Language is a fascinating aspect of the human experience. Each of the hundreds of thousands of words in the English language have unique meanings, histories, and connotations which, when combined, can represent everything humanity has ever known. Pretty amazing.

You can learn a lot about a culture by studying its language. As a member of the hobby gaming community, I thought it would be interesting to measure words that are common in the board gaming subculture and compare them to a general list in order to identify the most game-centric terms. This project is the result of that curiosity.

Method

When it comes to board game data, there's no better source than BoardGameGeek. The site is a giant community-driven database home to a wealth of information about thousands of board games, which makes it the perfect place to collect game-centric words.

In order to create a list of the most common "board game words", I wrote a program that utilizes the BGG XML API to access descriptions from a large sample of board games in the database. The program then parsed the descriptions into their individual words, removed punctuation, converted all letters to lowercase, and kept track of each word’s number of occurrences. The result is a list of words that are used to describe board games, sorted from the most frequent to the least frequent.

Source code: bggwords.py

Results

The BGG column of the table below shows the top 100 most frequent words from BoardGameGeek descriptions. Here is the list up to 1000: bgg-top-1000-words.txt. For some perspective, the right column shows the general list of the top 100 most frequent English words. The right list was taken from Peter Norvig’s website, who used an n-gram frequency analysis of Google’s Trillion Word Corpus to gather the data. See the full list of ⅓ million words here.

Rank BGG General 1 the the 2 of of 3 a and 4 and to 5 to a 6 game in 7 in for 8 is is 9 on on 10 you that 11 player by 12 with this 13 for with 14 players i 15 are you 16 cards it 17 or not 18 each or 19 that be 20 from are 21 as from 22 one at 23 your as 24 by your 25 it all 26 card have 27 be new 28 can more 29 their an 30 this was 31 all we 32 board will 33 an home 34 play can 35 at us 36 have about 37 if if 38 they page 39 which my 40 has has 41 will search 42 two free 43 first but 44 other our 45 but one 46 up other 47 points do 48 turn no 49 move information 50 his time 51 rules they 52 there site 53 when he 54 dice up 55 more may 56 out what 57 who which 58 most their 59 must news 60 then out 61 not use 62 them any 63 games there 64 also see 65 number only 66 get so 67 may his 68 time when 69 three contact 70 different here 71 pieces business 72 into who 73 played web 74 wins also 75 only now 76 was help 77 he get 78 take pm 79 new view 80 four online 81 set c 82 any e 83 playing first 84 so am 85 die been 86 where would 87 war how 88 over were 89 roll me 90 same s 91 no services 92 use some 93 some these 94 end click 95 battle its 96 deck like 97 win service 98 color x 99 make than 100 based find

As you can see, most of the highest ranked words are prepositions, conjunctions, and determiners. This is expected; these words are often required to logically connect ideas together, and that's just how English works. Interestingly, we do see words on the BGG list (game, player, card, board, play, points, turn, move, rules, dice, etc.) which don’t appear on the general top 100 at all.

This table is interesting, but I would not call the the most game-centric word as a result. In order to develop that list, I gave each of the 1000 words collected from BGG a score. A word’s score is equal to a word's general rank (from Norvig’s list) minus its BGG rank (determined by my code). Therefore, a positive score means the word appears more often in BGG descriptions than in general written English, and higher scores represent larger differences. The 200 words with the highest score are shown in the table below.

