Talking about Games – Gamegeek-lingo
If you are moderatly interested in real games, as opposed to silly things like WoW and other computer-stuff, you should really check out
But you will soon find a lot of concepts and special terms that are not obvious to the casual reader. Now BBG has a list of words and terms used, but some that you are bound to come across are the following:
Abstract: Games that use no theme, just mechanics, like Go or Backgammon.
Ameritrash: Friendly nickname of games that rely on huge numbers of game components, card decks, inticate rules, plenty of dice rolling and big, busy, boards. Typical example: Arkham Horror.
Army Builder: In miniature games or other collectible games, any set or expansion the gamer would want to buy more than one of, to build his army/playing force
CCG: Collectible (or Customizable) Card Games. (Card) Games where the players buy packs of game components and create their own deck, which are then pitted against other players.
Co-op: Games where the players cooperate to win against the game, rather than play against one anothers. Very nice way to have players with different levels of familiarity with a game play together.
Core Rules: A ruleset that is used in a number of games from the same publisher, often used in wargames, where each game in the series cover a different campaign or battle
Crack-games / Games-as-crack: Malicious nickname to collectible or expansion drives games, which forces the players to keep buying more stuff.
Crossover: Game that uses elements of different types of game-families. Eurogames with elements of CCG-deckbuilding for instance
Eurogame: Nickname of games that are often quite abstract, deals more with building than confrontation, and usually doesn’t use dice or other random elements. Typical example: Agricola
Expansions: Games that add to a core game, not for stand-alone play, usually part of the “Ameritrash”-family.
Filler: Games that are easy to learn, and can be played in less than an hour. Used as “filler” between two more substancial games, or to start a session while some players have yet to turn up for the main game of the evening.
Grognard: Wargamer who treats the game more as a historical simulation rather than a competition.
Hex-and-Counter: Games that are played on a hex-grid, with counters listing all relevant information of the unit as gaming pieces. Mostly wargames.
Line-of-Sight (LOS): The area which a unit / playing piece can see and thus possibly affect in a wargame or miniature game, are said to be within LOS.
Miniature game: game which use models (a.k.a. miniatures) as playing pieces, and have no set board, but rather a tabletop with pieces of scenery. Often uses real “LOS”
Monster(game): Games that due to complexity or scope takes multiple sessions to play, ofte deals with large scale conflict with a large degree of detail. Typical example World in Flames with it’s 1000 minute “average” playing time. (yeah thousand minutes, as in 16+ hours…)
Session: A group of players spending time together to play one or more games are said to have a gaming session.
Solitaire: Games that is either intende to be played by only one player, or who easily can be played by one player controlling both sides.
Wargames: Games that deal with historical or hypothetical armed conflicts. Often “hex and counter” with extensive rules. Often 2-player or with solitaire-possibilities. Usually takes more than one session to play.
Zone-of-Control (ZoC): The areas adjacent to a playing piece the said piece affects, for instance by hindering opponents moving through.
