I recently heard someone refer to Chess as a sport. Seeing as how it’s a board game, it threw me off a bit. My answer would be that it definitely isn’t, but I decided to do some research and here’s what I came up with.
So are board games considered sports? Board games are not considered sports, though they can be very competitive and can often require great skill. The true disqualifier is that expertise in board games is not generally physically exerting in nature, which is a core component of sports. This acts as a quick measure to know if an activity fits in the category of sports or not.
A Detailed Explanation of Board Games
What is a sport?
I Looked up the definition of sport on Dictionary.com, which reads
“an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess and often of a competitive nature, as racing, baseball, tennis, golf, bowling, wrestling, boxing, hunting, fishing etc.”
So, according to the definition, a sport requires competition. People are either competing against each other in one way or another. Sports also require skills. Not everyone can enter at, or attain, the same level as everyone else. It often takes time and many, many hours of practice to develop the skill. Additionally, sports require that this competition and skill be of a physical nature. If it’s not physical, it’s not usually a sport.
How board games fall short
Board games are interesting because they can meet the majority of the criteria. Many board games are certainly competitive. Some have such a large fan base that tournaments are held on a regular basis and a champion is crowned. I will note that not all board games fall into the competitive category. Many are just enjoyment-type games or mostly luck-based games. But for those that are highly strategic, with little luck, competition is present.
Obviously, along with the ability for strategy and competition, those that play games a lot develop skills and become very good at the games they play—and often games in general.
Where board games fall short from being sports is in the third major requirement, that sports are physical. Generally speaking, board games simply aren’t physical. Sure, there are slight physical components where players usually sit around a table and move pieces around the board. But most of the time they aren’t even doing that; they are looking at the board while other players are taking their turns.
This quickly and easily disqualifies board games from being considered sports because the physical requirement of sports is an important one—perhaps the most important one. People in sports are moving their bodies in a major way. Moving their bodies, faster or more expertly (in a weird way to say it) than others, is what allows them to outperform their opponents. Board games are more cognitive in nature.
If board games aren’t considered sports, then what are they?
This is an interesting question, and one that doesn’t have a clear, cut-and-dry answer. They aren’t considered sports, so they must be something else. I guess the best way to categorize them is probably as an activity or simply just a game. I love board games and play them more than most people. I understand why people would want to categorize them in a more favorable-sounding way, but they just don’t fit there. There is nothing wrong with calling them activities or games. Categorizing them as such, while it sounds lame, is probably the most accurate way to describe them.
Board Games That Are Almost Sports
Chess- Chess might be considered the closest board game to being a sport of them all. Not because it has any physical exertion, but because it is one of the most strategic games ever invented. It also has a huge following of people that play in championships and strive to be better and compete at a higher level all the time. However, since it doesn’t have physical exertion as the major component of play, it just doesn’t fit.
Catan- As one of the first real board games that I actually enjoyed, I soon learned that it is a famous game. Tournaments are held all over the place with people that are 100x better than I could ever be at the game. Just like Chess, though, Catan is missing the third element of physical exertion. And without it, it fails the test of being a sport.
Others- There are so many other board games that meet most of the requirements of being a sport but also fail in the physical exertion category. Some of the games are Dominion, Ticket to Ride, 5 Tribes and many more. That’s okay though, I’m not sure why people would want them to be considered sports. They are something different altogether.
Related Questions
Are video games a sport?
Similarly to board games, video games are not sports because they don’t typically contain a physical element as their core focus. They may have a component that is physical, but the vast majority of the activity doesn’t require physical exertion. That line is being blurred more each year as new technology is making video games more physical, but today it isn’t integral enough to fall into the category of sports.
Even though they are becoming more physical in some ways, the main focus is still on what’s happening within the video game and not the physical action itself, so it still doesn’t quite fit. That’s okay though, because video games are awesome in their own right.
Are Card games a sport?
Card games should be viewed in the same way as board games when looking at whether or not they are considered to be a sport. They do not usually contain any physical movement as a main part of their gameplay and therefore are not considered to be a sport, though they can be competitive and require great skill to be considered good at them.
Card games such as spoons, may tempt you into thinking it is a sport, but it would still be more accurately classified as an activity. Spoons, though there are about ten seconds of crazy physical exertion as players grab spoons, is still focused on the calm card collecting aspect. All three elements must be present—especially physical exertion—to fit into the category of a sport. Without it, it is more appropriately labeled a game or activity.