Board game terms represent specialised words and phrases the tabletop gaming community uses to describe game mechanics, components, play styles, and community concepts. Players, designers, and enthusiasts rely on this unique vocabulary to communicate about various aspects of board games.

New game mechanics regularly add fresh terminology to the hobby's vocabulary. Existing terms may change meaning over time. Designer-specific language sometimes spreads to the wider community when innovative mechanics become popular. Players create new terms to describe experiences that formal game design terminology doesn't capture.

This shared vocabulary creates a significant foundation for communication in the diverse and expanding world of tabletop gaming.

Types of Board Games

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Board games cover many different categories, each with its own unique gameplay style. These categories help players find games that match their priorities and show how tabletop gaming design has evolved over time.

Abstract games

Abstract games have little to no theme and focus on strategy and skill. Players can see all game elements, and chance plays a minimal role. Chess and Go are classic examples. Modern games like Azul continue this tradition with easy-to-learn mechanics that lead to complex decisions. Players win these games through logical thinking and planning rather than luck. The game pieces are simple and functional with geometric shapes and patterned boards instead of detailed artwork.

Ameritrash games

Whilst not the kindest of terminology, Ameritrash games, also called American-style or thematic games, create immersive stories with lots of player interaction. These games use dice rolls and card draws to create exciting moments of uncertainty. Each player usually controls a character with special abilities that add to the story. Direct conflict is common, often through combat or competition. The games come with detailed miniatures and beautiful boards that bring the theme to life. Players remember the stories that unfold rather than just focusing on strategy. Twilight Imperium, Arkham Horror, and Betrayal at House on the Hill are great examples.

Cooperative games

Cooperative games bring players together to achieve a common goal. Everyone wins or loses as a team, which promotes teamwork and communication. Players face challenges from the game system itself rather than each other. Many cooperative games use hidden information or limit communication to prevent one player from taking over. Playing together creates a different social experience than competing against each other. Read more

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Deduction Games

Deduction games require players to form conclusions based on available premises. Cat & Mouse games like Scotland Yard involve tracking a moving opponent through observations. Elimination games like Clue require narrowing down possibilities from a list. Signalling games like Werewolf use player feedback to find the right answer. Induction games like Zendo involve deriving rules from possibilities.

Social deduction games, featuring hidden roles and bluffing, are gaining popularity.

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Dexterity Games

Dexterity games challenge participants' physical reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and motor skills to determine who emerges victorious in these engaging competitive activities.

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Eurogames

Eurogames, also known as German-style games, put strategy ahead of theme. These games started in Germany but have become popular worldwide. Players compete indirectly rather than through conflict and can win through different strategies like resource management and planning. No one gets eliminated early, so everyone stays involved until the end. Strategic choices help reduce the impact of luck. Players control economic systems rather than specific characters. Popular titles include Catan, Carcassonne, and Agricola. Read more

Legacy games

Legacy games are a recent innovation where the game changes permanently across multiple sessions. They feature campaigns where your choices affect future games through permanent changes to the components. You might add stickers to the board, write on cards, or even destroy game pieces based on what happens. Each group creates their own unique version of the game through their choices. Risk Legacy introduced this concept, but Pandemic Legacy made it popular with its story-driven campaign. These games offer a finite but customised experience that develops over many sessions. Some designers see legacy games more like concerts or performance art than traditional board games.

Party Games

Party games are delightful social activities designed to bring people together through interactive entertainment. These engaging diversions typically feature straightforward setups and uncomplicated rules, making them perfect for gatherings. They excel at accommodating sizeable groups of participants and can be completed within brief timeframes, guaranteeing plenty of merriment and hearty laughter throughout.

Strategy Games

Strategy Board Games are focussed on tactical thinking and planning rather than luck. Players use strategic decision-making to achieve objectives through mechanics like resource management, area control, or worker placement. Examples include Chess, Catan, and Ticket to Ride. Strategy games encompass a wide range of games with many sub-types. From accessible gateway games with simple rulesets to complex games with deep strategic possibilities that appeal to experienced players. Read more

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Wargames

Wargames are games depicting military actions across various timelines, from Ancient periods to modern conflicts and beyond. They range from small unit battles to global-scale wars, covering historical, fantasy, and hypothetical scenarios. World War II, Napoleonic Wars and American Civil War are the most popular settings, though Wargames span numerous conflicts. Whatever war interests you, you're likely to find a game about it.

Common Board Game Mechanics

Board games rely on fundamental systems called mechanics. These mechanics shape how players interact with game components and each other. A set of well-laid-out rules creates unique experiences and shapes the core gameplay that players experience.

