abstract strategy game Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no randomness), and perfect information ...

is a

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboa ...

, card or other game where game play includes no random chance and provides perfect information. Many abstract strategy games include no theme. Some games can also be played on pen and paper.

Chess and chess-like games

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

Arimaa Arimaa () is a two-player strategy board game that was designed to be playable with a standard chess set and difficult for computers while still being easy to learn and fun to play for humans. It was invented in 2003 by Omar Syed, an Indian-Ame ...

Chaturaji Chaturaji (meaning "four kings") is a four-player chess-like game. It was first described in detail c. 1030 by Al-Biruni in his book ''India''. Originally, this was a game of chance: the pieces to be moved were decided by rolling two dice. ...

(India) *

Chaturanga Chaturanga ( sa, चतुरङ्ग; ') is an ancient Indian strategy game. While there is some uncertainty, the prevailing view among chess historians is that it is the common ancestor of the board games chess (European), xiangqi (Chinese), ...

(Indian chess) *

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

(Western chess) * Congo *

Courier chess Courier chess is a chess variant that dates from the 12th century and was popular for at least 600 years. It was a part of the slow evolution towards modern chess from Medieval Chess. Medieval rules Courier chess is played on an 8x12 board (i. ...

(German chess) *

Crazyhouse Crazyhouse (also known as drop chess, mad chess, reinforcement chess, turnabout chess and schizo-chess) is a chess variant in which captured enemy pieces can be reintroduced, or ''dropped'', into the game as one's own. The drop rule resembles tha ...

Dameo Dameo is an abstract strategy board game for two players invented by Christian Freeling in 2000. It is a variant of the game draughts (or checkers) and is played on an 8×8 checkered gameboard. Game rules Dameo is played on an 8×8 checkerboard ...

* Djambi (modern French chess variant) * Duell (chess) *

Fortress chess Fortress chess (also known as Russian Four-Handed chess) is a four-player chess variant played in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. The board contains 192 squares including the fortresses at its corners. The fortresses contain 16 squares an ...

(Russia) *

Four-player chess Four-player chess (also known as four-handed chess) is a family of chess variants played with four people. The game features a special board typically made of a standard 8×8 square, with 3 rows of 8 cells each extending from each side, and requi ...

* Hexagonal chess *

Hnefatafl Tafl games (pronounced avl also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Nordic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the R ...

(Nordic chess-like game) *

Hiashatar Hiashatar is a medieval chess variant played in Mongolia. The game is played on a 10×10 board. The pieces are the same as in chess with the exception that there is an additional piece which is called the "bodyguard".http://www.chessvariants.org/ ...

(Mongolian chess variant) * Hive (boardless chess-like game) *

Infinite chess Infinite chess is any variation of the game of chess played on an unbounded chessboard. Versions of infinite chess have been introduced independently by multiple players, chess theorists, and mathematicians, both as a playable game and as a mode ...

Janggi ''Janggi'' (including romanizations ''changgi'' and ''jangki''), sometimes called Korean chess, is a strategy board game popular on the Korean Peninsula. The game was derived from xiangqi (Chinese chess), and is very similar to it, including th ...

(Korean chess) * Jeson Mor (Mongolian chess variant) *

Ko Shogi Kō shōgi (広将棋 or 廣象棋 'broad chess') is a large-board Shogi variant, variant of shogi, or Japanese chess. The game dates back to the turn of the 18th century and is based on xiangqi and go (board game), go as well as shogi. Credit for ...

(Shogi Variant based on xiangqi and go) * Kruzno * Maharajah and the Sepoys (Indian chess variant) *

Makruk ''Makruk'' ( th, หมากรุก; ; ), or Thai chess, is a board game that is descended from the 6th-century Indian game of ''chaturanga'' or a close relative thereof, and is therefore related to chess. It is part of the family of chess va ...

(Thai chess) * Ploy (board game) * Rollerball (chess variant) *

Senterej Senterej ( Amharic: ሰንጠረዥ sänṭäräž or Ethiopian chess) is a form of chess traditionally played in Ethiopia and Eritrea, cousin of international Chess and the last survival form of Shatranj. According to Richard Pankhurst, the game ...

(Ethiopian chess) *

Shatar Shatar ( Mongolian: ''Monggol sitar-a'', "Mongolian shatranj"; a.k.a. shatar) and hiashatar are two chess variants played in Mongolia. Game rules The rules are similar to standard chess; the differences being that: * The ''noyan'' (, ''lord'' ...

(Mongolian chess) *

Shatranj Shatranj ( ar, شطرنج; fa, شترنج; from Middle Persian ''chatrang'' ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins are in the Indian game of chaturaṅga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as ...

(Persian and Arabian chess) *

Shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, '' chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōg ...

(Japanese chess) *

Shogi variant A shogi variant is a game related to or derived from shogi (Japanese chess). Many shogi variants have been developed over the centuries, ranging from some of the largest chess-type games ever played to some of the smallest. A few of these variant ...

s (other shogi-like games) *

Sittuyin Sittuyin ( my, စစ်တုရင်), also known as Burmese chess, is a strategy board game created in Myanmar. It is a direct offspring of the Indian game of chaturanga, which arrived in Myanmar in the 8th century thus it is part of the sam ...

(Burmese chess) *

Suffragetto ''Suffragetto'' was a board game published in the United Kingdom around 1908 by the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) and manufactured by Sargeant Bros. Ltd. In modern terms, it was developed to "enact feminist ideology in a hybrid fantas ...

(Suffragettes vs. Police) * Tamerlane chess (Persian) *

Three-player chess Three-player chess (also known as three-handed, three-man, or three-way chess) is a family of chess variants specially designed for three players. Many variations of three-player chess have been devised. They usually use a non-standard board, for ...

* Trappist-1 *

Xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as ''shogi'', ''janggi'', Western chess, '' chat ...

(Chinese and Vietnamese chess)

Paper and pencil game Paper-and-pencil games or paper-and-pen games (or some variation on those terms) are games that can be played solely with paper and pencils (or other writing implements), usually without erasing. They may be played to pass the time, as icebr ...
s

* Bulls and Cows * Col (game) * Dots and Boxes *

Hackenbush Hackenbush is a two-player game invented by mathematician John Horton Conway. It may be played on any configuration of colored line segments connected to one another by their endpoints and to a "ground" line. Gameplay The game starts with the pl ...

* Join Five *

Kropki Dots ( cz, Židi, pl, Kropki, russian: Точки) is an abstract strategy game, played by two or more people on a sheet of squared paper. The game is somewhat similar to Go, in that the goal is to "capture" enemy dots by surrounding them with ...

Labyrinth (paper-and-pencil game) Labyrinth is a paper-and-pencil game played by three or more participants. One participant (known as the game master or game leader) designs the labyrinth map, sets the game rules, and announces the results of each move. The other players attem ...

Notakto Notakto is a tic-tac-toe variants, tic-tac-toe variant, also known as neutral or impartial tic-tac-toe. The game is a combination of the games tic-tac-toe and Nim, played across one or several boards with both of the players playing the same piece ...

Order and Chaos Order and Chaos is a variant of the game tic-tac-toe on a 6×6 . It was invented by Stephen Sniderman and introduced by him in ''Games'' magazine in 1981. The player ''Order'' strives to create a five-in-a-row of either Xs or Os. The opponent ' ...

* Paper Soccer *

Phutball Phutball (short for Philosopher's Football) is a two-player abstract strategy board game described in Elwyn Berlekamp, John Horton Conway, and Richard K. Guy's '' Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays''. Rules Phutball is played on the in ...

Racetrack (game) Racetrack is a paper and pencil game that simulates a car race, played by two or more players. The game is played on a squared sheet of paper, with a pencil line tracking each car's movement. The rules for moving represent a car with a certain in ...

