A board game is a type of

tabletop game Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a Table (furniture), table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, Tabletop role-playing game, tabletop role-playing games, or ti ...

Alt URL
/ref> that involves small objects () that are placed and moved in particular ways on a specially designed patterned

game board A game board (or gameboard; sometimes, playing board or game map) is the surface on which one plays a board game. The oldest known game boards may date to Neolithic times; however, some scholars argue these may not have been game boards at all. ...

, potentially including other components, e.g. dice. The earliest known uses of the term "board game" are between the 1840s and 1850s. While game boards are a

necessary and sufficient condition In logic and mathematics, necessity and sufficiency are terms used to describe a conditional or implicational relationship between two statements. For example, in the conditional statement: "If then ", is necessary for , because the truth of ...

of this

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

card games A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...

that do not use a standard deck of cards, as well as games that use neither cards nor a game board, are often colloquially included, with some referring to this genre generally as "table and board games" or simply "tabletop games".Alt URL
/ref>

Eras

Ancient era

Board games have been played, traveled, and evolved in most cultures and societies throughout history Board games have been discovered in a number of archaeological sites. The oldest discovered gaming pieces were discovered in southwest Turkey, a set of elaborate sculptured stones in sets of four designed for a chess-like game, which were created during the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

around 5,000 years ago. Numerous archaeological finds of game boards exist that date from as early as the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period including, as of 2024, a total of 14 Neolithic sites reporting 51 game boards, ranging from mid- 7th millennium to early 8th millennium.

Oldest game

The

Royal Game of Ur The Royal Game of Ur is a two-player strategy race board game of the tables family that was first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC. The game was popular across the Middle East among people of all social strata ...

, estimated to have originated from around 4,600 years ago in ancient Mesopotamia, an example of which was found in the royal tombs of ancient Mesopotamia ( – ),Alt URL
/ref>Alt URL
/ref> is considered the oldest playable boardgame in the world, with well-defined game's rules discovered written on a cuneiform tablet by a Babylonian astronomer in – .Alt URL
/ref> Currently,

Senet Senet or senat (; cf. Coptic language, Coptic , 'passing, afternoon') is a board game from ancient Egypt that consists of ten or more pawns on a 30-square playing board.Crist 2019 p. 107 The earliest representation of senet is dated to 2620 BC ...

is argued to be the oldest known board game in the world, with possible game board fragments () and undisputed pictorial representations ( – ) having been found in Predynastic and First Dynasty burials dating as far back as 3500 BC. However, while Senet was played for thousands of years, it fell out of fashion sometime after 400 A.D. during the

Roman period The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

; the rules were never written down, therefore they are not decisively known. Similarly, Mehen is one of the oldest games dated with reasonable confidence, i.e., – , with some estimating it dates back to . The rules, scoring system, and game pieces, however, are unknown or speculative. The title of the oldest known board game has been difficult to establish. An example of this is

mancala Mancala ( ''manqalah'') is a family of two-player Turns, rounds and time-keeping systems in games, turn-based Strategy game, strategy board games played with small stones, beans, marbles or seeds and rows of holes or pits in the earth, a board ...

, which includes a broad family of board games with a core design of two rows of small circular divots or bowls carved into a surface, which has had numerous estimations of its generic age due to the many variants that have been discovered in different locations across Africa, the Middle East, and southern Asia. These are dated across many different historical periods, from archaeological sites dating the game at – (Roman Settlements); – (Egypt); and even – (Jordan). The later based on divots carved out of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

in a Neolithic dwelling from ± 240 BC, although this later dating has been disputed. Furthermore, when considering the Neolithic period game boards discoveries, caution has been given against considering these finds as representing earliest human game playing, as the absence of evidence of such games does not equate to evidence that no games were played during earlier periods.Alt URL
/ref> File:Men Playing Board Games.jpg, '' Men Playing Board Games'', from The Sougandhika Parinaya Manuscript File:-3000 Abydos Spiel der Schlange Mehen anagoria.JPG, Mehen game with game stones, from

Abydos, Egypt Abydos ( or ; Sahidic ') is one of the oldest cities of ancient Egypt, and also of the Ta-wer, eighth Nome (Egypt), nome in Upper Egypt. It is located about west of the Nile at latitude 26° 10' N, near the modern Egyptian towns of El Araba ...