Rank Word BGG Rank General Rank Score 1 gameboard 684 136349 135665 2 cannot 493 106595 106102 3 wargame 485 69356 68871 4 rulebook 563 55369 54806 5 boardgame 979 54810 53831 6 pawns 324 52151 51827 7 marbles 907 25259 24352 8 pawn 442 23745 23303 9 spinner 398 21782 21384 10 checkers 987 22256 21269 11 cubes 919 18162 17243 12 discard 506 17665 17159 13 secretly 964 18092 17128 14 cavalry 821 17666 16845 15 armies 417 16537 16120 16 tokens 200 14979 14779 17 artillery 726 15082 14356 18 cardboard 727 14773 14046 19 dungeon 915 14799 13884 20 paced 814 14510 13696 21 themed 873 14280 13407 22 clues 751 13852 13101 23 miniatures 336 13410 13074 24 chooses 743 13220 12477 25 opposing 588 12575 11987 26 solitaire 560 12519 11959 27 monopoly 333 11934 11601 28 randomly 766 11860 11094 29 gameplay 737 11769 11032 30 whoever 658 11660 11002 31 hex 344 11232 10888 32 loses 888 11685 10797 33 decks 574 11367 10793 34 squares 272 10868 10596 35 variant 526 10860 10334 36 pirate 900 11071 10171 37 infantry 505 10664 10159 38 clue 961 11057 10096 39 pile 345 10302 9957 40 tactical 358 10297 9939 41 battles 243 10075 9832 42 sided 271 10097 9826 43 numbered 595 10357 9762 44 tiles 112 9738 9626 45 booklet 655 10183 9528 46 monsters 559 9988 9429 47 allies 790 10121 9331 48 opponents 185 9499 9314 49 warfare 770 10012 9242 50 opponent 118 9071 8953 51 draws 627 9521 8894 52 rounds 353 9206 8853 53 dice 54 8892 8838 54 token 486 9277 8791 55 terrain 599 9146 8547 56 fought 942 9434 8492 57 scenarios 284 8598 8314 58 dealt 579 8747 8168 59 rolled 586 8695 8109 60 tactics 647 8665 8018 61 markers 490 8453 7963 62 creatures 868 8808 7940 63 steal 773 8683 7910 64 reaches 783 8362 7579 65 combinations 928 8498 7570 66 answering 925 8476 7551 67 miniature 960 8410 7450 68 defeat 700 8135 7435 69 marker 827 7866 7039 70 abilities 545 7577 7032 71 trivia 315 7290 6975 72 timer 863 7651 6788 73 invasion 947 7722 6775 74 tile 213 6983 6770 75 allied 876 7637 6761 76 determines 999 7760 6761 77 rows 982 7725 6743 78 simultaneously 891 7598 6707 79 chess 446 7113 6667 80 trick 552 7167 6615 81 treasure 355 6968 6613 82 naval 661 7246 6585 83 captured 712 7253 6541 84 rid 878 7381 6503 85 mechanics 714 7215 6501 86 tries 663 7153 6490 87 flip 970 7356 6386 88 suits 957 7318 6361 89 reveal 872 7124 6252 90 landing 555 6770 6215 91 rolls 370 6566 6196 92 placing 483 6632 6149 93 spell 975 6986 6011 94 tanks 966 6973 6007 95 compete 577 6554 5977 96 collecting 659 6583 5924 97 soviet 735 6647 5912 98 scoring 298 6116 5818 99 scored 781 6533 5752 100 challenging 976 6722 5746 101 counters 156 5868 5712 102 scenario 491 6193 5702 103 colored 386 6087 5701 104 adjacent 641 6247 5606 105 bull 512 6069 5557 106 pairs 927 6457 5530 107 destroy 774 6266 5492 108 offensive 850 6274 5424 109 heroes 541 5885 5344 110 fleet 817 6013 5196 111 tricks 968 6163 5195 112 stack 517 5702 5185 113 complexity 896 5977 5081 114 holes 618 5554 4936 115 representing 500 5335 4835 116 stones 499 5206 4707 117 receives 759 5444 4685 118 opposite 786 5425 4639 119 spin 566 5184 4618 120 wins 74 4673 4599 121 correctly 439 4996 4557 122 wooden 388 4922 4534 123 chips 328 4815 4487 124 enemy 312 4784 4472 125 combat 124 4575 4451 126 hero 859 5294 4435 127 divided 587 4987 4400 128 lands 503 4843 4340 129 spaces 148 4427 4279 130 symbols 902 5163 4261 131 deck 96 4329 4233 132 revealed 832 5060 4228 133 troops 643 4845 4202 134 collect 170 4363 4193 135 moves 216 4398 4182 136 balls 715 4891 4176 137 rolling 375 4537 4162 138 drawn 488 4609 4121 139 victory 165 4277 4112 140 puzzle 756 4785 4029 141 consists 317 4306 3989 142 turns 130 4117 3987 143 simulation 502 4317 3815 144 luck 405 4206 3801 145 quest 941 4737 3796 146 skill 597 4391 3794 147 adds 870 4591 3721 148 capture 297 4006 3709 149 throw 739 4404 3665 150 exciting 516 4180 3664 151 sides 472 4115 3643 152 escape 801 4430 3629 153 covering 952 4454 3502 154 represented 717 4209 3492 155 coins 767 4251 3484 156 monster 581 4049 3468 157 grid 325 3766 3441 158 soldiers 874 4313 3439 159 dragon 709 4086 3377 160 winner 110 3462 3352 161 represents 402 3730 3328 162 marked 745 4026 3281 163 corresponding 848 4118 3270 164 castle 664 3905 3241 165 draw 162 3350 3188 166 plays 287 3470 3183 167 suit 553 3709 3156 168 earn 528 3644 3116 169 depending 448 3555 3107 170 drawing 575 3671 3096 171 fighting 603 3676 3073 172 sheets 719 3767 3048 173 powers 648 3686 3038 174 empire 532 3547 3015 175 weapons 461 3444 2983 176 remaining 569 3546 2977 177 decide 613 3568 2955 178 starts 335 3286 2951 179 objective 465 3381 2916 180 pieces 71 2983 2912 181 attacks 741 3651 2910 182 tower 692 3599 2907 183 blocks 796 3703 2907 184 ages 253 3135 2882 185 scores 460 3309 2849 186 catch 792 3635 2843 187 chip 885 3712 2827 188 expansion 758 3557 2799 189 collected 789 3576 2787 190 lose 407 3169 2762 191 chosen 778 3519 2741 192 begins 614 3343 2729 193 attempt 360 3056 2696 194 don 322 2982 2660 195 ancient 633 3283 2650 196 challenges 836 3419 2583 197 represent 399 2976 2577 198 colors 289 2836 2547 199 continues 681 3193 2512 200 roll 89 2595 2506

