General game players are systems able to play arbitrary games effectively based solely on formal encodings of game rules. In a typical general game playing episode, the players know nothing about the game in advance. Once the game begins, they receive a game description; and, based solely on that description, they must figure out how to play the game legally and effectively. In addition to understanding and exploiting the structure of the game, players must deal with uncertainty (about the actions of the other players) and resource bounds (in the form of a game clock that limits their computation time).

The General Game Playing website contains information pertaining to General Game Playing. It is the central resource for General Game Playing Competitions. The website hosts Gamemaster, a database of "official" general game playing matches. There is also Gameserver, a service that allows General Game Players to connect and play single or multi-player games online to help prepare for future competitions.