The 12 types of games that exist (and their characteristics)

Although not everything in life is a game, sometimes we must let our most childish side come to the surface and have fun for a while with those games that go according to each situation.

From parties to a quiet afternoon, games are part of our routine, as we grow, they evolve with us, they become more complex and more mature. Determining in a certain way, the end of a stage to move on to another.

But have you ever asked yourself this question How many games are there? Surely too many! After all, we can find a game for various aspects of our environment, even in our virtual environment.

Therefore in this article We will tell you how many types of games there are and we will tell you all the characteristics that define them.

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What is the game?

In definition, the game is described as any recreational activity where one, two or more people participate and has the purpose of entertaining and amuse them. In which various mental skills are used to develop the situation and meet the established goal. It also has a set of rules that determines the participation of the members in each game for its fair and functional development.

The game is also used as a teaching tool by parents during the infantile stage of their children or by teachers to impart some knowledge or direct their class. On the other hand, the game can also be used to help people overcome or avoid certain diseases and train animals.

Game benefits

Gambling can become more than just a fun activity, becoming a functional tool for the development of all people.

1. Mental abilities

One of the greatest advantages that we can acquire from games is that they nurture our mental capacities, because we use several of these to be able to fully enter the game. Skills such as attention, concentration, problem solving, memory, and observation. It is like a brain training that we must take advantage of.

2. Disease prevention

Because we are exercising our brain in games, this helps prevent its aging, the oxidation of its cells, oxygenate the brain and create new neural connections. What does this mean? That we can prevent degenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

3. World knowledge

Some board games or mental agility gives us the possibility of acquiring popular knowledge, even from other parts of the world. So, in addition to entertaining us, it can teach us some general culture. That is why games are so widely used for education.

4. Interaction with others

Games help a lot in the childhood stage to generate and strengthen ties with other people, classmates and even spending more time with family. So it can become a space to give way to new relationships.

Importance of play in childhood

Play is one of the qualities that cannot be lacking during the infant stage, because babies and children begin to learn about the world through it, they learn to communicate and interact with others. This is because children's thinking is very basic and they can easily get bored when learning something. if they are not entertained. This is why baby toys come in many shapes, sizes, colors, and sounds.

The game also works as an approximation to the real world and the way in which it can be entered. The theorists of child psychology, Vygotski, Bandura and Piaget, agreed that the child needs the game to be able to know and understand what surrounds him, to perceive his own interaction in the world, develop skills for problem solving, creativity and more complex interests as they grow and learn, respect and be guided by the fulfillment of regulations.

Types of games

Finally, We have reached the section where you will know how many types of game there are, what they are and what characterizes them. So you can know the reason for their diversity in any area of ​​your life, as well as at any age.

1. Popular games

These are characterized by being games whose origin is generally unknown, but that at some point they were created in order to satisfy people's entertainment and even as a way of relating to each other. These games are passed down from generation to generation, embodied in a non-visible way in the history of a culture.

Many popular games have crossed the barriers of the countries, getting to be played in a similar or different way in different places. An example of this are the hidden ones.

They are those games that also pass from generation to generation but are more common in the regions or countries where we grew up. so we can say that they are from that place. They are linked to your history or cultural development and may have been popularized in others places with expansions throughout history and each nation has adapted it to its own qualities. An example of this is petanque, Venezuelan Creole balls or dominoes.

3. Childish games

As I mentioned previously, games are an essential part of children's development, where they learn new things, to interact with others, to develop and strengthen their mental abilities. Jean piaget, a French pedagogue was the pioneer of this theory through an experiment of his own with his children, where he observed how his thinking changed over the years. Classifying it in 3 stages:

3.1 Functional games

Also known as exercise games, they are the games that children can play between birth to 2 years. Consisting of repeating a game over and over again, just to obtain pleasure and awaken the sensorimotor area.

3.2 Symbolic games

It is known as the pre-operational stage and goes from 2 to 6 years of age, where the child begins to use your creativity and imagination to create a complete environment, with characters, rules and settings own. Favoring language and creation.

3.3 Rule sets

The latter is the type of game that allows children to interact with others, through following and complying with the rules of popular or traditional games. It also teaches win-loss concepts, such as managing frustration or improving skills.

4. Outdoor games

It also begins from childhood to pre-adolescence and returns once we have become parents.. It is about outdoor games and mostly in the company of several players for a better development of the games.

Although there are also specialized recreational parks for children, where there are exploration devices (slides, mazes, swings, etc.) to entertain themselves. However, the intention is generally to share.

5. Building games

Also known as 'Legos', they are small pieces to assemble when several of them are put together. So that walls, buildings or figures can be created. There are even games to build that are suitable for older children and even teenagers. But their quality becomes more complex and they give more elaborate results.

6. Table games

There is nothing more classic than a board game, typical of Friday nights or weekends. These games are made for children, adolescents and adults, where there are variations for each age, as well as their level of complexity. The best part is that it is a game that promotes sharing, the use of mental skills and the following of rules.

Examples that cannot be left out are ludo, monopoly, or the games of questions and answers.

7. Mental agility games

Another inevitable classic, even in the middle of the technological age, are games of mental agility, such as chess, memoirs, or puzzles. Which help to strengthen problem solving, the use of creativity and abstract thinking. These types of games are ideal for activating the brain and preventing degenerative diseases.

8. Games of chance

Well known in the entertainment and earnings industry, although they are not always played with the aim of obtaining money in between. They are games of great mental dexterity, strategy and a touch of luck and such has been their popularity in recent times that there are professional players dedicated to poker games for example. Among other games are bingo or roulette of fortune.

9. Role playing games

Games like ‘Guess who’ ‘Charades’ or ‘Mimics’ are the representations of this classification. These are games where participants acquire or emulate the qualities, characteristics and descriptions of others characters, animals, plants, objects and even actions, where the objective is for the rest to guess what is being imitating.

10. Cooperative games

Also called team games, the purpose of these is to lead your team to victory, through the use and combination of the particular skills of each member, so that the team is strengthened. In these games the law of ‘All for one and one for all’ is applied in victories and in defeats.

11. Competition games

On the contrary, this kind of game is based on finding out ‘who is the best player of all’ until you go for the victory. There is usually only one winner, unless they are teams against teams.. An example of these is 'Scavenger hunt' or even 'ONE'.

12. Virtual games

The games of the 21st century, although their appearance began at the end of the last century, It is undeniable that nowadays they are more present than even traditional games. The positive side is that these develop the capabilities of multifunction, expands, attention and the ability to observe.

Its first appearance was in the form of video games or console games, where specialized controls are used to control the characters, such as ‘Mario bros’ or ‘Street Fighter’ until they evolved and are now presented in a format for computers or consoles laptops.

Currently there are two types of video games: Online, which can be played in real time through the web and Offline, which do not need an internet connection to play. You can also do it individually, as a couple or multiplayer.

12.2. Mobile apps

This is another part of the evolution of virtual games towards mobiles, from the classic games of the old phones, even those that we can enjoy today by downloading them from the application stores mobiles. So that we can carry games of various categories with us everywhere.

We can find all the previously mentioned games, only in virtual format.

What's your favorite game? Do you have one that is a tradition in your family or one that you love to have on your mobile?