Over the years tabletop games have evolved to include a variety of different styles, types, and formats. Some game-play mechanics (mechanisms) have been around for hundreds of years while others have been more recently developed to support the different types of games. Some board games may employ one primary mechanic while other games may mix multiple mechanics to accomplish varying goals and themes. Terminology used to describe different mechanics/mechanisms and game types can be difficult to understand, especially for those relatively new to hobby board games. I've attempted round up and define many of these mechanics & styles in a list to aid you. Action Selection - Players select an action to perform from a menu of choices. Area Control (also Area Majority) - Players compete by having the most pieces in particular areas of the board or completely controlling an area, scoring points or as a victory condition. See also Majority Control. Auction (Bidding) - Players place bids on items or resources within the game. Cooperative - All players participate as a group or team to complete the game objective(s) together. Card Drafting - The primary purpose is to gradually select cards (draft) to form decks that can then be used to play the game. There are several variants. Following are some examples. a) players acquire cards by selecting them from a face up display. b) players select cards from a subset of the available cards to form a deck or hand or to select the next card to play. c) players each start with a hand of cards and select individual card(s) before passing the remaining cards to the next player. In addition to cards, there are other forms of drafting: dice, objects, units or characters. Deck Building - Players each begin with a small, similar base deck of cards. Through the course of the game additional cards are selected for inclusion in the players' decks making each deck somewhat unique. As the deck is built upon and strengthened, the new cards are 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 game which is credited as the first to use this mechanic is Dominion. Dexterity Game - Requiring physical activity to play. Moving, flicking or balancing objects (such as chips, tiles, bricks, dice, discs, etc...) to shift to specific locations or align with other objects to meet the game's objective(s). Dice Game - This is fairly self explanatory. A game in which the primary mechanic is rolling dice. See also Roll & Write game. Rolling dice is one of the oldest game mechanics. Economic Game - Models the economy of a city, state, nation, planet, galaxy, etc. Players will have to invest in various factors of production: capital improvements (like power plants, RR track, settlements & cities), raw materials/resources (fuel, grain, wood, coal, ore, wool) & labor, in order to gain income, which is then re-invested into more factors of production to produce more income, etc... Hidden Movement - Usually a one-vs-many game where one player moves secretly around the board, keeping track of their path or current location with cards, by writing their location with paper & pen, or through the use of an app. Typically the other players attempt to find and defeat the hidden character(s). Hidden Traitor - Typically found in a Social Dedection or Semi-Cooperative game. One player is secretly assigned to be a traitor and work against the group somehow. They are hidden from the rest of the players until found out or they reveal themselves. The traitor has a different objective from the group in order to win the game. Legacy Game - These games "remember" what happened from one play to the next getting permanently altered while playing it. The game may require players to permanently mark the board or cards, tear up cards, or take other actions that change the game. The board or cards may change based on the outcome of past game plays or the choices players make along the way. The game is often still playable after the legacy campaign, however it may not be possible to completely reset it. Also listed in the Tabletop Gamers Glossary. Living Card Game (LCG) - A term trademarked by Fantasy Flight Games and described as a variant of Collectible Card Games. The contents of ‘booster packs’ in Collectible Card Games are randomized, the contents of Living Card Game packs or boxes are known. Other games use the non-trademarked term Expandable Card Game to represent a similar idea without running afoul of the trademark. Also listed in the Tabletop Gamers Glossary. Majority Control - Players score for having the most items of a particular type. Negotiation - Players make deals and trade resources or favors. Pick Up and Deliver - Players pick up goods from a location and attempt to efficiently deliver them to another to maximize their benefit. Typically found in economic and train games. Press Your Luck - Players repeatedly choose to perform a random event such as rolling dice on their turn. They may keep some of the result and try to improve upon it by performing the event again. The player must voluntarily end their turn to permanently keep the points or risk potentially reaching a limit or spoiler that forces the turn to end with little or no points. Race - Players compete to be the first to finish a given course of travel or set of tasks. Role Selection - Players select a role that they will take on for the current turn/round. Roles correspond to specific actions or benefits. Roll and Move - Players roll a die or dice on their turn, then mandatorily move according to the results. Often the term roll-and-move is used in a defamatory or condescending tone, implying that a randomizer replaces tactical movement and thus involves relatively mindless play. Roll and Write - Players roll die or dice on their turn, then record a score, mark off a combination checklist, or draw a shape on a erasable marker board or paper tablet. Some games use cards as the randomizer instead of dice. The most common example is Yahtzee. Route (or Network) Building - Nodes are located across the board. Players attempt to connect to form a route or network. This can come in the form of trains, utilities, communication, etc... Set Collection - Players work to collect sets of cards, tiles, cubes, tokens, etc... to score points or spend by turning in a specified set. Social Deduction - Typically refers to party games which use a mechanism of attempting to determine who the other players' characters are (see also Hidden Traitor). Sometimes this is done through the use of discussion or card play. Tech (Technology) Tree - This mechanism is most typically used to simulate technology progression in civilization-type games, however it can translate to other game themes as well. Building at the low end of the tech chart will then allow players to research items higher on the "tree" and so on. Building up technology throughout the game. Moving up the tech tree can result in gaining more resources or more powerful units. Tile Laying or Tile Placement - Players place tiles or other components on the table during their turn to earn points. Placed tiles/components may have to align with others already in play. Trick Taking - Players sequentially play a card and the player with the highest value of the led suit wins the hand which is awarded to that player (or team) as a "trick". Many recent variations of this mechanic change the criteria of what is required to win a trick. Worker Placement - Players, in turn order, place workers (tokens, meeples, cubes) to select various actions presented on a board, cards, tiles, etc. Once an action/location is claimed it often prevents someone else from playing on that spot during that turn. Below are the other sites referenced to help create this list and define the mechanics/ mechanisms and types of games: Board Game Geek, Pub Meeple, Entro Games The different terms used to define the types of mechanics/mechanisms in tabletop games can vary. I've attempted to compile the above list to include the most commonly used terms. Designers will certainly continue to stretch their creativity and bring new mechanisms and styles to board games. Hopefully I've been able to shed light on one or two terms that you may not have heard of or helped better define mechanisms you've come across during games played. Keep exploring new tabletop games, keep reading my blog posts, and...
Game on!
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