* Sim * Snort * SOS (game) * Sprouts *

Tennis (paper game) Tennis is an (abstract) strategic pencil and paper game for two players. The game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. ...

"N-in-a-row" games

All-in-a-row games involve placing and/or moving pieces on a game board attempting to create a layout of n of your pieces in a straight line (often n=3, but not always).

Positional game A positional game is a kind of a combinatorial game for two players. It is described by: *Xa finite set of elements. Often ''X'' is called the ''board'' and its elements are called ''positions''. *\mathcala family of subsets of X. These subse ...

s involve ''only'' playing pieces, with no movement or captures afterwards. Many of these positional games can also be played as paper and pencil games, and these are marked †. (Generally, 3D games are difficult to play on paper.) : Positional "n-in-a-row" games *

Connect Four Connect Four (also known as Connect 4, Four Up, Plot Four, Find Four, Captain's Mistress, Four in a Row, Drop Four, and Gravitrips in the Soviet Union) is a two-player connection board game, in which the players choose a color and then take tur ...

† *

Connect 4x4 Connect 4x4 (spoken as Connect Four by Four) is a three-dimensional-thinking strategy game first released in 2009 by Milton Bradley. The goal of the game is identical to that of its similarly named predecessor, Connect Four Connect Four (also ...

Connect6 Connect6 (; Pinyin: liùzǐqí; ; ja, 六目並べ; ko, 육목) introduced in 2003 by Professor I-Chen Wu at Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, is a two-player strategy game si ...

† *

Gobblet ''Gobblet'' is a board game for two players designed by Thierry Denoual and published in 2001 by Gigamic and Blue Orange Games. Gobblet was a finalist for the 2004 Jeu de l'année The Jeu de l'année (French for ''Game of the Year'') was a Fren ...

Gomoku ''Gomoku'', also called ''Five in a Row'', is an abstract strategy board game. It is traditionally played with Go pieces (black and white stones) on a Go board. It is played using a 15×15 board while in the past a 19×19 board was standard. Be ...

† * Grinder * Hijara † * Join Five (aka. '' Morpion solitaire'', ''Cross 'n' Lines'', ''Line Game'') † *

Quarto Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...

Qubic 3D tic-tac-toe, also known by the trade name Qubic, is an abstract strategy board game, generally for two players. It is similar in concept to traditional tic-tac-toe but is played in a cubical array of cells, usually 4x4x4. Players take turns pla ...

Renju ''Renju'' (Japanese: 連珠) is a professional variant of gomoku. It was named renju by Japanese journalist Ruikou Kuroiwa (黒岩涙香) on December 6, 1899 in a Japanese newspaper ''Yorozu chouhou'' (萬朝報). The name "renju" comes from t ...

† *

Rhumb Line In navigation, a rhumb line, rhumb (), or loxodrome is an arc crossing all meridians of longitude at the same angle, that is, a path with constant bearing as measured relative to true north. Introduction The effect of following a rhumb li ...

† *

Score Four Score Four is a "three dimensional" abstract strategy game, similar to Connect Four (Milton Bradley, 1974). It was first sold under the name "Score Four" by Funtastic in 1968. Lakeside issued 4 different versions in the 1970s. Later Hasbro sold ...

* Quantum tic-tac-toe *

Tic Tac Toe Tic-tac-toe (American English), noughts and crosses (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), or Xs and Os (Canadian English, Canadian or Hiberno-English, Irish English) is a paper-and-pencil game for two players who ta ...

(aka ''Noughts and Crosses'') † *

Ultimate tic-tac-toe Ultimate tic-tac-toe (also known as super tic-tac-toe, meta tic-tac-toe or (tic-tac-toe)²) is a board game composed of nine tic-tac-toe boards arranged in a 3 × 3 grid. Players take turns playing on the smaller tic-tac-toe boards unt ...

Yinsh ''YINSH'' is an abstract strategy board game by game designer Kris Burm. It is the fifth game to be released in the ''GIPF'' Project. At the time of its release in 2003, Burm stated that he intended it to be considered as the sixth and last ga ...

: Non-Positional "n-in-a-row" games, i.e. games with movements and/or captures * Achi * Boku * Check Lines *

Dala Dala may refer to: Places *Dala Airport, Dalarna province, Sweden *Dala, Angola * Dala, Bhutan * Dala, Kano, Nigeria **Dalla Hill, a hill in Kano, Nigeria *Đala, Serbia * Dalas, Khuzestan Province, Iran *Dala Township, Yangon, Myanmar People * ...

Dara Dara is a given name used for both males and females, with more than one origin. Dara is found in the Bible's Old Testament Books of Chronicles. Dara �רעwas a descendant of Judah (son of Jacob). (The Bible. 1 Chronicles 2:6). Dara (also know ...

* Kamisado *

Morabaraba ''Morabaraba'' is a traditional two-player strategy board game played in South Africa and Botswana with a slightly different variation played in Lesotho. The game is known by many names in many languages, including ''mlabalaba'', ''mmela'' (in S ...

* Morris -

Three 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * ''Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

, Six and

Nine men's morris Nine men's Morris is a strategy board game for two players dating at least to the Roman Empire. The game is also known as nine-man morris, mill, mills, the mill game, merels, merrills, merelles, marelles, morelles, and ninepenny marl in English. ...

Nine Holes Nine Holes is a two-player abstract strategy game from different parts of the world and is centuries old. It was very popular in England. It is related to tic-tac-toe Tic-tac-toe (American English), noughts and crosses (Commonwealth Engl ...

Pentago Pentago is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Tomas Flodén. The game is played on a 6×6 board divided into four 3×3 sub-boards (or quadrants). Taking turns, the two players place a marble of their color (either black or white) o ...

Pente Pente is an abstract strategy board game for two or more players, created in 1977 by Gary Gabrel. A member of the m,n,k game family, Pente stands out for its custodial capture mechanic, which allows players to "sandwich" pairs of stones and capt ...

, a variant of

Ninuki-renju Pente is an abstract strategy board game for two or more players, created in 1977 by Gary Gabrel. A member of the m,n,k game family, Pente stands out for its custodial capture mechanic, which allows players to "sandwich" pairs of stones and capt ...

Picaria Picaria is a two-player abstract strategy game from the Zuni Native American Indians or the Pueblo Indians of the American Southwest. It is related to tic-tac-toe, but more related to three men's morris, Nine Holes, Achi, Tant Fant, and Shis ...

* Shax *

Shisima Shisima is a two-player abstract strategy game from Kenya. It is related to tic-tac-toe, and even more so to three men's morris, Nine Holes, Achi, Tant Fant, and Dara, because pieces are moved on the board to create the 3-in-a-row. Unlike those ...

(Rota) *

Square chess Fangqi () is a strategy board game played traditionally throughout Northern China as a training game for weiqi ( Go). Fangqi is also known as diūfāng () and xiàfāng (). Muslim people of Chinese origin (Dungans), brought the game with them to Ce ...

Tant Fant Tant Fant is a two-player abstract strategy game from India. It is related to tic-tac-toe, but more closely related to three men's morris, Nine Holes, Achi, Shisima, and Dara, because pieces are moved on the board to create the 3 in-a-row. It i ...

Tapatan Three men's morris is an abstract strategy game played on a three by three board (counting lines) that is similar to tic-tac-toe. It is also related to six men's morris and nine men's morris. A player wins by forming a mill, that is, three of thei ...

Teeko Teeko is an abstract strategy game invented by John Scarne in 1937 and rereleased in refined form in 1952 and again in the 1960s. Teeko was marketed by Scarne's company, John Scarne Games Inc.; its quirky name, he said, borrowed letters from Tic-t ...

