Video Games

aka: Video Game

So the fastest thing alive, a scientist with a crowbar, a galactic bounty hunter, a super soldier, a legendary stealth operative, a heroic plumber, a sword-slinging hero, and a self-sacrificing summoner walk into a bar...

"The game is of such a character that it requires care and skill in playing it or operating the device with which the game is played. Skill can be increased with practice and the exercise of care contributes to success."

— 1947 Patent for the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device

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A means of visual entertainment, coming in the form of electronic games that rely on the input of a character through user interface. The idea of operating games electronically is old ^{Ur Example}  El Ajedrecista was an automaton built in 1912 that played a King/Rook vs. King endgame against a human opponent (the human played the King) but the first "pure" video game is considered to be Tennis for Two in 1958.

Video games by virtue of their interactive nature have unique tropes associated with them, the Video Game Tropes.

See also Gamebooks for a literary precursor to modern video games; Pinball, the distinguished Arcade Gaming predecessor of video games; and Visual Novel for videogame-like works in the narrative style of literature.

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Lists of video games:

Related indexes:

• Video Game Companies
• Video Game Creators
• Video Game Culture
• Video Game Genres
• Video Game Systems
• Video Game Tropes

Games by country of origin

• Japanese Games
• Russian Video Games

Games by release date

• Early Video Games
• Video Games of the 1980s
• Video Games of the 1990s
• Video Games of the 2000s
• Video Games of the 2010s
  • Video Games of 2010-2014
  • Video Games of 2015-2019
• Video Games of the 2020s
• Canceled Video Games

Games by generation

• The Golden Age of Video Games (first and second generations, 1972-1984)
• The 8-bit Era of Console Video Games (third generation, 1982-1994, 1998 outside of America)
• The 16-bit Era of Console Video Games (fourth generation, 1987-2000)
• The Fifth Generation of Console Video Games (1993-2003, 2006 outside of America)
• The Sixth Generation of Console Video Games (1998-2011)

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• The Seventh Generation of Console Video Games (2004-2013)
• The Eighth Generation of Console Video Games (2011-2020)
• The Ninth Generation of Console Video Games (2020-)

Miscellaneous topics

• Video Game Design

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