Tabletop game
Social activity played on a flat surface
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Classification according to equipment used
Tabletop games can be classified according to the general form, or equipment utilized:
Games like chess and draughts are examples of games belonging to the board game category. Other games, however, use various attributes and cannot be classified unambiguously (e.g. Monopoly and many modern eurogames utilize a board as well as dice and cards).
For several of these categories there are sub-categories and even sub-sub-categories or genres. For instance, German-style board games, board wargames, and roll-and-move games are all types of board games that differ markedly in style and general interest.
Tabletop game components
The various specialized parts, pieces, and tools used for playing tabletop games may include:
- Stopwatch, clock, hourglass or egg timer
- Meeples, Miniature figures, pawn, or playing piece
- Gambling chips or play money
- Game board
- Game box or container
- Scoreboard or paper pad
- Cardboard Counter, Dial Counter, Marker or peg for keeping score/tally
- Pencil
- Rule manuals
- Ruler or measuring device
- Modelling clay
- Gamemaster's screen
- Bowls, trays, or component organizers
- Stickers often used in Legacy games
- Card sleeves used in games that have a "Card Crafting System"
- Randomizers such as:
- Coins
- Dice, which can include polyhedral dice
- Dice tower or Dice cup
- Playing cards, which can be collectible cards
- Shuffling machine
- Tiles
- Tops, such as Teetotums or Dreidels
- Drawstring bag
- Spinners
- Bones, Cowrie Shells, or Stick dice, used in ancient games
A refereed game could also include various aids to play, including scenario packs and computer game aids. Role-playing games can include campaign settings and various supplementary manuals and notes.
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Classification according to elements of chance
Alternatively to being classified by equipment, they can also be classified by their elements of chance. In game theory, two fundamentally different elements of chance can play a role:
- Chance created by random factors, such as dice rolls or shuffled cards, making a non-deterministic game (also referred to as a stochastic game). In contrast, games that lack this randomness are referred to as deterministic games.
- Chance created by hiding information to only some players that could otherwise impact how a player acts, such as other player's hands from players, making a game with imperfect information. Games with perfect information, on the other hand, do not hide information from the players.
- Additionally, some games can give select players perfect information, while others are only left with imperfect information
Examples of the chance classification for some well-known tabletop games are given in the table below.
Organizations
List of organizations that sponsor events featuring tabletop games:
- Board Game Geek organizes BGG.CON
- PAX hosts PAX Unplugged
- Geek & Sundry promotes an annual International TableTop Day
- The Organization of Gamers & Roleplaying Enthusiasts (O.G.R.E.s) organizes tabletop events for OMGcon
- White Wolf Publishing's Camarilla
- Wizards of the Coast own RPGA
- The Historical Miniatures Gaming Society promotes historical miniatures wargaming and organizes wargaming events such as Historicon
- SaltCON LLC organizes SaltCON and the Ion Award competition for unpublished tabletop games
Additionally, numerous independent, local groups run by gamers exist to play tabletop games. Many colleges also have student-run organizations pertaining solely to tabletop gaming, the Collegiate Association of Table Top Gamers being one that has a chapter at various schools.
Digital tabletop games
Digital tabletops games are digital variations of tabletop games, which include straight reproductions of existing physical tabletop games, video games that use tabletop game principles as part of their gameplay mechanics, and tabletop simulators that provide a virtual tabletop for conducting tabletop games online.