Feature photo credit: Jeff Belmonte via photopin cc
We love welcoming new gamers into the hobby. However, we also know we can get so caught up in esoteric terminology that we forget some people don’t know what we’re talking about. Thus – we have the Gamer’s Glossary.
In this first installment of the gamer glossary, we’re going to look at the basics of board games and card games. Every game has its own idiosyncrasies – but this post will focus on general game descriptions and mechanics that will describe one or more of the games you might see at your game group or local store.
Abstract Game – Abstract games have little to no theme and rely more on mechanic and strategy over setting a scene.
Area Control – Any game where players win by holding portions of the board by having the greatest number of pieces in that area
Asymmetry vs. Balance – A game is balanced when all players starting resources, abilities, and goals are identical or are relatively similar in power and scope (example: Dominion). Asymmetry is what happens when players have DIFFERENT goals and resource levels (example: Android Netrunner)
Collectible Game – Any game where the cards or miniatures needed to play the game are available in randomly assorted packages that the player combines to create the type of gaming experience they are looking for.
Cooperative Game – Any game where the players are not competing with each other, but working together to achieve a set goal before the end of the game in order to win as a team. NOTE: SEMI-Cooperative games also involve players working together to achieve a goal, but often use hidden player goals to determine a single winner.
Deck Building – Used to describe either the main mechanic of a game or one particular mechanic within a larger game. Players will start with similar – if not identical – hands of cards. Players will use those cards to gather resources and to purchase more powerful cards and craft their individual deck to play with.
Dexterity Game – A general term for games that involve the act of flicking, dropping, balancing, or performing other physical tricks with the game pieces. Probably the most well known example of dexterity games is Jenga.
Dungeon Crawler – While most often referring to a role playing game scenario, this term can also be applied to games where players act as a group of heroes running through a dungeon. They rely less on developing story and more about the mechanics of fighting enemies.
Economic Game – A game where players create and develop structures to create their own, isolated economy. This is often to obtain resources, create products, and trade/sell those products in order to achieve victory.
Euro Game – Euro game is a broad term that originates from the fact that the early hobby games were mostly coming out of Germany. It has since come to mean games that have a greater emphasis on strategy over luck, avoid player elimination, and often focus more on building the individual’s pool rather than open conflict with other players.
Family Game – A generic term for games with simple rules, short running times, and heavy player interaction
Living Card Game – Living Card games are similar to collectible games in regards to the availability of expansion possibilities. The key difference is that the expansion sets are not random. Any player who buys the set of cards will receive the identical type and number in their set.
a collection of Meeples
Meeples – A common game piece often designed to look like tiny wooden people. However, meeple can also be used as a general term for wooden game pieces players place on the board or receive from performing an action.
Miniatures Game – Games that focus on using a group of three dimensional figures (miniatures) and scenery pieces rather than a board. They often use some form of measuring device and a handful of dice to go about tactical combat. Often used in tangent with, or in place of, “War Game”
Party Game – games that usually feature simple rules and are designed to play with large groups. More often than not, these games feature heavy social interaction.
Press-Your-Luck Game – games where players can continually select from random events / actions on their turn. Players always have the potential to lose everything due to one of these random actions should they choose to continue.
Roll-and-move – games that do not have much, if any, strategy besides picking up the dice, rolling them, and moving that number of spaces to perform the action dictated by the space they have moved to.
Strategy Game – Games focused on long-term planning to achieve an overarching goal as opposed to quick results.
Tile-Laying Game – Games that either start with a blank board that is filled in with tiles, or no board at all – relying entirely on the tiles placed by the players to form the board.
Trick-Taking Game – Usually card games, trick-taking games require a player to play a specific card (usually Highest or lowest card value) to collect sets of cards.
Victory Points – While the means of obtaining them is different in every game – the concept is always the same. They are points earned by performing one or more actions in the game. The user with the most victory points at the end of the game wins.
Worker Placement – A game in which players receive actions, resources, or victory points based on the placement of their workers in limited places along the game board. Users jockey for position to get their workers where they need them before other players block them.
Got a term that’s confusing you but it wasn’t on the list? Comment here or email us at contact@innroadsminisries.com. Look for our other Gamer Glossary articles. Especially the next one where we tackle the basic terminology of the role playing game