Game Mechanics

Game mechanics fall into several more or less well-defined categories, which (along with basic gameplay and theme) are sometimes used as a basis to classify games.

1. Turns. In general, a turn is a segment of the game set aside for certain actions to happen before moving on to the next turn, where the sequence of events can largely repeat. In a truly abstract game (backgammon) turns are nothing more than a means to regulate play. In less abstract games (Risk), turns obviously denote the passage of time, but the amount of time is not clear, nor important. In simulation games, time is generally more concrete. Wargames usually specify the amount of time each turn represents, and in sports games a turn is usually distinctly one 'play', although the amount of time a play takes can vary. 
2. Action Points. 

   These control what players may do on their turns in the game by allocating each player a budget of “action points” each turn. These points may be spent performing various actions according to the game rules, such as moving pieces, drawing cards, collecting money, etc. This type of mechanic is common in many of what are called "German-style board games". 

3. Auction / Bidding. Some games use an auction or bidding system in which the players make competitive bids to determine which player gets the right to perform particular actions. 
4. Cards. These involve the use of cards similar to playing cards to act as a randomiser and/or to act as tokens to keep track of states in the game. 
5. Capture / Eliminate. In some games, the number of tokens a player has on the playing surface is related to his current strength in the game. In such games, it can be an important goal to capture opponent's tokens, meaning to remove them from the playing surface. 
6. Catch-up. Some games include a mechanic designed to make progress towards victory more difficult the closer a player gets to it. The idea behind this is to allow trailing players a chance to catch up and potentially still win the game, rather than suffer an inevitable loss once they fall behind. This may be desirable in games such as racing games that have a fixed finish line. 
7. Dice. These involve the use of dice, usually as randomisers. Most dice used in games are the standard cubical dice numbered from 1 to 6, but increasing numbers of games make use of polyhedral dice or dice marked with symbols other than numbers.
   
8. Movement. Many board games involve the movement of playing tokens. How these tokens are allowed to move, and when, is governed by movement mechanics.
9. Resource Management. Many games involve the management of resources. Examples of game resources include game tokens, game money, and game points. Resource management involves the players establishing relative values for various types of available resources, in the context of the current state of the game and the desired outcome (i.e. winning the game).
10. Role-playing. Role-playing games often rely on mechanics that determine the effectiveness of in-game actions by how well the player acts out the role of a fictional character
11. Tile-laying. Many games use tiles - flat, rigid pieces of a regular shape - that can be laid down on a flat surface to form a tessellation. Usually such tiles have patterns or symbols on their surfaces, that combine when tessellated to form game-mechanically significant combinations.
12. Game modes. A game mode is a distinct configuration that affect how other game mechanics behave. A game with several modes will present different settings in each one, changing how a particular element of the game is played. This is used to vary gameplay, often to avoid the boredom of repetition. Changing modes while the game is ongoing can be used as a means to increase difficulty and provide additional challenge.

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Victory condition mechanics

These mechanics control how a player wins the game.

1. Goals. This is the most general sort of victory condition, which can be broad enough to encompass any method of winning, but here refers to game-specific goals that are usually not duplicated in other games. An example is the checkmate of a king in chess.
2. Loss avoidance. Some games feature a losing condition, such as being checkmated (chess), running out of cards first (War), running out of hitpoints (Quake), or being tagged (tag). In such a game, the winner is the only remaining player to have successfully avoided loss.
3. Piece elimination. Some games with capture mechanics are won by the player who removes all, or a given number of, the opponents' playing pieces.
4. Puzzle guessing. Some games end when a player guesses (or solves by logic) the answer to a puzzle or riddle posed by the game. The player who guesses successfully wins. Examples include hangman and zendo.
5. Races. Many simple games (and some complex ones) are effectively races. The first player to advance one or more tokens to or beyond a certain point on the board wins. Examples: backgammon, ludo.
6. Structure building. The goal of a structure building game is to acquire and assemble a set of game resources into either a defined winning structure, or into a structure that is somehow better than those of other players. In some games, the acquisition is of primary importance (e.g. concentration), while in others the resources are readily available and the interactions between them form more or less useful structures (e.g. poker).
7. Territory control. A winner may be decided by which player controls the most "territory" on the playing surface, or a specific piece of territory. This is common in wargames, but is also used in more abstract games such as go.
8. Victory points. A player's progress is often measured by an abstract quantity of victory points, which accumulate as the game develops. Victory points or similar quantities need not be restricted to development games, but are most common in that type as they ensure sufficient reward for all aspects of development.
9. Combination conditions. Some games have multiple victory or loss conditions.

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