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The game of the rope is easy to organize and requires strength and skill and little equipment: it is the typical improvised game.

Paul Cézanne Les joueurs de carte (Card players), 1892-95.

A game (from the Latin ''iocus, "joke", associated with the Indo-European root * yek-, "talk") is the activity carried out by one or more players, using their imagination or tools to create a situation with a certain number of rules, where there may or may not be winners and losers in order to provide entertainment or fun, on many occasions, even as an educational tool, since in most cases they work by stimulating practical and psychological skills.

The first reference to games that exists is from the year 3000 BC. C. Games are considered part of a human experience and are present in all cultures. Probably, tickling, combined with laughter, is one of the first playful activities of the human being, as well as one of the first activities communicative prior to the appearance of language.

Game concept

Two kids from a chess school, at the opening stage of the game.

Children celebrating a victory in a game.

Gambling is an activity inherent to the human being. All of us have learned to relate to our family, material, social and cultural environment through play. It is a very rich, broad, versatile and ambivalent concept that implies a difficult categorization.

Etymologically, researchers state that the word game comes from two Latin words: "iocum and ludus-ludere" both refer to joke, fun, joke, and are often used interchangeably together with the expression playful activity.

Innumerable definitions have been enunciated about the game, thus, the dictionary of the Royal Academy considers it as a recreational exercise subject to rules in which you win or lose. However, its own polysemy and the subjectivity of the different authors imply that any definition is no more than a partial approach to the ludic phenomenon. It can be affirmed that the game, like any sociocultural reality, is impossible to define in absolute terms, and for this reason the definitions describe some of its characteristics. Among the best-known conceptualizations we point out the following:

• Huizinga (1938): "The game is a free action or occupation, which develops within certain temporal and spatial limits, according to absolutely obligatory rules, although freely accepted, action that has an end in itself and is accompanied by a feeling of tension and joy and the consciousness of being otherwise than in ordinary life. »
• Gutton, P. (1982): It is a privileged form of child expression.
• Cagigal, J. M. (1996): "Free, spontaneous, disinterested and intrascendant action that is done in a temporary and spatial limitation of the usual life, according to certain rules, established or improvised and whose information element is the tension. »

In conclusion, these and other authors such as Roger Caillois, Moreno Palos, etc., include in their definitions a series of characteristics common to all visions, of which some of the most representative are:

• The game is a free activity: it is a voluntary event, no one is obliged to play.
• It is located in spatial limitations and in temporary imperatives established in advance or improvised at the time of the game.
• It has an uncertain character. Since it is a creative, spontaneous and original activity, the final result of the game is constantly fluctuating, which motivates the presence of a pleasant uncertainty that motivates us all.
• It is a manifestation that aims in itself, it is free, disinterested and unconscious. This feature is going to be very important in child play as it does not allow any failure.
• The game develops in a separate world, fictional, is like a game narrated with actions, away from everyday life, a continuous symbolic message.
• It is a conventional activity, since every game is the result of a social agreement established by the players, who design the game and determine their internal order, limitations and rules.

Difference between game and sport

Currently, as with the definition of the game, there are countless conceptions of sport depending on the author taken as a reference: Coubertain, Demeny, Cagigal, Parlebas, García Ferrando, etc. Also carrying out another synthesis of these authors, we could define sport and differentiate it from the simple game in the following way:

Sport is a set of motor and intellectual situations that differs from games in that it seeks competition with others or with oneself, in that it requires specific rules and in that it is institutionalized.

Character

Gambling is universal, meaning that people from all cultures have always played it. Many games are repeated in most societies.

It is present in the history of humanity despite the difficulties in some times to play, as in the first industrial societies.

It evolves according to the age of the players and has different characteristics depending on the culture in which it is studied.

Game vs. Fun

The game is synonymous with recreation, fun, joy, relaxation, but the child also plays to discover, get to know each other, get to know others and their environment.

