What Are the Cardinal Directions for a Game?
Whether playing a board game, a computer game or the game of life, knowledge of the cardinal directions is crucial to survival. As a matter of fact, the adjective "cardinal" is defined as chief or pivotal in the phrase "cardinal directions." Additionally, the related term "cardinal points" has been used since the 1540s to refer to compass directions.
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North and South
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Cardinal directions for games are based on the Earth's cardinal directions. The imaginary axis on which the Earth rotates emanates in two opposite locations on the Earth's surface. These locations are the North Pole and South Pole. North is the cardinal direction that points toward the North Pole from any location on the Earth; south is the cardinal direction that points toward the South Pole from any location on the Earth.
East and West
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The Earth rotates on its imaginary axis from west to east with the equator as the primary east-to-west line. When facing the North Pole, east is to the right and west is to the left. When facing the South Pole, east is to the left and west is to the right.
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Game Specifics
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It is important to remember that the cardinal directions in games, as on the Earth, are relative to a game player's position. North is not always up and south is not always down, just as east is not always to the right and west is not always to the left. Using the game Risk as an example, if a player is sitting at the top of the board, the north arrow of the compass is pointing toward him and that means the cardinal direction of south is up, or across the board from that player. The same concept applies to computer games; the top of the screen is not always north and so on.
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References
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