Games are formalized expressions of play which allow people to go beyond immediate imagination and direct physical activity. Games also allow forms of play to be packaged and communicated to other people in a social group or geographically far away. This is demonstrated in the evolution and transformation of the games leading up to the European version of chess. The roots of the game can be traced across India, Arabia, and Japan over a period of more than 1,000 years. Games capture the ideas and behaviors of people at one period of time and carry that through time to their descendants.