In non-gregarious animals, play appears mainly in childhood as a means of psychomotor learning or experimentation and in adulthood as a behavior related to reproduction.

In gregarious animals, these playful behaviors are maintained and the social games associated with the acquisition of status, the establishment of roles and the group relationship are added.

The symbolic function intervenes in the human game: the ability to use symbols and signs to create contexts, anticipate situations, plan future actions or interpret reality intervenes.

The game favors the process of enculturation and arises naturally.

It is essential for psychomotor, intellectual, affective and social development, since with it skills are developed and one learns to respect rules and to have goals and objectives.

Gambling is a right. According to the declaration of the rights of the child, adopted in the general assembly of the UN, The child must fully enjoy games and recreations which must be oriented towards the ends pursued by education; society and public authorities will endeavor to promote the enjoyment of this right.

Play is not only a form of fun but also the best way of learning. Through it, children learn to face various situations that they will have to face throughout their lives.

Features

Rubber jump, children's play.

• It's free.
• Organize actions in a specific and own way.
• It helps to know reality.
• It favors the socializing process.
• It performs an inequity, integrative and rehabilitative function.
• In the game the material is not indispensable.
• It has rules that players accept.
• Your rules can be instantly modified according to the context.
• It is done in any environment.
• Help education in children.
• Relax stress.
• It makes us firm.

Role of play in childhood

Play is useful and necessary for the child's development to the extent that the child is the protagonist.

The importance of the usefulness of the game can lead adults to steal the leading role from the child, to want to direct the game. Adult intervention in children's games must consist of:

• Facilitate the conditions that allow the game.
• Be at the disposal of the child.
• Do not direct or impose the game. The game imposed can change the attitude of the child. The targeted game does not meet the game features, although the child can end up making it his.

Playing with colorful balls.

The game allows the child to:

• To remain differentiated from the demands and limitations of external reality.
• Explore the world of the elders without being present.
• Interact with your peers.
• Work autonomously.

The game always makes implicit or explicit reference to the relationship between childhood, fun and education.

Gaming is an activity that has an end in itself, that is, the individual performs the activity itself to achieve the objective, which is to be pleasurable. The game has a character of intrinsic purpose and is liberating from conflicts, since it ignores the problems or solves them. One of its main characteristics is over-motivation, which aims to turn an ordinary activity into a supplementary motivation activity. Early and varied play contributes positively to all aspects of growth and is linked to the four basic dimensions of child development, which are psychomotor, intellectual, social and finally affective-emotional.

Functions of the children's game:

The game about the body and the senses

• Discover new sensations.
• Coordinate the movements of your body dynamically, globally, etc.
• Develop your sensory and perceptive capacity.
• Organize your body structure.
• Expand and explore your motor and sensory capabilities.
• Discover the material changes derived from exploration.

The game and the capacities of thought and creativity

• Stimulate the ability to reason, stimulate reflective and representative thinking.
• Creating potential development sources, that is, what can become.
• Expand memory and attention thanks to the stimuli generated.
• Promote the decentening of thought.
• Develop imagination and creativity and distinction between fantasy-reality.
• To enhance the development of language and abstract thinking.

The game on communication and socialization

• Representation games (symbolic, role, dramatics, fiction).
• Approach to the knowledge of the real world and prepare the child for adult life.
• Favor communication and interaction, especially with the peers.
• Promote and promote moral development in children.
• Enhance social adaptation and cooperation.
• Game of rules.
• Learn to follow imposed rules.
• Facilitate self-control.
• Develop responsibility and democracy.
• Cooperative game.
• To enhance cooperation and participation.
• Improve the social cohesion of the group.
• Improve the self-concept and concept of the group.
• Promote positive communication and decrease negative.
• Increase assertive behavior with your peers.

