the world of games and gaming

Interest in games and the world of games has never been higher. In America, Japan, England, Western Europe, and elsewhere around the world billions of dollars and millions of man-hours are being spent by game makers and players on gaming pursuits.

One has only to think about the world of games for a moment to overwhelmed by it. There are people who are mad about chess, checkers, cards, parchisi, backgammon, quoits, darts, or whatever passion takes their fancy. Hand-held electronic games or computerized games for the PC or MAC and game boxes or play stations abound—video games like the Gameboy, the Xbox and PlayStation are a $30 billion dollar industry by themselves and growing rapidly. Interest in some games approaches cult status.

The same is true for a vast group of organized activities that are not quite games in the formal or usual sense of the word but which are games nonetheless. Among these are live-action "search and destroy" war games like paintball, live versions of fantasy board games like Dungeons and Dragons, and computerized or board-based battlefield games.

Today, the distinction between sports, games, and other kinds of contests has all but vanished. This fact adds the worldwide scope and cultural importance of spectator and participation sports to the scope and importance of the world of games. Sports games now range in energy from relatively mild encounters like quoits or table tennis or badminton or bowling to relatively frenetic ones like tennis, baseball, cricket, ice hockey, American football, British football, rugby, soccer, polo, wrestling, lacrosse, or boxing. The list goes on and on.

Today the world of games comprehends a variety of different kinds of contests. Games vary from the abstract and intangible to the very, very physical. For instance, a player can participate in a a baseball or football game, a baseball or football lottery, or a baseball or football fantasy camp.

Games range from croquet to spelling bees to bridge tournaments to checker or chess or crossword puzzle tournaments to scavenger or treasure hunts. By the definition given here, they include yacht racing and automobile racing and horse racing and airplane racing. And they include "friendly" or serious poker nights, bridge clubs, television game shows, penny and game arcades, casino gambling, gambling on the web or in casinos or on television. Why, where would Monte Carlo or Las Vegas be without them?

When looked at as an amusement or pastime, the popularity of games is astounding. As a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators—not billions, but trillions are spent on games every year around the world.

These trillions are a measure of the popularity of games and of the scope of the world of gaming.

Traditional kinds of games such as board games and crossword puzzles continue to be played, as in the past; meanwhile, new automated games are being cranked out at unprecedented rates. These games employ some of the most sophisticated technology available to the public. Gross retail sales of mass market automated games now exceed that for home computers. But strangely, the muses play almost no role in this massive undertaking.