, 3000 BC,

Neues Museum The Neues Museum (, ''New Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. Built from 1843 to 1855 by order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia in Neoclassical and Renaissance Revival styles, ...

File:Maler der Grabkammer der Nefertari 003.jpg, Painting in tomb of Egyptian queen

Nefertari Nefertari, also known as Nefertari Meritmut, was an Egyptian queen and the first of the Great Royal Wife, Great Royal Wives (or principal wives) of Ramesses II, Ramesses the Great. She is one of the best known Egyptian queens, among such women ...

(1295–1255 BC) playing senet

Golden era

The 1880s–1920s was a board game epoch known as the "Golden Age", a term coined by American art historian Margaret Hofer where the popularity of board games was boosted through

mass production Mass production, also known as mass production, series production, series manufacture, or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines ...

making them cheaper and more readily available. The most popular of the board games sold during this period was ''Monopoly'' (1935), with 500 million games played as of 1999.

Renaissance era

In the late 1990s, companies began producing more new games to serve a growing worldwide market. The early 21st century saw the emergence of a new "Golden Age" for board games called the "Board Game Renaissance". This period of board games industry development, of which board games such as '' Ticket to Ride'' (2004) and were a major part, saw a shift away from the 20th-century domination by well-established standby Golden Era board games like ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

'' (1935) and '' Game of Life'' (1960).

Regional history

Europe

Board games have a long tradition in Europe. The oldest records of board gaming in Europe date back to

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

's ''

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; , ; ) is one of two major Ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the ''Odyssey'', the poem is divided into 24 books and ...

'' (written in the 8th century BC), in which he mentions the Ancient Greek game of ''

petteia Polis () was an ancient Greek board game. One of the earliest known strategy games, polis was a wargame resembling checkers. Its name appears in the Ancient Greek literature from around 450 BC to the 2nd century BC, and it seems to have been widely ...

''. This game of ''petteia'' would later evolve into the Roman game of ''

ludus latrunculorum ''Ludus latrunculorum'', ''latrunculi'', or simply ''latrones'' ("the game of brigands", or "the game of soldiers" from ''latrunculus'', diminutive of ''latro'', mercenary or highwayman) was a two-player Abstract strategy game, strategy board gam ...

''. File:Attic Black-Figure Neck Amphora - Achilles and Ajax playing a board game overseen by Athena.jpg, Achilles and Ajax playing a board game overseen by Athena, Attic black-figure neck amphora, File:German - Box for Board Games - Walters 7193 - Bottom.jpg, ''Box for Board Games'', 15th century, Walters Art Museum File:Clevelandart 1953.284.jpg, An early games table desk (Germany, 1735) featuring

chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; Commonwealth English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. ...

() and

nine men's morris Nine men's morris is a strategy board game for two players, dating back to at least the Roman Empire. The game is also known as nine-man morris, mill, mills, the mill game, merels, merrills, merelles, marelles, morelles, and ninepenny marl in Eng ...

()

Americas

The board game patolli originated in

Mesoamerica Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area that begins in the southern part of North America and extends to the Pacific coast of Central America, thus comprising the lands of central and southern Mexico, all of Belize, Guatemala, El S ...

and was played by a wide range of

pre-Columbian In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era, also known as the pre-contact era, or as the pre-Cabraline era specifically in Brazil, spans from the initial peopling of the Americas in the Upper Paleolithic to the onset of European col ...

cultures such as the

Toltec The Toltec culture () was a Pre-Columbian era, pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture that ruled a state centered in Tula (Mesoamerican site), Tula, Hidalgo (state), Hidalgo, Mexico, during the Epiclassic and the early Post-Classic period of Mesoam ...

s and the

Aztecs The Aztecs ( ) were a Mesoamerican civilization that flourished in central Mexico in the post-classic period from 1300 to 1521. The Aztec people included different ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the ...

. File:Macuilxochitl Patolli.png, Patolli game being watched by Macuilxochitl as depicted on page 048 of the

Codex Magliabechiano The Codex Magliabechiano is a pictorial Aztec codex created during the mid-16th century, in the early Spanish colonial period. It is representative of a set of codices known collectively as the ''Magliabechiano Group (others in the group include ...

