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A player of a game is a participant therein. The term 'player' is used with this same meaning both in game theory and in ordinary recreational games.

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 card game and many video games).

Players in competition[link]

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 societies, one player (or team) is normally considered to be the "1st place", or best, among them, and tie-breaking structures are commonly used to ensure a singular "1st place". This is not true universally, however; for example, in Japan, ties are considered to be wins for both sides. Some games use multiple means of scoring 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.

See also[link]

• Agent (economics)
• Gamer
• Player character

Look up player in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Player may refer to:

• Gary Player (born 1935), golfer
• Player (game), a participant in a game
  • Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player
  • Player-coach, in sports, is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties
  • Player-manager
  • Football player
  • Player (political), a participant in politics who has or is perceived to have influence or power
• Player (dating), slang term for a (usually male, but also female) individual skilled at sexual seduction or a male that will date a female and then dump her almost immediately

Music[link]

• Player (band), a 1970s rock band from Los Angeles, California
  • Player (Player album), 1977
• Player (M. Pokora album), 2006

Technology[link]

• Blu-ray player, a device that plays discs with high definition video
• CD player, a device that plays audio discs
• DVD player, a device that plays discs produced under both the DVD-Video and DVD-Audio technical standards
• Player piano, a self-playing piano, containing a pneumatic or electro-mechanical mechanism that operates the piano action via pre-programmed music
• Record player, a device that plays vinyl records
• Tape player

Computing[link]

• Media player (application software), a piece of software tailored for playing back different forms of multimedia file formats
• Player (software), a robot interface specification and software system

Other uses[link]

• Player (TV channel)

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Player"
• All pages with titles containing "Player"
• Players (disambiguation)
• Play (disambiguation)
• Ployer (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding references. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. More details may be available on the talk page. (March 2011)

Tug of war is an easily organized, impromptu game that requires little equipment.

The Card Players, a 1895 painting by Paul Cézanne depicting a game of cards.

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. However, the distinction is not clear-cut, and many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator sports/games) or art (such as jigsaw puzzles or games involving an artistic layout such as Mahjong, solitaire, or some video games).

Key components of games are goals, rules, challenge, and interaction. Games generally involve mental or physical stimulation, and often both. Many games help develop practical skills, serve as a form of exercise, or otherwise perform an educational, simulational, or psychological role.

Attested as early as 2600 BC,^[1][2] games are a universal part of human experience and present in all cultures. The Royal Game of Ur, Senet, and Mancala are some of the oldest known games.^[3]

Definitions[link]

Look up game in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Ludwig Wittgenstein[link]

Ludwig Wittgenstein was probably the first academic philosopher to address the definition of the word game. In his Philosophical Investigations,^[4] Wittgenstein demonstrated that the elements of games, such as play, rules, and competition, all fail to adequately define what games are. Wittgenstein concluded that people apply the term game to a range of disparate human activities that bear to one another only what one might call family resemblances.

Roger Caillois[link]

French sociologist Roger Caillois, in his book Les jeux et les hommes (Games and Men),^[5] defined a game as an activity that must have the following characteristics:

• fun: the activity is chosen for its light-hearted character
• separate: it is circumscribed in time and place
• uncertain: the outcome of the activity is unforeseeable
• non-productive: participation does not accomplish anything useful
• governed by rules: the activity has rules that are different from everyday life
• fictitious: it is accompanied by the awareness of a different reality

Chris Crawford[link]

Computer game designer Chris Crawford attempted to define the term game^[6] using a series of dichotomies:

1. Creative expression is art if made for its own beauty, and entertainment if made for money.
2. A piece of entertainment is a plaything if it is interactive. Movies and books are cited as examples of non-interactive entertainment.
3. If no goals are associated with a plaything, it is a toy. (Crawford notes that by his definition, (a) a toy can become a game element if the player makes up rules, and (b) The Sims and SimCity are toys, not games.) If it has goals, a plaything is a challenge.
4. If a challenge has no "active agent against whom you compete," it is a puzzle; if there is one, it is a conflict. (Crawford admits that this is a subjective test. Video games with noticeably algorithmic artificial intelligence can be played as puzzles; these include the patterns used to evade ghosts in Pac-Man.)
5. Finally, if the player can only outperform the opponent, but not attack them to interfere with their performance, the conflict is a competition. (Competitions include racing and figure skating.) However, if attacks are allowed, then the conflict qualifies as a game.

Crawford's definition may thus be rendered as: an interactive, goal-oriented activity, with active agents to play against, in which players (including active agents) can interfere with each other.

Other definitions[link]

• "A game is a system in which players engage in an artificial conflict, defined by rules, that results in a quantifiable outcome." (Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman)^[7]
• "A game is a form of art in which participants, termed players, make decisions in order to manage resources through game tokens in the pursuit of a goal." (Greg Costikyan)^[8] According to this definitions, some "games" that do not involve choices, such as Chutes and Ladders, Candy Land, and War are not technically games any more than a slot machine is.
• "A game is an activity among two or more independent decision-makers seeking to achieve their objectives in some limiting context." (Clark C. Abt)^[9]
• "At its most elementary level then we can define game as an exercise of voluntary control systems in which there is an opposition between forces, confined by a procedure and rules in order to produce a disequilibrial outcome." (Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith)^[10]
• "A game is a form of play with goals and structure." (Kevin J. Maroney)^[11]

Gameplay elements and classification[link]

Games can be characterized by "what the player does."^[6] This is often referred to as gameplay. Major key elements identified in this context are tools and rules that define the overall context of game and that in turn produce skill, strategy, and chance.^{[clarification needed]}

Tools[link]

Games are often classified by the components required to play them (e.g. miniatures, a ball, cards, a board and pieces, or a computer). In places where the use of leather is well established, the ball has been a popular game piece throughout recorded history, resulting in a worldwide popularity of ball games such as rugby, basketball, football, cricket, tennis, and volleyball. Other tools are more idiosyncratic to a certain region. Many countries in Europe, for instance, have unique standard decks of playing cards. Other games such as chess may be traced primarily through the development and evolution of its game pieces.

