Gaming glossary

Baffled by terminology? Fear not – analogue diversions is here to help cut through the jargon. Have additions or disagree with a definition? Feel free to get in touch.

Abstract – an abstract has no theme, not even a pasted-on theme. Think chess or checkers/draughts. More modern abstracts include Ingenious, Hive, and the Spiel des Jahres-winning Qwirkle. Generally, abstract games have very little or no luck. There’s often a very thin line between abstracts and some Eurogames.

Ameritrash – Usually contrasted with Eurogames. Games of the American style that value theme over mechanics, and tend towards complex rules and chrome, rather than elegant mechanics.

Area control – Have you got the most pieces in an area of the board, or perhaps have only your game pieces is the most areas ? Chances are you’re about to score some points if it’s an area control game such as Discworld: Ankh Morpork  or Small World. Area control is used in both Euros and Ameritrash, as it can be a form of indirect conflict, or a way of scoring the result of direct conflict.

Auction – One of the most vital parts of the game of Monopoly, and often left out, breaking the game. An auction can be more complex than simply the highest bidder taking everything.

Action point -

Analysis Paralysis – Someone taking a frustratingly long time to take their turn is said to be suffering from analysis paralysis, or ‘AP’. This can be the fault of the player taking too long to make simple decisions, or the fault of the game for making the outcomes of decisions unclear.

Blind bidding – This can have more technical definitions elsewhere, but in boardgames it means an auction where some or all of the information is hidden. So rather than an auction-house style ‘English auction’ where bids increase until all but one drops out, players bid an amount without knowing for sure what others are doing. The second round of For Sale is a good example of this.

Brettspielwelt

Broken – (see also solved)

Boardgamegeek, BGG – It’s possibly the most daunting website at first glance, boardgamegeek.com is an astonishingly thorough resource when it comes to board and card gaming. If you have a question about what the tiebreaker is in Citadels, or if you’re baffled by the rules to Troyes and need a summary, then the geek is the place to look. It’s good to check the forums for a particular game before asking your question – chances are someone has had the same issue and has already asked.

Card drafting – Drafting is a method of creating decks to play CCGs such as Magic: The Gathering. Players take a card from a new set of cards and pass the remainder along to their left, receiving a new set of cards from the player on the right. This continues until all the cards have been taken. Also used as a board game mechanic, as in 7 Wonders and Citadels. See also Deck building.

Card-driven wargame -

CCG -

Chrome – A rule addition or exception that makes thematic sense, but may make the game a little less elegant. Chrome is most often seen in Ameritrash. A good example of chrome is the pasta rule  in epic wargame The Campaign for North Africa:  Italian troops require additional water supplies so they can prepare pasta.

Co-operative -

d6 / d20 / d100 etc – Dice. A d6 is a traditional six-sided dice, a d20 a less traditional twenty-sided die. 2d6 means the result of two six-sided dice. Mostly used in role-playing games or RPGs.

Deck-building – Building a deck for play is a necessary part of strategies for CCGs such as Magic: The Gathering and LCGs such as Warhammer: Invasion. It’s also a popular mechanic that started with the runaway success of Dominion. Players start with a small deck and use that deck to buy new cards to put into their deck – creating a better deck that can buy better cards, thwart their opponent, and win the game.

Downtime -

Dungeon crawl -

Euro / Eurogame – Generally, a game that focuses on mechanics over theme, as opposed to Ameritrash. Euros tend to have indirect rather than direct conflict, and have themes of trading and building rather than warfare.

Essen / Essen Spiel

Filler – A short game with simple choices, sometimes used as a ‘palate-cleanser’ between epic games of strategy; after a deep two-hour game of thinking and strategising, you don’t always want to dive straight into another. Sometimes a term used with a bit of a sneer at lighter games, but here at analogue diversions fillers are as important as the bigger games.

FLGS - Friendly Local Gaming Store. If you’re lucky, there may be one of these near you – a shop specialising in board games and card games, probably wargames and CCGs too. If you’re unlucky, you’ll either won’t live near one, or live near one of the unfriendly, obnoxious ones instead. You can find you’re nearest through this UK list or this mapping project.

LCG -

Multiplayer solitaire – The feeling that, despite several people being involved in the game, you are all doing your own thing and not really interacting. In Race for the Galaxy, players only really interact when choosing phases, giving the game an uninteractive solitaire feel to some critics.

Pasted-on theme -

Quarterbacking - For one player in a co-operative game to take charge and make all of the decisions, effectively turning it  into a single player game. Rather rude.

Roll and move – Boardgaming in the public consciousness uses this mechanic, in games like Ludo, Snakes & Ladders, and Monopoly; roll dice, move that number of spaces, take the action specified on the space. Because it’s a purely luck-driven mechanic, it’s quite rare to find it in more modern board games.

RPG / role-playing -

Solved – (see also broken)

Spiel des Jahres -

Tableau – Cards laid out in front of you and other players showing your game state. In Race for the Galaxy, your tableau is your ‘galactic civilisation’, which combines for your score at the end and bonuses during the game.

TCG -

“The Geek” – See Boardgamegeek.

Tile-laying

Victory points – In most cases, the player with the most victory points wins the game. VPs are sometimes known as prestige points or something similarly vague. If you’re trading goods for points, it’s a Euro. If you’re shooting people with a laser gun for VPs, it’s Ameritrash.

Wargame -

Worker placement – A mechanic used in Eurogames such as Agricola and Stone Age. Players take turns placing their figures on the board, and getting actions and rewards for the spots they take – and denying those spots to their opponents. A form of indirect conflict.