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Hi,
just wondering what the definition of tabletop games is in the different countries.

In Germany it is clearly only strategic miniature games like the ones that GW, Privateer, Mantic, Wyrd Miniatures and others sell. Boardgames are definitely not included.

Soon we will have the International Tabletop Games Day (thanks to a.o. Will Wheaton), and I was surprised that in USA boardgames are tabletop games and, as I assume, strategic miniature games like 40k are not.

What is the definition in your country?

Games played on a tabletop.

Not to be facetious, but I think that 'games played on a tabletop' probably qualifies. Board games, war games, and possibly card games or pen-and-paper roleplaying games. I think 'mainstream' games might not get included, like poker or checkers, but 'specialist games played on a tabletop' seems to be about accurate. That being said, I hadn't heard of this International Tabletop Games Day, so I can't say for certain.

(What's the a.o. stand for?)

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
Games played on a tabletop.

Yea, 100%. Games played on a table top. However, for a game played on a board, boardgame is more normally used in the US, probably because A) boardgames are a subset of table top games and B) boardgame sort of presumes that one requires a table on which to set the board.

There is no official definition.

A game played on a table top is a tabletop game from the point of view of a logical category, though people often play such games on the floor in which case they presumably become floor games.

As a Brit, I haven't often used "tabletop" as a description. If I used the expression, it would mean figure based wargames.

Boardgames
Card games
Board wargames
Wargames
Tabletop wargames

The phrase seems to be used by the likes of Wil Wheaton etc., as a counterpoint to "video games" - i.e. these are games played with real rather than virtual components. Boardgames are the most popularly understoood element within that definition, but I don't think it excludes others - such as card games, wargames (which I have often heard somewhat tautologically referred to as "tabletop wargames") and probably also RPG's ("Pen and paper RPGs" rather than MMORPGs etc.!)

Just for the record: In German language, noone would associate boardgames or card games with tabletop games, they are more or less the opposite.

There does seem to be a lot of interpretation of the term.
If a boardgame is not a tabletop game, what if you play Warhammer on gaming boards? It's a stretch, but it's as much on the table as a board game.

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
Games played on a tabletop.

Cant put it better

A game that you play with minis, on a tabletop/floor/etc.

Skinnereal wrote:There does seem to be a lot of interpretation of the term.
If a boardgame is not a tabletop game, what if you play Warhammer on gaming boards? It's a stretch, but it's as much on the table as a board game.

master of ordinance wrote:

 BlapBlapBlap wrote:
Games played on a tabletop.

Cant put it better
A game that you play with minis, on a tabletop/floor/etc.

As said, definitions of the term "tabletop" are VERY different in different countries.

 Jimsolo wrote:
.

(What's the a.o. stand for?)

Amongst Others

To the question...games played on tables that are not cards, dice or traditional board games.

I dont think of Monopoly as a tabletop game. I do think of Tannenhauser as a tabletop game. Chess, although long in strategy and in a round about way a simulation of sorts really doesnt fall into the category for me. Dice games like Yahtzee are also out.

Ive tended to use the digital versus analog distinction for seperating things from video games, since some people like to even stick PnP RPGs in the tabletop game category, but that just doesnt seem right to me.

I count things like monopoly, risk, sorry, chess, checkers, battleship, etc as board games. Zombicide is also a board game.

Meanwhile, things like Kings of War, WHFB and W40K, WM/H, X-Wing...these I see as tabletop games. I think the difference for me is this: can I play a full "standard" game out of the starter box set? All the games in the first section answer yes to this. The second section allows you to have smaller games, but the starter set, ie the box that contains the rules, doesn't allow for "standard" point game. X-Wing is 100, you can't get that with a single xwing or two ties, WHFB is around 2K, starter doesn't give that, KoW is around 1750-2000, not available in starter, etc. that's the difference to me.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
I count things like monopoly, risk, sorry, chess, checkers, battleship, etc as board games. Zombicide is also a board game.

Meanwhile, things like Kings of War, WHFB and W40K, WM/H, X-Wing...these I see as tabletop games. I think the difference for me is this: can I play a full "standard" game out of the starter box set? All the games in the first section answer yes to this. The second section allows you to have smaller games, but the starter set, ie the box that contains the rules, doesn't allow for "standard" point game. X-Wing is 100, you can't get that with a single xwing or two ties, WHFB is around 2K, starter doesn't give that, KoW is around 1750-2000, not available in starter, etc. that's the difference to me.

So if xwing had double the amount of ships in it then it would cease to be a table top game ?

I'd use table top game as a top level category for anything played on a table alongside video games and outdoor games

I'd then split out wargames (played direct on the table), boardgames (from battletech to cluedo), card games etc