Board games have been played over a century in different cultures and societies. Different artifacts have been found that proved the existence of such games in ancient times.
Mehen is an ancient board game from Predynastic Egypt.
Go is an ancient strategic board game originating in China.
Patolli is a board game originating in Mesoamerica, and was played by the ancient Mayans.
Board games engage luck, strategy and knowledge. Board games that are based on luck are usually controlled by a dice. Winners are usually determined by the skill of players to throw the relevant number on the dice. Games that depend on strategy are game of wit, skills and logic. This game is less on luck rather on skills and logic. Chance does not play down their logic and skills. There are also board games that require the knowedge of the player in certain topics or knowledge like quizmasters and scrabbles.
There are also board games that require luck as well as strategy in all aspects of the game. A classic example of this is monopoly, where a dice is rolled and players try to create an empire within the board.
Frequently used terms:
Board games have few terminology used to describe concepts applicable to the game mechanics and attributes similar in all board games.
• Game Board is a surface on which one plays a board game, there are different boards for different games. Board games like chess, Go and Backgammon have standardized and unchanging boards. Others use tiles or cards but they are not standardized.
• Game Piece represents a player on the game board. Each player is expected to control one or more pieces on the board. In other games that involve commanding multiple game pieces like in chess each piece expresses a unique and designations and capabilities within the parameters of the game. In other games like Go, all pieces controlled by a player have the same capabilities and designations.
• Jump sometimes to by-pass one or more game pieces or space jump is required. Likewise it involves capturing or conquering an opponent’s game piece.
• Space is a physical unit of progress on any game board.
The conclusion therefore is that there are lots of board games out there that are governed by the same principles. Making it easy for the players to adapt as well as masters can do.