Games were important as cultural and social bonding events, as teaching tools and as markers of social status. Games capture the ideas and worldviews of their cultures and pass them on to the future generation. Common features of games include uncertainty of outcome, agreed upon rules, competition, separate place and time, elements of fiction, elements of chance, prescribed goals and personal enjoyment. Games are formalized expressions of play which allow people to go beyond immediate imagination and direct physical activity. Games are an integral part of all cultures and are one of the oldest forms of human social interaction.
The history of games dates to the ancient human past. Indian Ambassadors, probably sent by the Maukhari King Śarvavarman of Kannauj, present the Chaturanga chess game to Khosrau I, from 'A treatise on chess', 14th century.
