Outline of games

For sports, see Outline of sports.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to games:

A game is a structured type of play usually undertaken for entertainment or fun. Games can also be work, art or an educational tool.

Definition

Main article: Game § Definitions

• Chris Crawford
• Ludwig Wittgenstein
• Roger Caillois
• Other definitions

Purpose

Individuals participate in game-play for various reasons, depending upon the aspect the particular game covers. These include:

• Education
  • Learning analytics
• Entertainment
  • Play
  • Social relation
• Pleasure
  • Hobby
• Strategy
  • Tactics

Classification

Main article: Game § Gameplay elements and classification

• Game classification
  • By cause of uncertainty

Genre

Main article: List of game genres

• Party games
• Tabletop games
• Video games
• Other games

Lists of games

Party games

Further information: Party game § Common party games, and Party game § Children's party games

Tabletop games

• List of board games
  • List of cross and circle games
• List of tabletop role-playing games

Video games

Main article: Lists of video games

• By platform
• By developer
• By publisher
• By hardware
• By date
• By character or franchise
• By feature
• By region
• By genre
• By technology
• By license
• By player type
• By reception
• Other

Other

• List of card games
• List of dice games
• List of domino games
• List of fictional games
• List of games that Buddha would not play
• List of role-playing games
• List of traditional children's games

Game elements

Further information: Game § Gameplay elements and classification

• Game controller
• Lusory attitude
• Marble
• Stadium
• Video game console
  • PlayStation 5

Tabletop

Further information: Tabletop game § Tabletop game components

• Chess set
  • Chessboard
  • Chess piece
    • Bishop
    • King
    • Knight
    • Pawn
    • Queen
    • Rook
• Dice
• Game board
• Piece
• Player character
• Playing card
  • French-suited
  • German-suited
  • Italian-suited
  • Portuguese-suited
  • Spanish-suited
  • Swiss-suited

Players

Main article: Gameplay

• Player – Participant in a game.
  • Gamer – Participant in video games or tabletop games

Lists of players

• List of chess players
• List of esports players

History

Main article: History of games

• Pre-modern
• Modern

Game development

Main articles: Board game development and Video game development

• Game development kit
• Video game developer
• Video game modding

Game design

Main article: Game design

• Dynamic music
• Emergent gameplay
• Game balance
• Game design process
• Game mechanics
• Game of chance
• House rule – Unofficial modifications to official rules of a game.
• Simultaneous action selection

Video game

Main article: Video game design

• Dynamic game difficulty balancing
• Gold sink
• Game designer

Game theory

Main article: Game theory

• Cooperative game
• Evolutionary game theory
• Extensive form game
  • Information set
• Kingmaker scenario
• List of games in game theory
• Normal-form game
• Payoff matrix
• Perfect information

Outlines of games

• Outline of chess
• Outline of games
• Outline of poker
• Outline of video games

See also

• Game club
• Game semantics
• Ludology
• Play
• Puzzle
• Sport
• Toy
• List of puzzle topics
• List of impossible puzzles
• List of puzzle-based computer and video games