The game as an instrument of expression and emotional control

• Provide fun, entertainment, joy and pleasure.
• Express yourself freely and unload tensions.
• Develop and increase self-esteem and self-concept.
• Living your own experiences by adapting them to your needs.
• Develop personality.

Game evolution in species

Social play is extremely common behavior in virtually all mammals and some birds. Mammals play to learn. In fact the main function of the game is to learn. Mammals are characterized by an evolved brain, long infancy, parental care, young suckling, group hunting, social and non-genetic division of labor. Mammals play to hunt in groups, define hierarchies, explore, divide the work, among others. The game between mammals (canines, felines, aquatics, primates) is based on imitation and exploration by trial and error. In mammals there is a complete absence of symbolic play.

Symbolic play is done on representations and not on real things. The cave paintings are the first example of a symbolic "game". Prehistoric men used them to act on animals through their representations. Pretend play is clearly present in all normal children from 2 years of age. The symbolic game is present when a child takes a stone and plays with it as if it were a car. This boy is playing with the car, not the rock.

Chimpanzees and other primates have the ability to use representations, they can for example use some words, but they do not appear in any form of symbolic play. The game of chimpanzees has the same characteristics as that of all mammals. The appearance of symbolic play occurs exclusively in human children, along with language - intrinsically symbolic.

In humans, after the appearance of symbolic play, around the age of 2, a stage of social play begins, in which children play more and more with each other and with adults, using language. This social game increasingly requires the establishment of agreements and finally ends in the formal game, whose essential characteristic is that it is a game with very clear rules. Marble games (nail ball) are an excellent example of children's games with rules, around 6 years of age. In the history of the human species, it is probable that the formal game appeared after the sedentarization resulting from agriculture and writing. In the formal game, the object of the game is the rules themselves, not the representations. Thanks to this ability to establish rules and play within them, the species has been able to build key "games" such as democracy, religion and science. Creating games with rules is the essence of the evolution of civilization. From the age of 5, children can use rules to manipulate objects, interact socially or to generate knowledge, the three fundamental uses of the game and of the rules.

Games as generators of culture

Miniature of the Book of Chess, dice and tables of Alfonso X the Sabio representing a Jew (left) and a Muslim (right) playing chess.

Play should also be considered as an important part of society, as it instructs us in basic knowledge and physical skills necessary to survive into adulthood. However, throughout life we do not stop playing, the goal of the game depends on itself, the subject and the goal of the game. In human society, the game has become important because it is the most optimal way to share knowledge, creating and evolving culture. We create social environments and competitive attitudes when playing, managing to learn behaviors that help us survive among our species.

It should be mentioned that the culture-generating game only has this nature if the game is capable of fulfilling the creation of social environments and competitive attitude. The fact of creating behaviors that reinforce social ties and that support the exchange of knowledge (be it academic, cultural or general), creates more culture, thus breaking the limits that each individual culture may have. The very term of evolution implies that two or more elements must be mixed in order to create a new element with the best of the two previous elements. In short, if the game manages to gather people, it is already determined as a generator of culture.

Taking a more common example, many educational systems throughout the world today choose to apply more playful dynamics within educational institutions, due to the evolution of technology and society. Children and adults today learn better in a more practical and playful way, thus avoiding negative behaviors towards studying. The game should be light and without tedium, in order to create students who are passionate about "playful" and see it as a pleasure instead of an obligation.

Game Composition

• A goal or goal.
• Rules.
• Tools or components.
• Challenge or challenge.
• Interactivity.

Conclusion

Gaming is a necessary activity for human beings, having great importance in the social sphere, since it allows rehearsing certain social behaviors; At the same time, it is a useful tool to acquire and develop intellectual, motor, or affective capacities and all this must be done willingly, without feeling any kind of obligation and, like all activities, time and space are required to be able to do it.

Types of games

Popular Games

Rugby's party.

Popular games are closely linked to the activities of the common people, and over time they have passed from father to son. The origin of most of them is unknown: they were simply born from man's need to play, that is, they are spontaneous, creative and highly motivating activities.

