What makes a good game?

DRAFT

What make a really good Abstract Game?

I feel that the rules should be easy to learn, with the play straightforward, but the game strategy must have depth.  Noughts and Crosses is easy to play, even for very young children, but optimum strategies soon appear and the game becomes predictable and unsatisfying.   Using my criteria, good abstract games include Hex, Amazons, Pushfight, . . .  An exception is chess which is hard to learn (however, most games players learn when young) but has stood the test of time, so must be classed as good.

What makes a good game?  This question is vexing me somewhat!  I feel that there are a number of ideas which go beyond 'games that I like'.  

• Simple rules.
  Hex is an outstanding example since the rules can be explained in less than a minute.
• Straightforward to play.
  For a new game, I do not like too many different pieces or needing to make frequent lookups in the rules.  Getting brain ache in just playing the next move is unappealing - I want to know how the game plays.  Had I not learned chess when young, I would probably not consider it now.  I am sure that Shogi is a great game, but have no motivation to learn it!
• Depth.
  It is easy for an adult to become proficient playing Noughts and Crosses - it is just too easy!  A good game has sufficient depth that you are still improving after 50 or more game.
• Tension.
  There should be some tension in the game throughout, not just at near the end.
  However, there shouldn't be too much tension that causes stress, which often happens to me in chess! 
• Progression.
  There is no point in just ambling around aimlessly, and certainly not in lots of repeated moves.
  Chess has automatic progression because pieces get taken and pawns only move forward.  The laws decide the game is a draw if 50 moves are made without a capture or pawn move, or the same position 3 repeats times.
  Hex has automatic progression as once placed a counter can never be moved, so the board must fill up to concluded the game.
  De Bono's L-Game has no clear progression at all!
  I was disconcerted to realise that Push Fight (one of my favourite games) between equal, average opponents could result in jockeying for over an hour and return to virtually the start position!  Since the game is solved, that would not happen between experts.
• Strategy
  Some games seem to be far too combinatorial.  It feel like a hollow task to deeply search the tree of game positions hoping to find a win.  It can become a test of memory rather than skill.  See for example 1-D Phutball.
  Dobutsu (introduction to Shogi for beginners) is a fun game for children, but now having played it a few more times, it seems to lack strategy - more a matter of remembering learned positional groups?
  Some tactics are fine in a game and might often produce a win - for example, beginners playing chess.  However, between equally tactically astute chess players, strategy becomes an important part of the game, and for me this is the richness that is satisfying.
• Availability of equipment.
  I do not believe that there has been a commercially produced version of hex for sale in the shops at Christmas in my lifetime.  This severely limits the spread of the game.  PushFight was only available for limited time and was expensive.  Dobutsu is not available on Amazon and on eBay it cost £50+, for just a few pieces and small board. (Only very recently did I find it for £19 +p&p and bought one, though that is still expensive for what you get.)
  Making a set is an option (thanks Dave for PushFight and Dobutsu).
  Playing online is also an option, though it is nowhere near as satisfying as playing over a table.
• . . .