BOARD GAMES
These games consist of a playing surface divided into sectors populated by a set of movable pieces. In the most common arrangement the pieces are directly associated with the players, while the playing surface represents an environment beyond the players' direct control. Players maneuver their pieces across the playing surface in an effort to capture other players' pieces, reach an objective, gain control of territory, or acquire some valued commodity. The player's primary concern in these games is the analysis of geometrical relationships between the pieces.
There are many different types and styles of board games. Their representation of a real life situation can range from having no inherent theme, such as Checkers, to having a specific theme and narrative, such as Cluedo. Rules range from the very simple, such as in Tic-tac-toe, to ones which describe a game universe in great detail, such as in Dungeons & Dragons, although most of these are Role-playing games and the board is secondary to the game, serving to visualize the scenario. The length of time it takes to learn to play or master a game can vary greatly from game to game. Learning time does not necessarily correlate with the amount or complexity of rules; some games, such as chess and Go, have simple rules that can still lead to complex scenarios.
CARD GAMES
These games utilize a set of 52 symbols generated from two factors: rank (13 values) and suit (4 values). The games revolve around combinations built from these two factors. Players may gain or lose possession of symbols either by random processes or by matching some combination allowed by the rules of the game. Each legal combination is assigned a victory value for final assessment of game results. Players must recognize both existing and potential combinations and estimate probabilities of obtaining the cards necessary for completing a combination. This probability must be weighed against the victory value of the combination. Since the number of combinations is very large, precise computation of the requisite probabilities exceeds the mental powers of almost all players, rendering the game a primarily intuitive exercise. Thus, the player's primary concern in these games is the analysis of combinations.
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary things with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). Some games have formally standardized rules, while rules for others can vary by region, culture, and person.
Types of card games; trick taking games, Matching games, Shedding games, Accumulating games,Fishing games, Comparing games, Solitaire (Patience) games, Drinking card games, Multi-genre games,Collectible card games, Casino or gambling card games, Poker games, etc.
ATHLETIC GAMES
These games emphasize physical more than mental prowess. The rules of the game rigorously specify a precise set of actions that the player is either allowed to execute or required to execute. Skillful use of the body is the player's primary concern in these games. We must be careful to distinguish between athletic games and athletic competitions. For example, a race is a competition, not a game. The line of demarcation between games and competition illuminates one of the fundamental elements of all games. I distinguish the two by the degree of interaction between players. Theoretically speaking, the runners in a race do not interact with each other. Each is racing only against the clock; the presence of other runners should be immaterial. In truth, the runners do interact psychologically, for the performance of one runner can affect the performance of the other runners. Furthermore, in some races a runner (or driver or pilot or captain) can physically interpose himself in between the goal and another racer, thereby gaining an advantage. I conclude that the simplest competitions, those in which each person strives to perform some task optimally without direct interaction with the other competitors, do not constitute games but competitions. A competition that does allow interaction is a game.
Some athletic games can be played outdoor (common examples are; football, hockey, etc.) and another be played indoor (common examples are; racquetball, volleyball, badminton, etc.)
CHILDREN'S GAMES
Hide and Seek, Red Rover, Tag, and Kick the Can are common examples. Such games frequently take the form of group activities emphasizing simple physical play. Although these games contain simple mental and physical components, their function is not to challenge the child to perform to his or her limits in either domain. Instead, the player's primary concern in these games is the use of social skills illuminating the fundamental role of the group in human life. A wide variety of children's activities are frequently referred to as games. When a child talks to a strip of bark, maneuvers it, and provides sound effects, we are tempted to refer to such behavior as game playing. For the purposes of this book, I ,exclude such activities from the fold of games. These improvisational games are too ill defined to provide us with any useful information about games.
Children's games that involve role play generally have no rules except to stay in character, and require no specific props. They are normally restricted to young, pre-pubescent children, and aside from their straightforward purpose of fun can sometimes also serve the purpose of allowing children to explore adult roles and relationships. Play can reveal a lot about a child's psychological state, perception of gender roles, home life and interpretation of the world that is around them.
- Cowboys & Indians: remains popular around the world, even though the films, television series, and books that might have been thought to give rise to it have largely fallen from prominence. This gives an insight into the child's perception of good and evil.
- Cops & Robbers: Similar to Cowboys & Indians. Some could see it as the politically correct version.
- Doctor (Doctor & patient; Doctors & nurses; Mothers & fathers): the main aim is discovering each other's bodies, and it can even involve experiments with sexual play.
- House: the main aim is to explore familial relationships. Children can act like a family and also explore other family arrangements with each other. It also deals with gender roles.
- Shopkeeper and customer: This is interpretation of basic social interaction and can be an insight into the income status of the child's parents.
they also play princesses where the children pretend they are ruler of a kingdom (usally a couch or somthing) and pretend the other chold is there servant but then the servant becomes a princess too.
COMPUTER GAMES
These games are played on five types of computers: expensive dedicated machines for the arcades (“coin op” machines), inexpensive dedicated machines (“hand helds”), multi program home games, machines such as the ATARI 2600 and the ATARI 5200, personal computers, and large mainframe computers. The computer acts as opponent and referee in most of these games; in many of them it also provides animated graphics. The most common form of computer game is the skill and action (“S&A”) game emphasizing hand eye coordination. These S&A games are frequently violent in nature. There are many other areas of computer gaming: adventure games, fantasy role playing games, and war games. In our cursory overview, these other computer games are eclipsed by the sheer volume of the skill and action games. This concludes our quick survey of the most prominent groupings in the universe of games. We shall return to the subject later, to create a taxonomy of computer games, and later still to draw on specific examples of games to make points about their nature. We must now address the question which motivated our initial reconnaissance: what are the fundamental elements common to these games? I perceive four common factors: representation, interaction, conflict, and safety.
source : The Art of Computer Game Design by Chris Crawford, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/court+game, http://en.wikipedia.org
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