A game is usually a structured type of play, normally undertaken for fun or entertainment, and occasionally used as an educational instrument. Games are quite different from work, which are often carried out for monetary remuneration, and from literature, which are almost always an expression of political or artistic aspects. Games do not have money, action or achievement as the basic pre-requisite, but merely require player agency and a shared understanding of the environment in which the game takes place. The term ‘game’ can be used to refer to any kind of interactive engagement with a set or known subject, though often applied to video games. In the broadest sense, the game can also be used to refer to any structured system of mutual interaction, where the participants assume roles, with potential for consequence, determined by the rules of the game.
One of the earliest games that evolved as a means of entertainment were chess and checkers. However, even before the discovery of paper, invented by the Chinese, the game of checkers was in wide use as a game of strategy. The most famous of these games are Chess and Checkers, but other variations such as Backgammon, Spade, etc. have also emerged.
There are two main categories under which the games fall: operational rules and meta-strategy. Operational rules describe the rules of the game; i.e., each player chooses their pieces, establishes distances, ensures proper positioning of their pieces on the board, etc. Meta-strategy deals with the strategic decisions affecting the outcome of the game. For example, in a game of chess, each player chooses their respective pawns, evaluates the value of each one according to their position on the board, considers the possible moves of each other piece, anticipates the opponent’s next move, etc. Thus each player simultaneously assesses the possible outcomes of their actions.
Some of the earliest variants of Chess were restricted to players placing their bishop, rook and knight on the same row, however, later chess variants introduced that each player had to secure their own column on the chessboard – i.e., the player that controlled the row containing their king was the player that controlled their column. This limited the options of players to build their columns and to put them at any locations on the board. In addition, there was no such thing as a captured piece. Therefore, a captured piece could not be moved or exchanged. Thus the captured pieces, including the bishop and the queen, remained permanently on the board. With these restrictions, chess matches became much more combative and quicker.
The basic difference between gambling games and chess is that the objective of the two is to reach a set goal. In contrast, the strategies employed in the two are geared entirely to achieving that goal, whereas the strategies in gambling games are generally haphazard. Thus, the player may choose a strategy in a gambling game that they would never consider when employing that same strategy in a chess game. To this end, one can say that the two are radically different from one another and must be taught to differentiate between the two. This differentiation is especially important because it provides an opportunity for better strategies to be employed, leading to a higher level of playing ability.
There are several dominoes in the game of Chess; although, not all players will be able to see them. In order to see the dominoes, players should first consult the Chess Pieces Dictionary, available from the chess home site. From this source, one should be able to identify all of the chess pieces, their names and states, how to move them, how to place them on the board, and which pieces are protected. Players should also understand the differences between the various chess pieces (Pawns, Rooks, Knights, Bishops, Queen, King and Grand Master) and how these differences affect the overall strategy.