Enriching university teaching with games or game elements are starting points for educational innovations in the course of progressive digitalization. This article deals with the use of game based elements and functions to design environments which encourage learning. To this end, the article examines the ideas of gamification and serious games, the basics and characteristics of games, and their potential for learning and teaching on the basis of various practical examples. These examples give insights into current projects in universities, schools and vocational education and thus show the versatility of Game Design concepts. The contribution is rounded off with the results of an online study on various player types.