Here’s a glossary of tabletop gaming terms for those of you who are interested in or want to get into them. Of course, this isn’t a complete list because I don’t play enough tabletop games to know all of the terms. But if you know of a term that isn’t on the list that should be, please leave a comment, and I’ll add it to the post.
| 4X: Games that follow the pattern eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate |
| Abstract: A game without a story or theme |
| Amerigame/Ameritrash: An American-style game , usually focusing on a theme and uses luck (Ameritrash is usually the derogatory name) |
| Analysis Paralysis: When a player takes too long to make a decision, causing downtime for other players |
| Area control: A game where the goal is to control the most area of the board |
| Auction game: Where the main focus on the game is the players to bid on resources |
| Bits: The various extra parts used in a game |
| Campaign: A longer storyline that’s comprised of smaller adventures, where what you play the previous time you played the game carries over to the next time you play |
| Card drafting: Games a player has to pick cards from a limited supply to get an advantage |
| CCG: Collectable card game |
| Character sheet: Used to add character traits and information, often for rpg games |
| Competitve game: A game where players compete against each other |
| Co-op: Cooperative where players work together |
| Crunchy: Used to describe games with many small pieces |
| D&D: Dugeons & Dragons game |
| D6: A 6-sided die |
| Deck building: Players build a deck during gameplay |
| Dexterity games: Games where you perform physical actions (kid’s games to learn dexterity) |
| Dice game: A game that primary uses dice |
| Dice pips: The black parts of a die |
| Die/dice: Die is singular, dice is plural (Learn more about dice with my dice guide) |
| DM: Dungeon master, usually the player who controls the campaign and story in rpg games |
| Downtime: The time when a player doesn’t do anything while they wait for others to make their turns |
| Dungeon crawl: A game where players navigate through dungeons |
| Eurogame/eurotrash: A game that focuses on strategy rather than luck (Eurotrash is usually the derogatory term) |
| Exapansion: Extra parts for a game to add more to the game, such as more playable characters, additional maps, new scenarios, etc. that are sold separately |
| Face: A side of the card that usually has information |
| Filler: A game with simple rules and quick to play |
| Flavor text: Text on a card that adds to the story or character of a game |
| Gateway game: A game suitable for newbies to introduce them to tabletop gaming |
| GM: Game master, usually the player who controls the campaign and story in rpg games |
| Homebrew: Making changes to rules and other parts of the game |
| Indie game: A self-published game or small published game outside of the mainstream |
| Kickstarter: A crowd-funding platform indie publishers use to help fund their game creations |
| Legacy game: a game that gets permanently altered while you play |
| Mechanics/mechanism: The rules of a game, how it’s played |
| Meeple: The small figure used as a player token |
| Minatures game: A game that uses miniatures, often a war game |
| Minis/miniatures: Small sculpted character tokens |
| Multiplayer: a game where 3 or more players can play |
| NPC: Non-player character |
| Player elimination: When a player is removed from a game |
| Point salad: Games that have multiple ways to get victory points |
| Quarterbacking: When one players is telling everyone else what they should do, often during a co-op game |
| Rage quit: Quitting a game in anger |
| Replay value: How much time (and other chances to play) you can get from a game |
| RPG: Role-playing game |
| Scenario: A specific set up of a game, usually with certain rules and parts of a story |
| Session: A chunk of time to play a game (usually part of a campaign) |
| TCG: Trading card game |
| Turn-based: When players take turns performing actions |
| Victory points: Various parts of the game that count towards a win |
| War game: A game that simulates war |
| Win condition: How a player wins a game |
| Worker placement: A game mechanic where players have a certain amount of tokens to use for various actions |
Check out my other glossaries of terms as well.
Do you use any of these tabletop gaming terms when playing any games? Don’t forget to like, comment, share, and subscribe. You can subscribe through email below or through push notifications by clicking the bell in the left-hand corner.