Games for children reflect the culture, everyday life, social mores and technology of society. Some games are spontaneous, requiring only imagination, and easily passed on through generations. Others involve technological literacy and virtual reality Games are part of the 122.6 billion toy industry in the United States; video games constitute another $5.5 billion. Some games also continue through adult life.

Psychologists view playing games as a useful enterprise for developing imagination and vocabulary and learning rules and interpersonal skills. General categories for games include card and tile, board, word and picture, target, war and fantasy and electronic (video and computer) games. Educational and religious games also use the same formats. Yet some popular children’s games that do not fit into these categories include hide and seek, steal the bacon and duck duck goose. These games require no special equipment and provide safe but stimulating entertainment for young children.

Popular card games for children include old maid, crazy eights and Uno. Other card games like rummy pinochle, poker and bridge may be acquired as children age, and are frequently played among adults as well as in families or gendered social gatherings.

Related tile games include dominoes, scrabble and mah-jong, with the last popular among both Chinese Americans and some Jews as an adult game. Scrabble and dominoes also attract adult and tournament players.

Board games have existed since the 1700s, but their popularity has grown at the end of the century, in part because of their lasting play value and character. They also do not require batteries or many mechanical parts and have simple goals: to win a race or achieve a certain number of points. Some are games of luck, while others require considerable decision making. Popular first board games include Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. Parcheesi, Monopoly Clue, Battleship, Careers and Risk attract older children while introducing them to the worlds of real estate, work, war and crime.

Milton Bradley is one of the foremost American producers of such games; its Monopoly in fact, used the streets of Atlantic City to constitute its original board. Children of all ages love checkers and chess, primarily games of skill which become more serious pursuits for older adults, in tournaments and at play in city parks.

Word and picture games engage the imagination and verbal skills of the child. Twenty questions and hangman are popular informal children’s games of this category; Pictionary Trivial Pursuit and Boggle again bridge to more adult play Jigsaw puzzles are also popular among many age groups.

War games and fantasy games have almost cultlike followings. War games may be played on boards or through simulations that are very accurate. Dungeons and Dragons has enjoyed immense popularity among adolescents. While fantasy games die out among adults, war reenactments have a large following.

Target games include pin the tail on the donkey and attempting to break a piñata, both often associated with birthday parties. Darts and horseshoes survive as adult games, often among men.

Video games and online computer games have changed the concept of children’s games and also have influenced adult purchases and play Children have a huge smorgasbord of computerized and video fare from which to choose. They can enjoy puzzle games and matching games appropriate for toddlers on up, as well as trivia games or contests in which the player is pitted against the computer, as in Chessmaster or Solitaire. They can kill humans or aliens in the privacy of their own computer station or interact with other players at home or in other sites. As war games did in the past, these have alarmed parents and politicians because of their violence and addictive appeal, although the evidence of direct impact is not clear.

As noted, adolescent and adult games tend to emerge from the formats of these basic categories. They may be matured by wagers (see gambling and lotteries), drinking or sexual activity or by complexities of rules, strategy and knowledge. Yet they still tend to recreate family and community in rather similar ways.