What is the difference between a sport and a game?

[strung out]

Sports are a subset of games.

not really. something can be a sport but not a game. running for example.

 

[internetstalker]

not really. something can be a sport but not a game.

like what?



edit:fishing

 

[strung out]

fishing is another good example

 

[Dillinger4]

Games have rules.

 

[Orang Utan]

You said that playing playing games with people was seen as a negative.

it is, in a metaphorical sense - mindgames, being a player etc etc

 

[Orang Utan]

killing animals is a sport but not a game

 

[Orang Utan]

Games have rules.

so do sports

 

[Dillinger4]

Answer
Countless beers have been drunk and wings consumed arguing this very question and I give you my take. If it is commonly acceptable to drink a beer during it, it's more of a game than a sport. The line is a vibrant shade of gray however. Tiger Woods plays golf. I drive around a cart for four hours swinging a club, taking up enough grass to start a landscaping company and looking down the fairway every two seconds hoping the 19 year old college girl driving the beer cart is coming. Tiger Woods plays the sport of golf, and I play the game of golf. Darts and horseshoes are much more easily defined as games. Yes, people compete, but competition does not equal sport. People compete in chess and if you look at some of the greatest chess players out there "athlete" doesn't immediately jump to mind.
One friend will always try to say that "if it's on ESPN, it's a sport." He's selling it, but I ain't buying it. Poker is on ESPN and so is fishing. If those are sports then I may be one of the most elite athletes on the globe and I can't even get the mail without having to stop halfway down the driveway to catch my breath.
Sports require athletic ability, competion and physical exertion. Games are also competive in nature and may have quite a following or an elaborate association running them, but there is mild physical exertion and people with limited athletic ability can hold their own.
That's just one guys take on it.

Answer
Tough question!

In my mind, a sport involves physical efforts and skills, while most games involve a combination of luck and skill. The line between them is definitely fuzzy. Is golf a game or a sport? There is physical activity involved that goes well beyond a simple deal or roll of dice, so I would classify it as a sport.

Some consider sports to be a sub-set of games, i.e., all sports are games, but not all games are sports.

Answer
Great question to discuss when you have lots of resources at your disposal. In my consideration everything that needs lot of physical activity is termed SPORT. On the contrary GAMES require lot of skill and far less rigorous. But why do people say "Did you watch the GAME, yesterday"( was referring to a wonderful American Football game ). Its confusing the way we use this term SPORT.

Answer
The distinction between a game and a sport is physical defense. By physical defense I mean your opponent is permitted to physically prevent you from succeeding. For example, golf cannot be a sport because another golfer cannot interfere with you in any way while you are attempting to make a shot. You are only playing against the course. The same goes for bowling, darts, and pool. All of these games require a great deal of skill, but should not be called sports.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_difference_between_sports_and_games

 

[Diamond]

Wasn't there some big legal hoo-hah over the Gutshot down in Farringdon that hinged on whether poker was a sport or a game or something like that?

I think it came down to whether skill or chance was the determining factor in an outcome.

 

[Dillinger4]

Poker isn't a sport or a game, actually.

 

[internetstalker]

Poker isn't a sport or a game, actually.

it's definately a game

 

[Dillinger4]

it's definately a game

Nah.

 

[Orang Utan]

is it a pastime?
or is it just gambling?

 

[DotCommunist]

It's a card game

 

[ymu]

Wasn't there some big legal hoo-hah over the Gutshot down in Farringdon that hinged on whether poker was a sport or a game or something like that?

I think it came down to whether skill or chance was the determining factor in an outcome.

That was about whether it was a game of skill or a game of chance. If the judge had agreed that it was a game of skill, the club would have been legal and allowed to carry on.

 

[internetstalker]

Nah.

game1  /geɪm/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [geym] Show IPA noun, adjective, gam⋅er, gam⋅est, verb, gamed, gam⋅ing.
Use game in a Sentence
–noun 1. an amusement or pastime: children's games.
2. the material or equipment used in playing certain games: a store selling toys and games.
3. a competitive activity involving skill, chance, or endurance on the part of two or more persons who play according to a set of rules, usually for their own amusement or for that of spectators.

pok⋅er2  /ˈpoʊkər/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [poh-ker] Show IPA
–noun a card game played by two or more persons, in which the players bet on the value of their hands, the winner taking the pool.

Yeah!

 

[internetstalker]

That was about whether it was a game of skill or a game of chance, which would affect the legal status of the club.

It's both

 

[Orang Utan]

That was about whether it was a game of skill or a game of chance. If the judge had agreed that it was a game of skill, the club would have been legal and allowed to carry on.

i came 4th in a tournament there and won about £150 from pure luck as it was my first and last game of poker ever. pure luck would not sustain you though.

 

[DotCommunist]

It's both

the chance element is in the deal of the hand, the skill is in the betting rounds.

 

[toblerone3]

Sports are a subset of games.

