All About Mechanics

To date, the industry has no standard in classifying Boardgame mechanics. A long list of true mechanics, game features, end goals, and other litter make up what the industry has half-heartedly accepted as a list of mechanics, but to anyone seeking to learn more about the hobby, most of what we call mechanics are just jargon.

What are mechanics?

A mechanic, or mechanism is the framework in which a designer provides the player a means to playing the game (not necessarily winning). The mechanics in a game are unavoidable; they are the container in which the rule set is built. In everyday life, if we need to get from point A to point B, you can go by car, plane or foot, for example. The same it true for Boardgames. The mechanic is the vehicle you will use to progress the game. Arguably though, not everything we industry folks have considered mechanics are inherently mechanical. For example, while a player may need to generate resources during a game in order to achieve other goals, resource generation itself is not a mechanic. It’s more like stopping for food en route to your destination. You may drive to get it, or you might be served on the plane. You need to do it to keep the game going, but the action itself does not drive the game and is arguably avoidable. Designers could provide players with several ways to generate resources – perhaps resources are gained by a generate resource action or worker space; or, perhaps a player plays a card from their hand to generate resources. These methods for generating resources would be considered mechanics.

In short, you know you have a mechanic when you no longer have to ask “How do I do the thing”.

Global and Individual Mechanics

Mechanics can be broken down into global and individual mechanics. Global mechanics usually indicate that the game has at least some degree of player interaction, as these affect the entire play area (whether it is a board, a map, or a tabletop).  Individual mechanics are typically indicative of a player’s ability to manipulate their own player space (often referred to as a tableau or player area) and may indicate more room for players to do their own thing.

Global Mechanics

• Area Control*
• Worker Placement
• Exploration (including dungeon crawling)
• Auction/Bidding
• Route Building*
• Drafting
• Grid/Area movement
• Negotiation
• Trading
• Combat (includes dice and cards, player v player and player v monster or AI)

Individual Mechanics

• Tableau Management
• Deck Management
• Set Collection*
• Order filling*
• Roll and Write*
• Engine Building (Also arguably not a mechanic, just jargon…usually seen as an effect of tableau and deck building)

Hybrid (Can be crafted to be wither individual or global)

• Action Selection
• Dexterity
• Tile Placement/Pattern Building
• Pick up and Delivery* (arguably not a mechanic….usually seen with set collection, route building, movement…it requires a lot of other mechanics to get it moving and is basically order filling with movement requirement.)

*Note – These mechanics can also be considered game goals. These mechanics are often themselves a means to collecting points or meeting win conditions, not just a way to power point-scoring or game-winning requirements.

What are NOT mechanics?

Mechanics are not:

• The game playstyle (see above – How cooperative or competitive it is, and resulting effects of game design on how the game plays – i.e. “take that” or “luck based”)
• Game goals (such as resource generation. This is an important means to an end, but the execution must be defined by a mechanic)
• Mechanics are not “how to win”. They are “How to do the things that you need to do to win”
• Game features (see below)
• Game themes

What are game features?

Things that make a game style recognizable, but are not mechanics. Features may often be ways the designer restricts the mechanic or guides the experience. A good test whether something is a mechanic or a feature is to use the following prompts: “On a players turn they [describe mechanic]” vs. “The game has/uses [feature]” Examples are:

• Miniatures
• Variable player powers/asymmetric
• Deduction
• Trader
• Campaign
• Limited Action Availability
• Rondel
• Hidden Information
• Memory
• Multi-use cards
• Push your luck
• Storytelling

What are goals?

• End game goals – Basically, how to win.
• Intra-game goals – These are goals you complete during the game to collect what you need to win. Examples may be things like gathering resources, climbing various tracks, collecting sets, building routes, filling orders, acquiring map areas and securing dominance, etc.