File:FirstAmericanPrintrunOfThe MansionOfHappiness.jpg, ''The Mansion of Happiness'' (1843)

Asia

File:Han Pottery Figures Playing Liubo, a Lost Game (10352729936).jpg,

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

glazed pottery tomb figurines playing liubo, with six sticks laid out to the side of the game board File:British Museum Royal Game of Ur.jpg, The

, southern Iraq, about –

Africa

In Africa and the Middle East,

is a popular board game archetype with many regional variations. File:Game of Hounds and Jackals MET DP264105.jpg, Hounds and jackals ( Egypt, 13th Dynasty) File:Tropenmuseum Royal Tropical Institute Objectnumber 699-2 Speelbord voor mancala spel.jpg, Mancala board and clay playing pieces File:Gaming Board Inscribed for Amenhotep III with Separate Sliding Drawer, ca. 1390-1353 B.C.E.,49.56a-b.jpg, Senet set inscribed with the

Horus name The Horus name is the oldest known and used crest of ancient Egyptian rulers. It belongs to the " great five names" of an Egyptian pharaoh. However, modern Egyptologists and linguists are starting to prefer the more neutral term "serekh name". T ...

Amenhotep III Amenhotep III ( , ; "Amun is satisfied"), also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent or Amenhotep the Great and Hellenization, Hellenized as Amenophis III, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, Eighteenth Dynasty. According to d ...

( 1391–1353 BC)

Luck, strategy, and diplomacy

Some games, such as chess, depend completely on player skill, while many children's games such as ''

Candy Land ''Candy Land'' is a simple racing board game created by Eleanor Abbott and published by Milton Bradley in 1949. The game requires no reading and minimal counting skills, making it suitable for young children. No strategy is involved as players ...

'' (1949) and

snakes and ladders Snakes and ladders is a board game for two or more Player (game), players regarded today as a worldwide classic. The game Traditional games of India, originated in ancient India as ''Moksha Patam'', and was brought to the United Kingdom in the ...

require no decisions by the players and are decided purely by luck. Board game damah at Souq Waqif

Many games require some level of both skill and luck. A player may be hampered by bad luck in

backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back at least 1,600 years. The earliest record of backgammo ...

, ''

'', or ''

Risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environ ...

''; but over many games, a skilled player will win more often. The elements of luck can also make for more excitement at times, and allow for more diverse and multifaceted strategies, as concepts such as

expected value In probability theory, the expected value (also called expectation, expectancy, expectation operator, mathematical expectation, mean, expectation value, or first Moment (mathematics), moment) is a generalization of the weighted average. Informa ...

and

risk management Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks, followed by the minimization, monitoring, and control of the impact or probability of those risks occurring. Risks can come from various sources (i.e, Threat (sec ...

must be considered. Luck may be introduced into a game by several methods. The use of

dice A die (: dice, sometimes also used as ) is a small, throwable object with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. Dice are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, ro ...

of various sorts goes back to one of the earliest board games, the

. These can decide everything from how many steps a player moves their token, as in ''Monopoly'', to how their forces fare in battle, as in ''Risk'', or which resources a player gains, as in '' Catan'' (1995). Other games such as '' Sorry!'' (1934) use a deck of special

cards {{Redirect, CARDS, other uses, Cards (disambiguation){{!Cards The CARDS programme, of Community Assistance for Reconstruction, Development and Stabilisation, is the EU's main instrument of financial assistance to the Western Balkans, covering spec ...

that, when shuffled, create randomness. ''

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, re ...

'' (1948) creates a similar effect using randomly picked letters. Other games use spinners, timers of random length, or other sources of randomness.

German-style board game A Eurogame, also called a German-style board game, German game, or Euro-style game (generally just referred to as board games in Europe), is a class of tabletop games that generally feature indirect player interaction, lack player elimination, ...

s are notable for often having fewer elements of luck than many North American board games. Luck may be reduced in favor of skill by introducing symmetry between players. For example, in a dice game such as ''

Ludo Ludo (; ) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy-based board game for two to four players, in which the players race game, race their four from start to finish according to the rolls of a single dice, die. Like other cross and circle games, Ludo ...

'' (), by giving each player the choice of rolling the dice or using the previous player's roll. Another important aspect of some games is diplomacy, that is, players, making deals with one another. Negotiation generally features only in games with three or more players, cooperative games being the exception. An important facet of ''Catan'', for example, is convincing players to trade with you rather than with opponents. In ''Risk'', two or more players may team up against others. ''Easy'' diplomacy involves convincing other players that someone else is winning and should therefore be teamed up against. ''Advanced'' diplomacy (e.g., in the aptly named game ''

Diplomacy Diplomacy is the communication by representatives of State (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, non-governmental institutions intended to influence events in the international syste ...

