End condition

An end condition is any game state which, upon being met, ends a playthrough.

An end condition can be a win condition (e.g., beating the end boss; checkmating your opponent in chess), or a loss condition (e.g. losing your last life in Pac-Man; being checkmated by your opponent). In some games, it is also possible for a stalemate or a tie to occur.

Some games have multiple win conditions (for example, the Civilization series, and narrative games which have more than one possible ending).

Not every game has a win condition – for example, pure sandbox games such as Minecraft and The Sims. And not every game has a loss condition – for example, some narrative point-and-click games.

Some games have neither a win condition or a loss condition, although there is some debate over whether these should be considered games, or "toys".