Many game tools are tokens, meant to represent other things. A token may be a pawn on a board, play money, or an intangible item such as a point scored.

Games such as hide-and-seek or tag do not utilise any obvious tool; rather, their interactivity is defined by the environment. Games with the same or similar rules may have different gameplay if the environment is altered. For example, hide-and-seek in a school building differs from the same game in a park; an auto race can be radically different depending on the track or street course, even with the same cars.

Rules[link]

Whereas games are often characterized by their tools, they are often defined by their rules. While rules are subject to variations and changes, enough change in the rules usually results in a "new" game. For instance, baseball can be played with "real" baseballs or with wiffleballs. However, if the players decide to play with only three bases, they are arguably playing a different game. There are exceptions to this in that some games deliberately involve the changing of their own rules, but even then there are often immutable meta-rules.

Rules generally determine turn order, the rights and responsibilities of the players, and each player’s goals. Player rights may include when they may spend resources or move tokens. Common win conditions are being first to amass a certain quota of points or tokens (as in Settlers of Catan), having the greatest number of tokens at the end of the game (as in Monopoly), or some relationship of one’s game tokens to those of one’s opponent (as in chess's checkmate).

Skill, strategy, and chance[link]

A game’s tools and rules will result in its requiring skill, strategy, luck, or a combination thereof, and are classified accordingly.

Games of skill include games of physical skill, such as wrestling, tug of war, hopscotch, target shooting, and stake, and games of mental skill such as checkers and chess. Games of strategy include checkers, chess, go, arimaa, and tic-tac-toe, and often require special equipment to play them. Games of chance include gambling games (blackjack, mah-jongg, roulette, etc.), as well as snakes and ladders and rock, paper, scissors; most require equipment such as cards or dice. However, most games contain two or all three of these elements. For example, American football and baseball involve both physical skill and strategy while tiddlywinks, poker, and Monopoly combine strategy and chance. Many card and board games combine all three; most trick-taking games involve mental skill, strategy, and an element of chance, as do many strategic board games such as Risk, Settlers of Catan, and Carcassonne.

Single-player games[link]

Most games require multiple players. However, single-player games are unique in respect to the type of challenges a player faces. Unlike a game with multiple players competing with or against each other to reach the game's goal, a one-player game is a battle solely against an element of the environment (an artificial opponent), against one's own skills, against time, or against chance. Playing with a yo-yo or playing tennis against a wall is not generally recognized as playing a game due to the lack of any formidable opposition.

It is not valid to describe a computer game as single-player where the computer provides opposition. If the computer is merely record-keeping, then the game may be validly single-player.

Many games described as "single-player" may be termed actually puzzles or recreations.

Types[link]

Games can take a variety of forms, from competitive sports to board games and video games.

Sports[link]

Association football is a popular sport worldwide.

Many sports require special equipment and dedicated playing fields, leading to the involvement of a community much larger than the group of players. A city or town may set aside such resources for the organization of sports leagues.

Popular sports may have spectators who are entertained just by watching games. A community will often align itself with a local sports team that supposedly represents it (even if the team or most of its players only recently moved in); they often align themselves against their opponents or have traditional rivalries. The concept of fandom began with sports fans.

Stanley Fish cited^{[citation needed]} the balls and strikes of baseball as a clear example of social construction, the operation of rules on the game's tools. While the strike zone target is governed by the rules of the game, it epitomizes the category of things that exist only because people have agreed to treat them as real. No pitch is a ball or a strike until it has been labeled as such by an appropriate authority, the plate umpire, whose judgment on this matter cannot be challenged within the current game.

Certain competitive sports, such as racing and gymnastics, are not games by definitions such as Crawford's (see above) – despite the inclusion of many in the Olympic Games – because competitors do not interact with their opponents; they simply challenge each other in indirect ways.

Lawn games[link]

Lawn games are outdoor games that can be played on a lawn; an area of mowed grass (or alternately, on graded soil) generally smaller than a "field" or pitch. Variations of many games that are traditionally played on a pitch are marketed as "lawn games" for home use in a front or back yard. Common lawn games include horseshoes, sholf, croquet, bocce, lawn bowls, and stake.

Tabletop games[link]

A tabletop game generally refers to any game where the elements of play are confined to a small area and that require little physical exertion, usually simply placing, picking up and moving game pieces. Most of these games are, thus, played at a table around which the players are seated and on which the game's elements are located. A variety of major game types generally fall under the heading of tabletop games. It is worth noting that many games falling into this category, particularly party games, are more free-form in their play and can involve physical activity such as mime, however the basic premise is still that the game does not require a large area in which to play it, large amounts of strength or stamina, or specialized equipment other than what comes in the box (games sometimes require additional materials like pencil and paper that are easy to procure).

Dexterity and coordination games[link]

This class of games includes any game in which the skill element involved relates to manual dexterity or hand-eye coordination, but excludes the class of video games (see below). Games such as jacks, paper football, and Jenga require only very portable or improvised equipment and can be played on any flat level surface, while other examples, such as pinball, billiards, air hockey, foosball, and table hockey require specialized tables or other self-contained modules on which the game is played. The advent of home video game systems largely replaced some of these, such as table hockey, however air hockey, billiards, pinball and foosball remain popular fixtures in private and public game rooms. These games and others, as they require reflexes and coordination, are generally performed more poorly by intoxicated persons but are unlikely to result in injury because of this; as such the games are popular as drinking games. In addition, dedicated drinking games such as quarters also involve physical coordination and are popular for similar reasons.

