Double portrait of a husband and wife by Jan Sanders van Hemessen

A game of skill is a

game 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 ...

where the outcome is determined mainly by mental or physical

skill A skill is the learned or innate ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. Some examples of gen ...

, rather than chance. Alternatively, a game of chance is one where its outcome is strongly influenced by some randomizing device, such as

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 ...

, spinning tops,

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

roulette Roulette (named after the French language, French word meaning "little wheel") is a casino game which was likely developed from the Italy, Italian game Biribi. In the game, a player may choose to place a bet on a single number, various grouping ...

wheels, or numbered balls drawn from a container. While a game of chance may have some skill element to it, chance generally plays a greater role in determining its outcome. A game of skill may also have elements of chance, but skill plays a greater role in determining its outcome. Some commonly played games of skill and chance include:

poker Poker is a family of Card game#Comparing games, comparing card games in which Card player, players betting (poker), wager over which poker hand, hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, with varying rules i ...

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. The genre was introduced with ''Magic: The G ...

contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking game, trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two Team game, competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each othe ...

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 ...

and mahjong. Most games of skill also involve a degree of chance, due to natural aspects of the environment, a randomizing device (such as

, playing cards or a coin flip), or guessing due to incomplete information. For many games where skill is a component alongside chance, such as card games like

but also some physical games, the skills needed to play the game well include the calculation of mathematical probabilities and the application of

game theory Game theory is the study of mathematical models of strategic interactions. It has applications in many fields of social science, and is used extensively in economics, logic, systems science and computer science. Initially, game theory addressed ...

. Game theory often leads to tactics such as bluffing and other forms of

deception Deception is the act of convincing of one or many recipients of untrue information. The person creating the deception knows it to be false while the receiver of the information does not. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Tort of ...

Legal meaning

The distinction between "chance" and "skill" has important legal implications in countries where games of chance are treated differently from games of skill. For instance, games of chance (such as lotteries) are often more heavily regulated by the state, if not prohibited altogether, in order to protect consumers from addiction issues. However, the legal distinction between games of skill and games of chance is often vague, and varies widely from one jurisdiction to the next. In

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, whether a game is considered of skill has legal implications with respect to whether wagers on the game's outcome are considered

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

or not. For example,

is legally considered a game of chance in Germany (thus only allowed in casinos), whereas a tournament of skat is considered a game of skill and competitions with money prizes are allowed. Alternatively, poker has been ruled by a United States federal judge as a game of skill rather than chance.

Examples

Games of skill requiring special equipment (selection)

* Air hockey * Billiards * Pinball machine * Skee ball *

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

* Table football * Table ice hockey * Whac-A-Mole With the increasing spread of computer games, a lot of

software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

of this genre was also created. Originally, these were mainly so-called jump'n'run games. However, the range has long since expanded and now also includes games with a greater strategic component, for example the various Tetris variants. In contrast to the non-virtual skill game, which usually involves the entire body, eye-hand coordination is required here. Encouraging player responsiveness and imagination is controversial. Nevertheless, various online skill games and jump'n'run adventures also find a place in child psychotherapeutic work.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Game of skill Game terminology Skills

Legal meaning

Examples

Games of skill requiring special equipment (selection)

See also

References

External links