'' from 1954) consists of making elaborate plans together, with the possibility of betrayal. In

perfect information Perfect information is a concept in game theory and economics that describes a situation where all players in a game or all participants in a market have knowledge of all relevant information in the system. This is different than complete informat ...

games, such as chess, each player has complete information on the state of the game, but in other games, such as ''

Tigris and Euphrates ''Tigris and Euphrates'' () is a tabletop eurogame designed by Reiner Knizia and first published in 1997 by Hans im Glück. Before its publication, it was highly anticipated by German gamers hearing rumors of a "gamer's game" designed by K ...

'' (1997) or ''

Stratego ''Stratego'' ( ) is a Strategy game, strategy board game for two players on a board of 10×10 squares. Each player controls 40 pieces representing individual Army officer ranks, officer and soldier ranks in an army. The pieces have Napoleonic W ...

'' (1946), some information is hidden from players. This makes finding the best move more difficult and may involve estimating probabilities by the opponents.

Software

Many board games are now available as video games. These are aptly termed digital board games, and their distinguishing characteristic compared to traditional board games is they can now be played

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity, and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed as "on lin ...

against a computer or other players. Some websites (such as boardgamearena.com, yucata.de, etc.) allow play in real time and immediately show the opponents' moves, while others use email to notify the players after each move. The Internet and cheaper home printing has also influenced board games via print-and-play games that may be purchased and printed. Some games use external media such as audio cassettes or DVDs in accompaniment to the game. There are also virtual tabletop programs that allow online players to play a variety of existing and new board games through tools needed to manipulate the game board but do not necessarily enforce the game's rules, leaving this up to the players. There are generalized programs such as ''

Vassal A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...

'', '' Tabletop Simulator'' and '' Tabletopia'' that can be used to play any board or card game, while programs like ''

Roll20 Roll20 is a website consisting of a set of tools for playing tabletop role-playing games, also referred to as a virtual tabletop, which can be used as an aid to playing in-person or remotely online. The site was launched in 2012 after a success ...

'' and ''

Fantasy Grounds Fantasy Grounds is a virtual tabletop application, which contains a set of tools to assist players of tabletop role-playing games playing either in person or remotely. History Fantasy Grounds was first released in 2004 by SmiteWorks, original ...

'' are more specialized for role-playing games. Some of these virtual tabletops have worked with the license holders to allow for use of their game's assets within the program; for example, ''Fantasy Grounds'' has licenses for both ''Dungeons & Dragons'' and ''

Pathfinder Pathfinder, Path Finder or Pathfinders may refer to: Aerospace * ''Mars Pathfinder'', a NASA Mars Lander * NASA Pathfinder, a high-altitude, solar-powered uncrewed aircraft * Space Shuttle ''Pathfinder'', a Space Shuttle test simulator Arts and ...

'' materials, while ''Tabletop Simulator'' allows game publishers to provide paid downloadable content for their games. However, as these games offer the ability to add in the content through user modifications, there are also unlicensed uses of board game assets available through these programs.

Market

While the board gaming market is estimated to be smaller than that for

video games A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

, it has also experienced significant growth from the late 1990s. A 2012 article in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' described board games as "making a comeback". Other expert sources suggest that board games never went away, and that board games have remained a popular leisure activity which has only grown over time. Another from 2014 gave an estimate that put the growth of the board game market at "between 25% and 40% annually" since 2010, and described the current time as the "golden era for board games". The rise in board game popularity has been attributed to quality improvement (more elegant

mechanics Mechanics () is the area of physics concerned with the relationships between force, matter, and motion among Physical object, physical objects. Forces applied to objects may result in Displacement (vector), displacements, which are changes of ...

, , artwork, and graphics) as well as increased availability thanks to sales through the Internet. Crowd-sourcing for board games is a large facet of the market, with $233 million raised on

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

in 2020. A 1991 estimate for the global board game market was over $1.2 billion. A 2001 estimate for the United States "board games and puzzle" market gave a value of under $400 million, and for United Kingdom, of about £50 million. A 2009 estimate for the Korean market was put at 800 million won, and another estimate for the American board game market for the same year was at about $800 million. A 2011 estimate for the Chinese board game market was at over 10 billion yuan. A 2013 estimate put the size of the German toy market at 2.7 billion euros (out of which the board games and puzzle market is worth about 375 million euros), and Polish markets at 2 billion and 280 million zlotys, respectively. In 2009, Germany was considered to be the best market per capita, with the highest number of games sold per individual.