Board games[link]

Parcheesi is an American adaptation of a board game originating in India.

Board games use as a central tool a board on which the players' status, resources, and progress are tracked using physical tokens. Many also involve dice and/or cards. Most games that simulate war are board games (though a large number of video games have been created to simulate strategic combat; see "Video Games" below), and the board may be a map on which the players' tokens move. Virtually all board games involve "turn-based" play; one player contemplates and then makes a move, then the next player does the same, and a player can only act on their turn. This is opposed to "real-time" play as is found in some card games, most sports and most video games.

Some games, such as chess and Go, are entirely deterministic, relying only on the strategy element for their interest. Such games are usually described as having "perfect information"; the only unknown is the exact thought processes of one's opponent, not the outcome of any unknown event inherent in the game (such as a card draw or die roll). Children's games, on the other hand, tend to be very luck-based, with games such as Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders having virtually no decisions to be made. By some definitions, such as that by (Greg Costikyan), they are not games since there are no decisions to make to effect the outcome.^[12] Many other games involving a high degree of luck do not allow direct attacks between opponents; the random event simply determines a gain or loss in the standing of the current player within the game, which is independent of any other player; the "game" then is actually a "race" by definitions such as Crawford's.

Most other board games combine strategy and luck factors; the game of backgammon requires players to decide the best strategic move based on the roll of two dice. Trivia games have a great deal of randomness based on the questions a person gets. German-style board games are notable for often having rather less of a luck factor than many board games.

Board game groups include race games, roll-and-move games, abstract strategy games, word games, and wargames, as well as the trivia and German-style board games mentioned above. Some board games fall into multiple groups and even incorporate elements of other genres: Cranium is one popular example, where players must succeed in each of four main skills: artistry, live performance, trivia, and language skill.

Card games[link]

Card games use a deck of cards as their central tool. These cards may be a standard Anglo-American (52-card) deck of playing cards (such as for bridge, poker, Rummy, etc.), a regional deck using 32, 36 or 40 cards and different suit signs (such as for the popular German game skat), a tarot deck of 78 cards (used in Europe to play a variety of trick-taking games collectively known as Tarot, Tarock, and/or Tarocchi games), or a deck specific to the individual game (such as Set or 1000 Blank White Cards). Uno and Rook are examples of games that were originally played with a standard deck and have since been commercialized with customized decks. Some collectible card games such as Magic: The Gathering are played with a small selection of cards that have been collected or purchased individually from large available sets.

Some board games include a deck of cards as a gameplay element, normally for randomization and/or to keep track of game progress. Conversely, some card games such as Cribbage use a board with movers, normally to keep score. The differentiation between the two genres in such cases depends on which element of the game is foremost in its play; a board game using cards for random actions can usually use some other method of randomization, while Cribbage can just as easily be scored on paper. These elements as used are simply the traditional and easiest methods to achieve their purpose.

Dice games[link]

Dice games use a number of dice as their central element. Board games often use dice for a randomization element, and thus each roll of the dice has a profound impact on the outcome of the game, however dice games are differentiated in that the dice do not determine the success or failure of some other element of the game; they instead are the central indicator of the person's standing in the game. Popular dice games include Yahtzee, Farkle, Bunco, Liar's dice/Perudo, and Poker dice. As dice are, by their very nature, designed to produce apparently random numbers, these games usually involve a high degree of luck, which can be directed to some extent by the player through more strategic elements of play and through tenets of probability theory. Such games are thus popular as gambling games; the game of Craps is perhaps the most famous example, though Liar's dice and Poker dice were originally conceived of as gambling games.

Domino and tile games[link]

Domino games are similar in many respects to card games, but the generic device is instead a set of tiles called dominoes, which traditionally each have two ends, each with a given number of dots, or "pips", and each combination of two possible end values as it appears on a tile is unique in the set. The games played with dominoes largely center around playing a domino from the player's "hand" onto the matching end of another domino, and the overall object could be to always be able to make a play, to make all open endpoints sum to a given number or multiple, or simply to play all dominoes from one's hand onto the board. Sets vary in the number of possible dots on one end, and thus of the number of combinations and pieces; the most common set historically is double-six, though in more recent times "extended" sets such as double-nine have been introduced to increase the number of dominoes available, which allows larger hands and more players in a game. Muggins, Mexican Train, and Chicken Foot are very popular domino games. Texas 42 is a domino game more similar in its play to a "trick-taking" card game.

Variations of traditional dominoes abound: Triominoes are similar in theory but are triangular and thus have three values per tile. Similarly, a game known as Quad-Ominos uses four-sided tiles.

Some other games use tiles in place of cards; Rummikub is a variant of the Rummy card game family that uses tiles numbered in ascending rank among four colors, very similar in makeup to a 2-deck "pack" of Anglo-American playing cards. Mah-Jongg is another game very similar to Rummy that uses a set of tiles with card-like values and art.

Lastly, some games use graphical tiles to form a board layout, on which other elements of the game are played. Settlers of Catan and Carcassonne are examples. In each, the "board" is made up of a series of tiles; in Settlers of Catan the starting layout is random but static, while in Carcassonne the game is played by "building" the board tile-by-tile. Hive, an abstract strategy game using tiles as moving pieces, has mechanical and strategic elements similar to chess, although it has no board; the pieces themselves both form the layout and can move within it.

