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3000 BCE
Royal Game of Ur
Earlier games did exist, but this is the first complete game found to date. It originated in 3000 BCE in Mesopotamia and was likely the first board game. It was popular in all classes in Mesopotamia, and likely inspired games in other early civilizations. -
1700 BCE
Ullamaliztli
Ullamaliztli, also known as the Aztec Ballgame, was a game featuring two hoops mounted sideways on a wall where teams had to place a ball through the opposing hoop. The ballgame rules are generally unknown and vary based on what version was played. In some instances, it is believed to have been combined with religious human sacrifice. -
200 BCE
Tesserae
"Tesserae" is what the Romans called dice, and playing dice was very a very popular game in Rome. The main difference between tesserae and modern dice is that tesserae were arranged so any opposite side would add to seven. -
100 BCE
Terni Lapilli
Terni Lapilli is considered an early ancestor to tic-tac-toe, with much of the rules being the same. The boards for the game are found to be scratched into walls, floors, and roofs around Rome. -
700
Chaturanga
Chaturanga is an ancient Indian game which is the common ancestor of chess. It has been played since 700 CE, making it the earliest known version of chess. -
700
Mancala
Mancala is still a popular game, both in its home continent of Africa and around the world. It is considered a "sowing" game, where the players move seeds around the board in an attempt to gather more pieces than their opponent. -
1110
Playing Cards
China is accredited for the development of modern playing cards. They originated as a paper-like domino to be shuffled and dealt to players. The ease of transportation and the variety of possible games made card games popular globally. The photo is of early Chinese playing cards. -
1200
Moksha Patam
Another game originating in India that became worldwide, Moksha Patam was the first Snakes and Ladders. It was a game of morality, played on a board where players moved to the other side using virtues or "ladders", avoiding the obstacle of the vices or "snakes" that would knock them back. -
Modern Games
The 1800s marked a time when things truly became global, with the ability to mass produce things and spread them all around the world; the very thing that happened to games. Most early games laid the groundwork for what could now be mass-produced, with board games becoming incredibly popular in this era. -
The Mansion of Happiness
The Mansion of Happiness follows the same idea of virtue and vice that Moksha Patam does, but instead, became the first commercially successful board game that was produced in America. It became the gold standard for producing new board games. -
Collectible Cards
Cards have existed for hundreds of years and thousands of games have been made using the concept, but one of the newer, popular ideas was a collectible card. It originated by creating cards of baseball players, each featuring the statistics of that player. -
Rise of Video Games
Electronic devices were steadily becoming more and more involved and society, and with that came the idea to create games using them. The idea of a video game has changes rapidly over the course of their development, but now is used to mean any game classified as interactive entertainment. -
Bertie the Brain
Bertie the Brain is considered the be the first video game to be created. It features an arcade style where players try to beat a computer in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe, featuring adjustable difficulty levels. -
PC Gaming
The first PC game is often considered to be Spacewar, a space combat video game focusing on two spaceships in a dogfight. Both spaceships were controlled by players, with a variety of features to creat a fun and unique PVP experience for the players. -
Eurogame
Eurogames were a broad but popular form of games originating in the 1970s. Despite the broad category, most followed the same simple rules of focusing on social play, a short run time but unique replayability, no player elimination, lack of words and a focus on graphics, and innovative game mechanics -
Introduction of Arcades
Arcades started as early as 1972 but did not become popular until much later. They began to flourish after 1978 when early gamers could experience a wide variety of technological gameplay in malls and local storefronts. -
Early game consoles
The first early console was the Magnavox Odyssey, a console featuring a multitude of sports-inspired games, from tennis to hockey to basketball. Each one had variations that could create a unique gaming experience, all displayed on a television. It was a turning point in consoles and inspired many other, sports-game-focused consoles to be made. -
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons was the start of a new type of game, a fantasy, tabletop role-playing game. It featured players who could act out as characters and their moves through a story led by the dungeon master in a narrative style of gameplay. -
Generation consoles, from 4th-Now
Consoles come in generations as the understanding of technology grows. Generation 4 and beyond marks the invention of some of the most well-known consoles, such as the SEGA Genesis, Sony Playstation, N64, and Microsoft Xbox. Each generation allows them to grow in graphics, play quality, motion detection, wireless controllers, and a variety of uses for the console. -
VR Gaming
Virtual Reality, or VR, is considered to be one of the latest technological breakthroughs, both in general and for gaming. It utilizes a headset to immerse the player in the digital realm, originating in arcades but now being a home device like all other consoles.