The Origins of Game Names: Unraveling the Stories

Games have existed for thousands of years and have progressed along with the development of human civilisation. Before they became one of the world’s most widely played games, most were passed on trade routes for centuries, conquering cultural and linguistic barriers across different continents. 

Today, we enjoy digital versions of these games that can be played across different devices, from mobile games to game consoles. These transitions have affected how these games are called today. Besides these transformations and developments, many factors affect what a game is called.

Let’s explore some of the famous game titles today and discover the surprising origins of these game names.

Texas Hold ‘Em

Texas Hold ‘Em is probably the world’s most popular poker variant. There isn’t a definite narrative of this game name’s origin, but many would cite its earliest ancestor as among Mah-Jong, the domino-style games during the late Tang Dynasty in China. 

Meanwhile, the Persian card game As Nas is known to be the earliest game to have a poker connection. This card game dates back to the 16th-century Safavid dynasty, the empire which ruled over a Central Asian region with the territory of modern-day Iran. 

Then, in the 17th century, the game resurfaced in France and was called Poque because of the trade routes. Poker was made known across the region during the European colonisation of the Americas. 

The variant “Texas Hold ‘Em” was invented in Robstown, Texas, which is why there’s Texas in the title. The “Hold ‘Em” part is because one of this game’s core elements is that a player must keep hold of their initial cards throughout a hand. 

The popularity of poker mirrors the broader appeal of classic casino games like roulette. Across Europe, roulette tables are a staple, with Monte Carlo’s elegance and Brighton’s coastal casinos offering unique experiences. In Australia, cities like Sydney and Melbourne buzz with the excitement of live roulette, drawing in players who love the thrill of the game.

Similarly, New Zealand’s live roulette has also gained a loyal following. Combining traditional gameplay with modern technology creates a dynamic and immersive experience. This shows how global casino classics evolve to suit local tastes, adding fresh twists to beloved games.

Minecraft

Markus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft, initially called the game “Caveman” in the early stages of development. In a YouTube video posted in 2019, Notch introduced “Caveman,” which resembles the block-building mechanics of Infiniminer, a sandbox game created by Zachtronics.

One day later, Notch reintroduced the game with a new name: Minecraft: Order of the Stone. 

“The awesome but insane people in #tigirc helped me come up with a title for this game, Minecraft: Order of the Stone. Minecraft because it’s a good name. Order of the Stone because it sounds like Order of the Stick, one of the best things on the internet,” Notch revealed.

People will call the game Minecraft, hence its shortened name. But in 2015, the title was changed to Telltale’s episodic Minecraft Story Mode: The Order of the Stone.

Super Mario Bros.

The game’s title, featuring a world-renowned suspender-wearing Italian plumber, is inspired by a real person named Mario Segale. In the 1980s, Segale rented a warehouse to Nintendo’s developers, serving as their headquarters. 

During that time, Nintendo of America (NOA) was troubled financially while trying to introduce Donkey Kong. This resulted in a heated argument regarding the payment of back rent. To manage the situation, NOA president Minoru Arakawa named their short and dark-haired sprite Mario after their landlord while assuring him they would pay him.

The Bros. portion of the game title combined pizza and the Japanese word similarity. There was a pizza parlour called Mario and Luigi’s near NOA’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, and designer Shigeru Miyamoto noted that the Japanese word “ruiji” is translated as “similar.” He was trying to create Luigi in the same appearance as the game protagonist Mario, so he thinks it’s fitting to call it Super Mario Bros. 

Pokémon

Pokémon is the perfect product of wasei-eigo, or the language expressions that sound to originate from English but are actually from Japan. Some other known examples of wasei-eigo are kikkubokushingu, which becomes kickboxing, and reberu appu, which means level up.

Regarding how the title Pokémon came about, Japanese speakers took the English words “pocket” and “monster,” which they wished to associate with their series. Then, they transformed them to sound more similar to Japanese phrasing. Poketto, which translates to “pocket,” and monsutā, which is the Japanese pronunciation for “monster,” were spliced together, resulting in the game title “Pokémon.”

Chess

Chess has been among the oldest and most widely played board games for centuries. The earliest traces of the game are from the Indian subcontinent during the Gupta Empire in the 6th century. At that time, the game was called chaturanga, which is still its name in India today.

Its original name is Sanskrit, and it means four-armed and four-limbed. It refers to the traditional military divisions of land armies: chariotry, cavalry, elephantry, and infantry. In the present, these correspond to knights, pawns, rooks, and bishops.

Chaturanga arrived in the north along the silk route to the neighbouring Sassanid Persian empire, where it was called Shah, the Persian term for a king.

Its present name is a mistranslation of Shah, but some places still call it in a more recognisable form. For example, Germans call it Schach. Interestingly, “check-mate” also comes from Persian. Its Persian translation is “Shah-Mat” or “The King is Dead,” a core element of the game that remains true today. 

Wrapping Up

A game’s title can be as influential as its mechanics in making it memorable. These names stick in players’ minds and contribute significantly to the games’ current fame. It’s worth noting that many of these games started with different names, but their eventual titles proved to resonate best, securing their spot in today’s gaming scene.

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