# What is a game?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [December 5, 2010, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078 "2010-12-05T23:32:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078/21 "2010-12-07T18:18:34Z")

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> [@RickJay](#):
>
> Things like Tit-for-Tat, whatever that is, are just games, but I wouldn’t think of that before chess and Monopoly.

Actually, tit-for-tat is not a game, it is a strategy that people can use playing an iterated game (such as an iterated Prisoner’s Dilemma) - it is essentially the strategy of doing whatever the other player just played on their last move. But it is not a game.

So what’s the purpose of this thread? Does it have something to do with Wittgenstein?

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078/22 "2010-12-07T20:09:48Z")

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> [@Svejk\_1](#):
>
> So what’s the purpose of this thread? Does it have something to do with Wittgenstein?

My motives were nonwittgensteinian. I was curious about what people thought.

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**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078/23 "2010-12-07T21:05:46Z")

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You need an “All of the Above” option.

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078/24 "2010-12-07T21:33:42Z")

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> [@Dr.Rieux](#):
>
> You need an “All of the Above” option.

That would kind of defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?

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**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078/25 "2010-12-07T22:03:57Z")

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My first thought without any context but a need to think specifically would be The Game of which people like to inform others that they just lost. In general, notice how all the poll options begin with “Something you play”? That’s what my answer would be. If someone asked me to pick one I most identify with, I couldn’t.

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**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2010, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-game/563078/26 "2010-12-07T23:17:47Z")

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> [@Carmady](#):
>
> I assume Uno counts as a board game, since it doesn’t use playing cards?

That’s crazy talk.

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