Pencil and paper games[link]

Pencil and paper games require little or no specialized equipment other than writing materials, though some such games have been commercialized as board games (Scrabble, for instance, is based on the idea of a crossword puzzle, and tic-tac-toe sets with a boxed grid and pieces are available commercially). These games vary widely, from games centering on a design being drawn such as Pictionary and "connect-the-dots" games like sprouts, to letter and word games such as Boggle and Scattergories, to solitaire and logic puzzle games such as Sudoku and crossword puzzles.

Guessing games[link]

A guessing game has as its core a piece of information that one player knows, and the object is to coerce others into guessing that piece of information without actually divulging it in text or spoken word. Charades is probably the most well-known game of this type, and has spawned numerous commercial variants that involve differing rules on the type of communication to be given, such as Catch Phrase, Taboo, Pictionary, and similar. The genre also includes many game shows such as Win, Lose or Draw, Password and $25,000 Pyramid.

Video games[link]

Video games are computer- or microprocessor-controlled games. Computers can create virtual spaces for a wide variety of game types. Some video games simulate conventional game objects like cards or dice, while others can simulate environs either grounded in reality or fantastical in design, each with its own set of rules or goals.

A computer or video game uses one or more input devices, typically a button/joystick combination (on arcade games); a keyboard, mouse and/or trackball (computer games); or a controller or a motion sensitive tool. (console games). More esoteric devices such as paddle controllers have also been used for input. In computer games, the evolution of user interfaces from simple keyboard to mouse, joystick or joypad has profoundly changed the nature of game development.^{[citation needed]}

There are many genres of video game; the first commercial video game, Pong, was a simple simulation of table tennis. As processing power increased, new genres such as adventure and action games were developed that involved a player guiding a character from a third person perspective through a series of obstacles. This "real-time" element cannot be easily reproduced by a board game, which is generally limited to "turn-based" strategy; this advantage allows video games to simulate situations such as combat more realistically. Additionally, the playing of a video game does not require the same physical skill, strength and/or danger as a real-world representation of the game, and can provide either very realistic, exaggerated or impossible physics, allowing for elements of a fantastical nature, games involving physical violence, or simulations of sports. Lastly, a computer can, with varying degrees of success, simulate one or more human opponents in traditional table games such as chess, leading to simulations of such games that can be played by a single player.

In more open-ended computer simulations, also known as sandbox-style games, the game provides a virtual environment in which the player may be free to do whatever they like within the confines of this universe. Sometimes, there is a lack of goals or opposition, which has stirred some debate on whether these should be considered "games" or "toys". (Crawford specifically mentions Will Wright's SimCity as an example of a toy.)^[6]

Online games[link]

From the very earliest days of networked and time-shared computers, online games have been part of the culture. Early commercial systems such as Plato were at least as widely famous for their games as for their strictly educational value. In 1958, Tennis for Two dominated Visitor's Day and drew attention to the oscilloscope at the Brookhaven National Laboratory; during the 1980s, Xerox PARC was known mainly for Maze War, which was offered as a hands-on demo to visitors.

Modern online games are played using an Internet connection; some have dedicated client programs, while others require only a web browser. Some simpler browser games appeal to demographic groups (notably women and the middle-aged) that otherwise play very few video games.^{[citation needed]}

Media audiences' characteristic has been changing in consequence of the social changes and development. They are becoming active and interact more than ever before. The players of the game in this phenomenon are just like the social formation in society. They are both self-regulating, creating their own social norms and subject to regulation and constraint through the code of the game and sometimes through the policing of the game by those who run it. The values that are policed vary from game to game. Many of the values encoded into game cultures reflect offline cultural values, but games also offer a chance to emphasise alternative or subjugated values in the name of fantasy and play. The players of the game at the new century are now apparently expressing their profound self through the game. When they can play with their anonymous status, they are found to be more confident to express and to step out from the position they have never been out from. It offers new experiences and pleasures based in the interactive and immersible possibilities of computer technologies.^{[citation needed]}

Role-playing games[link]

Role-playing games, often abbreviated as RPGs, are a type of game in which the participants (usually) assume the roles of characters acting in a fictional setting. The original role playing games—or at least those explicitly marketed as such—are played with a handful of participants, usually face-to-face, and keep track of the developing fiction with pen and paper. Together, the players may collaborate on a story involving those characters; create, develop, and "explore" the setting; or vicariously experience an adventure outside the bounds of everyday life. Pen-and-paper role-playing games include, for example, Dungeons & Dragons and GURPS.

The term role-playing game has also been appropriated by the video game industry to describe a genre of video games. These may be single-player games where one player experiences a programmed environment and story, or they may allow players to interact through the internet. The experience is usually quite different from traditional role-playing games. Single-player games include Final Fantasy, Fable, The Elder Scrolls, and Mass Effect. Online multi-player games, often referred to as Massively Multiplayer Online role playing games, or MMORPGs, include RuneScape, EverQuest 2, Guild Wars, MapleStory, Anarchy Online, and Dofus. As of 2009^[update], the most successful MMORPG has been World of Warcraft, which controls the vast majority of the market.^[13]

Business games[link]

Business games can take a variety of forms, from interactive board games to interactive games involving different props (balls, ropes, hoops, etc.) and different kinds of activities. The purpose of these games is to link to some aspect of organizational performance and to generate discussions about business improvement. Many business games focus on organizational behaviors. Some of these are computer simulations while others are simple designs for play and debriefing. Team building is a common focus of such activities.

