Race game is a large category of , in which the object is to be the first to move all one's pieces to the end of a track. This is both the earliest type of board game known, with implements and representations dating back to at least the 3rd millennium BC in Egypt, Iraq, and Iran; and also the most widely dispersed: "all cultures that have games at all have race games".[Parlett 1999, p 34.] Race games often use dice to decide game options and how far to move pieces.
Types of race games
Race games may be categorized
[Parlett 1999, p. 34–106.] by their ratio of luck to skill. Other classifications include geographical distribution or derivation; and shape of track (including spiral, cross and circle, and square—either
boustrophedon as in Snakes and Ladders or "labyrinthine" as in Thaayam).
Simple
Simple race games involve pure luck. Each player has only one piece to move, and the outcome of the game thus depends solely on chance. The Game of the Goose is the progenitor of most simple Western race games, whereas Snakes and Ladders is descended from simple race games originating in the Indian subcontinent. The ancient Egyptian game Mehen was likely a simple race game.
Complex
Complex race games combine chance and strategy, but still emphasize more on the former. Each player often has more than one piece to move (typically four), and so choices of move can be made that will put a player in advantageous positions. Complex race games include those from the cross and circle game family. Many of these games, such as
Ludo,
Parcheesi,
Trouble, and
Sorry!, ultimately derive from the ancient Indian games
Pachisi and
Chaupar.
Multiplex
Multiplex race games prioritize the role of strategy while retaining the element of chance. Each player has more than one piece to move as in complex race games, but every choice of move greatly impacts the outcome of the game. Multiplex race games include the many varieties of the
tables game family, of which
Backgammon is the most well-known representative. Others include
Trictrac,
[ The Trictrac Home Page by David Levy] Nard, and
Acey-deucey. The ancient Egyptian game
Senet and the ancient Mesopotamian Royal Game of Ur were almost certainly race games, and may belong in this category.
Strategic
Strategic race games eliminate (or render trivial) the element of chance. Examples include Bantu
[ Bantu at BoardGameGeek. Retrieved 13 January 2017.] and Hare and Tortoise.
Non-race games
Many board games share some characteristics with these games, but are not categorized as race games. For example, the characteristic roll-and-move mechanism of race games is also found in running-fight games (such as
Coppit), but here the object of the game is not to finish first, it is to capture and remove enemy pieces from the board. Similarly in games as diverse as
Monopoly and
Trivial Pursuit, players roll-and-move to spaces which may help or hinder their progress, but there is no physical "finish line": a win is not attained positionally, but rather by the collection of assets.
It is possible to broaden the definition of the term "race games" to comprise all board games in which the winner is the first to attain a specified position.[For example, de Voogt (1995).] In addition to the race games specified above, the category would then include games such as Hex, Agon, Chinese Checkers, and Tic-tac-toe. However, board game surveys generally follow Murray in assigning games played on two-dimensional fields to a separate category, such as Murray's "Games of Alignment and Configuration",[Murray (1951, pp. 4, 37–52). Cf. Bell's "Games of Position" (1960, pp. 91–112; 1969, pp. 55–70), and Parlett's "Space Games" (1999, pp. 8–12, 109–182).] keeping only linear games (as defined above) in their "race games" category.
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