Tabletop games are games which don't involve physical competition (separating them from sports) or electronic devices (separating them from Video Games). It's generally agreed that a tabletop game must involve some physical objects, otherwise it would be a Parlor Game. A table is not required, however; most tabletop games can also be played sitting on the floor or standing up, but a table is usually the most convenient option.
There are many different categories of tabletop games, including:
- Board Games, such as chess, Risk and Settlers of Catan.
- Dice games, such as craps, Dice 10,000 and Yahtzee.
- Card Games with the traditional deck, such as poker and bridge, or games that have their own dedicated deck such as Munchkin.
- Collectible Card Games, such as Magic: The Gathering.
- Deckbuilding Games, such as Dominion.
- Tabletop RPGs, such as Dungeons & Dragons.
- War games, such as Axis & Allies and Warhammer.
And then there are lots of games that don't fit into any of these categories very well, from Mahjong to Connect Four.
Of course, the variety in gameplay is also enormous. Two aspects in which tabletop games can differ quite significantly are hidden information and random elements. For example, in chess, there is no hidden information and no randomness; everything is determined by the players' own actions, and everything in the game is revealed to both players. In Stratego and Diplomacy, there are no random elements either, but the amount of hidden information is huge, and deceiving your opponent(s) is an important part of gameplay. In the Game of the Goose, there is no hidden information, but the randomness is turned up – everything is random, and players have zero control over the outcome of the game. Poker is a good example of a game that features both random elements (which cards you are dealt) and hidden information (your opponents' hands). Most games likewise have a little of both. There also exist games which incorporate other media in addition to the base content of the game, such as those which involve a VHS tape or DVD to display in tandem with the physical game, introducing further elements and events during play.
Wil Wheaton has promoted the board game hobby with his web series, TableTop, where he and several 'geek celebrities' (famous geeks and people involved in cult nerd shows and projects, oftentimes both) play a variety of board games, from Settlers of Catan to Ticket to Ride to the Dragon Age tabletop RPG campaign. It can be watched here as well as from YouTube, and has gone through four seasons but it's stuck in limbo.
See Tabletop Game Tropes for tropes that apply to tabletop games and Game Tropes for a more general index.
Tabletop games with pages on this wiki:
- Admirality Trilogy
- A.E.G.I.S.
- After the Bomb
- Age of Aquarius
- Alice Is Missing
- Alternity
- Amber Diceless Roleplaying
- Ammo
- Anathema
- Android
- Anima: Beyond Fantasy
- Ani-Mayhem
- Animus Campaign
- Arcadia Quest
- Arcane Codex
- Arduin
- Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth
- Arkham Horror
- Ars Magica
- Ascendant RPG
- Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
- AT43
- Atlantis: The Second Age
- Atmosfear
- The Awful Green Things From Outer Space
- Axiom Campaign
- Axis & Allies
- Backgammon
- Back to the Future
- Bakugan
- Bang!
- BattleCON
- Battle Machines
- BattleTech
- Before I Kill You, Mister Spy...
- Betrayal at House on the Hill
- Beyblade
- Beyond the Gates of Antares
- Beyond the Pale
- Beyond the Supernatural
- Big Eyes, Small Mouth
- Blackbirds RPG
- Bliss Stage
- Blokus
- Blue Rose
- Boggle
- Bop It
- Boss Monster
- Brighthammer 40,000
- Brikwars
- Bunnies & Burrows
- Burning Wheel
- Call of Cthulhu
- Delta Green: First published with Chaosium, and then became a standalone game.
- The Captain Is Dead
- Carcassonne
- Cartoon Action Hour
- Car Wars
- Castle Falkenstein
- Castles & Crusades
- Catchphrase
- Century
- Cerberus Engine Games
- Champions / Hero System
- Chaotic
- Chess
- Chess 2
- Chill
- Chrononauts
- Chronopia
- Citadels
- Cities Without Number
- City of Mist
- Clank A Deck Building Adventure
- Cluedo
- Codex
- Coriolis The Third Horizon
- Corporation
- Cosmic Encounter
- Cosmopol Reckoning
- Cosmopol Redemption
- The Creature That Ate Sheboygan
- Creepy Freaks
- Cribbage
- Crimson Skies
- CthulhuTech
- Cyberpulp
- Cyberpunk (R. Talsorian Games)
- d20 System
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Birthright
- Blackmoor
- Castle Amber
- Dark Sun
- Dragonlance (Tie-in book series with tabletop game setting)
- Dungeons & Dragons
- Dungeons Of Drakkenheim (third party)
- Eberron
- Epic Level Handbook
- Forgotten Realms
- Arcane Age
- Al-Qadim
- Kara-tur
- Maztica
- The Gates of Hell
- Gramarie System
- Greyhawk
- The Temple of Elemental Evil
- Tomb of Horrors
- Savage Tide
- Hourglass of Zihaja
- Keep on the Borderlands
- Kingdoms Of Kalamar
- Mystara
- Red Steel
- Nentir Vale
- Planescape
- Ravenloft
- Masque of the Red Death
- Scarred Lands
- Spelljammer
- Jakandor
- Grim Hollow (third party)
- Humblewood (third party)
- Critical Role: Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting (third party, see also Critical Role)
- DC Heroes (aka Blood of Heroes)
- Deadlands
- Dead Reign
- Deep Madness
- Degenesis
- Delta Green
- Descent: Journeys in the Dark
- Die Laughing
- Diplomacy
- Disney Villains Victorious
- Dogs in the Vineyard
- Dominion
- Domhain Sceal (original setting, no specific system)
- Don't Rest Your Head
- Don't Walk In Winter Wood
- Double Cross
- Dragonlance: Fifth Age Dramatic Adventure Game
- DragonMech
- Dragon Quest (Not related to the video game of the same name)
- DragonRaid
- Dragonstar
- Dragon Strike
- Dropzone Commander
- Dune Chronicles Of The Imperium
- Dungeons: The Dragoning
- Dust
- Dying Earth
- Dystopian Wars
- Ea
- Earthdawn
- Eclipse Phase
- Edgewalkers
- Eldritch Skies
- Empire Builder
- Empire of the Petal Throne (Tékumel)
- Engine Heart
- Eon
- Epic (Card Game)
- The Esoterrorists
- Everway
- Exalted
- Eyrewood Adventures
- The Fabled Lands
- Fading Suns
- The Fantasy Trip
- F.A.T.A.L.