Simulation[link]

The term "game" can include simulation^[14][15] or re-enactment of various activities or use in "real life" for various purposes: e.g., training, analysis, prediction. Well-known examples are war games and roleplaying. The root of this meaning may originate in the human prehistory of games deduced by anthropology from observing primitive cultures, in which children's games mimic the activities of adults to a significant degree: hunting, warring, nursing, etc. These kinds of games are preserved in modern times.^{[original research?]}

See also[link]

Sports and games portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Game

• Game classification
• Game club
• Game theory
• Gamer
• Girls' games and toys
• History of games
• Lawn game
• List of games
• Ludibrium
• Ludology

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Avedon, Elliot; Sutton-Smith, Brian, The Study of Games. (Philadelphia: Wiley, 1971), reprinted Krieger, 1979. ISBN 0-89874-045-2

Vassilis Spanoulis

Spanoulis, shooting a free throw, during a EuroBasket 2009 game.
No. 7 – Olympiacos Piraeus
Guard
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Kill Bill, V-Span[1] MVP ("Most Vassilis Player")
Born	(1982-08-07) 7 August 1982 (age 29) Larissa, Greece
Nationality	Greek
Listed height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight	210 lb (95 kg)
Career information
NBA Draft	2004 / 2nd round, 50th overall
Selected by the Dallas Mavericks
Pro career	1999–present
League	Greek Basket League Euroleague
Career history
Gymnastikos S. Larissa (1999–01) Maroussi (2001–05) Panathinaikos Athens (2005–06; 2007–10) Houston Rockets (2006–07) Olympiacos Piraeus (2010–)
Career highlights and awards
Greek Basket League Best Young Player (2002) 4x All-Euroleague Team (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012): 3x All-Euroleague Second Team (2006, 2009, 2011) All-Euroleague First Team (2012) 2x Acropolis Tournament MVP (2007, 2009) 2x Euroleague Final Four MVP (2009, 2012) FIBA EuroBasket All-Tournament Team (2009) Greek Basket League MVP (2009) Balkan Athlete of the Year (2009)

Vassilis Spanoulis (Greek: Βασίλης Σπανούλης) (born August 7, 1982) is a Greek professional basketball player who plays for the Greek Basket League and Euroleague club Olympiacos Piraeus. A 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall guard, Spanoulis first played for Gymnastikos S. Larissa and enjoyed a highly successful career start, winning the Greek Basket League's Best Young Player award in 2002. His skill-set earned him a transfer to Athens and Maroussi. Following an impressive 2004–05 season, during which he led Maroussi to the Greek Basket League Finals, and the Eurocup quarterfinals, he moved to Panathinaikos, where he became one of European basketball's major stars.^[2]

In the Euroleague 2005–06 season, Spanoulis entered the Euroleague in impressive fashion, earning his first All-Euroleague Team selection as a rookie in the competition. After a stint in the NBA with the Houston Rockets during the 2006–07 season, he returned to Panathinaikos and led them to a Euroleague title in 2009, being voted as a member of the All-Euroleague Second Team, and the Euroleague Final Four MVP.^[3] His transfer to Olympiacos, in the summer of 2010, marked a new step in Spanoulis' career.^[4] Within a young and rebuilding Olympiacos team that was not expected to certainly make it past the regular season, Spanoulis led a Euroleague title run in the 2011-12 season. His unexpected championship triumph gained him a fourth All-Euroleague selection, and a second Euroleague Final Four MVP award.^[5]

Spanoulis played an instrumental role on the Greek national team's EuroBasket 2005 gold medal team. Most importantly, he was one of the main stars of Greece's 2006 FIBA World Championship silver medal team, scoring 22 points in the victory over Team USA in the tournament's semifinals. It was however, Greece's bronze medal at the EuroBasket 2009, that emphasized Spanoulis' leadership within an injury-plagued Greek national team, earning an All-EuroBasket Team honor in the process.^[6]

Pro career[link]

Gymnastikos S. Larissa[link]

Spanoulis began his basketball career with the youth teams of Gymnastikos and Keravnos in Larissa, Greece, playing in the junior levels from 1994, until 1999. He made his professional debut in the year 1999, at the age of 17, with the senior club of Gymnastikos S. Larissa. In the two seasons of 1999–00 and 2000–01, he played in the Greek A2 League with Gymnastikos.^[7]

Maroussi[link]

After playing with Gymnastikos S. Larissa for three seasons, Spanoulis signed a four-year contract with Maroussi of the Greek Basket League, EuroChallenge, and later the Eurocup, and played there until 2005.

During the 2001–02 season, Spanoulis helped to lead Maroussi to the Greek Cup Final. This was the first time the team had ever made it to the Greek Cup Championship game. Maroussi also competed in the Korać Cup that year.

During the 2002–03 season, Spanoulis led Maroussi to the Final Four of the EuroChallenge. Spanoulis averaged 10.8 points per game and 6.4 assists per game off the bench for Maroussi. He also shot 40% from three-point range. He was named both the league 6th man of the year and rookie of the year.

In the 2003–04 season, Vassilis led Maroussi to the Greek Basket League Finals, and also to the EuroChallenge Final.^[8] He was named the Eurobasket.com website's Greek Basket League Most Improved Player of the Year. Spanoulis was drafted in the 2nd round of the 2004 NBA Draft, by the Dallas Mavericks, following this sudden emergence. He also made it onto the senior men's Greek national basketball team at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympic Games.

