Microgame

A microgame (sometimes written "MicroGame") is a board game or wargame packaged in a small set. Microgames enjoyed popularity during the 1980s. The term generally refers to board games or wargames which were packaged and sold with instructions and maps or playing surfaces printed in a booklet format, or as one large sheet folded until it became "pocket sized" (approximately 4×7 inches). Game pieces (also known as chits or counters) were printed on one or more sheets of thick paper which the player sometimes had to cut for themselves. Other microgames had fully die-cut cardboard sheets like those included with most board wargames. Steve Jackson Games used the Pocket Box to package many of their games in this format.

While small scale wargames and board games, including Tabletop Games' Micro Series Games, had existed before they began publishing, Metagaming Concepts first used the term "MicroGame" when they released Ogre, MicroGame #1 in 1977.

Some publishers of microgames include:

Wario (franchise)

The Wario (ワリオ) franchise comprises various video games created by Nintendo, starring the character Wario. The franchise began with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, the first game to feature Wario as a playable character, and gained many further installments. The Wario series includes mostly platforming video games and minigame compilations, but also includes other genres. It is a spin-off of the Mario series.

Wario Land series

The Wario Land series is a platforming series that started with Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3, following Wario's first appearance in Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins.

Wario Land games

In Wario Land, Wario has a castle in Kitchen Island, and often journeys to find treasure. Its gameplay consists of platforming through levels, tossing enemies, breaking blocks and using other abilities.

Wario Land characters

Microgame (company)

Microgame S.p.A. is an Italian online gambling joint-stock company. The company operates both as an application service provider and developer of online platforms and integrated systems of service, and through the online community People's Poker Network, which is made of more than 130 online partners in all Italy and counts more than 1.5 million gaming accounts.

Microgame has around 30% of Italian online poker market (as of October 2010) and 27.1% of online sports betting market (9.4% of overall sports betting market, as of July 2010). Major shareholders in the company are private equity firms Monitor Clipper Partners and TPG Growth.

History

Microgame has been founded in 1996 by Italian engineer Fabrizio D'Aloia. Company's main activity was web applications development.

In 1998, the company is along first movers in the online sports betting market, which at that time was just regulated. Subsequently, it became the first Italian service provider in the field, and expanded services forniture also in Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Georgia, Malta, Austria, and United Kingdom. Between 2006 and 2007 (in this year, Microgame became a joint-stock company), enters the online horse racing betting and online instant lotteries markets.