- Fate
- Fate Of The Norns: Ragnarok
- Feng Shui
- Fiasco
- Fight
- Fighters United
- Fighting Fantasy
- Fireborn
- Firestorm Armada
- Flamecraft
- Flames of War
- Fleets: The Pleiad Conflict
- Fluxx
- Force of Will
- Forgotten Waters
- Forsooth!
- Frag
- Frostgrave
- FUDGE
- Full Thrust
- Game of Life
- Game of the Generals
- Gamma World
- Gear Krieg
- Giant Guardian Generation
- Gloomhaven
- Go
- Goblin Quest
- Golden Sky Stories
- The Grape Escape (1992)
- Gratuitous Anime Gimmick
- Grave Robbers from Outer Space
- GURPS
- GURPS Settings and Genre Expansions:
- Age of Gold
- Alchemical Baroque
- Alternate Earths
- Banestorm
- Bio-Tech
- Britannica-6
- The Broken Clockwork World
- Discworld Roleplaying Game
- Dragons
- High-Tech
- Infinite Worlds
- The Madness Dossier
- Reign of Steel
- The GURPS Space Atlas series
- Supers
- Tales of the Solar Patrol
- Technomancer
- Thaumatology
- Transhuman Space
- Ultra-Tech
- GURPS Settings and Genre Expansions:
- Hackmaster
- Hamlet: The Village Building Game
- The Hard Way
- Havok and Hijinks
- Hc Svnt Dracones
- Heavy Gear
- Herd Your Horses Needs Wiki Love
- Here To Slay
- Hero Clix
- Heroine
- HeroQuest
- Heroscape
- High School Girls RPG
- Hive
- HoL
- Hollow Earth Expedition
- Homeworlds
- Hong Kong Action Theatre
- Horrified
- Houses of the Blooded
- Hoyle's Rules of Dragon Poker
- Hulks And Horrors
- Hunter: The Vigil – Dark and Light
- Illuminati: New World Order
- Immortal The Invisible War
- Infernum
- Infinity
- In Nomine
- In Nomine Satanis / Magna Veritas
- Interstitial: Our Hearts Intertwined
- Invisible Sun
- Ironclaw
- Iron Kingdoms
- Ironsworn
- Ironsworn: Starforged
- King of Tokyo
- Kingdom Death: Monster
- Kings
- Kings of War
- Kismet
- A Klingon Challenge
- Krosmaster
- KULT
- Lamentations of the Flame Princess
- Lancer (2019)
- Last Night on Earth
- Left Center Right
- Legend of the Five Rings
- Little Fears
- Lords of Creation
- Macho Women with Guns
- Makers of Uno note
- Mage Knight
- Magic: The Gathering
- Marvel: Crisis Protocol
- Mazes and Minotaurs
- Mechanical Dream
- Meddling Kids
- Mekton
- MERCS
- Metal Opera
- Metamorphosis Alpha
- Mice and Mystics
- Microscope
- Middle-Earth Role Playing
- Midnight (2003)
- Mistborn House War
- Mistborn Adventure Game
- Mitos y Leyendas
- Mobile Frame Zero
- Monarchies of Mau
- Monopoly
- Monsterpocalypse
- Monsters and Other Childish Things
- Mortasheen
- Mouse Trap (1963)
- Munchkin
- Must Be Tuesday
- Mutant Chronicles
- Mutant City Blues
- Mutants & Masterminds
- Freedom City
- The Extraordinaries (an online RPG spin-off)
- Freedom City Play By Post (an online RPG spin-off)
- Halt Evil Doer!!