In the 2004–05 season, his last with Maroussi, Spanoulis averaged 15.9 points per game and shot 37.8% from 3 point range, in 35 games of Greek Basket League competition. He then averaged 15.2 points per game, and shot 40.0% from 3 point range, in 12 games of play in the Eurocup. For the year in total, Spanoulis averaged 15.7 points per game, and shot 38.3% from 3 point range, in 47 games for Maroussi. He played in the 2005 Greek League All-Star Game, and was named to the Greek Basket League's Best Five team. This was a breakthrough year for Vassilis, as he had averaged 11.1 points per game the previous year. He was considered to be one of the most improved players in Europe for the year. He led Maroussi to the 2nd place of the Greek Basket League, for the regular season. At the end of the year, Spanoulis was voted European 6th Man of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the Eurocup.^[9] He was started being called, "The Greek Steve Nash", by some European fans^[10][11] in Europe after this year.

Panathinaikos Athens[link]

Vassilis Spanoulis, against Roanne.

Following his outstanding season in 2004–05 with Maroussi, he signed a 3-year contract worth €1.6 million euros net income with Euroleague powerhouse Panathinaikos Athens. Spanoulis and his agent, Miodrag Ražnatović,^[12] set the contract terms so that Spanoulis would have a buyout clause after just one year, and set the buyout amount at US $400,000.

With Panathinaikos, in the Greek Basket League 2005–06 season, he won the both Greek Basket League championship and the Greek Cup. His team went 24–2 during the Greek Basket League regular season, and 8–0 during the playoffs, for an overall record of 32–2 in the league championship, and also went undefeated in the Cup, at 5–0, for an overall record of 37–2 in Greek competitions. He played in the 2006 Greek League All-Star Game, and was named to the Greek Basket League's Best Five team.^[13]

Spanoulis was also selected to the Euroleague 2005–06 season's All-Euroleague Second Team.^[7][14]

In 28.8 minutes per game of play, during the 2005–06 Euroleague competition, Spanoulis averaged 14.6 points, 3.1 assists, 2.0 rebounds, and 1.4 steals, in 23 games of Euroleague play, with Panathinaikos Athens for the season. He also shot 61.8% in 2-point shooting, and 36.8% from 3-point range; 53.4% overall.

He was the team's leading scorer, even though he often came off the bench. He won the Euroleague MVP of the Week Award twice during the season. In 2005–06, his team finished the Euroleague with a record of 16–7. Spanoulis was also voted as the 7th best worldwide European player of the year (including NBA players) in 2006, by FIBA Europe, in their FIBA Europe Player of the Year Award voting.^{[7][15][16][17][18][19]}

Many fans in Europe began calling him, "Euro Kobe",^[20][21] after such a dominant rookie season of Euroleague.^{[7][15][16][18][19][22]}

Houston Rockets[link]

Spanoulis, during his season with the Houston Rockets.

On July 19, 2006,^[7] Spanoulis opted out of the final two years of his contract with Panathinaikos Athens, and signed a three-year deal (2 years guaranteed) with the NBA's Houston Rockets, who paid for his contract buyout from Panathinaikos. The contract was worth $5,832,000 USD,^[23] his buyout from his European club was $400,000 USD.

The contract amount was for an average of $1,944,000 USD per season. The Rockets had acquired the rights to Spanoulis on draft night (June 24, 2004), when Houston swapped draft pick #55 Luis Flores, and cash considerations of $300,000 USD with the Dallas Mavericks, for Spanoulis (pick #50).^[7][24]

“He’s a very versatile ball handler,” Rockets [then] general manager, Carroll Dawson, said. “He’s a good finisher and a very good prospect. He wants to be a great player. Everybody is going to like this young man because he is a very hard-nosed player. We have watched his progress very closely,” Dawson said. “It’s a big adjustment to come to the NBA from Europe, but he is a hard worker.”^[25][26]

Rockets [then] Director of Player Personnel, Dennis Lindsey, stated the following about Spanoulis prior to the team signing him. "We're very, very happy with his progress," said Lindsey. "He changed clubs this year from Maroussi to the bigger club this year, Panathinaikos. For those not familiar with European basketball, they are like the New York Yankees of Greece and one of the two or three better organizations in Europe. They are an NBA level club. From our standpoint, we really like what Vassilis has done. He is their leading scorer. They are 9–1 in the Euroleague and they have already qualified for the top sixteen."^[27]

Lindsey praised Spanoulis' offensive ability. "He's got a couple of characteristics that we like," added Lindsey. "He can really drive and get the ball in the paint, and he's relentless with it. He kind of plays basketball like a fullback a little bit, where he just kind of breaks through the line and there's contact on a lot of plays."^[27]

"The owner and Jeff and Carroll really like what they've seen so far and we've made a couple of trips over and hopefully in the near future we can have him as a Rocket because we think he can help us."^[27]

2006–07 NBA season[link]

Vassilis Spanoulis, about to make an assist.

Spanoulis saw limited playing time with the Houston Rockets during his rookie NBA year in 2006–07, averaging 2.7 points and 0.9 assists in 8.8 minutes per game, on 31.9% field goal shooting (17.2% from behind the 3-point line), in 31 games played off the bench.^[28]

During Spanoulis' first NBA season, there was a dispute between him and Rockets head coach, Jeff Van Gundy, over playing time. There was an issue between the team's management, Spanoulis, and the coach as well, over the contract that Spanoulis had signed. In order to sign with the Rockets, and fulfill his dreams of playing in the NBA, Spanoulis took a considerably smaller contract than the one that was being offered to him by his Greek team, Panathinaikos Athens. He still had two years under his contract with Panathinaikos, but his buyout was small, and could be paid by the Rockets.

