Games 101 - An Introduction to Games and to GamesInfoDepot.com

How do you define the word "games"? How, when, and where should you play games? What kinds of games should you play? These are some of the topics we address on our website as a whole; this page looks at what type of website we're running and why.

Some of our most popular games content includes the following articles:

• Popular Card Games
• Checkers Strategy
• The Game of Life Rules
• Monopoly Strategy
• Stratego Rules

What are games?

Games are a structured means of interacting with other people. (In some cases, a game player might be interacting with a computer or a deck of cards instead.) Games overlap with activities like puzzles. For example, is solitaire a game? What about a crossword puzzle? Or a jigsaw puzzle?

As far as we're concerned, the specific definition of "games" is pretty explicit. This site focus on some specific games types, mostly board games, card games, and roleplaying games right now, but we have plans to expand our coverage to include all types of games, including dice games, party games, trivia games, etc.

Here are some traits that we think all types of games have in common:

• Players - All games have players, even solitaire games, which have on player.
• Structure - Think of structure as a set of rules for a game. No rules? No game. Even the simplest types of games, like tic-tac-toe, have rules.
• Goals - All games have some kind of goal. In Monopoly, a player's goal is to bankrupt the other players. In Scrabble, the goal is to score more points than your opponent.

Types of games

Games can be categorized and subcategorized in various ways. For example, one broad classification system would be games of chance versus games of skill. Chess would be an example of a game of skill with no element of chance. Candyland, on the other hand, is a game of chance with no skill involved. But there are also games of chance which include a skill element, like poker. (The cards are dealt by chance, but the decisions by the players have a huge impact on the outcome.)

Another way of categorizing games is into broad categories like card games, board games, video games, and so on. Here are several examples of types of games:

Why play games?

Games offer multiple benefits to players. One of the major benefits of playing games with other people is the social aspect of interacting with other people. The structure and rules provided by games make social interaction easier for some people who might not have as developed social skills as others. Someone who's not good at small talk or mingling might be very good at chess, for example. And playing games makes for a great excuse to get together and socialize in the first place.

Other benefits of playing games includes skill development. Different games improve different skills. For example, Scrabble can improve your vocabulary and your spelling skills. So can Boggle. Yahtzee can improve your math skills, especially addition and multiplication. Monopoly can provide insights into how the world of business operates. Games can also be used to foster soft skills like strategic thinking and social interaction skills.

How to play games?

If you're a reclusive type, find a solitaire game of some kind online and start playing. If you like other people, or you want to learn to interact with other people, find a game that sound interesting and look for other players on the Internet. Websites like Meetup offer opportunities to find groups of people who play various games. And some games can be played online with other players, like spades or poker. The online versions of these games can be found in Java or Flash forms but some may require proprietary applications such as poker software.

When you play games, try to win, but don't freak out if you lose. Part of the enjoyment of playing games is taking the game seriously enough to try to win. But at the same time, no one likes a sore loser. If you lose, be gracious and congratulate the winner.

Where to play games?

Anywhere you can find someone to play with you is a good place to play games. Some people play games online, while others play games in bars, and still others play games at the kitchen table.

When to play games?

The best time to play games is anytime. Like reading, game playing is an activity that becomes more enjoyable the more you practice and the better your skills become.

About this site

You'll notice that GamesInfoDepot.com uses a minimal amount of graphics. That's in order to keep the focus on the content and to provide a fast loading website for our users. Most of our pages load in fewer than 6 seconds if you're using a 56k modem. If you have a high-speed connection, our pages load in 1-2 seconds.

The site was initially launched in 2006 by my friend Wes Young. Since then, I've purchased it and renovated it in several ways. I have plans to expand the site with additional content over the coming year. My name is Randy Ray.

People visit our site in order to answer all kinds of interesting game-related questions. Some of the recent questions which brought visitors to our site include:

• Who were the actors in the movie Clue?
• Who invented Canasta?
• Who wins when both sides hit 500 points in a game of Spades?
• How to win at Clue?
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