Whether we take part in this pastime leaning intently inches away from a desktop screen, lounging comfortably in front of the television, or peeking absent-mindedly at a smartphone, we are unified by our desire for distraction, for challenge, or for reasons that we may have more trouble identifying, yet which please us nonetheless. Of course, much as was once the case with media innovations such as radio or television – even the novel – popular culture has had difficulty assimilating the idea that games are not just for “gamers” anymore, but rather, we are all “gamers” now. Half a century after Spacewar!, video games have gone from niche hobby to global phenomenon, a major new source of entertainment and artistic endeavor. Naturally, when people first began to explore the possibilities of computers, programmers were quick to realize their gaming potential, both in reproducing analog games in a digital space (a computer version of tic-tac-toe was created in 1952, long before Atari brought Pong into arcades and homes), and in creating games that could heretofore only have existed in the imagination, such as Spacewar!, a starship shooter that would eventually spawn its own subgenre (Asteroids, Galaga, Geometry Wars).
during the Great Depression can be traced back to a French variation on billiards, bagatelle, which was played at the turn of the eighteenth century during the reign of Louis XIV. Indeed, it seems that every new technological advance brings with it some new way to play: the coin-operated pinball machines that first achieved widespread popularity in the U.S.
Archaeologists have unearthed board games (similar to chess) that date back to ancient Mesopotamia, and over four thousand years later, we have not lost our taste for diversion. Games are a fundamental part of the human experience, played in some form by cultures around the world and throughout history.
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