Spanoulis agreed to play for Houston, at a price of $1,944,000 USD gross income per season, for 3 years, passing up on his former team Panathinaikos Athens' much larger offer of €1.6 million euros net income per season, over 3 years, just for a chance of playing in the NBA. Spanoulis made the Rockets' rotation,^[29] but eventually, there was a falling out between him and Rockets coach Van Gundy, after Van Gundy benched Spanoulis, after the coach claimed that he had played poorly, citing that rookie players are dangerous for coaches that are in contract years, and that Spanoulis was too turnover prone and lacking in outside shooting touch to be a good fit in Van Gundy's offensive system design. Said Van Gundy about the situation: "(Spanoulis) says, 'I was [Tracy] McGrady back home.' Great. McGrady is McGrady here," .. "I feel badly for him. He feels he was misled. Frankly, he's been his own worst enemy in many ways. Some of it is excuses. His turnovers have been high; his fouls have been high; his shooting percentage has been low. I would rather anybody start out with self-evaluation — what can I do better? — versus lash out and blame. Because I'm not playing him now doesn't mean he won't play in the future or we don't feel he could be a good player. I think he's allowed his disappointment to go to discouragement, which has, at times, stunted his improvement. We'll see. We'll see."^[30]

Spanoulis was traded by the Rockets, to the San Antonio Spurs, on July 12, 2007, along with a 2009 second-round draft pick, in exchange for center Jackie Butler, and the rights to Argentinian power forward Luis Scola.^[31][32] On August 19, 2007, the Spurs released Spanoulis, giving him the chance to return back to Greece to play for Panathinaikos Athens, as he had requested. This was officially announced on August 23, 2007.^[33]

Allegedly, due to "family reasons," Spanoulis decided that he would not remain in the NBA, with his agent going as far as, comparing the Rockets reluctance to break his contract to slavery.^[34] Spanoulis, instead opted to return to Panathinaikos, to once again play in the Greek Basket League and the Euroleague.^[12]

Back to Panathinaikos Athens[link]

Vassilis Spanoulis, defending.

On August 19, 2007, Spanoulis was released by the San Antonio Spurs, after deciding he wanted to play in Greece during the 2007–08 season. This was due to the fact that his mother was in poor health, and that Spanoulis wanted to be near her.^[35] Spanoulis signed a 3-year contract with Panathinaikos,^[36] the then defending Euroleague champions. He was signed to play both point guard and shooting guard, along with fellow Greek national team star, Dimitris Diamantidis. Former NBA player, Šarūnas Jasikevičius, would later join them in the team's guard rotation.

The contract Spanoulis signed was for 3-years, at €5,500,000 euros net income salary,^[37] plus a $1,166,400 contract buyout from his NBA San Antonio Spurs contract (Panathinaikos paid the buyout, so it did not count against the Spurs' salary cap). Spanoulis' agent set up the contract so that Spanoulis could opt out of it after one year. Spanoulis originally stated that, after the first year of his contract, he might opt out of it and return to San Antonio to play in the NBA again.^[35]

During the 2007–08 season, Spanoulis led his team, Panathinaikos, in both points scored (661) and assists (215), over 36 Greek Basket League, and 20 Euroleague games. He averaged 11.8 points per game and 3.8 assists per game for the season, in 56 games total. Spanoulis led the Greek Basket League regular season in assists (125), averaging 4.8 per game in 26 regular season games. He was voted as a starter to the Greek League All-Star Game, and to the Greek Basket League's Best Five Team.

Spanoulis helped Panathinaikos win the Greek basketball double, as the club won both the Greek Basket League championship, and the Greek Cup in 2008. In the Greek Cup Final, against Panathinaikos' arch-rival Olympiacos, Spanoulis led his team to the championship cup victory, by scoring 20 points and dishing out 7 assists.

Olympiacos Piraeus[link]

In July 2010, after much speculation concerning his free agency and his next contract, Spanoulis signed a three-year contract with the Greek Basket League club Olympiacos Piraeus, worth €13,640,000 gross income,^[38] or €7,500,000 net income (2010-11: €2,400,000, 2011-12: €2,500,000, 2012-13: €2,600,000).^[4]

Greek national team[link]

Medal record
Spanoulis' silver medal at the 2006 FIBA World Championship.
Men's Basketball
Competitor for  Greece
FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship
Bronze	2000 Croatia	Nat. Team
Mediterranean Games
Silver	2001 Tunisia	Nat. Team
FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship
Gold	2002 Lithuania	Nat. Team
FIBA EuroBasket
Gold	2005 Serbia	Nat. Team
Bronze	2009 Poland	Nat. Team
Stanković Cup
Gold	2006 China	Nat. Team
FIBA World Cup
Silver	2006 Japan	Nat. Team

Spanoulis was a key member of the Greek national junior team at the FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship in the year 2000. Greece finished in third place in the tournament, winning the bronze medal.^[39] Spanoulis was on the Greek national junior team that finished in first place, and thus won the gold medal, at the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship. During the 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 championship final game, Spanoulis sank two clutch free throws, with just 13 seconds remaining on the game clock, to clinch a win over the Spanish national junior team, and win the gold.^[7][40]

Spanoulis played with Greece's B national team, at the 2001 Mediterranean Games. He was a key member of the team for Greece during the tournament. Greece finished in second place in the tournament, winning the silver medal. He was a part of Greece's team that won the 2006 Stanković Continental Champions' Cup. Greece beat both Australia and Germany, whose team included NBA star Dirk Nowitzki, to win the tournament. Spanoulis led Greece in scoring during the tournament.