* Tsoro Yematatu *

Wali A wali (''wali'' ar, وَلِيّ, '; plural , '), the Arabic word which has been variously translated "master", "authority", "custodian", "protector", is most commonly used by Muslims to indicate an Islamic saint, otherwise referred to by t ...

Blockade games

Blockade games primarily involve moving your pieces, following the game rules, so as to block your opponent from having any move they can make. In symmetric blockade games, both players have the same number of pieces with the same movement capabilities. In asymmetric blockade games, players have different numbers of pieces with different movement capabilities—usually one player having a single piece of greater movement range and the other player having multiple pieces of lesser movement capabilities. :Symmetric Blockade Games * Amazons * Madelinette / "Lost in the Berry Patch" * Mlýnek *

Mū tōrere Mū tōrere is a two-player board game played mainly by Māori people from New Zealand's North Island. Each player has four counters. The game has a simple premise but expert players are able to see up to 40 moves ahead. Like many other Māori boar ...

* Pat Gonu * Pong Hau K'i (aka Sua tok tong, Umul Gonu, Gang Gonu or Do-guti) *Tako Judo (Octopuss Wrestling) *

Toads and Frogs The combinatorial game Combinatorial game theory is a branch of mathematics and theoretical computer science that typically studies sequential games with perfect information. Study has been largely confined to two-player games that have a ''po ...

:Asymmetric Blockade Games *

Bear games Bear games is a category of board games of which many have historical roots in the Roman Empire. They were played in parts of the Empire as far away as Turkey and France and are still played today, especially in Italy. All of the games are two-pl ...

Fox and Hounds Fox games are a category of asymmetric board games for two players, where one player is the fox and tries to eat the geese / sheep, and the opposing player directs the geese/sheep and attempts to trap the fox, or reach a destination on the board. I ...

Hare games Hare games are two-player abstract strategy board games that were popular in medieval northern Europe up until the 19th century. In this game, a hare is trying to get past three dogs who are trying to surround it and trap it. The three dogs are re ...

* Koti Keliya

Connection games

connection game A connection game is a type of abstract strategy game in which players attempt to complete a specific type of connection with their pieces. This could involve forming a path between two or more endpoints, completing a closed loop, or connecting all ...

Browne, C. (2005). ''Connection Games: Variations on a Theme''. Wellesly, MA: A. K. Peters. is a type of

in which players attempt to complete a specific type of connection with their pieces. This could involve forming a path between two or more goals, completing a closed loop, or connecting all of one's pieces so they are adjacent to each other. Those marked † can also be played as paper and pencil games. * Bridg-It, also called Gale † * Blue Lagoon *

Crosstrack ''Crosstrack'', billed as the "unique track switching game", is an abstract strategy game designed by Philip Shoptaugh and first published in 1994. Players place special track pieces onto an irregular octagon board, winning by being the first t ...

Dots Directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS, also known as TB-DOTS) is the name given to the tuberculosis (TB) control strategy recommended by the World Health Organization. According to WHO, "The most cost-effective way to stop the spread of ...

* Dots and boxes † *

Gonnect ''Gonnect'' is a strategy board game for two players invented by João Pedro Neto in 2000. The game is played with standard Go equipment (usually on a 13×13 or 15×15 board) and basically uses the same rules as ''Go'', however the goal of the ga ...

* Havannah † *

Hex Hex or HEX may refer to: Magic * Hex, a curse or supposed real and potentially supernaturally realized malicious wish * Hex sign, a barn decoration originating in Pennsylvania Dutch regions of the United States * Hex work, a Pennsylvania Dutch ...

† *

Onyx Onyx primarily refers to the parallel banded variety of chalcedony, a silicate mineral. Agate and onyx are both varieties of layered chalcedony that differ only in the form of the bands: agate has curved bands and onyx has parallel bands. The c ...

PÜNCT ''PÜNCT'' is a two-player strategy board game. It is the sixth release in the ''GIPF'' project of seven abstract strategy games, although it is considered the fifth game in the project. It was released in 2005. ''PÜNCT'' won the ''Games Maga ...

Selfo Selfo is a class of abstract strategy board games subscribed to the category of connection games. It was designed by Prof. Francisco Vico and its name derives from the phenomenon of self-organization (increase in a system's organization without ex ...

Shannon switching game The Shannon switching game is a connection game for two players, invented by American mathematician and electrical engineer Claude Shannon, the "father of information theory" some time before 1951. Two players take turns coloring the edges of an ...

* Slither *

Star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth make ...

* *Star † * Tak *

Through the Desert ''Through the Desert'' is a German-style board game designed by Reiner Knizia. It was originally released in 1998 by German game publisher, Kosmos, under the name ''Durch die Wüste''. Players place pastel colored plastic camels on a hexago ...

Trax Trax may refer to: Music * ''Trax'' (album), the debut album from Japanese electronic music group Ravex *TRAX (band), a Korean rock band *Trax Records, first house music label owned by Larry Sherman in Chicago * Trax (sequencer), an old MIDI sequ ...

* Trxilt *

TwixT TwixT is a two-player strategy board game, an early entrant in the 1960s 3M bookshelf game series. It became one of the most popular and enduring games in the series. It is a connection game where players alternate turns placing pegs and l ...

(† ''with modified rules'') * Y †

Stacking games

Accasta ''Accasta'' is a stacking abstract strategy board game on a hexagonal board for two players. The game was designed by Dieter Stein and published solely over the web and in the German game design magazine '. History Accasta was influenced by Dr. E ...

Battle Sheep ''Battle Sheep'' is a 2010 board game developed by Francesco Rotta. It has been published by Blue Orange Games, HUCH! & friends and Lautapelit.fi. Rules ''Battle Sheep'' is a game for two to four players. It is played on a hexagonal grid represe ...

Death Stacks ''Death Stacks'' is an abstract strategy board game for two players invented by Stephen Euin Cobb. ''Death Stacks'' can be classified as a variant of the game ''Focus'' by Sid Sackson, published in ''A Gamut of Games''. The Annual ''Death Stacks ...

DVONN ''DVONN'' is a two-player strategy board game in which the objective is to accumulate pieces in stacks. It was released in 2001 by Kris Burm as the fourth game of the ''GIPF'' Project. ''DVONN'' won the 2002 International Gamers Award and the ' ...

(part of the

GIPF project GIPF may refer to: * The ''GIPF'' Project, comprising seven abstract strategy board games by Kris Burm * ''GIPF'' (game), the first and central game of the ''GIPF'' Project * Government Institutions Pension Fund (Namibia) A governm ...

, listed below) * Emergo *

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

Gounki Gounki is an abstract strategy game Abstract strategy games admit a number of definitions which distinguish these from strategy games in general, mostly involving no or minimal narrative theme, outcomes determined only by player choice (with no ...

Lasca Lasca (also called Laska or Laskers) is a draughts (or checkers) variant, invented by the second World Chess Champion Emanuel Lasker (1868–1941). Lasca is derived from English draughts (American checkers) and the Russian draughts game bashni ( ...

* Pylos *

Santorini Santorini ( el, Σαντορίνη, ), officially Thira (Greek: Θήρα ) and classical Greek Thera ( English pronunciation ), is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from the Greek mainland. It is th ...

* Torres

Annihilation games

''This category is in development, while we re-analyze the collection of games listed under "Other Games".''
Annihilation games have as a central goal the idea of capturing or eliminating all of the opponents pieces before they can capture yours. The rules for how a capture is accomplished vary greatly. A classic example of this category is checkers. Two most common forms of capture are jump (one piece jumps an opponent's piece) and custodial (one piece is surrounded by two or more opponent pieces). We include here both "capture and remove from the board" games and "capture and convert to one of your pieces" games. *

Agon Agon (Greek ) is a Greek term for a conflict, struggle or contest. This could be a contest in athletics, in chariot or horse racing, or in music or literature at a public festival in ancient Greece. Agon is the word-forming element in 'agony', ...

