Race game is a large category of
board games
Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well.
Many board games feature a comp ...
, 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". Race games often use
dice
Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...
to decide game options and how far to move pieces.
Types of race games
Race games may be categorized by their ratio of luck to skill. Other classifications include geographical distribution or derivation; and shape of track (including spiral,
cross and circle
Cross and circle is a board game design used for race games played throughout the world.
Design
The basic design comprises a circle divided into four equal portions by a cross inscribed inside it like four spokes in a wheel; the classic examp ...
, and square—either
boustrophedon
Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...
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
The Game of the Goose or goose game is a board game where two or more players move pieces around a track by rolling one or two dice. The aim of the game is to reach square number 63 before any of the other players, while avoiding obstacles such as ...
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
In Egyptian mythology, the name Mehen ( cop, Ⲙⲉϩⲉⲛ), meaning 'coiled one', referred to a mythological snake-god and to a board game.
Snake god
The earliest references to Mehen occur in the Coffin Texts. Mehen is a protective deity who i ...
was likely a simple race game.
Complex
Complex race games combine luck and skills, 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. Many modern complex race games, including
Ludo, ''
Parcheesi
''Parcheesi'' is a brand-name American adaptation of the Indian cross and circle board game Pachisi, published by Parker Brothers and Winning Moves Games USA.
Equipment
''Parcheesi'' is typically played with two dice
Dice (singular die or ...
'', ''
Trouble
Trouble may refer to:
Film and television
* ''Trouble'' (1922 film), an American silent comedy-drama film directed by Albert Austin
* ''Trouble'' (1933 film), a British comedy film
* ''Trouble'' (1977 film), a Soviet drama film
* ''Trouble'' ...
'', and ''
Sorry!'', ultimately derive from Indian games
Pachisi
Pachisi (, Hindustani: əˈtʃiːsiː is a cross and circle board game that originated in Ancient India. It is described in the ancient text ''Mahabharata'' under the name of "Pasha". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross. A ...
and
Chaupar
Chaupar (IAST: ''caupaṛ''), chopad or chaupad is a cross and circle board game very similar to pachisi, played in India. The board is made of wool or cloth, with wooden pawns and seven cowry shells to be used to determine each player's move, a ...
.
Multiplex
Multiplex race games greatly increase the role of strategy, while retaining the element of chance. They include the many varieties of the
tables game
Tables games are a class of board game that includes backgammon and which are played on a tables board, typically with two rows of 12 vertical markings called points. Players roll dice to determine the movement of pieces. Tables games are among ...
family, of which
Backgammon
Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia and Pe ...
is the most well-known representative. Others include
Trictrac
Trictrac is a French board game of skill and chance for two players that is played with dice on a board (game), game board similar, but not identical, to that of backgammon. It was "the classic tables game" of France in the way that backgammon is ...
,
Nard, and
Acey-deucey. The ancient Egyptian game
Senet
Senet or senat ( egy, znt, translation=passing; cf. Coptic language, Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ /sinə/ "passing, afternoon") is a board game from ancient Egypt. The earliest representation of senet is dated to E from the Mastaba of Hesy-Re, while sim ...
and the ancient Mesopotamian
Royal Game of Ur
The Royal Game of Ur is a two-player strategy race board game of the tables family that was first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC. The game was popular across the Middle East among people of all social strata a ...
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 and
Hare and Tortoise
''Hare and Tortoise'' is a Eurogame designed by David Parlett in 1974 and first published by Intellect Games. In 1978 it was released by Ravensburger in Germany, and received generally positive reviews critically and won the 1979 Spiel des Jahr ...
.
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 game
Running-fight games are board games that essentially combine the ''method'' of race games (such as backgammon or pachisi) and the ''goal'' of elimination-based games such as chess or draughts. Like race games, pieces are moved along linear tracks ...
s (such as ''
Coppit
Coppit is a running-fight board game created in 1927 by Otto Maier Verlag which was originally called in german: Fang den Hut (or Capture The Hat in English). It was renamed and has been re-released several times, most notably by the Spear's Game ...
''), 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
A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...
'' and ''
Trivial Pursuit
''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question t ...
'', 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. In addition to the race games specified above, the category would then include games such as
Hex,
Agon,
Chinese Checkers, and
Tic-tac-toe
Tic-tac-toe (American English), noughts and crosses (Commonwealth English), or Xs and Os (Canadian or Irish English) is a paper-and-pencil game for two players who take turns marking the spaces in a three-by-three grid with ''X'' or ''O''. T ...
. 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.
References
Bibliography
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{{Tabletop games by type