In this schema, the concept of information refers to knowledge or content that is manipulated, acquired, hidden, and revealed during play.
In a game of perfect information such as Chess or Backgammon, players publicly share all knowledge in the game. In a game of imperfect information such as Poker or Memory, some information is hidden from some or all players.
Games of perfect information tend to be analytically competitive, whereas games of imperfect information tend to have more uncertainty and inspire distrust among players.
Celia Pearce identifies four kinds of information in a game: Information known to all players, information known to only one player, information known to the game only, and randomly generated information.
Information in a system does not have an intrinsic value but instead gains its value from its relationships to other units of information in the system's information economy.
Information can contribute to meaningful play in two ways: objective information, the game system's internal informational structure; and perceived information, the information that a player observes and acquires through play.
Digital games are particularly adept at manipulating complex sets of information. Because they are more automated than non-digital games, digital games can make the discovery of hidden game rules and mechanisms themselves part of the game experience.