Alquerque Alquerque (also known as Qirkat from ar, القرقات) is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game that is thought to have originated in the Middle East. It is considered to be the parent of draughts (US: checkers) and Fanorona. History ...

* Apit-sodok *

Armenian checkers Armenian draughts, or Tama, is a variant of draughts (or checkers) played in Armenia. The rules are similar to Dama. Armenian draughts, however, allows for diagonal movement. Rules On an 8×8 board, 16 men are lined up on each side in two rows, ...

* Astar *

Ataxx ''Ataxx'' (アタックス) is a strategy video game published in arcades by Leland Corporation in 1990. Two players compete on a seven-by-seven square grid. The object of the game is for a player to have a majority of the pieces on the board at ...

Awithlaknannai Mosona Awithlaknannai Mosona is a two-player strategy board game from the Zuni Native American Indian tribe of New Mexico, United States. It is unknown how old the game is. The game was described by Stewart Culin in his book "Games of the North American ...

Bizingo Bizingo is a two-player strategy board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniature ...

* Brax *

Butterfly Butterflies are insects in the macrolepidopteran clade Rhopalocera from the order Lepidoptera, which also includes moths. Adult butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. The group comprises ...

Camelot Camelot is a castle and court associated with the legendary King Arthur. Absent in the early Arthurian material, Camelot first appeared in 12th-century French romances and, since the Lancelot-Grail cycle, eventually came to be described as the ...

Canadian checkers Canadian checkers (or Canadian draughts) is a variant of the strategy board game draughts. It is one of the largest draughts games, played on a 12×12 checkered board with 30 game pieces per player. History The game was invented by the French set ...

* Choko *

Cinc Camins Cinc camins is a two-player abstract strategy game from northern China. Although played by children, there is a complexity and uniqueness to the game that adults can appreciate. The game may be related to the Gonu games of Korea. These games u ...

Dablot Prejjesne Dablo (also called Dablot Prejjesne) is a family of two-player strategy board games of the Sámi people. Different variants of the game have been played in different parts of Sápmi. Names The word "dablo" is a non-Sámi attempt to write the Sout ...

Daldøs Daldøs running-fight board game">ø">al'døs">ø.html" ;"title="al'dø">al'døsis a Running-fight game">running-fight board game only known from a few coastal locations in southern Scandinavia, where its history can be traced back to around 18 ...

* Dash-guti *

Checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group of strategy board games for two players which involve diagonal moves of uniform game pieces and mandatory captures by jumping over opponent pieces. Checkers ...

(also known as draughts) * Egara-guti *

Fanorona Fanorona () is a strategy board game for two players. The game is indigenous to Madagascar. Rules Fanorona has three standard versions: Fanoron-Telo, Fanoron-Dimy, and Fanoron-Tsivy. The difference between these variants is the size of board play ...

Four Field Kono Four Field Kono ( ko, 네밭고누) is an abstract strategy game from Korea. Each player attempts to capture the other player's pieces by jumping over their own piece and landing on the other player's piece. The game is not related or similar to ...

* Gala (game) * Gol-skuish * High Jump *

Italian Damone {{Short description, Strategy board game Italian Damone is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Italy. It belongs to the draughts (checkers) family, and it is specifically a diagonal checkers variant. Each player's pieces are initially p ...

Jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

(Dou Shou Qi, ''The Game of Fighting Animals'') *

Jul-Gonu Jul-Gonu (줄 고누 in Korean) is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Korea. It is one of many Gonu games. The game has a relatively small board (4×4 square board), and yet offers a challenge at different levels. The game could be play ...

* Keny *

Kharbaga Kharbaga is a two-player abstract strategy game from North Africa. In a way, it is a miniature version of Zamma; however, there are more diagonal lines per square on the board as compared to Zamma. The game is considered part of the Zamma family. T ...

Kolowis Awithlaknannai (Fighting Serpents) Kolowis Awithlaknannai (also known as fighting serpents) is a two-player strategy board game from the Zuni Native American Indians. It was described by Stewart Culin in his book ''Games of the North American Indians'' (1907), and may have been ...

Kotu Ellima Kotu Ellima is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon) played by the Sinhalese people. The game was documented by Henry Parker in ''Ancient Ceylon: An Account of the Aborigines and of Part of the Early Ci ...

Lau kata kati Lau kata kati is a two-player abstract strategy game from India, specifically from Lower Bengal, and also from United Provinces, Karwi Subdivision where it is called Kowwu Dunki, and it was described by H.J.R. Murray in ''A History of Board-Games ...

Liberian Queah Liberian Queah is a two-player abstract strategy game from Liberia. It is specifically from the Mamba, Queah and Bassa tribes. The game is played on a slanted or diagonal square board with only 13 spaces. Pieces move "orthogonally" along these ...

Mak-yek Mak-yek ( th, หมากแยก, ) is a two-player abstract strategy board game played in Thailand and Myanmar. Players move their pieces as in the rook in Chess and attempt to capture their opponent's pieces through custodian and interven ...

Meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh Tiger game played with forty, translation of ''meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh'', is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sumatra, Indonesia. The last part of the name, ploh, is sometimes spelled "plo". It is specifically played by the Aceh ...

Dam-daman Tiger game played with forty, translation of ''meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh'', is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sumatra, Indonesia. The last part of the name, ploh, is sometimes spelled "plo". It is specifically played by the Aceh ...

Ratti-chitti-bakri Tiger game played with forty, translation of ''meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh'', is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sumatra, Indonesia. The last part of the name, ploh, is sometimes spelled "plo". It is specifically played by the Aceh ...

* Ming Mang *

Peralikatuma Peralikatuma is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon). It is a game related to draughts ( checkers) and Alquerque as players hop over one another's pieces when capturing them. The game was documented b ...

Permainan-Tabal Permainan-Tabal is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Indonesia. The game is sometimes referred to as a cross between Alquerque and Draughts Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; British English), is a group ...

* Pretwa *

Rek (Game) Mak-yek ( th, หมากแยก, ) is a two-player abstract strategy board game played in Thailand and Myanmar. Players move their pieces as in the rook in Chess and attempt to capture their opponent's pieces through custodian and interventio ...

, and its variant Min Rek Chanh *

Sáhkku Sáhkku is a board game of the Sami people. The game is traditional among the North Sámi, Skolt Sámi, Inari Sámi and Lule Sámi but may also have been played in other parts of Sápmi. Rules Sáhkku is a running-fight game, which means that ...

Stay Alive (game) ''Stay Alive'' is a strategy game, where 2-4 players try to keep their marbles from falling through holes in the game board while trying to make their opponents' marbles fall through. It was originally published by Milton Bradley Milton Brad ...

Satoel Tiger game played with forty, translation of ''meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh'', is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sumatra, Indonesia. The last part of the name, ploh, is sometimes spelled "plo". It is specifically played by the Acehn ...

Sixteen Soldiers Sixteen Soldiers is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sri Lanka. It also comes from India under the name Cows and Leopards. A variant of this game is also popular in Bangladesh, where it is known as Sholo guti (Sixteen pieces). One w ...

(aka "Cows and Leopards" or "Sholo guti") *

Surakarta Surakarta ( jv, ꦯꦸꦫꦏꦂꦠ), known colloquially as Solo ( jv, ꦱꦭ; ), is a city in Central Java, Indonesia. The 44 km2 (16.2 sq mi) city adjoins Karanganyar Regency and Boyolali Regency to the north, Karanganyar Regency and ...

* Terhuchu * Tobit *

Tuknanavuhpi ''Tuknanavuhpi is a two-player abstract strategy board game played by the Hopi Native American Indians of Arizona, United States. It is also played in many parts of Mexico. The game was traditionally played on a slab of stone with the board patter ...

Tukvnanawopi {{no footnotes, date=December 2008 Tûkvnanawöpi is a two-player abstract strategy board game played by the Hopi native American Indians of Arizona, United States. The game was traditionally played on a slab of stone, and the board pattern etched ...

Turkish draughts Turkish draughts (Turkish: Dama)(Armenian: շաշկի)(Arabic: دامە)(Kurmanji: دامە) is a variant of draughts (checkers) played in Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and several other locations around the Mediterranean Se ...

Watermelon Chess Watermelon Chess is a two-player abstract strategy game from China where it is known as ''Xi Gua Qi''. It is also known as The Surround Game and Globe. Played on a network of curved lines, players take turns to move a piece, capturing the opponen ...

Yoté Yoté is a traditional strategy board game of West Africa, where it is a popular gambling game due to its fast pace and surprising turnarounds. A player wins by capturing all opposing pieces. Yoté is related to the game Choko. Rules The game i ...

Zamma ''Zamma'' is a two-player abstract strategy game from Africa. It is especially played in North Africa. The game is similar to '' alquerque'' and draughts. Board sizes vary, but they are square boards, such as 5x5 or 9x9 square grids with left and ri ...

Counting games

''This category is in development, while we re-analyze the collection of games listed under "Other Games".''
These games involve some aspect of counting, especially to determine the relative outcomes of various alternatives at points along the way. A classic example of this category are the various Mancala games. *

Chopsticks Chopsticks ( or ; Pinyin: ''kuaizi'' or ''zhu'') are shaped pairs of equal-length sticks of Chinese origin that have been used as kitchen and eating utensils in most of East and Southeast Asia for over three millennia. They are held in the domi ...

Mancala The mancala games are a family of two-player turn-based strategy board games played with small stones, beans, or seeds and rows of holes or pits in the earth, a board or other playing surface. The objective is usually to capture all or som ...

and related games

Positional games

''This category is in development, while we re-analyze the collection of games listed under "Other Games".''
Positional games allow no captures, but require some arrangement of pieces that constitutes a "win". This is a broad category that includes, as sub-categories, both the "All-in-a-row" games and the "Blockade" games. We include here only the positional games that do ''not'' fit into those two categories. *

Abalone Abalone ( or ; via Spanish , from Rumsen ''aulón'') is a common name for any of a group of small to very large marine gastropod molluscs in the family Haliotidae. Other common names are ear shells, sea ears, and, rarely, muttonfish or mu ...

* Chinese checkers *

Conspirateurs ''Conspirateurs'' () is a two- or four-player strategy board game said to have been invented in 18th-century France. Robert Charles Bell believes the game to date from after 1789, following the French Revolutionary Wars, "a period of feverish po ...

Diaballik Diaballik is an abstract strategy board game designed by Philippe Lefrançois. It attempts to simulate a sport wherein two teams are simultaneously trying to get their ball to the opposite team's goal line. The board depicts a 7x7 grid. Rules ...

Five Field Kono Five Field Kono (오밭고누) is a Korean abstract strategy game. A player wins by moving all of their pieces into the starting locations of their opponent's pieces. Rules The players take turns moving one of their pieces one square diagonally. ...

Halma Halma (from the Greek word ἅλμα meaning "jump") is a strategy board game invented in 1883 or 1884 by George Howard Monks, an American thoracic surgeon at Harvard Medical School. His inspiration was the English game ''Hoppity'' which was d ...

Neutron The neutron is a subatomic particle, symbol or , which has a neutral (not positive or negative) charge, and a mass slightly greater than that of a proton. Protons and neutrons constitute the nuclei of atoms. Since protons and neutrons behav ...

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrila ...

Salta Salta () is the capital and largest city in the Argentine province of the same name. With a population of 618,375 according to the 2010 census, it is also the 7th most-populous city in Argentina. The city serves as the cultural and economic ce ...

Ugolki Ugolki (, russian: уголки}, English: ''corners'') is a two-player board game, similar to halma, that is typically played on an 8×8 grid board with 16 game pieces per player. It is said to have been invented in Europe in the late 18th cent ...

Hunt games

''This category is in development, while we re-analyze the collection of games listed under "Other Games".''
In "hunting" games, one player's pieces are "hunting" the other player's pieces, so that one player is trying to capture the second player's pieces, while the second player is trying to avoid captures, arranging their pieces to surround the hunters, to be protected from the hunters, etc. A classic example of this category is Fox and Geese. These games tend to have the hunter playing a "capture" game while the prey is playing a "positional" game. * Aadu puli attam *

Adugo Adugo is a two-player abstract strategy game from the Bororo tribe in the Pantanal region of Brazil. It is a hunting game similar to those in Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent. It is especially similar to Komikan, Rimau, Rimau-rima ...

Asalto Asalto, also known as the Assault Game, German Tactics or Officers and Sepoys, is a board game for two players in which one player, playing as the officers, attempts to defend a fortress from their opponent's invading rebels. The game is a variant ...

Bagh bandi Bagh bandi is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Lower Bengal, India. It is a hunt game. It uses an Alquerque board, and therefore, Bagh bandi is specifically a tiger hunt game (or tiger game). There are two tigers attempting to elud ...

Bagha-Chall ''Bagh-Chal'' ( ne, ''bāgh cāl'', new, धुँ कासा ''dhun kasa'' meaning "tiger game") is a strategic, two-player board game that originated in Nepal. The game is asymmetric in that one player controls four tigers and the other pla ...

Buga-shadara Buga-shadara, also known as Bouge Shodre, is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Tuva, a republic in Siberia, Russia. It is a hunt game where one player plays the deer (which is "buga" in the Tuva language). There are two deer usually rep ...

* Catch the Hare (aka Cercar la Liebre or Corner the Rabbit) *

Demala diviyan keliya Demala diviyan keliya or Koti Sellama is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sri Lanka, formerly known as Ceylon. It is a hunt game, and since it uses a triangle board, Demala diviyan keliya is specifically a leopard hunt game (or leo ...

Fox games Fox games are a category of asymmetric board games for two players, where one player is the fox and tries to eat the geese / sheep, and the opposing player directs the geese/sheep and attempts to trap the fox, or reach a destination on the board. I ...

, such as ''Fox and Geese'' *

Hat diviyan keliya Hat diviyan keliya is a two-player abstract strategy game from Sri Lanka (formerly called Ceylon). It is a Leopard hunt game (or Leopard game). One tiger is going up against seven leopards. The leopards attempt to surround and trap the tiger wh ...

Kaooa Kaooa is a two-player abstract strategy game from India. It is a hunt game like Rimau, Rimau-rimau, Main Tapal Empat, Bagha-Chall, the Fox games, and Aadu Puli Attam. However, what makes Kaooa unique is that the board is a five-pointed star or ...

* Khla si ko *

Komikan Komikan (from the Mapuche kom ikan "to eat all") is a two-player abstract strategy board game of the Mapuches (known by the Spaniards as the Araucanians) from Chile and Argentina. The same game is also played by the Incas under the name Taptana, ...

* Len Choa *

Leopard hunt game Leopard hunt games or simply leopard games are a group of abstract strategy games of Southeast Asian origin, similar in spirit to European fox games, although they are believed to have arisen independently. The games are usually played on a tria ...

* Len cúa kín ngoa * Main Tapal Empat *

Meurimueng-rimueng-do Meurimueng-rimueng-do is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Sumatra, Indonesia. It is played by the Acehnese. The game was published in the book entitled "The Achehnese" by Hurgronje, O'Sullivan, and Wilkinson in 1906 and described on ...

Pulijudam The Lambs and Tigers Game locally referred as the Game of Goats and Tigers ( ta, Aadu puli aatam, te, Meka puli aata, kn, Aadu Huli aata) or Pulijudam, is a strategic, two-player (or 2 teams) leopard hunt game that is played in south India. T ...

Rimau Rimau is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Malaysia. It is a hunt game, and specifically a tiger hunt game (or tiger game) since it uses an expanded Alquerque board. One tiger is being hunted by 24 men. The tiger attempts to eat the ...

Rimau-rimau Rimau-rimau is a two-player abstract strategy board game that belongs to the hunt game family. This family includes games like Bagh-Chal, Main Tapal Empat, Aadu puli attam, Catch the Hare, Sua Ghin Gnua, the Fox games, Buga-shadara, and many ...

Sher-bakar Sher-bakar is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Punjab, India. It is a hunt game. It uses an Alquerque board, and therefore, Sher-bakar is specifically a tiger hunt game (or tiger game). There are two tigers attempting to elude and ...

(aka "Cows and Leopards" or "Sholo guti") *

Sua Ghin Gnua Sua Ghin Gnua is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Thailand, formerly known as Siam. Another name for the game is Tigers and Oxen. It is a hunt game played on a 5x5 square grid with only orthogonal lines. One player plays the three t ...

(aka Tigers and Oxen) *

Tiger and Buffaloes Tiger and buffaloes is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Myanmar (formerly known as Burma). It belongs to the hunt game family. The board is a 4x4 square grid, where pieces are placed on the intersection points and move along the line ...

Tiger game {{unreferenced, date=October 2011 The tiger game is a traditional Chinese board game. It is a strategy game for two players. One player, who plays the tiger, has only one piece. The other player has 18 men. The tiger must eat the men, who must ...

Non-combinatorial abstract strategy games

These games include hidden information or set up, random elements (e.g. rolling dice or drawing cards or tiles) or simultaneous movement. *

Agricola Agricola, the Latin word for farmer, may also refer to: People Cognomen or given name :''In chronological order'' * Gnaeus Julius Agricola (40–93), Roman governor of Britannia (AD 77–85) * Sextus Calpurnius Agricola, Roman governor of the mid ...

Ashtapada Ashtāpada ( sa, अष्टापद) or Ashtapadi is an Indian board game which predates chess and was mentioned on the list of games that Gautama Buddha would not play. Chaturanga, which could be played on the same , appeared sometime around ...

* Alhambra *

Baccarat Baccarat or baccara (; ) is a card game played at casinos. It is a comparing card game played between two hands, the "player" and the "banker". Each baccarat coup (round of play) has three possible outcomes: "player" (player has the higher score ...

Backgammon Backgammon is a two-player board game played with counters and dice on tables boards. It is the most widespread Western member of the large family of tables games, whose ancestors date back nearly 5,000 years to the regions of Mesopotamia an ...

* Bang! * Battleship *

Black Box In science, computing, and engineering, a black box is a system which can be viewed in terms of its inputs and outputs (or transfer characteristics), without any knowledge of its internal workings. Its implementation is "opaque" (black). The te ...

* Blackjack *

Boggle ''Boggle'' is a word game invented by Allan Turoff and originally distributed by Parker Brothers. The game is played using a plastic grid of lettered dice, in which players look for words in sequences of adjacent letters. Rules One player be ...

* Bul *

Carcassonne Carcassonne (, also , , ; ; la, Carcaso) is a French fortified city in the department of Aude, in the region of Occitanie. It is the prefecture of the department. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Carcassonne is located in the plain of the ...

Catan ''Catan'', previously known as ''The Settlers of Catan'' or simply ''Settlers'', is a multiplayer board game designed by Klaus Teuber. It was first published in 1995 in Germany by Franckh-Kosmos Verlag (Kosmos) as ''Die Siedler von Catan''. P ...

Clue Clue may refer to: People with the name * DJ Clue (born 1975), mixtape DJ * Arthur Clues (1924–1998), Australian rugby league footballer * Ivan Clues * Tim Cluess Arts, entertainment, and media ''Clue'' entertainment franchise * ''Clued ...

Concentration In chemistry, concentration is the abundance of a constituent divided by the total volume of a mixture. Several types of mathematical description can be distinguished: '' mass concentration'', '' molar concentration'', '' number concentration'' ...

Contract bridge Contract bridge, or simply bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard 52-card deck. In its basic format, it is played by four players in two competing partnerships, with partners sitting opposite each other around a table. Millions ...

Cribbage Cribbage, or crib, is a card game, traditionally for two players, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. It can be adapted for three or four players. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribba ...

* Dark Chess *

Dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces, commonly known as dominoes. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also ca ...

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (T ...

Farkle Farkle, or Farkel, is a dice game Dice games are games that use or incorporate one or more dice as their sole or central component, usually as a random device In computing, a hardware random number generator (HRNG) or true random number gener ...

* Feudal * Gin rummy * Hearts *

Ingenious Ingenious may refer to: * Ingenious (board game) (2004) by Reiner Knizia * ''Ingenious'' (2009 American film), a 2009 drama comedy romance film, originally titled ''Lightbulb'', starring Dallas Roberts, Jeremy Renner, Ayelet Zurer * ''Ingenious' ...

Kriegspiel Kriegspiel is a chess variant invented by Henry Michael Temple in 1899 and based upon the original Kriegsspiel (German for ''war game'') developed by Georg von Reiswitz in 1812. In this game, each player can see their own pieces but not those ...

* Liar's dice *

Liubo ''Liubo'' () was an ancient Chinese board game played by two players. The rules have largely been lost, but it is believed that each player had six game pieces that were moved around the points of a square game board that had a distinctive, sym ...

Lost Cities ''Lost Cities'' is a 60-card card game, designed in 1999 by game designer Reiner Knizia and published by several publishers. The objective of the game is to mount profitable expeditions to one or more of the five lost cities (the Himalayas, the ...

Luzhanqi Luzhanqi () (lit. “Land Battle Chess”) is a two-player Chinese board game . There is also a version for four players. It bears many similarities to Dou Shou Qi, Game of the Generals and the Western board game Stratego. It is a non-perfect ...

* Mafia/Werewolf *

Magic: The Gathering ''Magic: The Gathering'' (colloquially known as ''Magic'' or ''MTG'') is a Tabletop game, tabletop and Digital collectible card game, digital Collectible card game, collectable card game created by Richard Garfield. Released in 1993 by Wizards ...

Mahjong Mahjong or mah-jongg (English pronunciation: ) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is commonly played by four players (with some three-pl ...

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situation where a speci ...

Pachisi Pachisi (, Hindustani: əˈtʃiːsiː is a cross and circle board game that originated in Ancient India. It is described in the ancient text ''Mahabharata'' under the name of "Pasha". It is played on a board shaped like a symmetrical cross. A ...

Pandemic A pandemic () is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has spread across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. A widespread endemic disease with a stable number of i ...

Patolli Patolli () or patole () is one of the oldest known games in America. It was a game of strategy and luck played by commoners and nobles alike. It was reported by the conquistadors that Moctezuma Xocoyotzin often enjoyed watching his nobles play t ...

Pit Pit or PIT may refer to: Structure * Ball pit, a recreation structure * Casino pit, the part of a casino which holds gaming tables * Trapping pit, pits used for hunting * Pit (motor racing), an area of a racetrack where pit stops are conducted * ...

Plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; ), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. Often one or more sides ...

Poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

(e.g.

Texas hold'em Texas hold 'em (also known as Texas holdem, hold 'em, and holdem) is one of the most popular variants of the card game of poker. Two cards, known as hole cards, are dealt face down to each player, and then five community cards are dealt fac ...

Five-card draw Five-card draw (also known as a Cantrell draw) is a poker variant that is considered the simplest variant of poker, and is the basis for video poker. As a result, it is often the first variant learned by new players. It is commonly played in ...

