Portal:Games

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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 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 present rules for the player to follow.

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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Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing games, collectible card games, and strategy games. Gen Con also features computer games. Attendees engage in a variety of tournament and interactive game sessions. In 2019, Gen Con had nearly 70,000 unique attendees.

Established in 1968 as the Lake Geneva Wargames Convention by Gary Gygax, who later co-created Dungeons & Dragons, Gen Con was first held in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The convention was moved to various locations in Wisconsin from 1972 to 1984 before becoming fixed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1985, where it remained until moving to Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2003. Other Gen Con conventions have been held sporadically in various locations around the United States, as well as internationally. (Full article...)

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...that in 1967, Mac Hack became the first computer chess program to defeat a person in tournament play?
...that a reviewer called the narrator in the game Defenders of Ardania (pictured) "booze-obsessed", with a voice that sounds like "a Dalek doing an impression of Sean Connery"?
...that snooker player Stephen Maguire won his first ranking tournament at the 2004 European Open in Malta?
...that the Crawford-Gilpin House is alleged to have once changed owners due to being lost as a wager in a poker game?
...that The Big Bang Theory episode "The Santa Simulation" features a Christmas-themed Dungeons & Dragons game?

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 2The board game Monopoly is licensed in 103 countries and printed in 37 languages. (from Board game)
Image 3A selection of pieces from different games. From top: Chess pawns, marbles, Monopoly tokens, dominoes, Monopoly hotels, jacks and checkers pieces. (from Game)
Image 4Young girls playing a board game in the Iisalmi library in Finland, 2016 (from Board game)
Image 5Preferans, a trick-taking card game version popular in Croatia (from Card game)
Image 6Chinese mother-of-pearl gambling tokens used in scoring and bidding of card games. (from Card game)
Image 7Typical MUD interface for God Wars II (from Role-playing game)
Image 8 Men Playing Board Games, from The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript (from Board game)
Image 9Students 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 10Han dynasty glazed pottery tomb figurines playing liubo, with six sticks laid out to the side of the game board (from Board game)
Image 11The 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 12Mamluk playing card (king of cups), c.15th century (from Card game)
Image 13The Mansion of Happiness (1843) (from Board game)
Image 14Two Qataris playing the traditional board game of damah (from Board game)
Image 15Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment. (from Game)
Image 16The modern German board game Catan is printed in 30 languages and sold 15 million by 2009. (from Board game)
Image 17Backgammon is a game of skill. Strategy can give players advantages, but there is also an element of chance. (from Game of skill)
Image 18The Card Players by Lucas van Leyden (1520) depicting a multiplayer card game (from Game)
Image 19Historically, 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 20Association football is a popular sport worldwide.
Image 21A fantasy LARP group (from Role-playing game)
Image 22A ball-in-a-maze puzzle requires fine motor skills. (from Game of skill)
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 Card Players, 17th-century painting by Theodoor Rombouts (from Card 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 26Playing Cards, by Theodoor Rombouts, 17th century (from Game)
Image 27Royal game of Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600–2400 BCE (from Board game)
Image 28Hounds and jackals (Egypt, 13th Dynasty) (from Board game)
Image 29Parcheesi is an American adaptation of a Pachisi, originating in India. (from Game)
Image 30Patolli game being watched by Macuilxochitl as depicted on page 048 of the Codex Magliabechiano (from Board game)
Image 31An adventurer finds a teleportation portal while exploring a dungeon in the role-playing video game Falcon's Eye. (from Role-playing game)