Board Games Are Older Than You Think

Board games are among the oldest traditions of mankind. Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian sites show that these societies were playing games before they invented writing. Throughout our history, games have been an integral part of human cultures. It was not until recently, however, that psychologists have started answering the question of why we play games.

Growing up, psychologists postulate that we play games as a method of learning. For example, it's hard to learn how to share from a book, or how to work as a team by listening to a lecture. In general, games offer two things: one is a way to compete without injury. The other and perhaps more interesting aspect of games is that they are mirrors for some restrained aspect of life. Chess is often compared to marshalling an army for battle. Monopoly mirrors trying to get ahead in the corporate world. Games intrigue us because of these parallels.tabletop game suppliers

So what kinds of board games are there? Well they are generally relegated into a few specific categories: abstract card game manufacturers china, such as checkers and chess are made with a custom created board and pieces that are abstracts of real life objects. In the case of chess, knights, bishops, castles, and even kings and queens are all represented on the board by different pieces. Each type of piece follows a different set of rules, making the game very complex. Checkers on the other hand uses identical playing pieces that all use the same rules.

Another type of board game is the race game. Games such as Parcheesi and backgammon are examples of this type. The goal is to get your piece or pieces from the beginning of the game to the end, utilizing the rules of the game. A modified version of the race game is the roll and move game. The primary difference between a race game (which usually utilizes a die or dice as well) and the roll and move game is that the goal of the second is not necessarily to finish the course first. It is possible to be the slowest person to move around the monopoly board and yet still win the game.

Another way to categorize games is by the role luck plays in the outcome. There are games that are entirely luck dependent (craps for example), and there are other games where luck plays no role, such as checkers. In between lie games such as monopoly or risk, where there is a definite element of strategy involved, but you are still rolling dice to determine the outcome of certain events.

Jennifer R. Scott has been writing for over ten years on a broad range of topics. She has a background that includes such diverse areas as environmentalism, cooking, animal care, and technology. If you would like more information on games.