Where can I find examples of Game Mechanics?

Question

I'm prototyping a game, but I'm not very schooled on board games. I'm looking for a list of game mechanics so that I can

Describe my game in terms of mechanics
Find other uses of the mechanics to learn from
Pick and choose what mechanics I want to have in my game.

(If there are any books about this sort of thing it would be freaking awesome!)

This is similar to some other questions, but with some differences:

What set of attributes can be used to describe, compare and contrast various board games? - but I need only the mechanics, not whether it is easy to carry etc.
Board Game Mechanics - nice question, but the answers with examples of games people likes, are not very helpful (I don't have access to the games or the time to understand them all).

Welcome to the site! I've reworded your question a bit to not directly ask for the list, but to ask how to find it. We'd rather not host endless lists here at stack exchange but prefer hosting information that specifically solves problems. Thanks! — Pat Ludwig, Dec 26 '11 at 08:12

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Dec 25 '11 at 11:15

7

You probably should go looking at the various mechanic lists on boardgamegeek.com.

Examine the various reviews, and find where people talke about the mechanics, as well.

It's a concentrated resource for doing exactly the kind of research you probably should be doing.

answered Dec 25 '11 at 11:15

aramis

8,250
1
27
43

1

OK didn't know of http://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgamemechanic (boardgamegeeks hurts my eyes `_´ ) Got any other good resources? – Peteter Dec 25 '11 at 11:23
For boardgames, not so much. For RPG design, there's RPGGeek.com and The Forge (indie-rpgs.com). And I never said it was pretty... just useful. (Tho' I have gotten used to it over the years.) – aramis Dec 25 '11 at 23:42

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 27 '11 at 06:15

2

There is also a list at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_mechanics.

answered Dec 27 '11 at 06:15

Peteter

169
1
5

When I started to build my game over 1.5y ago, that wikipedia page almost didn't exist! :) – Peteter Dec 27 '11 at 06:15
Is it worth posting a few examples you think are good? – AncientSwordRage Dec 27 '11 at 18:36
1

I'm kinda taking note of what Pat Ludwig said when he edited my post. – Peteter Dec 28 '11 at 06:24

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 29 '11 at 08:52

2

There is a fairly notable site Three Hundred Mechanics which you can visit for some inspiration, although it doesn't quite have 300 yet and is not specific to boardgames.

answered Dec 29 '11 at 08:52

prusswan

169
4

Thanks prusswan much. The http://www.squidi.net/three/index.php is very helpful – Feb 02 '12 at 10:46
1

That's a great page, but what are listed are not game mechanics. (Game mechanics describe the actions players can take, gameboard constraints, and token values and interactions, among other things, but in no universe are "sniper buddies" or "sim game engine" game mechanics;) – DukeZhou Aug 15 '17 at 01:04

Where can I find examples of Game Mechanics?

3 Answers3