ABSTRACT
Mechanics make playing a game different from every other activity. Mechanics are the rules that motivate the players’ strategies and decisions, and they provide both a rigid structure and freedom. Mechanics give rise to gameplay—the experience of the game—and are ultimately what will make a game succeed or fail. The true character of a game—what makes chess the game that it is whether the playing pieces are abstract marble shapes or Star Wars figurines—is in the mechanics and is separable from everything else.
