There is no definate age. (Score 1)

As others have said, the age depends on the parents. My parents allowed me to play games at my aunts house when I was about 3 or 4 and I'm 22 now and still play games today. I have a nephew that is 6 now and he started playing games about a year ago. He can play Mario 64 like there is no tomorrow and he can beat his mother at Pokemon, shes not a heavy gamer though. I have two 13 year old nieces that play Guitar Hero, Crash Bandicoot and Zelda. According to one of my nieces, the 6 year old nephew can play Guitar Hero at least a little bit. And I have a 15 year old nephew that plays some games that are rated M. I have told his parents about some of the stuff in the games, they have seen some of the stuff in them and they seem to be fine with it so you know that is their decision. Video games can help with hand-eye coordination, solving puzzles and many other things. If your thinking about letting your child play video games, get something that is for their age group. You don't want a 5 year old playing GTA or Mortal Kombat. Parents need to read up on video game ratings and get involved with what their children play. You don't have to play the game with them just find out what kind of games they play and read up on it. And don't let your kids be controlled by video games. Make them go outside and play or something. Playing video games used to be something not a lot of people did and now just about everyone has picked up a controller at some time in their life.