GamesAndPuzzles

A jewellery shop. Bleurgh. Cambridge only has about half a dozen of them already.

• A game
  
• A puzzle
  
• A virtual environment
  
• An interactive story
  

Does it have a win condition?

Yes - If you lose, can you try exactly the same thing (clarification from comment below: possibly taking different actions but going from the same starting point) again until you solve it?

Yes - it is a puzzle

Chess? - MoonShadow

No - it is a game

Uh - aren't these the wrong way round?  If you do the exact same thing again with a puzzle, you'll lose again.  In a game, doing the exact same thing again might win.  --Vitenka

You can attempt the same problem, your attempted solution might differ but the initial setup you face should be the same. --DR

Rubix Cube.  Jigsaw Puzzle.  The intial setups of most puzzles are not the same (for the obvious replayability reasons)  --Vitenka

In fact, I'd go so far as to define a puzzle as being: "In a given state, a given action will always lead to the same state when you are next required to give an action."  Which put anything with an element of chance or an opponent at least partially into the 'game' category.  --Vitenka

Yes, I came to a similar conclusion just before BannerOfTheStars started - SunKitten

No - does it have a required plot order?

Yes - it is an interactive story

No - it is a virtual environment

And while I think about it - did you just classify 'ChooseYourOwnAdventure?' as a puzzle rather than IF?? --Vitenka

I think he also classified most VisualNovels and DatingSims thus also: any that have GoodAndBadEndings? but don't have randomness or unpredictability. I'd say a few such become puzzles and games once you start looking for the good ending, having been interactive stories and games before that. --AC

Very good point.  The classification can change depending on your attitude.  Anyone remember the sequence in EndersGame where he chooses to ignore the win condition of a game and instead treats it as a virtual environment? --DR

AlexChurchill thinks that puzzle" as "Something that requires ingenuity and often persistence in solving or assembling, such as a game, toy, or problem" and "game" as "an activity providing entertainment or amusement; a pastime" are close to how he uses the words. These also support some games being simultaneously puzzles. So I could spend some time on a word game or mathematical game on my own, both of which I could also call puzzles; on a computer game against AI; or in a RolePlayingGame, BoardGame or CardGame with other players.