You’ve played your first major board game and are as hooked as the rest of us? Like any other sport, hobby, or distraction, there is a unique jargon to tabletop gaming. Here’s some great terms to get you started on your tabletop gaming journey.

abstract strategy game A game with no theme, generally limited to two players and perfect information (i.e. no randomness) often with incidental or irrelevant theme. Think chess or checkers.

alpha player Also known as "Quarterbacking", it’s a derogatory sense, where one player tends to take the lead and boss other players, telling them how to play. It can be used in a positive sense, where a the alpha tries to teach tactics and game play.

beer & pretzels game This is a game with random mechanics that doesn’t allow for any long-term strategies.

CCG (Collectible Card Game) / Collectible game A game with a basic rule structure and a large assortment of cards. Each player selects a number of cards in a deck that they own and build to use in the game. Cards are sold in booster packs and sets. Can also be a game where the pieces are sold in randomly sorted packages, like miniatures.

CDG (Card Driven Game) A game that use cards to drive the action, cards being the major part of the game mechanics.

chit / counter Small piece of cardboard that represents a unit or a game element.

chrome Superfluous components added to a game to add a feeling of its theme, kind of like the chrome on a car, not necessary, but it sure is pretty!

cooperative games Games where all players work together on the same team.

D6 Common abbreviation for a six-sided die, the most common game component. Similarly D8 refers to eight-sided die, D10 to ten-sided, and so forth. A pair of six-sided dice is sometimes called 2D6.

deck Stack of cards.

die One regular solid, most often a cube, marked with pips or numbers that is cast to generate a random result. Dice is the plural form.

dice-fest A game that uses a whole bunch of dice to determine game outcomes, or game that has a random nature because of the die results.

dungeon crawl A game scenario in role playing games where players navigate a labyrinthine environment.

DM Acronym for Dungeon Master who is the game organizer and participant in charge of creating the details and challenges of a given adventure.

dudes on a map Phrase used to describe a type of game in which players place pieces representing units on a map. 

economic game A game that models a micro-economic (i.e. business or industry) or macro-economic (i.e. nation or colony) system. 

experience game A game that emphasizes "the experience of playing" over achieving victory. Role Playing Games, party games, open ended games are sometimes called experience games.

gateway game A game that is a good intro into the board game hobby. Often lighter games that have concepts and mechanics that are used in other, more complex games.

glass cannon Refers to a character class that has remarkable offensive power, but has low defense.

Kingmaker A player who is in the position of not being able to win the game himself, but has the power to decide between several players who is going to win.

LARP (Live Action Role Playing) Players physically act exactly how they think their character would behave with other characters and the surroundings. 

meeples A term broadly used to refer to nearly any pawn or figure in a game.

miniatures game A game that uses small three-dimensional lead or plastic figurines to represent military units to represent tactical-level conflict.

party game A game that is designed for groups of people emphasizing social interaction, creativity, and/or volubility.  Think Soup2Nuts!

pie rule This rule is used in some two-player games to eliminate any advantage of moving first. After the first player's opening move, the second player may optionally swap sides.

RPG (Role-Playing Game) A game where the game master creates a progressive story line and other players control the characters within the story.

rules lawyer A person who takes the rules of a game very seriously and makes sure everyone follows the rules to the letter.

set-up When players ready all the components needed for playing.

thematic game These are games that emphasize a highly developed theme.

turtling When a player plays a very defensive strategy, like a turtle in a shell. The hope is that other players will attack each other thus weaken themselves.