Board Game Lingo 101

So, you've decided to dive into the exciting world of modern board gaming, but there's this whole new language to learn, right? Don't worry; we've got your back! Welcome to "Board Game Lingo 101"! We're here to make sure you're not left scratching your head during game night banter. 🙂

So, grab your favorite snacks, pick out a comfy spot on the couch, and let's get started. We're about to demystify the language of modern board gaming, so you can focus on what matters most – having a blast with friends and family. By the end of this guide, you'll not only know your "VP" from your "AP," but you'll be well on your way to becoming a Crunchy Gamer!

Ready to level up your board game knowledge? Let's do this!

Action Selection: The process of choosing specific actions or abilities from a set of available options during a player's turn.

Adjacency: Refers to the relationship between game elements or locations that are physically or logically next to each other on the game board. It often plays a crucial role in movement and strategy.

Analysis Paralysis (AP): When a player takes an extended amount of time to make decisions during their turn, often due to the complexity of the choices or a desire to make the optimal move. Sometimes you just need to make a decision and go with it y’all!

Area Control: A game mechanic in which players compete to dominate or control specific regions or areas of the game board, typically for scoring purposes.

Asymmetric Powers: In games with asymmetric powers, each player or faction has unique abilities, advantages, or rules that set them apart from others, creating diverse gameplay experiences.

Balanced Game: A game where the mechanics and rules are designed to ensure that all players have a fair and equal chance of winning, without any inherent advantage. Good examples of this may be the first player having less starting resources or money than the person going last.

BGG (BoardGameGeek): An online community and database for board games, where players can rate, review, and discuss games, as well as access information about board games. When we see a new game, BGG is usually the first palace we go! Folks also keep their personal inventory and game wishlists on BGG. If you know any gamers and don’t know what to get them for Christmas - ask if they have a BGG wishlist! You can either buy them a game or you could also grab them a t-shirt from our web store!  I’m biased but I think our shirts are reeeeeally cool. 

Brain Burny: A term used to describe games with complex and mentally challenging strategies that can tax a player's cognitive abilities.

Campaign Game: A game that unfolds over multiple sessions or scenarios, often with a continuous storyline or evolving gameplay. If you have heard mentions of the massive haven games such as Gloomhaven and Frosthaven these incorporate these elements heavily.

Components: The physical elements of a board game, including cards, tokens, dice, game pieces, boards, and any other materials used in gameplay.

Cooperative Game / Co-op Game: A type of board game where players work together as a team to achieve a common goal, often facing challenges or enemies controlled by the game itself.  Excellent family weight team building exercises in this genre!

Crunchy: A term used to describe games with intricate rules, deep strategy, and complex decision-making processes. This term feels familiar, eh? 😛

Deck-building Game: A genre of board game where players construct and improve their own decks of cards over the course of the game, often used to execute actions or strategies.  Dominion and Clank! were my first two introductions to this concept. 

Dexterity Games: Games that require physical skill and coordination, such as flicking, stacking, or balancing components.

Dice Manipulation: The act of influencing or modifying the outcomes of dice rolls through various in-game actions or abilities.  This gives a great option to help mitigate the luck that comes from rolling dice.

Downtime: The periods of inactivity or waiting that players experience when it's not their turn in a multiplayer game.  Always remember.  Think on other players turns!

Drafting: A game mechanic where players select cards, tiles, or other game elements from a common pool in a specific order, often used to build hands or collections.  One of my personal favorites!

Engine Builder: A game where players gradually construct and optimize a system or engine that generates resources, points, or other advantages.  Terraforming Mars is one of my favorites for this.

Eurogame: A style of board game, often characterized by strategic depth, limited luck, and a focus on resource management and efficiency.  Engaging until the very end!

Filler / Filler Game: A short and light game, typically played in a short amount of time or in between longer gaming sessions.  Nothing like a quick game between bigger games!  

Flavor Text: Non-essential text on cards or components that adds thematic or narrative elements to the game but doesn't impact gameplay.

FLGS: Your “Friendly Local Game Store”: These local retailers often host competitions, game teaching events and other fun activities. Please support your local FLGS!

Flip the Table: An expression used humorously to describe the frustration or intensity that can arise during a game, suggesting a player's desire to flip the game board in frustration. We actually sell a tshirt about this very thing. Shocking, I know! 