- Freedom City
- Mutant UA
- Mutant: Year Zero
- My Life with Master
- My Little Pony Collectible Card Game
- Myriad Song
- Mysterium
- Mystery Date (1965)
- Mystic Empyrean
- Mythender
- Nechronica
- Nephilim
- Netrunner
- Neuroshima
- New Horizon
- New Vindicators
- Nightbane
- Nobilis
- Normality
- Northern Crown
- Numenera
- OGRE
- Oko Yrrhedesa
- The One Ring
- Operation
- The Others (2015)
- Over the Edge
- Palladium Fantasy
- Pandemic
- Pandemonium! (1993)
- Paranoia
- Pendragon
- Pie Face!
- Planet Mercenary
- Plüsch, Power & Plunder
- Pokéthulhu
- Pokemon Master Trainer
- Pokémon Tabletop Adventures
- Ponies & Parasprites
- PonyTalesAspirationsOfHarmony
- Powered by the Apocalypse
- Power Rangers Heroes Of The Grid
- Prose Descriptive Qualities
- Psionics: The Next Stage in Human Evolution
- Puerto Rico
- Pugmire
- Quarriors
- Racial Holy War
- Rangers of Shadow Deep
- Rap Rat
- Recon
- Red Dragon Inn
- Red Dwarf
- Red Markets
- REIGN
- Renegade Legion
- The Republic of Rome
- Resident Evil The Board Game
- Returners Final Fantasy Roleplaying Game
- The Riddle of Steel
- Rifts
- Rippers
- Rise of the Kage
- Risk
- Risus
- Rivet Wars
- Robotech
- Robo Rally
- Rocket Age
- Rocketmen
- Role Master
- Root
- Rotted Capes
- RuneQuest
- Rym
- Ryuutama
- Sanctuary Saga
- Savage Worlds
- Scene It?
- Scion
- Scythe
- Scrabble
- Secret Hitler
- Secrets of the Third Reich
- Sentinels of the Multiverse
- SenZar
- Settlers of Catan
- Shadowrun
- Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
- Silver Age Sentinels
- The Singularity System
- Skyrealms Of Jorune
- SLA Industries
- Small World
- Smash Up
- Sorcerer (2001)
- Space 1889
- Spawn of Fashan
- Spirit Island
- Splicers
- The Splinter
- Splittermond
- ''Stardew Valley
- Starfire
- Star Fleet Battles
- Star Frontiers
- Star Grunt II
- Star of Africa
- Star Realms
- Stars Without Number
- Star Wars Customizable Card Game
- Star Wars Armada
- Star Wars Miniatures
- Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures
- Stick Guy
- Stormbringer
- The Strange (Monte Cook Games)
- Stratego
- Strike Legion
- Sufficiently Advanced
- Summerland
- Summoner Wars
- Super Awesome Action Heroes
- Super Dungeon Explore
- Superlatives
- Sword World RPG
- Tails of Equestria
- Tak: A Beautiful Game
- Tales from the Floating Vagabond
- Tales from the Loop
- Talislanta
- Talisman
- Teenagers from Outer Space
- Templars of Kayne
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness
- Tenra Bansho ZERO
- Tephra
- Terraforming Mars
- They Came From Beneath The Sea!
- Thieves' World
- 13 Dead End Drive
- Ticket to Ride
- Toon
- Torchbearer
- TORG
- A Touch of Evil
- Trinités
- Trinity Universe
- Trivial Pursuit
- Truco
- Tunnels & Trolls
- Turnip 28
- Twilight: 2000
- Twilight Imperium
- Twilight Sparkle's Secret Shipfic Folder
- Twilight Struggle
- Unhallowed Metropolis
- Unisystem
- UNO
- U Realms Live
- Unicornus Knights
- Unknown Armies
- Unstable Unicorns
- Vaesen Nordic Horror Roleplaying
- Victoriana RPG
- Victory in the Pacific
- Villainous (Ravensburger)
- Villains & Vigilantes
- Violence™: The Roleplaying Game of Egregious and Repulsive Bloodshed
- VOR The Maelstrom
- Wanderhome
- Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate
- Warbirds
- Warhammer
- Blood Bowl
- Man O'War
- Path To Glory
- Mordheim
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay
- Warmaster
- Warhammer: The End Times
- Warhammer: Age of Sigmar
- Warhammer 40,000
- Weiss Schwarz
- The Whispering Vault
- Wild Talents
- Witch Girls Adventures
- The Witcher
- Wolsung Steam Pulp Fantasy
- The World of Darkness
- The World of Darkness gamelines:
- Vampire: The Masquerade
- Vampire The Masquerade Novels
- Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
- Chicago By Night
- Vampire: The Eternal Struggle
- Werewolf: The Apocalypse
- Mage: The Ascension
- Wraith: The Oblivion
- Changeling: The Dreaming
- Hunter: The Reckoning
- Demon: The Fallen
- Kindred of the East
- Mummy: The Resurrection
- Orpheus
- Chronicles of Darkness gamelines:
- Monte Cook's World of Darkness
- The World of Darkness gamelines:
- World of Synnibarr
- Worlds Without Number
- World Tree (RPG)
- Wrath of the Old Dog
- Yahtzee
- The Yellow King
- Yomi
- Yu-Gi-Oh!