Area Control (Area Majority/Influence)

Multiple players can share a single space simultaneously, with each participant receiving advantages and rewards proportional to their relative presence and contribution within that specific area or location. In some cases the player with the majority will take all the benefits from being in that area. Read more

Deck-building

Players build their personal deck of cards as the game unfolds instead of preparing it beforehand. The game starts with each player receiving simple starter cards. They acquire more powerful cards from a shared market. Players use cards from their hand to generate resources and buy new ones. When needed, they shuffle their discard pile with new cards to create a fresh draw deck. Unlike collectible card games that need random card packs, deck-building games include everything in the base game. Dominion (2008) created this ground-breaking mechanic. Later games like Star Realms added features such as card removal to make decks more efficient. Each player's evolving deck adds layers of strategy as the game continues. Read more

Dice-rolling

Dice add an element of chance that makes gameplay decisions unpredictable. Modern games use dice in creative ways beyond the simple roll-and-move mechanics. Games like Dice Hospital treat dice as resources for placement, while others use custom dice with symbols that trigger specific effects. Smart game design includes ways for players to influence outcomes through rerolls, dice manipulation, or backup plans for bad rolls. The balance between planning ahead and adapting to random results creates unique gameplay that differs from predictable mechanics.

Drafting

The drafting mechanic lets players pick game elements (usually cards) from a shared pool before passing the rest to others. Players must balance choosing items that help their strategy while keeping valuable options away from opponents. Most games use "pick-and-pass" drafting - players choose one card from their hand at the same time, show their picks, then pass the remaining cards. 7 Wonders demonstrates this over multiple rounds, changing pass direction each time. Players need to evaluate their immediate needs while guessing opponents' strategies from limited information. Some games offer variations like open drafting from visible markets or snake drafting that reverses selection order after each round. Read more

Set Collection

The value of items is often determined by their relationship to a larger collection or set. This is commonly seen in scoring systems where points are awarded based on gathering specific quantities or diverse varieties of objects. Read More

Tile-laying

Players build expanding game boards or personal displays by placing tiles strategically. The tiles must connect at matching edges or features to score points or create effects. Carcassonne shows this mechanic perfectly - players score by finishing features like cities and roads. Some games use Tetris-like shapes, as seen in Patchwork, where efficient piece placement becomes crucial. These games blend spatial thinking with tactical choices, since each placement affects both immediate points and future options.

Worker placement

Players must think carefully about where to place their limited tokens (called "meeples") on specific action spaces. Each space usually allows only one worker, which creates competition among players. The action space becomes unavailable once a player places their worker there until workers return at the end of a round. Keydom (1998) introduced this concept, and games like Caylus (2005) and Agricola (2007) built on this foundation. Players face tough choices between competing priorities because they can't take all desired actions in one round. Most games let players retrieve their meeples for the next round of placement. Read more

Victory Points

Victory Points, or VP, is a term that is used in board games to mean the points that are tallied during or at the end of a game to indicate who has won. This often differs from other numbers that are followed or totalled during a game, such as number of resources, ships, cards etc. You may utilise those numbers to reach certain levels where VP is then earned i.e. the player with the most ships at the end of the game gets 5 VP. Using VP to decide the winner of a game can lead to unexpected victors, when certain win conditions that offer large amounts of Victory Points can swing who is in the lead and may have been overlooked by other players.

Player Roles and Styles

Player roles and styles represent different behaviour patterns that emerge during board game sessions. These categories help us understand gameplay priorities and social dynamics that affect the overall gaming experience.

Alpha player

Alpha players take control of cooperative games by telling others what to do. They turn what should be a group activity into their personal show. This behaviour shows up when one player knows more about the game or has better strategic understanding than others at the table. Alpha players often excel at analysis, but their need to control the game reduces other players' freedom and fun. The problem becomes worse when players can't decide what to do or when the game slows down. Good cooperative game designs reduce this issue with mechanics that limit communication, spread hidden information, or rotate leadership roles.

Casual gamer

Casual gamers see board gaming as a way to relax and have fun rather than compete. These players don't stick to regular schedules - they might not play for months and then dive in for a few intense sessions. Social interaction matters more to them than winning. They pick games that are easy to learn and don't take too long to play. They learn enough to enjoy themselves but don't worry about perfect strategies. In multiplayer games, casual gamers prefer friendly matches to competitive play and don't care much about their win-loss record.

