Meeple Jockey Gaming Club

Expand, explore, exploit, and exterminate. A style of game that is often in a sandbox type setting where players’ efforts are focused those four types of actions. The Civilization series in both video and board games is an example of a sprawling version of this style. Last Light is a streamlined, shorter example use of the 4X system.

The process by which an advantage is gained or win condition achieved by occupying desirable locations in a game space. e.g. occupying all the countries in a continent in Risk nets your the bonus for that controlled area.

Powers, forces, abilities etc. in a game are specifically designed to be unbalanced between the options, factions etc. in a game. e.g. the factions in Root or the one v all when playing as Dracula in Fury of Dracula.

A game style where players are working together towards a common goal. Variations on this theme include semi-cooperative where players work together to create common win conditions while overall personal win conditions are the goal. Terraforming Mars is an example of this. Another variant would by one v all by playing as the Borg in Star Trek: Star Realms against a coalition of the Alpha Quadrant’s heavies.

A game genre where players use logic, reasoning and clues to uncover information, solve a mystery or otherwise gain an advantage in and/or win a game. Blood on the Clocktower is a social deduction style game while Battleship is a bit more literal in it’s deduction mechanic.

A game in which the skill of a players physical interaction with the components determine aspects and/or outcomes of a game. e.g. Jenga or the far superior, Villa Paletti

A method by way players aquire elements of a game from a shared pool to form their hand, tableau or engine. These elements are often items like cards, dice or tiles. In Sagrada you draft dice from an open shared pool while in

Hand management is the process by which players choose which (typically) cards to play, hold or discard from their hand. This is done to maximize efficiencies and outcomes in game.

A style of game where opposing sides play (typically) cards lined up in columns against each other. These columns provide a type of area control structure due to placement conditions of the cards a player has and the game situation.

Orthogonal refers to objects, lines, or vectors that intersect at right angles. Think a cross rather than a diagonal.

Pattern matching is a game mechanic where players gain advantages and/or win the game via how effectively and efficiently they match required patterns. The not so cozy Calico is an example on the heavier end where pattern matching is the primary goal.

Resource management is the process and style of game in which players choose which resources they have or are available to play, develop or otherwise use in a game. This is done to maximize efficiencies and outcomes in game.

Players use preset characters and a simplified, role playing style rule set in a TTRPG inspired experience. This offers the benefit of fast set-up and approachability to what otherwise can be a dense and intimidating game style. Gloomhaven is an example of a fully involved D&D experience while 5-Minute Dungeon does it in a much different fashion using just asymmetric character player mats and a communal deck of cards.

Game format that allows for an exploritory, open world setting.

A game style that uses predetermined setup conditions for the board and/or player setups. This allows for variations in game play like one-off experiences or, as often is the case, linked together in a story driven legacy game. An example of a one-off would be Star Wars: Unlock escape room game. Pandemic is an example of a legacy game.

Accumulation of matching or otherwise associated items, things or locations. These collections are often used for end game scoring and/or in game actions.

An order of turn progression where the first person to choose has both the first and last pick. The last person to choose does so twice, then progressing back to the first person in reverse order. e.g. ABCDDCBA draft order

When a games mechanisms and setting are inspired by and used to support a combination of specific IPs, genres, settings etc. to great affect. e.g. using three different card drafting systems in Comic Hunters to simulate three different common ways to buy comic books; at a Comic Store, Online Auctions and at large Comic Conventions

Typically scene in economic and war games. Upgrade tree’s are a mechanic where players invest resources into an progressive upgrading system. These systems can be tracked on player and/or game boards with a token or other methods like a card based system. These trees often interact with each other like in 4X games like Twilight Imperium.