How Old Are Games?

When my children think of games, they think of something electronic and interactive. For my generation, many games are board games, with fake money, letters, troops, etc.

What sorts of games did our earliest ancestors play? When did they begin to play games? According to Professor John Sharp, games are as old as art and culture.

Think about that statement for a minute. If it's true, then it means the people who produced the Venus of Willendorf and the Lascaux cave paintings probably entertained themselves by playing games. I wonder how stimulating these games really were, and I wonder even more what was at stake.