Electronic game


An electronic game is a game that uses electronics to create an interactive system with which a player can play. Video games are the most common form today, and for this reason the two terms are often used interchangeably. There are other common forms of electronic games, including handheld electronic games, standalone arcade game systems, and exclusively non-visual products.

Arcade games

Arcade video games

Electronic video arcade games make extensive use of solid state electronics and integrated circuits. In the past coin-operated arcade video games generally used custom per-game hardware often with multiple CPUs, highly specialized sound and graphics chips and/or boards, and the latest in computer graphics display technology. Recent arcade game hardware is often based on modified video game console hardware or high end pc components. Arcade games may feature specialized ambiance or control accessories, including fully enclosed dynamic cabinets with force feedback controls, dedicated lightguns, rear-projection displays, reproductions of car or plane cockpits and even motorcycle or horse-shaped controllers, or even highly dedicated controllers such as dancing mats and fishing rods. These accessories are usually what set modern arcade games apart from PC or console games, and they provide an experience that some gamers consider more immersive and realistic.
Examples of arcade video games include:
  • Galaxy Game
  • Pong
  • Space Invaders
  • Galaxian
  • Pac-Man
  • Battlezone
  • Donkey Kong
  • Street Fighter II
  • Mortal Kombat
  • Fatal Fury
  • Killer Instinct
  • King of Fighters
  • Time Crisis
  • Dance Dance Revolution
  • DrumMania
  • ''House of the Dead''

    Pinball and pachinko machines

Since the introduction of electromechanics to the pinball machine in 1933's Contact, pinball has become increasingly dependent on electronics as a means to keep score on the backglass and to provide quick impulses on the playfield for exciting gameplay. Unlike games with electronic visual displays, pinball has retained a physical display that is viewed on a table through glass. Similar games such as pachinko have also become increasingly dependent on electronics in modern times.
Examples of pinball games include:
  • The Addams Family
  • Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation
  • List of pinball machines

    Redemption games and merchandisers

Redemption games such as Skee-Ball have been around since the days of the carnival game - well earlier than the development of the electronic game, however with modern advances many of these games have been re-worked to employ electronic scoring and other game mechanics. The use of electronic scoring mechanisms has allowed carnival or arcade attendants to take a more passive role, simply exchanging prizes for electronically dispensed coupons and occasionally emptying out the coin boxes or banknote acceptors of the more popular games.
Merchandisers such as the Claw Crane are more recent electronic games in which the player must accomplish a seemingly simple task with sufficient ability to earn a reward.
Examples of redemption games include:
  • Whac-A-Mole
  • Skee-Ball - modern electric versions
Examples of merchandisers include:
  • ''Claw crane''

    Slot machines

The slot machine is a casino gambling machine with three or more reels which spin when a button is pushed. Though slot machines were originally operated mechanically by a lever on the side of the machine instead of an electronic button on the front panel as used on today's models, many modern machines still have a "legacy lever" in addition to the button on the front. Slot machines include a currency detector that validates the coin or money inserted to play. The machine pays off based on patterns of symbols visible on the front of the machine when it stops. Modern computer technology has resulted in many variations on the slot machine concept.

Audio games

An audio game is a game played on an electronic device such as—but not limited to—a personal computer. It is similar to a video game save that the only feedback device is audible rather than visual. Audio games originally started out as 'blind accessible'-games, but recent interest in audio games has come from sound artists, game accessibility researchers, mobile game developers, and mainstream video gamers. Most audio games run on a computer platform, although there are a few audio games for handhelds and video game consoles. Audio games feature the same variety of genres as video games, such as adventure games, racing games, etc.
Examples of audio games include:
A tabletop audio game is an audio game that is designed to be played on a table rather than a handheld game.
Examples of tabletop audio games include:
  • Brain Shift
  • Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
  • Electronic Battleship
  • *Electronic battleship is a portable game with the objective of marking all enemy ships. When an enemy ship is marked, an electronic battleship makes an explosion sound.
  • *Milton Bradley created the Electronic battleship game in 1977 and was later acquired by Hasbro in 1984.
  • *Modern day electronic battleship features an interactive missile launching platform and advanced mode that features custom special attack pegs.
Tabletop non-audio games include:
  • Electronic Chess Boards
  • DGT is a line of electronic chess boards that are commonly used in FIDE chess tournaments and national tournaments such as USCF. Electronic Chess boards can be used to broadcast games live.

    Electronic handhelds

The earliest form of dedicated console, handheld electronic games are characterized by their size and portability. Used to play interactive games, handheld electronic games are often miniaturized versions of video games. The controls, display and speakers are all part of a single unit, and rather than a general-purpose screen made up of a grid of small pixels, they usually have custom displays designed to play one game. This simplicity means they can be made as small as a digital watch, which they sometimes are. The visual output of these games can range from a few small light bulbs or LED lights to calculator-like alphanumerical screens; later these were mostly displaced by liquid crystal and Vacuum fluorescent display screens with detailed images and in the case of VFD games, color. Handhelds were at their most popular from the late 1970s into the early 1990s. They are both the predecessors to and inexpensive alternatives to the handheld game console.
Examples of handheld electronic games include:
  • Mattel Auto Race
  • Simon
  • Merlin
  • Game & Watch
  • MB Omni
  • Bandai LCD Solarpower
  • Entex Adventure Vision
  • ''Lights Out''

    Home video games

A video game is a game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device. The word video in video game traditionally referred to a raster display device. However, with the popular use of the term "video game", it now implies any type of display device.
Term "digital game" has been offered by some in academia as an alternative term.

Computer games

A personal computer video game is a video game played on a personal computer. This is opposed to video game consoles or arcade machines, which are not considered personal computers. Computer games became a form of video games, and since the earliest days of the medium, visual displays such as the cathode-ray tube have been used to relay game information.

Console games

A console game is a form of interactive multimedia used for entertainment. The game consists of manipulable images generated by a video game console, and displayed on a television or similar audio-video system. The game itself is usually controlled and manipulated using a handheld device connected to the console called a controller. The controller generally contains a number of buttons and directional controls each of which has been assigned a purpose for interacting with and controlling the images on the screen. The display, speakers, console, and controls of a console can also be incorporated into one small object known as a handheld game console.
Console games are most frequently differentiated between by their compatibility with consoles belonging in the following categories:
  • Traditional console, also called "home console" - A multi-game system that uses the screen of a television to produce graphics.
  • Handheld game console - A multi-game system the screen and controls of which are compacted into a single handheld device.
  • Dedicated console - A single game system of either the Plug and play variety or the LCD game.

    Teletype games

The earliest form of computer game to achieve any degree of mainstream use was the text-based teletype game. Teletype games lack video display screens and instead present the game to the player by printing a series of characters on paper which the player reads as it emerges from the platen. Practically this means that each action taken will require a line of paper and thus a hard-copy record of the game remains after it has been played. This naturally tends to reduce the size of the gaming universe or alternatively to require a great amount of paper. As computer screens became standard during the rise of the third generation computer, text-based command line-driven language parsing Teletype games transitioned into visual interactive fiction allowing for greater depth of gameplay and reduced paper requirements. This transition was accompanied by a simultaneous shift from the mainframe environment to the personal computer. Several of these subsequently were ported to systems with video displays, eliminating the need for a teletype printer.
Examples of text-based Teletype games include: