Board Game Terms: Explained

Tom Vasel takes a look at different terms the Dice Tower uses to talk about board game mechanisms, and explains what they mean.

00:00 - Introduction
01:16 - Abstract Strategy
02:05 - Action Point Selection
03:03 - Area Control
03:42 - Asymmetrical
04:39 - Types of Auctions
05:42 - CDG (Card driven game)
06:32 - CCG/TCG - Collectible Card Game
07:40 - LCG - Living Card Game
08:20 - Cooperative Games
09:10 - Deck Building
10:11 - Drafting
11:03 - Filler
11:52 - Gateway Games
12:39 - Hidden Roles
13:33 - Pick up and Delivery
14:22 - Push Your Luck
15:13 - Roll & Move
16:04 - Set Collection
17:07 - Simultaneous Selection
18:07 - Strategy and Tactics
19:21 - "Take That"
20:07 - Trick Taking Games
21:16 - Worker Placement

[PauloFrench]

Best part about this was seeing 23 games in 23 minutes :)
Keep that coming...
I can usually tell if I want to buy a game within this type of one minute demo/pitch/review.

[plouf]

Oh Tom, I've seen so many of your videos but this one's so awesome. After months playing and learning new board games, this is a great reward as it helps me to consolidate terms and jargon that I had some kind of an intuition about. Thanks so much!

[dannys_]

Fantastic video! Although I've become familiar with most of these games over the past few years, it's a great introduction for people who get confused when we mention these terms...

Next one to cover would be "Analysis Paralysis", "Kingmaker", "Alpha" and similar terms

[lylejackson]

I picture a single tear running down Eric Summerer's cheek when he watches the pick up and deliver section, and he notices that Merchant of Venus was not the example.

[LdyOscr]

Thank you very much Mr Vasel for this video. I'm new to board games and I have being wondering what some of the terms used in the game reviews actually mean. I figured some of them and you did the rest. Very much appreciated and helpful for newbies and non English native speakers (which I both am).

[robbert-janmerk]

I like that you've done a video other than a review or a top ten list. Hopefully you get more ideas for videos like this!

[onlythistube]

Great, great job... I am really looking forward to future episodes of boardgame university from Prof. Vasel himself. Thanks, Tom.

[katrinawarren]

Thank you so much for this video. I teach a middle school game design class and this has been a great video to use to have a collection of mechanics we can use when we play all sorts of games. :)

[StartSpaceGaming]

Great video Tom! For those interested, our Dice Tower Network show The Start Space Podcast focuses on getting people into the hobby. Every episode, we do something like this video in our "Gamer Lingo" section. We take one particular term, define it and talk about it. Just wanted to throw this out there for anybody looking for more of this kind of content.

[micahshort]

Nice job Tom!  I'm excited to see more of these "Beginner Gamer" videos in the future.

[rickdecker]

Thanks Dice Tower. Great stuff and definitely a go-to video for people new to the hobby. Keep it up Mr. Vasel!

[necrotoaster]

Tom, this is great.  Good to point newcomers to or for folks who need a refresher.  Much appreciated.

[Brendver]

Awesome vid, Tom. Keep 'em coming.

More people for the hobby!

[bradymccann]

fantastic video. These Dice Tower videos are getting better and better!

[fredmcmack]

Board game terms! What's next? A brief history of game designers? The continued effect on board games in society? The science of game manufacturing?

Wait, those actually sound cool.

[xenothonstelnicki]

Great vid.  Funny to think how little of this jargon I knew just a few years ago.  Also, possibly best shut the door ever?

[kalliopekalmeyer]

Great video, Tom! The terms certainly were helpful and easy to understand when presented like this

[Ratstail]

Not shown because they didn't really exist at the time: Legacy games. These games (named for Risk Legacy) have a unique feature where as you play, you actually modify the game itself, such as applying stickers to the boards, ripping up cards, etc. These changes persist to later playthroughs. This can result in some games becoming unplayable after a certain number of plays (such as Pandemic Legacy), but you generally still get a fantastic experience from them that you don't from non-legacy games.

I wanted to add this since I'm currently making a legacy game...

[paulbatey]

This is a great video that probably took a long long time to put together. Go and pay the guy or catch the last few days of the kickstarter. Top job Tom.

[johchadow]

Thanks, Tom! Where was this a year ago when I was just getting back into board gaming? :-) This will be very helpful to people getting into board games or who have been out of the hobby for a long time. I know I'll be pointing people to it as a starter guide.