Hardcore gamer

Hardcore gamers live and breathe their gaming hobby. They play with intense dedication and build deep knowledge of their games. You'll find them playing almost every day or whenever they get the chance. These players focus on becoming experts. They put lots of effort into learning game systems and finding the best ways to play. Hardcore gamers want to understand every strategic angle. They work out exact probabilities and develop advanced tactics. Their competitive spirit drives them to chase high scores and join tournaments. They invest in special gaming gear and know rulebooks inside out.

Kingmaker

A kingmaker can't win the game but has enough power to decide which other player will. This situation pops up in multiplayer games when someone falls behind but still has enough influence to affect the outcome between the leaders. Kingmaker situations create a tug-of-war between smart strategy and social relationships. Players must think about how their choices might upset others. Game designers tackle this issue through hidden victory points, random elements, or player elimination. Each solution comes with its own drawbacks.

Hidden traitor

Hidden traitor mechanics put secret saboteurs in cooperative games to work against the group's goals. This creates tension as players try to figure out who's loyal and who isn't. Traitors must balance their sabotage with staying hidden, which adds complex social layers beyond regular gameplay. Games like Battlestar Galactica, The Thing, and Dead of Winter each offer unique ways to reveal traitors and deal with them. Some games might not even have a traitor, which keeps players guessing and adds to the tension.

Key Game Components and Terms

Physical components are the foundations of tabletop gaming experiences. They make games both functional and beautiful to look at. These pieces help create the basic language that board gamers use.

Meeples

Meeples are small, wooden game pieces shaped like simple human figures with a head and limbs. American gamer Alison Hansel coined this term in 2000 by combining "my people" during a Carcassonne game. German-style board games love these iconic pieces, which have largely replaced old-school pawns in modern designs. Players use these brightly coloured pieces as their representatives or markers on the board. The meeple family has grown to include animal-shaped "sheeples," monster-shaped "creeples," and robot-shaped "bleeples". These cute pieces have become so popular that you'll find them on t-shirts and social media memes.

Victory points

Victory points tell players how close they are to winning board games. Players earn these points by taking successful actions, building stuff, or meeting game objectives. Take Settlers of Catan - settlements give you 1 victory point while cities give you 2 points. Game designers use victory points to tie different game elements together in one scoring system. Some critics say victory points can feel artificial and disconnect players from the game's theme. Games that need fewer points to win often feel more thematically connected than those offering tonnes of different ways to score.

Hand limit

Hand limit sets how many cards you can hold at certain times during gameplay. This rule makes players think hard about which cards they should keep or throw away. Most games check this limit at the end of a player's turn, not right when they get too many cards. Hand limits create exciting choices by stopping players from hoarding cards, so they must pick what best fits their strategy.

Resource

Resources are the main things players collect and spend in games. Players make key decisions about getting, converting, and using these resources. Games bring resources to life through various physical pieces - from detailed resin models to wooden tokens, cubes, or cardboard pieces. Metal coins or poker chips feel great to handle because of their weight and sound. A game's physical pieces really affect how players feel - wooden cubes need more imagination than specially shaped tokens that look like actual goods.

Modular board

Modular boards come in separate pieces that fit together differently each time you play. This clever design lets players explore new layouts every game. Some games use small hexagonal tiles like Catan, while others use bigger double-sided sections like Scythe. These boards boost replayability because players can't rely on the same strategies every time. Players often build the board as they play, which adds an exciting exploration element. Random board setups create fresh strategic options while keeping the game balanced.

Popular Slang and Community Phrases

Board gamers have created their own unique slang and phrases. These terms describe shared experiences at the gaming table and go beyond standard game design terminology.

Analysis paralysis

Analysis paralysis (AP) happens when players get stuck trying to pick their next move. Players face too many choices and worry about making the wrong decision. The game slows down substantially as they try to calculate multiple future turns and outcomes. Players often feel the weight of their decisions and believe wrong choices could ruin their game. This behaviour sometimes links to mental health conditions like ADHD, depression, or anxiety. Game designers try to reduce AP by limiting choices or adding time pressure.

Table hog

A table hog is any game that takes up way more space than you'd expect. We used this term mostly for big strategy games, but it fits any game with sprawling components that need lots of room to set up. This creates real challenges for game nights. You need to think about the venue and table size before bringing these games to events.

Shelf of shame

The shelf of shame holds all those games you bought but never played. They might still be wrapped in plastic, unpunched, or just sitting there waiting for their first play. Board game fans tend to buy games faster than they can play them. Some people call it a "shelf of chance" to keep things positive.

Rage quit

Rage quitting means storming out of a game because you're frustrated or angry. The gaming community sees this as bad behaviour, and it might get you uninvited from future game nights. It ruins the fun for everyone else and breaks the unwritten rule that we finish the games we start.