Tabletop games or tabletops are games that are normally played on a table or other flat surface, such as board games, card games, dice games, miniature wargames, or tile-based games.[1] [2]
Tabletop games can be classified according to the general form, or equipment utilized:[3]
| Game category | Game examples | |
|---|---|---|
| Board games | Adventure board games, adventure gamebooks, backgammon, chess, German-style board games, go, reversi, Mancala, Shogi, Gomoku, Four-in-a-row (or Yonmoku), Tic-tac-toe (or Sanmoku, Three-in-a-row) | |
| Card games | solitaire, collectible card games, hanafuda, tarot card games, poker | |
| Dexterity games | Jenga, Crokinole, Klask, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Loopin' Louie, Terror in Meeple City, Don't Break the Ice, Crossbows and Catapults, Knucklebones, Twister (game), PitchCar | |
| Dice games | bunco, craps, poker dice, sic bo, yahtzee | |
| Paper and pencil games | Battleship, Connect 5, dots and boxes, hangman, sprouts, sudoku | |
| Tabletop role-playing games | Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game | |
| Strategy games | wargames, government simulation games, miniatures games | |
| Tile-based games | 15 puzzle, anagrams, dominoes, mahjong, mahjong solitaire | |
| See article. |
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.
The various specialized parts, pieces, and tools used for playing tabletop games may include:
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.
As an alternative to classifying games by equipment, they can also be classified according to the elements of chance involved.In game theory, two fundamentally different elements of chance can play a role:
Examples of the chance classification for some well-known tabletop games are given in the table below.
| Full/perfect information | Partial/imperfect information | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Deterministic | |||
| Stochastic |
List of organizations that sponsor events featuring tabletop games:
Numerous independent, local groups run by gamers exist to play tabletop games. Additionally, many colleges have student run organizations pertaining solely to table top gaming. The Collegiate Association of Table Top Gamers is one such organization that has a few chapters at different schools.
See main article: Digital tabletop game. 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.