I keep seeing people call any group game a 'board game' and it drives me nuts

My brother-in-law tried to get us to play charades last weekend and called it a board game night. That's a party game, not a board game. It matters because real board games have rules, components, and a defined play space. I've been collecting for over ten years and have about 300 games in my basement. Does anyone else get annoyed when people mix up the basic categories?

2 comments

2 Comments

jordangibson1d ago

Yeah, that's a real pet peeve. Charades is a party game, not a board game. The difference is in the physical parts and the rulebook. It's like calling all drinks soda, when some are clearly juice or coffee.

simon_chen1d ago

I saw a whole thread on BGG last month about this exact thing. People were getting pretty heated over where to draw the line between board games, party games, and card games. I'm with you and jordangibson on this, the physical parts make a big difference. If there's no board or pieces you're moving around, it's just not the same category. Calling charades a board game is like calling a podcast a radio show, it's close but not quite right. It muddies the water for people trying to get into the hobby.