Observations

Apparently BoardGameGeek users love to compound words that the general public would probably leave separate: gameboard , wargame , rulebook , and boardgame (really...?) all rank very highly.

, , , and (really...?) all rank very highly. Why is the general rank for cannot so high? Is it that uncommon of a word? I suspect it’s some sort of parsing bug where it’s treated as two separate words in some situations, but I don’t really have an explanation for that.

so high? Is it that uncommon of a word? I suspect it’s some sort of parsing bug where it’s treated as two separate words in some situations, but I don’t really have an explanation for that. A common theme seems to be components that are found in a lot of games: pawns , marbles , spinners , cubes , miniatures , hex , etc.

, , , , , , etc. monopoly makes the list at #27. According to Yehuda, there are currently over 2900 version of Monopoly out there, so that might have something to do with it.

makes the list at #27. According to Yehuda, there are currently over 2900 version of Monopoly out there, so that might have something to do with it. There are a few more ubiquitous games that made the list as well (although these also have multiple meanings): checkers , clue , chess , and solitaire .

, , , and . The highest ranking verbs are discard , paced (although I assume this was usually paired with fast to create an adjective), themed , chooses , and loses .

, (although I assume this was usually paired with to create an adjective), , , and . The highest ranking adjectives are cardboard, opposing, tactical, sided, and numbered.

Conclusion

Overall, I’m pretty happy with these results. Board gaming is an extremely open-ended hobby, so It’s interesting to see which words stand out and become universal "gaming terms", and to think about why.

Did you make any observations that I missed? Any surprises? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks for reading!