Why Are Board Games Unique?

A game is basically a structured form of playful play, normally undertaken for purely entertainment or recreation, and at times used as a teaching tool. While video games have become very popular on personal computers, the popularity has also reached the mainstream and games can be found in many retail outlets. Games are different from work, which traditionally is carried out for profit, and from literature, which is normally more of an expression of philosophical or artistic elements. A game is much more structured and goal-oriented than a work, with the player acting as a protagonist who pursues a specific goal. The player interacts with the computer-generated environment as if he or she were a real person trying to complete a task.

Unlike literature or theater, in which the experience is controlled by the mind, video games require the physical skill of the player. Board games like Monopoly, Scrabble, Risk, and Chess are all abstract games, in that there are no underlying rules controlling the outcomes. There is nothing stopping a player from achieving a goal, since the rules of the game do not restrict how one can act. However, in this type of game, the player must take into account all the probabilities, since a winning strategy will depend upon the probability that his or her strategy will work.

One of the most famous examples of abstract strategy is chess. In the game of chess, players may view the board as a whole, or they may view each of the pieces as separate parts of a greater whole. Players may also choose to view each of the pieces on the board as unique entities, to be moved, traded, or possessed by other players. Though the game of chess is very complicated, it still employs a great number of abstract strategies, such as using hidden information, ambiguous words, and repeating patterns in order to create tactical opportunities.

Many board games involving dice involve abstract probability. For example, black and white dice, rolled uniformly at regular intervals, are used to represent the probability of any event occurring. The randomness of these dice means that every outcome is unpredictable. Though players may carefully plan their moves in order to maximize the chance of a particular outcome, such planning does not always produce the best results. This is because the unpredictable element of the dice creates random variations in the game itself, which may greatly influence the way in which players react to situations.

Other abstract board games with dice include bingo, lotto, and the video game Monopoly. As the names of these games suggest, the main characters in these games are people, who are always dealt with resources, such as money, property, and real estate. The main objective of these games is for players to accumulate as much real property as possible. The properties that are dealt out in board games may represent real world commodities, including food, land, and raw materials. Other types of abstract board games may represent virtual commodities, such as money, luxury cars, or other objects of value.

Though most games that use dice are played using a standard deck of playing cards, there are some unique games that require the use of specialized playing cards, called “add-ons”. These cards, designed and printed by the company that manufactures the game, have additional features that make them unique. These features may include custom dice, special playing cards, magnetic counters, stickers, magnetic coins, and other plastic accessories. These add-ons allow the player to customize the game experience.