Its regulations are highly variable, and can easily change from one geographical area to another; They may even be known by different names depending on where it is practiced.

Popular games usually have few and usually simple rules, and they use all kinds of materials, without having to be specific to the game itself. All of them have their objectives and a specific way of carrying them out: chasing, throwing an object to a certain place, conquering a territory, keeping or winning an object, etc. Its practice has no significance beyond the game itself, it is not institutionalized, and its great objective is to have fun.

Over time, some have become a very important support in Physical Education classes, to develop different physical abilities and motor qualities, or serve as a base for other games and sports.

Popular games can serve as an educational tool in the classroom in various subjects since in their strings, songs or lyrics, characteristics of each of the eras are observed. This typology can be a fun strategy in which the people who perform them learn while having fun.

Traditional Games

They are more solemn games that have also been passed down from generation to generation, but their origins date back to very distant times.

Not only have they been passed from parents to children, but the institutions and entities that have taken care that they are not lost over time have had a lot to do with their preservation and dissemination. They are closely linked to the history, culture and traditions of a country, a territory or a nation. Its regulations are similar, regardless of where they are developed.

The material used in the games is specific to them, and is closely linked to the area, the customs and even the kinds of work that were carried out in the place.

Its practitioners are usually organized in clubs, associations and federations. There are official championships and more or less regulated competitions.

Some of these traditional games over time became sports, called traditional, so that their popularity among the inhabitants of a territory or country competes with the popularity of other conventional sports. Some examples: petanque, chito, bowling, frog, etc.

Among these, we could find games that over time have become true sports linked to a region, and that are only practiced in it, becoming part of cultural traditions. The origin of traditional games and sports is linked to the very origin of that people, for this reason they are called autochthonous games or sports. Some examples are: the Canarian Wrestling, the whistle, the Canarian stick, the rope pull, the hand ball, the bar throw, etc.

Children's games

Functional or exercise game

Between 0-2 years. They belong to the motor sensory stadium. They consist in repeating actions for the pleasure of obtaining an immediate result. The benefits of the functional game are:

• Sensory development
• Coordination of movements and displacements.
• Development of static and dynamic balance.
• Understanding the world around the baby.
• Self overcoming.
• Social interaction with the reference adult.
• Ocul-manual coordination.

An exercise game mode is the turbulent game. It is a motor game consisting of races, jumps, chases, fights, etc.

Outdoor children's games

Outdoor children's games are found in parks or recreational centers, these games have the task of being durable, fun, resistant and above all safe due to the public they are aimed at, which are mostly children under 10 years of age..

These came into existence out of a need to have more active and safe entertainment for young children where they can entertain multiple children at once.

The mix of materials is usually metal and plastic, but depending on the thematic design it could include other materials such as wood as well as the colors it may contain.

One of the most notable advantages of these games are:

• Interaction with other people of the same age as the child
• It promotes friendship with other children.
• Security Improvement Demand
• Care and maintenance to more frequent parks
• Increased number of people in parks

These children's games can have a combination of small slides as well as swings and other accessories such as a climbing net, tunnels, etc.

Its size and components will always depend on the theme under which it is designed. The main objective of this game is to provide the necessary security and the desired fun, that is why its design must be functional, attractive to children and above all resistant, but not only to children but also to natural factors such as rain, winds, hail where its structure has to be maintained without serious damage and above all without cracks due to impacts or dryness due to its long exposure to the sun.

Thus, children's games have a guarantee that, thanks to their quality and design, they promise to last several years and provide fun to a large number of children, regardless of how much use they may give them and resisting the inclement weather.

The symbolic game

Between 2-7 years. Preoperative stage. It consists in simulating real or imaginary situations, creating or imitating characters that are not present at the time of the game. The benefits of the symbolic game are:

• Understanding and assimilating the environment.
• Learning from roles established in adult society.
• Language development.
• Development of imagination and creativity.