Follow Action: A mechanic where players can mimic or replicate the actions taken by another player during their turn.

Game Night:  An organized event in which someone or someplace hosts a space for people to play boardgames.  Check your local community to find people to play games with!

Gateway Game: An accessible and easy-to-learn board game designed to introduce new players to the hobby.

Hand Limit: A restriction on the number of cards or components a player can hold in their hand at any given time.

Hand Management: The strategic control and optimization of the cards or resources in a player's hand to achieve specific goals.

Hate Drafting: A tactic where a player chooses game elements specifically to prevent other players from obtaining or benefiting from them.

Hidden Movement Games: Games where one or more players conceal the movement or location of their pieces or characters from opponents.

Legacy Game: A game designed to evolve and change over time as players make permanent alterations to the game components or story.

Meaty: Describes games with substantial depth, complexity, or strategic elements.

Meeple: A small, human-shaped wooden token often used as player markers in board games.

Meta-gaming: Making decisions in a game based on knowledge or strategies that exist outside the confines of the game itself, often influenced by a game's broader community or metagame.

Min Max / Min-Maxing: A strategy of maximizing gains (max) while minimizing losses (min) in a game, often associated with optimizing efficiency.

Pick-up and Deliver: A gameplay mechanic where players transport goods or items from one location to another, often involving logistics and planning.

Pips (die face): The dots or markings on the faces of dice that represent numerical values.

Player Elimination: A game mechanic where players are removed from the game once certain conditions are met, often continuing as spectators.  A vast majority of modern games avoid doing this as it's generally more fun to play a game until the end rather than watch it.

Point Salad: A game with numerous ways to earn points, allowing players to pursue various strategies for victory. (There is also a salad themed card game that’s  literally called “Point Salad” that we love to play as a family - we definitely recommend it).

Replayability: The degree to which a game can be enjoyed multiple times without becoming repetitive, often influenced by variability and depth.  Games that have different random setups are good examples of this such as Istanbul and Great Western Trail.

Resource: In-game assets or commodities that players collect, manage, and use to achieve their objectives.  Gotta collect that wood and stone!

Rondel Action: A gameplay mechanism involving a circular track or wheel that determines available actions or options.  Generally with this mechanism you can’t backtrack unless you make the entire loop first.

Roll and Write: A genre of games where players roll dice and use the results to make decisions or fill in information on a personal score sheet.

Set Collection: A mechanic where players aim to collect specific sets or combinations of items or cards for scoring.  The cards in Stone Age are great example of this.

Social Deduction: A genre of games focused on players deducing or deceiving each other's identities, often involving hidden roles or allegiances.

Solo Mode: A version of a board game designed for single-player enjoyment, often with modified rules or challenges.

Tableau: The arrangement of cards or components in front of a player, representing their current state or abilities.

Table Hog: A term used humorously to describe a game that takes up an excessive amount of table space during gameplay. For some of these games you can find neoprene matts or player created replacements for portions of the board that help mitigate this problem.

Thematic Game: A game that places a strong emphasis on storytelling, immersion, and theme, often (but not always) with less focus on strict mechanics.

Tile Laying: A gameplay mechanic where players place tiles or pieces on the game board to build or modify the game's landscape.  Carcassonne is a great entry into this mechanism.

Trick-taking Game: A card game genre where players play cards and attempt to win rounds or "tricks" based on specific rules.  Some of your family may already play these types of games during holidays!  Euchre and Bridge are good example

Turn-based: A style of gameplay where each player takes actions or makes decisions one at a time, in sequence.

Turn Order: The sequence in which players take their turns in a game, often determined by rules or player choices.  Generally this order never changes in games, but in some games such as Lords of Waterdeep you can actually take an action to become first player until someone takes it away from you.

VP (Victory Points): A common method of scoring in board games, where players earn points to determine the winner.  A lot of games will make up their own name for points as a thematic choice.  To us gamers though it's all just VP!

Weight - Light / Medium / Heavy: A rating system used to indicate the complexity, depth, and time commitment of a game, with "light" games being simpler and "heavy" games more complex.

Worker Placement: A game mechanic where players assign their pieces (workers, typically represented by wooden Meeples) to various locations or actions on the game board to gain actions, advantages or resources.

We will continue to add more over time. :) If you can think of term we should include, drop us a line!