Hobby board games

Some academics, such as Erica Price and Marco Arnaudo, have differentiated "hobby" board games and gamers from other board games and gamers. A 2014 estimate placed the U.S. and Canada market for hobby board games (games produced for a "gamer" market) at only $75 million, with the total size of what it defined as the "hobby game market" ("the market for those games regardless of whether they're sold in the hobby channel or other channels") at over $700 million. A similar 2015 estimate suggested a hobby game market value of almost $900 million.

Research

A dedicated field of research into gaming exists, known as

game studies 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 ...

or ludology. While there has been a fair amount of scientific research on the psychology of older board games (e.g.,

, Go,

), less has been done on contemporary board games such as ''

'', ''

'', and ''

'', and especially modern board games such as '' Catan'', ''

Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the m ...

'', and ''

Pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

''. Much research has been carried out on chess, partly because many tournament players are publicly ranked in national and international lists, which makes it possible to compare their levels of expertise. The works of

Adriaan de Groot Adrianus Dingeman (Adriaan) de Groot ( Santpoort, 26 October 1914 – Schiermonnikoog, 14 August 2006) was a Dutch chess master and psychologist, who conducted some of the most famous chess experiments of all time in the 1940s-60. In 1946 he ...

, William Chase,

Herbert A. Simon Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) was an American scholar whose work influenced the fields of computer science, economics, and cognitive psychology. His primary research interest was decision-making within organi ...

, and

Fernand Gobet Fernand Gobet (born February 12, 1962, in Switzerland) is a cognitive scientist and a cognitive psychologist, currently Professorial Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Professor of Cognitive Psychology at the University of Roe ...

have established that knowledge, more than the ability to anticipate moves, plays an essential role in chess-playing ability. Linearly arranged board games have improved children's spatial numerical understanding. This is because the game is similar to a

number line A number line is a graphical representation of a straight line that serves as spatial representation of numbers, usually graduated like a ruler with a particular origin point representing the number zero and evenly spaced marks in either dire ...

in that they promote a linear understanding of numbers rather than the innate logarithmic one. Research studies show that board games such as ''Snakes and Ladders'' result in children showing significant improvements in aspects of basic number skills such as counting, recognizing numbers, numerical estimation, and number comprehension. They also practice fine motor skills each time they grasp a game piece. Playing board games has also been tied to improving children's

executive functions In cognitive science and neuropsychology, executive functions (collectively referred to as executive function and cognitive control) are a set of cognitive processes that support goal-directed behavior, by regulating thoughts and actions thro ...

and help reduce risks of dementia for the elderly. Related to this is a growing academic interest in the topic of game accessibility, culminating in the development of guidelines for assessing the accessibility of modern tabletop games and the extent to which they are playable for people with disabilities. Additionally, board games can be therapeutic. Bruce Halpenny, a games inventor said when interviewed about his game, ''The Great Train Robbery'':

With crime you deal with every basic human emotion and also have enough elements to combine action with melodrama. The player's imagination is fired as they plan to rob the train. Because of the gamble, they take in the early stage of the game there is a build-up of tension, which is immediately released once the train is robbed. Release of tension is therapeutic and useful in our society because most jobs are boring and repetitive.

Playing games has been suggested as a viable addition to the traditional educational curriculum if the content is appropriate and the gameplay informs students on the curriculum content.

Glossary

Although many board games have a

jargon Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...

all their own, there is

terminology Terminology is a group of specialized words and respective meanings in a particular field, and also the study of such terms and their use; the latter meaning is also known as terminology science. A ''term'' is a word, Compound (linguistics), com ...

that is recognized and widely shared by gamers and the gaming industry.

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Board games History of board games Egyptian inventions

Eras

Ancient era

Oldest game

Golden era

Renaissance era

Regional history

Europe

Americas

Asia

Africa

Luck, strategy, and diplomacy

Software

Market

Hobby board games

Research

Categories

Historical development

Mechanics

Theme

Components

Age range

Player number

Promotion type

Glossary

See also

References

Further reading

External links