The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses

Chapter 10- While Reading this chapter I admire the fact that this book gives the reader the ability to see how a game historian named David Parlett would see how a game would work in his image. What Chapter 10 does best is telling the reader the most important aspects of each and every mechanic in a game.  If  I were to choose a Mechanic that best defines a game for what it is, it would be probability because I feel without probability and chance in the form of play you would most likely have a onesided game with only one winner.