Paida, Ludus, Agon, Mimicry, Alea and Ilinx

Paida or the idea of 'Free Play'. This can range through different games that do not require set up rules to be played,. A good example of a game is minecraft as there may be physical restraints however there is no real end goal or rules for winning.


Ludus is the opposite, it is the 'Rule oriented play'. This is any game that has a pre-arranged rule set that must be followed to play the game. This differs from Paida because the rules are changeable in Paida and do not affect the outcome of the game, whereas if the rules are changed in Ludus games then it becomes a different game entirely. 


The above are two general terms for describing games that can be further broken down. expand  upon these terms with the further classification of Agon, Mimicry, Alea and Linux.


Agon is the idea of a game based around competition and would apply to the competitive sports or any score based game, 


Mimicry is the idea of a game based around simulating a real life environment. This includes the obvious simulator games, such as train, plane, farm etc.


Alea is the idea of a game based around chance. This can include games such as tetris, which would offer you random pieces from a pool or even games that are centered around gambling, such as blackjack or roulette.


Ilinx is the final topic and is related to games based around the idea of movement, horizontal and vertical. This can also apply to a game such as racing, because it involves moving but can be extended to most sports.

a game does not have to be limited to one or even two of these aspects but can often incorporate nearly all of the above for example tetris would apply to ludus, agon, alea and llinx.