The rules game

It has a necessarily social character. It is based on simple and concrete rules that all must respect. The structure and tracking of the rules define the game. The benefits of the rules game are:

• You learn to win and lose, to respect shifts and rules and opinions or actions of the playmates.
• Learning from different types of knowledge and skills.
• Favoring the development of language, memory, reasoning, attention and reflection.

The construction game

It appears about the first year. It is done in parallel to the other types of game. Evolucine with the years. The benefits of the construction game are:

• Power of creativity.
• Development of generosity and sharing.
• Development of oculo-manual coordination.
• Increased body control during actions.
• Increase of fine motricity.
• Increased capacity for care and concentration.
• Stimulation of visual memory.
• Improved understanding and spatial reasoning.
• Development of analysis and synthesis capacities.

Board games

Paris is the western version of an Indian game.

Board games, which use a board as a central tool where the status, resources and progress of the players are tracked using physical symbols. Many also involve dice or playing cards. Most of the games that simulate battles are on the board, and this can represent a map on which the contenders move symbolically. Some games, like chess and go, are entirely deterministic, based solely on strategy. Children's games are largely based on luck, such as Oca, in which decisions are hardly made, while ludo (parqués in Colombia), is a mixture of luck and strategy. The Trivia is random as it depends on the questions that each player gets. Board games are old or traditional, but they are considered from the new era or current because they have been improving their design, complements and characteristics.

Card Games

Card games use a deck of cards as the central tool. This can be Spanish, with 40 or 48 cards, or French with 52 cards, and the use of one or the other depends on the game. There are also some magic games that use playing cards.

Video Games

DUO, video game of cards.

Video games are those controlled by a computer or computer, which can create the virtual tools to be used in a game, such as playing cards or dice or elaborate worlds that can be manipulated.

A video game uses one or more input devices, either a combination of keys and joystick, keyboard, mouse, trackball or any other controller. In computer games the development of the game depends on the evolution of the interfaces used.

Sometimes, there is a lack of goal or opposition, which has sparked discussion about whether these should be considered "games" or "toys".

With the Internet connection, new games have appeared; some need a client while others require only a browser. The computer game has spread to all social sectors, transforming the traditional way of playing.

Flash video games (Adobe Flash)

With the advancement of the Internet and computing, online video games have become increasingly popular, with games developed in Adobe Flash being a reference. Flash allows the development of cross-platform video games, as long as Flash is supported, there are even many mobile devices that have incorporated it or will soon support this technology.

Role Playing

Role-playing is a type of game in which participants take on the role of characters in the game. Originally the game was developed among a group of participants who invented a script with pencil and paper. Together, players can collaborate on the story that involves their characters, creating, developing and exploring the setting, in an adventure outside the bounds of daily life. One of the first role-playing games to be commercialized was Dungeons & Dragons, whose official Spanish translations always retained the original English title, although players also know it by the title with which the animated series derived from the game was translated (Dungeons and Dragons in Spain and Dungeons and Dragons in Hispanic America).

Classification of games according to various authors

The universe of the popular/traditional game is so versatile that it gives rise to numerous and different attempts at classification. Among the many forms of classification, we want to highlight in the first place the typology of:

According to Roger Caillois

Games can be classified according to other criteria, and it was the Greeks who defined four types of games from which various variables arose throughout history.

• AGON: are the games of competition where the antagonists are in conditions of relative equality and everyone seeks to demonstrate their superiority (sports, games of living room, etc.)
• ALEA: games based on a decision that does not depend on the player. It is not a matter of defeating the adversary but of imposing itself on destiny. The will renounces and abandons itself to destiny. (games of chance)
• MIMICRY: Every game implies temporary acceptance, if not of an illusion when less of a closed, conventional universe and, in certain respects, fictitious. The rules do not predominate here, but the simulation of a second reality. The player escapes the world by making another. These games are complemented by the mimic and costume.
• ILINX: games that are based on searching for vertigo, and consist of an attempt to destroy for an instant the stability of perception, and to inflict on the lucid consciousness a kind of voluptuous panic. In any case, it is a question of reaching a kind of spasm, trance or stunt that causes the annihilation of reality with a sovereign brusqueity. The rapid movement of rotation or fall causes an organic state of confusion and discomfort.

