A player of a game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

 is a participant therein. The term 'player' is used with this same meaning both in game theory

Game theory

Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others...

 and in ordinary recreational game

Game

A game is structured playing, usually undertaken for enjoyment and sometimes used as an educational tool. Games are distinct from work, which is usually carried out for remuneration, and from art, which is more often an expression of aesthetic or ideological elements...

s.

Normally, there are at least two players in a game, but one-player games exist and are collectively known as solitary games (such as the Solitaire

Solitaire

Solitaire is any tabletop game which one can play by oneself or with other people. The solitaire card game Klondike is often known as simply Solitaire....

card game and many video games).

Players in competition

In most games, one player (or team) is declared the winner, the player who performed the best. Some multiplayer games can have multiple winners, but in Western

Western world

The Western world, also known as the West and the Occident , is a term referring to the countries of Western Europe , the countries of the Americas, as well all countries of Northern and Central Europe, Australia and New Zealand...

 societies, one player (or team) is normally considered to be the "1st place", or best.Among them, and ensure the existence of tie-breaking structures to ensure a singular "1st place". This is not true universally; for example, in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 ties are considered to be wins for both sides. Some games use multiple means of scoring

Score (gaming)

In games, score refers to an abstract quantity associated with a player or team. Score is usually measured in the abstract unit of points, and events in the game can raise or lower the score of different parties...

or determining the conditions of victory; in these games, it may be possible for two or more players or teams to simultaneously win, which, depending on the game, may be counted as wins for both or simply a tie.