Games and Competition

Annette Sheppard, one of the ten glassmakers competing on "Blown Away."

The Spectacle and Drama of Netflix’s New Glassblowing Show Will Shatter Your Expectations

"Blown Away" showcases the incredible art form in an innovative reality competition series

To deflect from concerns around sexual undertones, Milton Bradley packaged the game as inoffensively as possible.

When Twister Was Too Risqué for America

The hugely successful game, patented 50 years ago this week, had its critics at first

Yvonne Morones embraces her dog Scamp the Tramp after he wins the World's Ugliest Dog contest.

Meet Scamp the Tramp, the World’s Ugliest Dog

Scamp took home the top prize in an annual competition that seeks to promote dog adoption

The warder is the first of five missing pieces to materialize since the remaining chessmen’s discovery in 1831

A Medieval Chess Piece Potentially Worth $1.2 Million Languished in a Drawer for Decades

The Lewis warder, part of a larger trove of 12th-century ivory chessmen, was purchased for £5 in 1964

The winning spellers made history with eight co-champions, the most number in the spelling event history.

The National Spelling Bee Ended in an Unprecedented Eight-Way Tie

"We’re basically throwing the dictionary at you," pronouncer Jacques Bailly told the spellers. "[A]nd so far you are showing the dictionary who is boss"

The board was likely used in the bath house at Vindolanda, one of 14 forts along Hadrian's Wall, but was repurposed as a floor stone in the adjacent building after it was broken.

Archaeologists Uncover an Ancient Roman Game Board at Hadrian's Wall

The cracked stone board was likely used to play ludus latrunculorum, Rome's favorite game

Participants use magnetic landscape tiles to build a perfect planet

This Board Game Asks Players to Craft a Perfect Planet

In 'Planet', players compete to create worlds capable of sustaining the highest possible level of biodiversity

The childhood game of "cooties" has endured among schoolchildren.

A Brief History of Cooties

Why a 100-year-old game is still spreading across our playgrounds

Bettie Closs and Owen Kovalik anxiously await their turn on stage at the 2016 national spelling bee.

The History of the Spelling Bee

Even in the age of autofill, America is still in love with the centuries-old tradition

Win a Sleepover at the Louvre, for One Night Only

Here's your chance to lounge with the Mona Lisa and dine with the Venus de Milo

The Patents Behind Basketball

This March Madness consider how the sport has evolved in its 128-year history, through innovations in ball design, hoops and training devices

Expansion packs featuring birds of every continent are currently in the works

This New Scientifically Accurate Board Game Is for the Birders

"Wingspan" features 170 unique species cards filled with real-world information, life-like illustrations

The Outhouse Races take place during Fur Rondy in Anchorage, Alaska.

Inside the World’s Largest Outhouse Race

Dozens of teams compete in this annual event in Anchorage, all trying their best to not be number two

Why Were Two Victorian Chess Pieces Hidden in a Barn?

They may have been intended to protect the property’s human and animal inhabitants from evil spirits

It took six days for the scientists to complete the game. Eventually, X emerged victorious

World’s Tiniest Tic-Tac-Toe Game Is Made of DNA Tiles

Brought to you by the creators of the mini 'Mona Lisa', the game offers a dynamic, rather than static, way to manipulate microscopic structures

The card game Spot It! has become one of the most popular family games in the country, but the secret to how the game works has its roots in the logic puzzles of 19th century mathematicians.

The Mind-Bending Math Behind Spot It!, the Beloved Family Card Game

The simple matching game has some deceptively complex mathematics behind the scenes

The Ten Best Board Games of 2018

Go analog at your next party with one of these new classics

Google's new artificial intelligence program, AlphaZero, taught itself to play chess, shogi, and Go in a matter of hours, and outperforms the top-ranking AIs in the gameplay arena.

Google's New AI Is a Master of Games, but How Does It Compare to the Human Mind?

After building AlphaGo to beat the world's best Go players, Google DeepMind built AlphaZero to take on the world's best machine players

What the Popularity of 'Fortnite' Has in Common With the 20th Century Pinball Craze

Long before parents freaked over the ubiquitous video game, they flipped out over another newfangled fad

The Vatican-endorsed game lets you "collect" Catholic saints.

There's a Pokémon Go-Inspired App for Catholics

The Pope was reportedly impressed by the new game

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