These four groups of games can be situated between two extremes, called "continuum": they are the concepts of "paidia" (spontaneous manifestations of the playful instinct) and "ludus" (an evolution of paidia in which they seem to be conventions and techniques of play). performance).

According to Rafael García Serrano

His work in 1974 on the popular games and traditional sports of the peninsula is pioneering in Spain. In his bibliographical study, he makes a detailed classification in which the following categories are distinguished:

Games and sports pedestres of jumps and balances

• Races: Korrikolaris (vascos), Kastoris or Andaris, ritual races, sac racing. * Jumps: Passion jump, jump with "makilla", Basque ritual jump.
• Balances: human towers or Castells (Argon, Castile)

Basque hair.

Games and pitch sports

• Distance launch: Spanish bar, varnish, ball, grill
• Precision launch: bowls, limestone, petanque, frog, rayuela, herron.

Strength sports and games

• Weight lifting: stone lifting, traction pitchers: rope-throwing, stick pulling.
• Traction: rope, pull the stick.

Fighting games

• Leoness fight and Canarian struggle.

Sword and ball games

• Czech, porch, shines.

Ball games and sports

• Basque hair
• Valencian Ball

Popular skills games at work

Popular games and sports with animals or vehicles

• Games and water sports: horse racing, ass racing
• Animal fights: rams, roosters.
• Games and sports cyclists: racing, skill tests.

According to Moreno Palos

In 1992, a professor at the INEF in Madrid of the subject Games and popular sports, he elaborated the following classification based fundamentally on criteria associated with the field of physical education:

1. Locomodation: races, jumps, balances.
2. Remote launch: handy, with other propulsive elements.
3. Precision release: bowls, discs, coins...
4. Ball and ball: basketball, soccer.
5. Fighting: struggle, fencing.
6. Strength: lifting, transport, traction and push...
7. Nautical and aquatic: swimming, sailing, rowing...
8. With animals: fights, hunting...
9. Skill at work: agricultural.
10. No.

Classifies in 2002 the games and popular sports of Casilla León based on the criteria used by Moreno Palos, distinguishing:

1. Precision launch.
2. Distance launch.
3. Fight.
4. Skill at work
5. Ball games.

Pere Lavega Burgués

Critical review of these classifications, he affirmed in 1996 that the morphological and structural complexity of the game (popular-traditional) is revealed in the numerous attempts to group it.

In most cases, classifications are built based on superficial, formal criteria, without choosing really pertinent and constitutive elements of their internal structure.

These morphological criteria, due to the multiple ways in which the game can be developed, present excessively heterogeneous categories. In this sense, one of the classifications shown by Moreno Palos demonstrates this. That is why it is necessary to build new objective and rigorous proposals, built on justifiable theoretical bases. In this line, only Pierre Parlebas proposed some objective criteria in 1986, although they do not specifically focus on classifying popular and traditional games.

Didactic games

Currently, pedagogues consider games as a fundamental tool for the teaching-learning process, increasing the independent work of students and solving problematic situations in practical activity. The Game provides new ways to explore reality and different strategies to work on it. It benefits the students as we live in a society that is based on rules. In addition, games allow students to develop their imagination, think of numerous alternatives to a problem, discover different ways and styles of thinking, and favor behavior change, as well as group exchange. It rescues fantasy from the imagination and the childish spirit arises in adults, which allows curiosity, charm, amazement, spontaneity and, above all, authenticity to arise again when reacting to situations that arise.