Solo/single player games are common now, but looking at pre computer history the majority of games are sports where you're competing against others either alone or in teams and board/card/dice games where you are competing against others (and probably gambling too).

Sure there are some solitaire card games, and toys like yo-yos, kendama and the like that could be classified as games. But competition defines most of what we consider "games" up until computers were able to simulate the other players in the form of hostile/friendly npcs, computer controlled 'players' etc.

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nine_k 11 hours ago | parent [-]

Single-player games very much existed before computers: puzzles, solitaires, etc.

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p1necone 10 hours ago | parent [-]

See second paragraph. 'Basically all' may have been an exaggeration, but the crux of my argument is that the concept that human beings know as a 'game' up until the advent of computer games more often than not involved competition.

	▲	teamonkey an hour ago \| parent [-]
		Computers didn’t introduce the notion of solo play and there are examples of games throughout history that are not about competition. Archery, for example, has its roots in improving your skills for the battlefield. But archery as an hobby, which goes back as long as the bow was invented, is simply for the enjoyment of doing it. Kids playing together with toys is not a competition. Lego/Meccano/building blocks. The list goes on.