
s began to be offered to the public for play. The first home video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
, the Magnavox Odyssey
Magnavox Odyssey
The Magnavox Odyssey is the world's first home video game console. It was first demonstrated on May 24, 1972 and released in August of that year, predating the Atari Pong home consoles by three years....
, was released in 1972. A second generation of video game consoles
History of video game consoles (second generation)
In the history of computer and video games, the second generation began in 1976 with the release of the Fairchild Channel F and Radofin 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System....
, released between 1977 and 1983, saw increased popularity. This same time period saw the advent of the personal computer game
Personal computer game
A PC game, also known as a computer game, is a video game played on a personal computer, rather than on a video game console or arcade machine...
, specialised gaming computers, early online gaming, and the introduction of handheld LED
LEd
LEd is a TeX/LaTeX editing software working under Microsoft Windows. It is a freeware product....
games.