Spanoulis was named the MVP, of both the 2007 and 2009 Acropolis Tournaments, in Athens, and he also won the same tournament 6 times with the Greek national team, in the years 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.^[41]

Summer Olympic Games[link]

Spanoulis made his debut with the senior men's Greek national basketball team, for the first time, in the summer of 2004, when he was selected by his then head coach at Maroussi, Greek basketball legend, Panagiotis Giannakis, to be a member of the Greek squad during the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, which were held in Athens, Greece. Spanoulis was able to play in front of his home country's fans at Helliniko Olympic Arena, as Greece was the game's host country. Greece finished in 5th place in the tournament, losing to Manu Ginóbili and the eventual gold-medal winning Argentine national basketball team, 69–64, in the quarterfinals.^[42] This was tied for the 2nd highest finish for Greece, in basketball at the Olympics, in its history. The 5th place finish, making Greece one of the top 5 national teams in the world, was the beginning of Greece's great run in international tournaments during the 2000s.

FIBA EuroBasket[link]

At the EuroBasket 2005, Spanoulis was a key member of the Greek team^[43] that won the EuroBasket and took home the gold medal.^[44] It was just the second time in Greece's history, that the senior men's national basketball team won the gold medal at the EuroBasket, and the first time since EuroBasket 1987, when the legendary Nikos Galis, led Greece's national team.

Two years later, at the EuroBasket 2007, Spanoulis was again part of Greece's team.^[45] Greece played the tournament shorthanded, as it was without key players Antonis Fotsis and Sofoklis Schortsanitis, and was not able to medal in the tournament. Greece finished in 4th place in the tournament,^[46] losing in the semifinal game against the Spanish national basketball team, and its many star players, like Marc Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro, José Calderón, Sergio Rodríguez, Jorge Garbajosa, Rudy Fernández, and Pau Gasol. Spanoulis was the game's leading scorer, with 24 points, and he also dished out 5 assists,^[47] but Spain got the win, by a score of 82–77, over the depleted Greek squad. Spanoulis led the Greek team in scoring during the tournament, with a scoring average of 11.7 points per game.^[48]

FIBA World Cup[link]

Spanoulis was a member of the Greek team that competed at the 2006 FIBA World Championship,^[49] and he helped to lead the Greek team to the silver medal, as they finished in second place in the tournament.^[50] In the semifinal game against Team USA, he was the game's second-leading scorer, with 22 points, and along with his teammate, Theo Papaloukas, led Greece to victory over the USA, by a score of 101–95.^[51] Spanoulis led the Greek national team in scoring during the world championship, with an average of 11.7 points per game, and he also led the Greek team in free throw shooting percentage at 87.8%.^[52]

Personal[link]

Fans have dubbed him V-Span and Kill Bill.^[53] He is the first and only Greek-born player to play for the Houston Rockets, and only the third Greek-born player to play in the NBA.^[54] His basketball idol, and favorite player as a kid, was Michael Jordan.^[55]

He has been friends with fellow basketball players like Roderick Blakney, Jake Tsakalidis, Shane Battier, John Lucas III, Tracy McGrady,^[56] and Steve Novak.^[57] He is best friends with Nikos Zisis, and he was the best man at Zisis' wedding.^[58] He is married to Miss Star Hellas 2006, Olympia Hopsonidou. Together, they have a son named Thanasis.^[59]

European career statistics[link]

^[60]

Euroleague career statistics[link]

Eurocup career statistics[link]

Greek national team career statistics[link]

^[61]

NBA career statistics[link]

Regular season[link]

^[62]

Playoffs[link]

^[63]

Awards and accomplishments[link]

Vassilis Spanoulis, in the play-maker position.

Pro career[link]

• Greek Basket League Best Young Player: (2002)
• 6x Greek Basket League All-Star: (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011)
• 5x Greek Basket League Best Five Team: (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2011)
• 4x Greek Cup Champion: (2006, 2008, 2009, 2011)
• 4x All-Euroleague Team: (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012)
  • 3x All-Euroleague Second Team: (2006, 2009, 2011)
  • All-Euroleague First Team: (2012)
• 4x Greek Basket League Champion: (2006, 2008, 2009, 2010)
• 2x Greek Basket League assists leader: (2008, 2011)
• 2x Euroleague Champion: (2009, 2012)
• 2x Euroleague Final Four MVP: (2009, 2012)
• Triple Crown Champion: (2009)
• Greek League MVP: (2009)
• Balkan Athlete of the Year:^[64] (2009)

Greek National Team[link]

Vassilis Spanoulis, taking a free throw.

• 2000 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship: 3 Bronze
• 2001 Mediterranean Games: 2 Silver
• 2002 FIBA Europe Under-20 Championship: 1 Gold
• 6x Acropolis Tournament Champion: (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)
• EuroBasket 2005: 1 Gold
• 2006 Stanković Continental Champions' Cup: 1 Gold
• 2006 FIBA World Championship: 2 Silver
• 2x Acropolis Tournament MVP: (2007, 2009)
• EuroBasket 2009: 3 Bronze
• EuroBasket 2009: All-Tournament Team

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

• Vassilis Spanoulis' Official Blog (Greek)
• NBA.com Historical Profile
• NBA.com Biography
• Euroleague.net Profile
• Greek Basket League Profile
• Eurobasket.com Profile
• FIBA World Championship Profile
• Interbasket.net Profile
• Draftexpress.com Profile
• Draftexpress.com Article On Vassilis Spanoulis
• FIBA.com Video Interview With Vasileios Spanoulis
• Clutchfans.net Spanoulis Article
• Insidehoops.com Article On Vassilis Spanoulis
• Vassilis Spanoulis Signs With Panathinaikos (Greek)
• Panathinaikos Brings Back Spanoulis
• Spanoulis 2004 Most Improved Player Year Award