Sports game facts for kids

A sports game is a type of video game that lets you pretend to play sports. These games try to make you feel like you are really playing a sport, like football, basketball, or tennis. Many different sports have been turned into video games.

Some sports games are more about managing a team or a sports business than actually playing the game. For example, in some games, you might be the coach or the owner of a team, making decisions about players and strategies. An example of a game that lets you play football is FIFA 07.

What Are Sports Games?

Sports games are video games that copy real-life sports. They let players control athletes or teams in a virtual world. You can play almost any sport you can think of in a video game. This includes popular sports like football, basketball, and baseball. It also includes less common sports like golf or even extreme sports.

How Sports Games Work

Most sports games try to be very realistic. They use advanced graphics to make the players and stadiums look real. They also use physics engines to make the ball move like it would in real life. This helps make the game feel like a real sports match.

Some games focus on playing the sport itself. You control the players, pass the ball, shoot, and score. Other games focus on the "management" side of sports. In these games, you might build a team, buy and sell players, or decide on training plans. You act more like a manager or coach than a player.

History of Sports Games

Sports video games have been around for a very long time. One of the first video games ever made, Pong from 1972, was a simple tennis game. Since then, sports games have grown a lot.

Early sports games were very simple. They had basic graphics and controls. Over time, as computers and game consoles became more powerful, sports games became much more detailed. They added better graphics, more complex controls, and new features. For example, Intellivision World Series Baseball (1983) was one of the first games to show different camera angles, like you see in a real TV sports broadcast.

More modern games, like Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007) for the Wii, even let you use your body to play. You might swing your arms to hit a tennis ball or jump to dunk a basketball. This makes the game even more active and fun.

Images for kids

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  Pong (1972) arcade cabinet.

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  Punch-Out (1984) arcade cabinet.

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  Intellivision World Series Baseball (1983), considered the earliest sports video game to incorporate multiple camera angles in a manner resembling a sports television broadcast.

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  Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games (2007), a Wii game played by miming sports activity.

See also

In Spanish: Videojuego de deportes para niños