No that is the wrong Venn diagram!

Some sports are not games. For instance the 100m sprint is a sport but you would not call it a game and that is despite being one of the events in the Olympic Games.

A game requires a certain level of complexity. the 100m sprint does not have enough rules. Its just basically when you hear the gun, run as fast as you can for 100m.

100m is a sport
Cluedo is a game
Football is a sport and a game.

but pistol shooting is sport whilst darts is game

 

[Dillinger4]

Yeah!

Nah.

 

[Diamond]

i came 4th in a tournament there and won about £150 from pure luck as it was my first and last game of poker ever. pure luck would not sustain you though.

I did much the same thing when they still had those open tournaments. It was on the Tuesday night beginner one.

I didn't expect to make it that far so I didn't bother getting any dinner beforehand.

I ended up playing from something like 8pm through to about 2.30am.

A lot of the people on the later tables that I was moved to couldn't work out whether I was taking the piss or not because although I was winning a lot, I was too tired to organise my chips into stacks so I just had this sprawling heap of different valued chips in front of me.

It was a lot of fun.

 

[Orang Utan]

i just went all in if i had two face cards or a face and an ace. if i didn't i folded. job done.

 

[internetstalker]

Nah.

explain

 

[London_Calling]

For shame OU, you should know the answer to this; it's not all in the sport is it, it's all in the game.

 

[ymu]

the chance element is in the deal of the hand, the skill is in the betting rounds.

On any one hand, the outcome is 90% luck. Over many hands, the outcome is 90% skill. It just doesn't matter what cards come up, what matters is how much you put into pots you lose and how much other people put into pots you win.

 

[Infidel Castro]

I had an old book when I was a kid, an encyclopaedia that must have been from the 1920's or even earlier. In that they had a section for 'Sports and Pastimes'. Pastime works a lot better than games I reckons! Anyway, golf was a pastime back then, as was darts and snooker, bowls and ice-skating, motor-racing and chess. I think the classifications still stand, no matter how physically fit your Tiger Woods or your Lewis Hamilton might be. It's a hard one to separate at times, but I'll be fucked if people in funny black hats and red blazers on the back of horses can be counted as sportspersons. Chess is a fascinating one, as it's fair to say that they go through some gruelling shit, losing weight and all sorts through sheer stress. However, it's still a pastime, so stuff it . You see people becoming more and more athletic in the game of golf, motor-racing, etc, but that's just a choice. In sport you should have no choice but to be an athlete. Saying that, Jan Molby was no athlete and he was class...

Fuck it, I take back everything I said.

 

[agricola]

I had an old book when I was a kid, an encyclopaedia that must have been from the 1920's or even earlier. In that they had a section for 'Sports and Pastimes'. Pastime works a lot better than games I reckons! Anyway, golf was a pastime back then, as was darts and snooker, bowls and ice-skating, motor-racing and chess. I think the classifications still stand, no matter how physically fit your Tiger Woods or your Lewis Hamilton might be. It's a hard one to separate at times, but I'll be fucked if people in funny black hats and red blazers on the back of horses can be counted as sportspersons. Chess is a fascinating one, as it's fair to say that they go through some gruelling shit, losing weight and all sorts through sheer stress. However, it's still a pastime, so stuff it . You see people becoming more and more athletic in the game of golf, motor-racing, etc, but that's just a choice. In sport you should have no choice but to be an athlete. Saying that, Jan Molby was no athlete and he was class...

Fuck it, I take back everything I said.

Glad you took it back, quite a lot of motorsport (especially bike racing) is much, much harder than the vast majority of "sports"... cant really see Lampard playing competitive football a weak after an incident where he suffers several cracks in a shoulderblade and a broken arm.

 

[Infidel Castro]

At what point does a pastime turn into a sport? Motorsport confuses me. Ultimately, it's all about people driving things about. Sure, there's G-force and the need to be able to cope with heat and exhaustion, but it's still driving nice cars and bikes around the place. Rather quite enjoyable! Just because people partaking in a pastime become athletes, does it follow that they turn that pastime into a sport? If a fat bloke with no fitness plays chess against Linford Christie, are they playing different games? Because some feller falls off a bike and gets back on it a week later, will that make him a sportsperson (or just hard as fuck)? I don't have to answers. I wish i still had that book.

 

[agricola]

At what point does a pastime turn into a sport? Motorsport confuses me. Ultimately, it's all about people driving things about. Sure, there's G-force and the need to be able to cope with heat and exhaustion, but it's still driving nice cars and bikes around the place. Rather quite enjoyable! Just because people partaking in a pastime become athletes, does it follow that they turn that pastime into a sport? If a fat bloke with no fitness plays chess against Linford Christie, are they playing different games? Because some feller falls off a bike and gets back on it a week later, will that make him a sportsperson (or just hard as fuck)? I don't have to answers. I wish i still had that book.