| Games are an integral part of all societies. Like work and relationships, they are an expression of some basic part of the human nature and are reflected in human society and culture. Games are formalized expressions of play which allow people to go beyond immediate imagination and direct physical activity.
Games capture the ideas and behaviors of people at one period of time and carry that through time to their descendants. Games like chess and go illustrate the thinking of the military leaders who employed them centuries ago. Other games are associated with other aspects of human society and culture. There are thinking games and physical games and combinations of these. There are games which emphasize luck and chance and others which depend on the intellects of the participants with very little left for luck or chance.
When archaeologists excavate an ancient society they find artifacts related to living, working, family and social activities, games often become an archival record of how individuals and groups played in earlier times. It appears that games have been an integral and important part of human society.
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