The motion of Skill Games

The definition of a game of skill is a game where the consequent is determined commonly by reasoning and/or physical skill, as opposed to pure occasion or luck.

The request for retrial of these games lies in the fact that not only do players revel in the challenge and the wide range of game choices/types, but also the mention of checkers, dominoes, hangman and jigsaw puzzles brings on fond childhood memories. Most of us then graduated to rummy, backgammon, scrabble and the ultimate challenge-chess.

Jigsaw Name Puzzles

While skill games will never replace casino gambling online or off in popularity, it is a universal internet topic with a multitude of sites contribution free or tournament play.

I classify 7 skill game types as follows: Card, Board, Dice, Tile, Word, Puzzle and Sports Games.

As skill games is such a broad topic and could not be covered in a singular article, I will

present examples for each game type and offer a brief narrative and/or history for each. 

1) Card Games: use a deck of cards as their central tool. Examples are Rummy, Bridge and Canasta. Rummy has many 'cousins' or versions. To name a few, there is the world famous, Gin Rummy along with Oklahoma Gin, Knock Rummy, Continental, 500 Rum or Pinochle, Kalookie and Pan or Panguingue.

2) Board Games: assert turn-based play in that one player's move/strategy is followed by their opponents' move/strategy. Players can only move at their turn. Examples are chess, checkers and backgammon.

The origins of these board games go back centuries. Chess became so beloved that other games took second place during the middle ages. It's not safe bet if chess was invented by one or more people, but warfare was a likely intuit for its development.

Checkers is believed to have originated in the desert country of Egypt where it was known as Alquerque around 650 Bc, though there are caves from 1400 Bc that depict Alquerque like images.

The game was played by philosophers and thinkers such as Plato and Homer as it provided an huge reasoning challenge.

3) Dice Games: use a whole of dice as their central tool. Board games often use dice to determine a player's standing in the game; however, dice alone commonly don't determine the outcome of the game in relation to other characteristics like strategy or skill. Examples are Sic Bo, Yahtzee and Poker Dice.

Poker Dice is one of the most famed dice games, especially online. The dice display representations of playing cards instead of numbers. Each of the six sides describe Ace, King, Queen, Jack, Ten and Nine that are used to form a Poker hand. The object of the game is to make the best poker hand.

4) Domino/Tile Games: apply a central tool of a set of tiles called dominoes that have two ends, each with a given whole of dots or pips. Therefore, each mixture has 2 possible values and each domino is unique in the set. Most domino/tile games are 'card games without the cards'. Examples are Dominoes, Pai Gow and Mahjong.

Who invented the game of Mahjong? In all probability, this game was devised by Confucious, who traveled in China during that era. He was fond of birds - perhaps that is why the game was christened as Mahjong, which denotes a sparrow. Some experts say that the three cardinal virtues professed by Confucious were represented through three dragon tiles - red, green, and white.

5) Word Games: so many word games, so wee time. A short list of examples is Scrabble, Hangman, Cryptograms, Jotto, Jumble, Acrophobia and Wheel of Fortune.

6) Puzzle Games: puzzle me these examples-Sudoku, Crosswords, the oh, so frustrating--Rubik's Cube along with a group of way cool online puzzles--Bejeweled, Deal or No Deal, Chuggles and Jungle Bubble.

7) Sports Games: merge physical and reasoning skills. Examples are Billiards and Darts.

Sports Games of football, rugby, basketball and soccer wish 'big time' physical and reasoning skills.

During this short trip down memory lane, I am safe bet that you too have discovered the attraction of skill games. Now, how about a game of rummy?

The motion of Skill Games