Strategy games

A strategy game or strategic game is a game (e.g. video or board game) in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree style thinking, and typically very high situational awareness.

The term "strategy" comes ultimately from Greek, (στρατηγια or strategia) meaning generalship. It differs from "tactics" in that it refers to the general scheme of things, whereas "tactics" refers to organization and execution.

The history of turn-based strategy games goes back to the times of ancient civilizations such as Rome, Greece, Egypt, and India. There were many created and played through their respective regions but only a few have made it to modern day society and are still played. One such game is mancala which was thought to have originated in Samaria approximately 5000 years ago. It spread through the middle east though traders. It challenges two players against each other trying to clear their side of the board of mancala pieces while adding them into their opponent's board to prevent them from clearing their side of the board. There are also two deposits on either side of the board where you must try to deposit the pieces to try and gain points. When one side is cleared the other side of the boards pieces are added to the cleared sides pile often giving them the advantage and allowing them to win. Now mancala is quite a casual game, but it still presents a certain level of strategy by interfering in your opponent's playing area while clearing your own. Another example of one game that stood the test of time is the game of chess. Chess is believed to have originated in India around the sixth century AD. The game was spread to the west once again by trade, but chess became a much greater commodity than many other games of the past. Chess became a game of skill and tactics often forcing the players to think two or three moves ahead of their opponent just to keep up. This game also became a test of intelligence as the some of the smartest people rose to the top and became chess grand masters. The game portrays foot soldiers, knights, rooks, kings, queens, bishops, and rooks each portray actual positions in the military although some moves for some pieces were altered during its travels, it still remains mostly the same. Each piece has its own special movement pattern, for example the knight is constricted to moving in a pattern the shape of an l that is three long and one block to either side, the rook can only move in a straight line whether it is vertical or horizontal but can move as far as they like so long another piece is not in their way, bishops can move diagonally on the board. It was the strategy and tactics of these games that lead into some of the games created today.

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