The History of Quantum Games

TL;DR

This paper traces the evolution of quantum games, highlighting their development from educational tools to commercial products and their increasing integration with quantum computing hardware.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of over 260 quantum games, analyzing their historical progression across physics, scientific, and technological dimensions.

Findings

Quantum games have expanded from educational to commercial domains.

Emergence of quantum computer games leveraging hardware capabilities.

Broadening themes of quantum physics in mainstream gaming.

Abstract

In this paper, we explore the historical development of playable quantum physics related games (\textit{\textbf{quantum games}}). For the purpose of this examination, we have collected over 260 quantum games ranging from commercial games, applied and serious games, and games that have been developed at quantum themed game jams and educational courses. We provide an overview of the journey of quantum games across three dimensions: \textit{the perceivable dimension of quantum physics, the dimension of scientific purposes, and the dimension of quantum technologies}. We then further reflect on the definition of quantum games and its implications. While motivations behind developing quantum games have typically been educational or academic, themes related to quantum physics have begun to be more broadly utilised across a range of commercial games. In addition, as the availability of quantum computer hardware has grown, entirely new variants of quantum games have emerged to take advantage of these machines' inherent capabilities, \textit{quantum computer games}