Board games obviously fit the common sense of the word “game”, which includes all types of board game activities include card game and tabletop game. But the stricter technical sense of games I defined earlier excludes some things we would like to call board games. Chutes and Ladders is a classic example. It seems a bit strange to say that it is not a board game.
The real difference is that board games usually involve pieces that are placed on top of larger pieces. But this does not always work. 7 Wonders lets players place cards under their Wonder Board. The two are functionally equivalent, but this makes it a challenge to define both at the same time. The key feature is that the players know where to put the smaller pieces. Because the features on the larger pieces indicate where to put them.
Board Games
A board game is a game or pseudo-game in which the smaller pieces are placed relative to features on the larger pieces. This generally excludes pure card games. And laying games such as dominoes or mahjong. Because all the pieces are one size. But when used with other pieces, it allows the cards to be placed to form a board.
Tabletop Games
The defining feature of tabletop games is that they require pieces, not that they require a table. For the trivial case of “guess what I hold in my hand” this doesn’t seem to be enough. So perhaps saying that a tabletop game is a game with structured component placement establishes a better requirement. This still includes a game that can strictly speaking be played without a table, and includes all card games.
By the way, by this definition. Non-component-based role-playing games (RPGs) would not be tabletop games. These are sometimes called tabletop RPGs. To distinguish them from video game RPGs and other live-action role-playings. But I interpret tabletop RPG as a term. Rather than indicating that it is a subclass of tabletop games, which include role-playing.
Card Games
Finally, card games may have some overlap with board games. And both are included in tabletop games. A good starting point is that card games are games where the primary mechanic must involve one (or more) board game cards. Although the boundaries of “primary” are difficult to determine. There is some overlap with all types of board game. For example, in Great Heartland Hauling Co. some cards create the board, and other cards are used for game play. So it is both a card game and a board game.
