Below are a list of common terms associated with board games. For RPGs see our Glossary - RPGs, and for Video Games, see our Glossary - Video Games. Thanks to Board Game Geek for many of these definitions.
Abstract Games (or abstract strategy) - Games that challenge a players planning, reasoning, and critical thinking skills. Many of the worlds oldest games, such as Chess and Go are abstract games. Abstract games most often involve two players and do not usually have a theme. Randomness and chance are either non-existant or very minimal in abstract games.
Ameritrash - Contrary to the way it sounds, Ameritrash is not considered to be a pejorative term. Ameritrash can mean different things depending on who is using it, but in general it defines a genre of games that rely on highly developed themes, characters, heroes, or factions with individually defined abilities, combat, and usually involve dice rolls or other luck-based mechanics, to resolve conflict between players. Players are also often eliminated from gameplay at some point until there is only one remaining. Axis and Allies is an example of an Ameritrash game.
Auction Game - A game that features players bidding on resources as the main mechanism. Also called a bidding game. Examples: Modern Art, Ra
Beer & Pretzels Game - A game with strong random elements and a lighthearted, humorous theme.
Bits - The pieces used in gameplay. Many game critics consider the quality of a game's bits as an important criterion when reviewing a game.
BoardGameGeek.com - A website devoted to gaming of all kinds, including board and card games. The BoardGameGeek Glossary is the source for many of the definitions in this lexicon. You can view the (much longer) glossary here.
Card Drafting - a game mechanic where the primary way players acquire cards is by selecting them from a face up display. Designer Alan R. Moon has designed many games using this mechanic. Examples: Union Pacific, Freight Train, Ticket to Ride, Alhambra, Thurn and Taxis
Also, a game mechanism where players select cards from a subset of the available cards to form a deck or hand or to select the next card to play. Examples: Fairy Tale, 7 Wonders, and Agricola (variant), where a hand of cards is passed around and players select individual cards before passing the cards remaining in the hand. Magic: The Gathering (multiple variants) and Race for the Galaxy (variant) where players draft cards to form decks that they then use to play the game.
Card Games - Games involving the use of playing cards as the primary element. Traditional playing cards are not required to be used, although they often are. Poker is an example of a card game using traditional playing cards, while Uno or Bohnanza are examples of games that use other designs.
Cooperative Games - Games where all players work together on the same team, trying to beat the built-in artificial intelligence of the game system. Examples include, Pandemic and Castle Panic.
Deck Building Game - a game featuring a mechanism where players each play from their own deck of cards but, through the course of the game, additional cards are selected for inclusion in the players' decks which will be drawn and used in future reshuffles of the deck. Often these games require players to discard their hand each turn forcing a high rate of card turnover. The founding father of this genre is Dominion with many examples following including Puzzle Strike, Nightfall, A Few Acres of Snow, and Thunderstone.
Designer Board Games - See Eurogames
Dexterity Game - A game in which manual skill is necessary for success. Jenga is a dexterity game.
Economic Game - A game that models a micro-economic (i.e. business or industry) or macro-economic (i.e. nation or colony) system. Typically, players will have to invest in various factors of production: capital improvements (like power plants, RR track, settlements & cities), raw materials/resources (fuel, wheat/sheep/wood/brick/rock) & labor, in order to gain income, which is then re-invested into more factors of production to produce more income, etc. Money is NOT always present in an economic game, but it often is. Likewise the presence of money may not neccessarily indicate an economic game. Examples: 1830: Railways & Robber Barons, Monopoly, Puerto Rico and Catan
Eurogames - Also referred to as German-style board games. Eurogame is a game genre that includes more than just board games, as well as games originating from areas other than Europe. Eurogames, like Ameritrash games, share a number of characteristics such as indirect player conflict, all players remain in the game at game end, players compete over resources or victory points, randomness or luck (thus dice) as a mechanic is usually very limited, and designers pay a great deal of attention to the bits. Settlers of Catan is an example of a Eurogame.
Expansion - An additional component for a game that usually requires the original game to play. Expansion sets are sold separately from the original game. They often add a new variation or allow additional players to participate in the game play.
Family Games - Games that appeal to a wide range of individual tastes. Family games are usually non-violent, sometimes even cooperative. Family games often utilize randomness or chance as a primary mechanic. Roll Through the Ages is an example of a Family Game.
Filler - A game with very simple rules and an extremely short playing-time. This type of game is frequently used between heavier games.
German-style Board Games - See Eurogames
Meeples - "Meeples" is a term that describes anthropomorphic playing pieces (image) in games, originally used to describe those used in Carcassonne. It is now more broadly used to refer to nearly any pawn or figure in a game. It is believed that the term was first used by Alison Hansel as an ad-hoc abbreviation for "my people", as noted in this 2001 session report and described in detail in this history. See the Intelligence Report for a detailed description of this species. See Poll: What exactly is a meeple? for more details of community consensus on what a meeple is.
Party Game - A game for large groups that emphasizes social interaction and conversation.
Spiel des Jahres - A a much sought-after, prestigious German game award given to board and card games. Click here for more about the Spiel des Jahres award, including a history of the winners.
Tile - A piece usually made of cardboard or plastic that either makes up the playing board for a game or is an element that is played as a game mechanic.
Turtling - To utilize an over-the-top defensive strategy. Players who turtle retreat into a shell.
Worker Placement - A term used to describe the game mechanic which involves a "token-based, turn-limited, locking action selection menu." Players, in turn order, place tokens (aka workers) to select various actions presented on a board, cards, tiles, etc. Once an action is selected, it usually cannot be selected again on that round. Often players may think of this as a supervisor deploying workers on various jobs. A very popular game mechanic used in many recent games such as: Agricola, Caylus, Stone Age, Pillars of the Earth, etc.