What's In a Game?

   If you have ever wondered what a "Role Playing Game" is, or have ever been curious about what exactly all those 9 year old kids do with their Pokemon cards, this section will answer your questions.  Games are as old as history, and probably predate the first written record.  Simply put, a game is a diversion.  A game is a set of rules, and usually contains some sort of item or items that you play with.  Duh.  (Sports are also games, but these are not the games that I am detailing). 
      From the ancient African tradition of Mancala, to the Indian Chak-Mat (aka Death to the King, better kown as Chess), and on to games developed with small rectangular fortune telling devices (cards), and on and on to modern games such as Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit, the history of gaming is as broad and diverse as the people who play them.

Board Games:

    Board games were the first non-athletic game that humans invented.  All board games have different rules, different playing pieces, and different goals, but all board games have one thing in common.  They are played on a board.  Games such as Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Mancala, Chess, Dominoes, Checkers, Chutes & Ladders, Candyland, and Sorry are board games.  Generally these games involve moving pieces in simple or complex ways on the board in an effort to outwit or outmaneuver your opponent.  More complex rules, such as those of Trivial Pursuit or Dominoes, involve trivia, mathematical manipulation, and other skills.  Though Dominoes is not played on a board, and Trivial Pursuit involves more than a board, these games came directly from the former, and may be classified as a spin off of board games.

Card Games:

    In the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, Eastern European mystics developed a set of fortune telling cards; the famous "Tarot Cards".  The standard 52 card deck evolved from the minor arcana of the Tarot card deck, and people began to play games with them.  This is where Poker, Gin Rummy, Goldfish, Blackjack, and Solitaire come in.  People worldwide have invented thousands of games to play with the famous yet simple 52 card deck.  Most people are familiar with the card deck, and many of the games that are played with it. 

    More is printed on cards than numbers and royalty.  Baseball cards, trading cards, and other collectable cards have existed for years.  Collectible card games are modern games that mix both standard card games, as well as the idea of trading cards, with a few new rules thrown in.  Magic: The Gathering, Legend of the Five Rings, and Pokemon are all Collectible card games.  Players of these games carry not only the title of "player", but also "collector".  Individuals collect cards in much the same way baseball cards are collected.  Each card has different abilities, different art, and different uses, all of which fall under an overall set of rules.  Success in this type of game comes from having two skills.  Players succeed by both constructing superior decks from the cards they own, as well as using cunning and skill in using their deck to defeat opponents decks.

Collectible Card Games:

    Role Playing Games in their current form are very modern, however, role playing games have always existed.  This is the best way I have ever seen it explained:  When you were young, you played cops and robbers, or cowboys and indians, or some similar Rambo game.  In that game you ran about the house and yard yelling "Bang bang!  You're dead!" slaying everyone who stood in your way.  You were a hero... or a villain.  You were Chief Sitting Bull, or Sheriff Billy Bob.  Everyone participating had a role.  And eventually, someone yelled "I shot you!"  "No you didn't!"  "Yes I did!", and a fight promptly ensued.  That was a role playing game.  If you make a set of rules for such a game, and a system of mechanics to play it by, a game such as Dungeons and Dragons is invented.  D&D, Shadowrun, and Vampire: The Masquerade are all role playing games.  These games are played in the imagnation, or with miniature figurines, or graph paper, or any number of things.  The most important attribute a player needs however, is imagination.  A storyteller of sorts narrates the scenarios in which the players participate and handle their "role".  The storyteller then asks what each player is doing, and all declarations are resolved, usually using dice, cards, and the rules.  Play proceeds and a story unfolds in which the players participate.  Role playing games are like "choose your own adventure" books, only with infinite choices and courses of action.

Role Playing Games:

War Games:

    War games are conflict simulation games in which participants try to outmaneuver or annihilate their opponents.  Warhammer, Squad Leader, and VOR are good examples of war games.  Many war games have miniatures involved, hence the sub-genre "Miniatures War Games".  A set of rules governs play, and essentially... players take their armies and accomplish specific missions to win, or... annihilate eachother.