Board Game Mechanic Glossary

Game mechanics are constructs of rules intended to define a game.

Looking for a particular board game mechanic definition?

We're working on writing a draft definition for all the mechanics in the list below.

Just click on any of the underlined mechanics below if you want to learn more.

List of Game Mechanics

Acting
Action Point Allowance System
Action Programming
Area Control
Area Enclosure
Area Movement
Auction/Bidding
Betting
Bluffing
Card Drafting
Card Driven
Chit-Pull System
Commodity Speculation
Cooperative Play
Crayon Rail System
Deck Building
Deduction

Dexterity
Dice Building
Dice Rolling
Economy Management
Grid Movement
Hand Management
Hex-and-Counter
Line Drawing
Mathematic Calculation
Maze
Memory
Modular Board
Movement Programming
Negotiation
Network Building
Paper-and-Pencil
Partnerships

Pattern Building
Pattern Recognition
Pick-up and Deliver
Player Elimination
Point to Point Movement
Pool Building
Press Your Luck
Puzzle
Real-time
Rock-Paper-Scissors
Role Playing
Roll and Move
Route Building
Secret Roles
Secret Unit Deployment
Set Collection
Simulation

Simultaneous Action Selection
Stock Holding
Storytelling
Tableau Building
Take That
Territory Building
Tile Placement
Time Track
Trading
Trick-taking
Trivia
Variable Phase Order
Variable Player Powers
Voting
Wagering
Word Game
Worker Placement