) *

Power Grid An electrical grid is an interconnected network for electricity delivery from producers to consumers. Electrical grids vary in size and can cover whole countries or continents. It consists of:Kaplan, S. M. (2009). Smart Grid. Electrical Power ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

Rock paper scissors Rock paper scissors (also known by other orderings of the three items, with "rock" sometimes being called "stone," or as Rochambeau, roshambo, or ro-sham-bo) is a hand game originating in China, usually played between two people, in which each ...

Royal Game of Ur The Royal Game of Ur is a two-player strategy race board game of the tables family that was first played in ancient Mesopotamia during the early third millennium BC. The game was popular across the Middle East among people of all social strata ...

Rummikub ''Rummikub'' () is a tile-based game for 2 to 4 players, combining elements of the card game rummy and mahjong. There are 106 tiles in the game, including 104 numbered tiles (valued 1 to 13 in four different colors, two copies of each) and two jo ...

Scrabble ''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left ...

Senet Senet or senat ( egy, znt, translation=passing; cf. Coptic ⲥⲓⲛⲉ /sinə/ "passing, afternoon") is a board game from ancient Egypt. The earliest representation of senet is dated to E from the Mastaba of Hesy-Re, while similar boards an ...

* Spades *

Stratego ''Stratego'' ( ) is a strategy board game for two players on a board of 10×10 squares. Each player controls 40 pieces representing individual officer and soldier ranks in an army. The pieces have Napoleonic insignia. The objective of the game ...

Tâb Tâb is the Egyptian name of a running-fight board game played in several Muslim (mostly Arab) countries, and a family of similar board games played in North Africa (as ''sîg'') and Western Asia, from Iran to West Africa and from Turkey to Soma ...

* Ticket to Ride *

Tigris and Euphrates ''Tigris and Euphrates'' (german: Euphrat und Tigris) is a tabletop eurogame designed by Reiner Knizia and first published in 1997 by Hans im Glück. Before its publication, it was highly anticipated by German gamers hearing rumors of a "g ...

Tikal Tikal () (''Tik’al'' in modern Mayan orthography) is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Co ...

Uno Uno or UNO may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Television * "Uno" (''Better Call Saul''), premiere episode of the American TV series ''Better Call Saul'' * ''Uno'' (film), a 2004 Norwegian drama film * Rai Uno, an Italian TV channel **' ...

Yahtzee Yahtzee is a dice game made by Milton Bradley Company, Milton Bradley (a company that has since been acquired and assimilated by Hasbro). It was first marketed under the name of Yahtzee by game entrepreneur Edwin S. Lowe in 1956. The game is a ...

Abstract strategy games that depict conquest of the world or entire continents

Axis & Allies ''Axis & Allies'' is a series of World War II strategy game, strategy board games. The first version was initially published in 1981 and a second edition known colloquially as ''Axis & Allies: Classic'' was published in 1984. Played on a board d ...

Diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. 1 ...

Risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environme ...

Other games

Those marked † can also be played as paper and pencil games. ''This category is being reviewed, with some games being moved to other named categories. The review is complete through the C's.'' * Awithlaknakwe *

Blokus Blokus ( ) is an abstract strategy board game for two to four players, where players try to score points by occupying most of the board with pieces of their colour. The board is a square regular grid and the pieces are polyominoes. It was designe ...

* Blue and Gray * Breakthrough * Breakthru *

Cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...

Chomp Chomp is a two-player strategy game played on a rectangular grid made up of smaller square cells, which can be thought of as the blocks of a chocolate bar. The players take it in turns to choose one block and "eat it" (remove from the board), tog ...

* Clobber *

Conquest Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. Military history provides many examples of conquest: the Roman conquest of Britain, the Mauryan conquest of Afghanistan and of vast areas of the Indian subcontinent, t ...

Cram (game) Cram is a mathematical game played on a sheet of graph paper. It is the impartial version of Domineering and the only difference in the rules is that each player may place their dominoes in either orientation, but it results in a very different ga ...

Crossings Crossings may refer to: * ''Crossings'' (Buffy novel), a 2002 original novel based on the U.S. television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' * Crossings (game), a two-player abstract strategy board game invented by Robert Abbott * ''Crossings'' ...

* Dawson's Kayles *

Diamond Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...

Dodgem Dodgem is a simple abstract strategy game invented by Colin Vout Colin may refer to: * Colin (given name) * Colin (surname) * ''Colin'' (film), a 2008 Cannes film festival zombie movie * Colin (horse) (1905–1932), thoroughbred racehorse * Coli ...

Domineering Domineering (also called Stop-Gate or Crosscram) is a mathematical game that can be played on any collection of squares on a sheet of graph paper. For example, it can be played on a 6×6 square, a rectangle, an entirely irregular polyomino, or a ...

Downfall Downfall may refer to: Books * ''The Downfall'' (novel), an 1892 book by Émile Zola * ''Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire'', a 1999 book by Richard B. Frank about the last days of World War II * ''Downfall'', a 2001 Dragonlance ...

En Gehé En Gehé is a traditional mancala game played by the Loitha and Kisonga Maasai people, Maasai groups of northern Tanzania. The game was first described in 1904 by a German soldier, Moritz Merker, who was serving in the Kaiserlichen Schutztruppe in G ...

Entropy Entropy is a scientific concept, as well as a measurable physical property, that is most commonly associated with a state of disorder, randomness, or uncertainty. The term and the concept are used in diverse fields, from classical thermodyna ...

(1977) *

Epaminondas Epaminondas (; grc-gre, Ἐπαμεινώνδας; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greek general of Thebes and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre-eminent posit ...

* Felli *

Fetaix Fetaix is a two-player abstract strategy board game from Morocco. It is very similar to Alquerque. The only difference is that pieces cannot move backwards until they are promoted to Mullah which is the equivalent of King in draughts. Furthermore ...

Fibonacci nim Fibonacci nim is a mathematical subtraction game, a variant of the game of nim. Players alternate removing coins from a pile, on each move taking at most twice as many coins as the previous move, and winning by taking the last coin. The Fibonacci ...

Fitchneal (in Irish; also spelled , , or , and pronounced in Old Irish) or (in Welsh, pronounced ) was a board game popular among the ancient Celts. The name in both Irish and Welsh is a compound translating to "wood sense"; the fact that the compo ...

Game of the Amazons The Game of the Amazons (in Spanish, ''El Juego de las Amazonas;'' often called Amazons for short) is a two-player abstract strategy game invented in 1988 by Walter Zamkauskas of Argentina.. The game is played by moving pieces and blocking the op ...

* Game of the Generals *The

games: ** GIPF **

TAMSK ''TAMSK'' is a two-player board game designed by Kris Burm. It was originally published in 1998 as the second game in the ''GIPF'' Project series of abstract strategy games, although it was later dropped from the series in favor of TZAAR. Playe ...

ZÈRTZ ''ZÈRTZ'' is the third game in the ''GIPF'' Project of seven abstract strategy games. The game features a shrinking board and an object that promotes sacrifice combinations. It is impartial: since neither player owns on-board pieces, maintain ...

TZAAR ''TZAAR'' is the seventh game released in the ''GIPF'' series and Games Magazine's 2009 ''Game of the Year''. It officially replaced '' TAMSK'', which was originally published as the second board game in the ''GIPF Project''. History The game w ...

** LYNGK * Go *

Grundy's game Grundy's game is a two-player mathematical game of strategy. The starting configuration is a single heap of objects, and the two players take turn splitting a single heap into two heaps of different sizes. The game ends when only heaps of size two ...

* Halatafl * Hare & Tortoise *

Indian and jackrabbits Indian and jackrabbits is a two-player abstract strategy board game from the Tiwa tribe of Taos, New Mexico. A similar game with a slightly different board is also played by the Tohono O'odham tribe of Arizona. From the outset, these games look ...

