Games and Competition

Inside Hong Kong’s Annual Milk Tea Competition

How You Wound Up Playing 'The Oregon Trail' in Computer Class

From the 1970s to 1990s, the government-owned Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium dominated the educational software market with more than 300 games

Ten-year veteran of the Smithsonian's protective services office, Sargeant Nadia Tyler is master of the wildly popular Pokémon Go.

Gotta Catch ‘Em All on the National Mall

Sergeant Nadia Tyler, a security guard at Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, is collecting Pokémon creatures daily

Before Pokémon Go, These Scavenger Hunts Were All The Rage

"X" marks the spot

One of the board games in the collections of the Museum of World War II

How the Nazis “Normalized” Anti-Semitism by Appealing to Children

A new museum and exhibit explore the depths of the hatred toward Europe’s Jews

University of California, Irvine students playing League of Legends.

UC Irvine Becomes the First American Public University To Offer E-Sports Scholarships

The university jumps into the world of competitive gaming

Plagiarism Scandal Checkers the World of Crossword Puzzles

Digital database points to puzzle plagiarism

When Work Becomes a Game

Across corporate America, applying the principles of games to the non-game setting of the workplace is a growing phenomenon

Liliya Lifánova, Anatomy is Destiny (live performance at the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis), 2012.

Board of Sexism in Chess? Check Out These New Exhibitions

The World Chess Hall of Fame is showcasing the power of its women

A Lady-in-Waiting of France strums her instrument on this card from The Courtly Household Cards (Das Hofämterspiel), created in c. 1450.

Lavishly Illustrated Medieval Playing Cards Flouted the Church and Law

Secular and religious officials alike frowned on card playing in Europe's Middle Ages

Google's New AI Can Beat Human Champions at the Game of Go

Google appears to have won the long race to develop a Go-winning artificial intelligence, considered a major step towards more human-like AIs

The Museum of Pinball in Banning, California, boasts a treasure trove of vintage and modern pinball machines and arcade games.

Take a Turn at the Flippers This Weekend at the World’s Largest Pinball Museum

So you didn't win the lottery: why not try your hand at a game of pinball?

A four-year-old beagle from British Columbia, Miss P was awarded the 2015 Best in The Show at Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

How to Prep Your Pooch to Win Best in Show

Pro-Tip: hope the judge is in a good mood

Straights and flushes are terrible hands in "Kansas City Lowball," which a poker player unexpectedly found himself playing at the World Series of Poker

A Poker Contender Entered the Wrong Tournament (and Won Anyway)

Christian Pham overcomes an embarrassing mistake to take home some big money

Fear the claw. More often than no, claw machines are likely rigged for you to lose.

Here's How Claw Machines Are Rigged to Make Sure You Lose

That's why simply grabbing a prize is so deceptively difficult

Bust some ghosts in this board game based on the 1984 classic.

A Ghostbusters Board Game, Lights That Respond to Music and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Also, a sensor that uses thermal technology to track the amount of gas left in a tank

This "smart" mattress cover can track sleep patterns along with respiration and heart rates.

A "Smart" Mattress Cover and Other Wild Ideas That Just Got Funded

Don't have a green thumb? A sensor for your potted plants alerts you when they need watering

Cards Against Humanity now owns a private island in Maine.

Cards Against Humanity Has a Private Island

“Hawaii 2” started as a joke, turned into an island owned by the card game and licensed to its players

Some of the game’s early tokens doubled as prizes in Cracker Jack boxes.

Monopoly Was Designed to Teach the 99% About Income Inequality

The story you’ve heard about the creation of the famous board game is far from true

The mind behind Simon was the innovator Ralph H. Baer.

The Not-So-Simple Simon Proved the Young Were Swifter Than the Old

In 1978, the new blinking, bleeping toy ushered in the era of computer games

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