Bluffing | Card | Classic | Cooperative | Deck Building | Dexterity | Dice | Gateway | Language | Negotiation | Party | Resource Management | Semi-Cooperative | Storytelling | Strategy | Tile Placement | Traitor | Trivia | Wagering
Bluffing
To give a false impression of the value of hidden items in one's possession (such as cards) or one's intentions. This can either be explicitly by direct statement or implicitly through actions in the game.
Card
Main game component is cards. Often does not have a traditional game board.
Classic
Pre-1990, widely played, accessible games.
Cooperative
Games where all players work together on the same team, trying to beat the built-in artificial intelligence of the game system.
Deck Building
A game featuring a mechanism where players each play from their own deck of cards but, through the course of the game, additional cards are selected for inclusion in the players' decks which will be drawn and used in future reshuffles of the deck.
Dexterity
A game where the major skill needed is a physical action, such as flicking, balance, or deft manipulation.
Dice
A dice game is a game where rolling dice is a primary feature.
Gateway
A game with simple rules that are easy to teach non-gamers in order to attract new players into boardgaming as a hobby.
Language
Words or spelling are vital to game play.
Negotiation
A game in which players make deals and trade resources or favors as the main mechanism.
Party
A game that is designed for large groups of people, is easily explained, and emphasizes social interaction.
Resource Management
Collecting, monitoring and leveraging quantitative resources.
Semi-Cooperative
Encourage both cooperative and competitive play. Allegiances may shift through the game and most will feature a traitor-style mechanic.
Storytelling
Creating a narrative to advance game play.
Strategy
Requiring gaming decisions based on long-range goals.
Tile Placement
Placement of tiles and components on the playing surface as the main mechanism (instead of moving components along the playing surface).
Traitor
A mostly cooperative game on which one player is secretly working to prevent group victory.
Trivia
Games that often test players on their knowledge of general interests and popular culture.
Wagering
Risking valuables (usually currency) in the hopes of winning more, based on the terms of the bet.