Video games are often attacked for being time-wasting, mindless entertainment. For no other genre of video games could this be less true than strategy games. Much like their table-top ancestors, strategy games are by definition a game of wits. Whether your opponent is the computer or another human being, you’ll only succeed through skillful planning, scheming, and strategic resource management.

To begin with, no matter the premise, every strategy game shares certain characteristics that not only define the genre, but also have real-world education value.

Resource Management – A key characteristic to the genre is balancing production versus output. No matter if it’s money, wood, or fuel, you’ll have to learn to balance your resources and plan ahead if you expect to win.

Critical thinking – This is the heart of all strategy games. No matter the premise, they all require the player to think outside the box to solve novel problems. Abstract thought is especially critical to your success, and a well made game will give you the training wheels, teaching you how to approach the puzzle before you, but quickly pushes you out of the nest, forcing your mind to fly or fail.

Diligence – there is always an answer, it’s simply up to you to find it. Games develop the player’s patience and ability to confront a problem until the solution is found.

Unlike traditional teaching methods, stategy games take concrete skills, such as math, and apply them to a real situation. Before the player knows it, they’re balancing numbers in their heads, flexing the kind of muscle usually reserved for real world activities. This concept can then be taken to more nebulous concepts, like approval rating or loyalty.

Perhaps the best known example of this is the “Sim City” series, which puts the player in charge of growing a tiny village into a bustling metropolis. Certainly, there are budgets and such to consider, but the game also teaches the player about the concept of balancing needs and wants to keep the population happy. No textbook can teach this kind of social compromise, but a strategy game can, while also teaching basic civics. Games like “Rollercoaster Tycoon”, and others in the series, teach similar concepts in a business setting. Even war-themed strategy games teach tactical skills, much like chess.

A well-designed strategy game can teach almost any strategic skill. The challenge lies in marrying that with engaging game-play.