Research into gaming Board game

a dedicated field of research gaming exists, known game studies or ludology.

while there has been fair amount of scientific research on psychology of older board games (e.g., chess, go, mancala), less has been done on contemporary board games such monopoly, scrabble, , risk. research has been carried out on chess, in part because many tournament players publicly ranked in national , international lists, makes possible compare levels of expertise. works of adriaan de groot, william chase, herbert a. simon, , fernand gobet have established knowledge, more ability anticipate moves, plays essential role in chess-playing.

linearly arranged board games have been shown improve children s spatial numerical understanding. because game similar number line in promote linear understanding of numbers rather innate logarithmic one.

research studies show board games such snakes , ladders result in children showing significant improvements in aspects of basic number skills such counting, recognizing numbers, numerical estimation , number comprehension. practice fine motor skills each time grasp game piece. playing board games has been tied improving children s executive functions.

additionally, board games can therapeutic. bruce halpenny, games inventor said when interviewed game, great train robbery:

with crime deal every basic human emotion , have enough elements combine action melodrama. player’s imagination fired plan rob train. because of gamble take in stage of game there build-up of tension, released once train robbed. release of tension therapeutic , useful in our society, because jobs boring , repetitive.

playing games has been suggested viable addition traditional educational curriculum.