A game is a few rules

Researchers who study the world’s traditional games, in a project called the Digital Ludeme Project, describe each game as a set of small rule pieces they call ludemes: the board, how pieces move, how they capture, how the game ends.

A sowing game like mancala, oware or ô ăn quan is a few such pieces: how many pits, how many seeds, which way you sow, when you capture, and when the game stops.