Jarmo Jarmo (Qal'at Jarmo) ( ku, Çermo) is a prehistoric archeological site located in modern Iraq on the foothills of the Zagros Mountains. It lies at an altitude of 800 m above sea-level in a belt of oak and pistachio woodlands in the Ad ...

Joust Jousting is a martial game or hastilude between two horse riders wielding lances with blunted tips, often as part of a tournament. The primary aim was to replicate a clash of heavy cavalry, with each participant trying to strike the opponent ...

Kayles Kayles is a simple impartial game in combinatorial game theory, invented by Henry Dudeney in 1908. Given a row of imagined bowling pins, players take turns to knock out either one pin, or two adjacent pins, until all the pins are gone. Using the n ...

Kalah Kalah is a modern variation in the ancient Mancala family of games, the oldest known version having been found carved into a stone tablet in the 16th-century BCE pyramid of Cheops. The Kalah variation was developed in the United States by William ...

* Kensington *

Khet KHET (channel 11), branded as PBS Hawai'i, is a PBS member television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands. Owned by the Hawaii Public Television Foundation, the station maintains studios on Sand Island Access ...

* Konane *

Kuzushi is a Japanese term for unbalancing an opponent in the Japanese martial arts. The noun comes from the transitive verb ''kuzusu'' (崩す), meaning ''to level, pull down, destroy or demolish''. As such, it refers to not just an unbalancing, but ...

L game The L game is a simple abstract strategy board game invented by Edward de Bono. It was introduced in his book ''The Five-Day Course in Thinking'' (1967). Description The L game is a two-player game played on a board of 4×4 squares. Each player ...

Leap Frog (board game) Leap Frog, also known as Leapfrog, is a multi-player abstract strategy board game that was described by H.J.R. Murray in ''A History of Board Games Other Than Chess'' (1898) and attributes its origin to England. Several variants have been create ...

Lines of Action Lines of Action (or LOA) is an abstract strategy board game for two players invented by Claude Soucie. The objective is to connect all of one's pieces into a single group. The game was recommended by the Spiel des Jahres in 1988. Rules Goal The ...

Lotus Lotus may refer to: Plants *Lotus (plant), various botanical taxa commonly known as lotus, particularly: ** ''Lotus'' (genus), a genus of terrestrial plants in the family Fabaceae **Lotus flower, a symbolically important aquatic Asian plant also ...

Ludus latrunculorum ''Ludus latrunculorum'', ''latrunculi'', or simply ''latrones'' ("the game of brigands", or "the game of soldiers" from ''latrunculus'', diminutive of ''latro'', mercenary or highwayman) was a two-player strategy board game played throughout the ...

Makonn {{Unreferenced, date=November 2021 Makonn is an abstract strategy game from the Seychelles islands off the eastern coast of Africa. The game is a traditional variant of mancala. It is played on four rows of ten holes such as a 10 x 4 hole board ...

* Martian chess (for two to six players) *

Mozaic Mozaic is a two-player abstract strategy board game, in which players try to score points by placing colored glass gemstones onto a game board to form square patterns. The game was designed by Martin H. Samuel. It was originally produced by ...

* Nations: A Simulation Game in International Politics *

Nim Nim is a mathematical two player game. Nim or NIM may also refer to: * Nim (programming language) * Nim Chimpsky, a signing chimpanzee Acronyms * Network Installation Manager, an IBM framework * Nuclear Instrumentation Module * Negative index met ...

† * Northcott's Game *

Number Scrabble Number Scrabble (also known as Pick15 or 3 to 15) is a mathematical game where players take turns to select numbers from 1 to 9 without repeating any numbers previously used, and the first player with a sum of exactly 15 using any three of their nu ...

Paddles A paddle is a handheld tool with an elongated handle and a flat, widened distal end (i.e. the ''blade''), used as a lever to apply force onto the bladed end. It most commonly describes a completely handheld tool used to propel a human-powered wa ...

Pasang Pasang or Pa Sang may refer to: * Pasang (game), a board game from Brunei *Basang or Pasang, a Tibetan-Chinese politician *Pasang or pesang, regional names for ''Durio graveolens'' Places *Pasang-e Bala, Iran *Pasang-e Pain, Iran * Pa Sang, Mae Ch ...

Patterns II Patterns II is a pencil and paper game developed by Sid Sackson for 3 or more players. It emphasizes the use of inductive logic and scientific analysis The scientific method is an empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has characteri ...

Ponte del Diavolo (Italian for "Devil's bridge") by Martin Ebel is a territorial game (with connective elements similar to Go), in which two players create islands and then add bridges to connect them. It was created by Martin Ebel and published by Hans im Gl ...

Quod Quod may refer to: * ''The Quod'', a contemporary nickname for the English Quota System during the Napoleonic Wars * a ''quod'', the main playing item in the fictional sport of Quodpot in the Harry Potter universe * Quod (board game), an abstract ...

† *

Quoridor ''Quoridor'' is a 2 or 4-player intuitive strategy game designed by Mirko Marchesi and published by Gigamic Games. Quoridor received the ''Mensa Mind Game'' award in 1997 and the ''Game Of The Year'' in the United States, France, Canada and Belgi ...

Reversi Reversi is a strategy board game for two players, played on an 8×8 uncheckered board. It was invented in 1883. Othello, a variant with a fixed initial setup of the board, was patented in 1971. Basics There are sixty-four identical game pieces ...

, also known as Othello *

Rhythmomachy Rithmomachia (also known as Rithmomachy, Arithmomachia, Rythmomachy, Rhythmomachy, The Philosophers' Game, and other variants) is an early European mathematical board game. Its earliest known description dates from the eleventh century. The name ...

Ringo Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

Subtract a square Subtract-a-square (also referred to as take-a-square) is a two-player mathematical subtraction game. It is played by two people with a pile of coins (or other tokens) between them. The players take turns removing coins from the pile, always removi ...

Sz'Kwa {{Short description, Taiwanese abstract strategy game Sz'Kwa is a two-player abstract strategy game from Taiwan. It is a Go (game), go, weiqi, or baduk variant. The Sz'Kwa board is not an n x n square board like go or weiqi. Instead, the board i ...

Tafl games Tafl games (pronounced avl also known as hnefatafl games) are a family of ancient Nordic and Celtic strategy board games played on a checkered or latticed gameboard with two armies of uneven numbers. Most probably they are based upon the R ...

Terrace Terrace may refer to: Landforms and construction * Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river * Terrace, a street suffix * Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...

Three Musketeers 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

* Thud *

Wythoff's game Wythoff's game is a two-player mathematical subtraction game, played with two piles of counters. Players take turns removing counters from one or both piles; when removing counters from both piles, the numbers of counters removed from each pile ...

References

Bibliography * Bell, R.C., (1979), Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations, p. 478, which refers to our "Blockade Games" as "Blocking Games". * Drabble, Margaret, (2010), The Pattern in the Carpet: A Personal History with Jigsaws, p. 66. "Irving Finkel, the colourful curator of the Department of Ancient Near East at the British Museum, is an expert on games of the ancient world. All games, he claims, fit into groups -- race games, all-in-a-row games, hunt games, position games, counting games and war games." *D. Hefetz, M. Krivelevich, M. Stojaković and T. Szabó: Positional Games, Oberwolfach Seminars, Vol. 44, Birkhäuser Basel, 2014. *Michaelsen, Peter, (2014) "Haretavl – Hare and Hounds as a board game", in Sport und Spiel bei den Germanen, M. Teichert, pp. 197–216 *Popova, Assia, (1974). "Analyse formelle et classification des jeux de calculs mongols" in Études Mongoles 5, pp. 7–60. {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of Abstract Strategy Games * *List of abstract strategy games