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Questions tagged [terminology]

Terminology refers to the lingo of the trade, definition and understanding of the terms used by experts on a subject.

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Are there names for the different types of adjacency in a square grid?

See the image. How do you call the blue cells in relation to the black cell? I've seen "orthogonally adjacent" for the first picture and "diagonally adjacent" for the second picture, but that leaves a void for the third picture (other than…
Akiva Weinberger
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What is the name of the little humanoid figure used as player token or resource in some Euro games?

I used to play a lot of games during my childhood and the "player token" had a pattern: A cylinder/cone with a sphere on top of it. Pawn, start token, player token, we used a lot of names to define it. I have never bothered about naming or knowing…
user11737
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What is a Gateway Game?

Before joining the B&CG community, I had never heard the phrase "Gateway Game." The quintessential examples of Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Carcassonne gives me a rough idea but Googling did not yield a more precise definition. So: What is…
Joe Golton
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What is an LCG (Living Card Games)?

What is an LCG? I was looking at Lord of the Rings board games and came across Lord Of The Rings: The Card Game. I saw that all of the expansions were marked with LCG. I've done some Google searches, but there doesn't seem to be anything like a…
eric f
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Why is "LGS" the standard term for a game store?

Why is LGS the term of choice for gaming stores? Is it to specifically refer to local gaming stores, as opposed to distant or non-local gaming stores? I have never seen DGS or NLGS, so I don't know why it is necessary to specify local in the…
Trevor D
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How is a roleplaying game not a board game?

Let's say you have a roleplaying game with these elements: a board on the table, depicting the rooms of a castle miniature pieces on the board, representing the different characters in the game cards and dice used as randomizers How is this not a…
Joe
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Gaming Term for display of cards player can pick from?

I'm trying to find a single term for a display of cards that a player can pick from. The most obvious example would be the 5 cards turned face up in Ticket to Ride. I thought there was a term for this display, but the rules just seem to call them…
Jontia
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What is the formal definition of a TCG?

What is the formal definition of a TCG? I am wondering this because it seems to be a blurry line between TCGs (Trading Card Games) and CCGs (Collectible Card Games). Aren't TCGs collectible?
Xetrov
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Terminology for game with open information and fixed environment

Is there a technical term for games that are identical apart from player actions each time? No variability at all? Games like Chess and Go, as well as more modern games like the Gipf project games? But the term would need to exclude variable set up…
Jontia
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What is the best way to describe the turn order in Puerto Rico?

Inspired by this question which describes the "snake turn", is there a good label to give the turn order in Puerto Rico, where the first player starts the round, then the second player starts the round, then the third player starts the round…
WishICouldGameMore
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Is there a term for games that use kinetics?

Is there a particular name for categorizing board games that have some kinetics? Some of the examples are Fireball Island (monster throwing fireballs), Monopoly Jackpot (push button spinner) etc.
Akanksha Vishwakarma
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What makes a game a Microgame?

I'm looking for help figuring out what exactly makes a game a microgame. Some considerations I have for what might make a game count as microgame include: How many 'pieces' (chits, dice, cards) are too many? If a board is included, what size…
Atavism
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Is War actually a game?

There's a simple card "game" out there called War. You take a deck of cards, shuffle it and divide it into two piles. Both players reveal their top card, whoever has the higher card wins the round. This continues until you run out of cards and…
Joe
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