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An abstract strategy game is a board, card or other game where game play does not simulate a real world theme, and a player's decisions affect the outcome. Many abstract strategy games are also combinatorial, i.e. they provide perfect information, and rely on neither physical dexterity nor random elements such as rolling dice or drawing cards or tiles. Some board games which do not rely on the removal or movement of pieces can also be played as pen-and-paper games.
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- Apocalypse
- Arimaa
- Chaturaji (India)
- Chaturanga (Indian chess)
- Chess (Western chess)
- Congo
- Courier chess (German chess)
- Crazyhouse
- Dameo
- Djambi (modern French chess variant)
- Duell (chess)
- Fortress chess (Russia)
- Four-handed chess
- Game of the Generals
- Gess
- Grande Acedrex (Spanish chess)
- Hexagonal chess
- Hnefatafl (Nordic chess-like game)
- Hiashatar (Mongolian chess variant)
- Hive (boardless chess-like game)
- Infinite chess
- Janggi (Korean chess)
- Jeson Mor (Mongolian chess variant)
- Ko Shogi (Shogi Variant based on xiangqi and go)
- Kruzno
- Maharajah and the Sepoys (Indian chess variant)
- Makruk (Thai chess)
- Ploy (board game)
- Rollerball (chess variant)
- Senterej (Ethiopian chess)
- Shatar (Mongolian chess)
- Shatra (Altai region of Siberia)
- Shatranj (Persian and Arabian chess)
- Shogi (Japanese chess)
- Shogi variants (other shogi-like games)
- Sittuyin (Burmese chess)
- Suffragetto (Suffragettes vs. Police)
- Tamerlane chess (Persian)
- Three-player chess
- Xiangqi (Chinese chess)
N-in-a-row games involve placing and/or moving pieces on a game board attempting to create a layout of N pieces in a straight line (often N=3, but not always). Positional games[1] 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 4x4
- Connect6 †
- Gobblet
- Gomoku †
- Grinder
- Hijara †
- Join five (aka. morpion solitaire, cross 'n' lines, line game) †
- Quarto
- Qubic
- Renju †
- Rhumb Line †
- Score four
- Quantum tic-tac-toe
- Tic-tac-toe † (aka noughts and crosses)
- Ultimate tic-tac-toe
- Yinsh
- Non-positional "N-in-a-row" games, i.e. games with movements and/or captures
- Achi
- Boku
- Check lines
- Dala
- Dara
- Kamisado
- Morabaraba
- Morris – three, six and nine men's morris
- Nine holes
- Pentago
- Pente, a slight simplification of Ninuki-renju
- Picaria
- Shax
- Shisima
- Square chess
- Tant Fant
- Tapatan
- Teeko
- Tsoro yematatu
- Wali
- Yinsh
Blockade games[2][3] 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
- Grinder
- Mlýnek
- Mū tōrere
- Pong Hau K'i (aka Sua tok tong, umul gonu, gang gonu or do-guti)
- Toads and Frogs
- Asymmetric blockade games
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 goals, completing a closed loop, or connecting all of one's pieces so they are adjacent to each other.[4] Those marked † can also be played as paper and pencil games.
- Bridg-It, also called Gale †
- Crosstrack
- Dots
- Dots and boxes †
- Gonnect
- Havannah †
- Hex †
- Onyx
- Ponte del Diavolo
- PÜNCT
- Selfo
- Shannon switching game
- Slither
- Star
- *Star †
- Tak
- Through the Desert
- Trax
- TwixT († with modified rules)
- Y †
- Accasta
- Battle Sheep
- Death Stacks
- DVONN (part of the GIPF project, listed below)
- Emergo
- Focus
- Gounki
- Lasca
- Plateau
- Pylos
- Santorini
- Torres
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Annihilation games have as a central goal the idea of capturing or eliminating all of the opponent's 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 of the 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). Both "capture and remove from the board" games and "capture and convert to one of your pieces" games are included in this list.
- Agon
- Alquerque
- Apit-sodok
- Armenian checkers
- Astar
- Ataxx
- Awithlaknannai Mosona
- Bizingo
- Brax
- Butterfly
- Camelot
- Canadian checkers
- Choko
- Cinc camins
- Damath
- Dablot Prejjesne
- Daldøs
- Dameo
- Dash-guti
- Checkers (also known as draughts)
- Egara-guti
- Fanorona
- Four-field kono
- Gala (game)
- Gol-skuish
- High jump
- Italian Damone
- Jungle (Dou Shou Qi, The Game of Fighting Animals)
- Jul-gonu
- Keny
- Kharbaga
- Kolowis Awithlaknannai (fighting serpents)
- Kotu Ellima
- Lau kata kati
- Liberian Queah
- Mak-yek
- Meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh or Dam-daman or Ratti-chitti-bakri
- Ming mang
- Peralikatuma
- Permainan-Tabal
- Pretwa
- Rek, and its variant min rek chanh
- Sáhkku
- Seega
- Stay Alive
- Satoel
- Sixteen soldiers (aka cows and leopards or sholo guti)
- Surakarta
- Terhuchu
- Tobit
- Tuknanavuhpi
- Tukvnanawopi
- Turkish draughts
- Watermelon chess
- Yoté
- Zamma
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These games involve some aspect of counting, especially to determine the relative outcomes of various alternatives at points along the way. Classic examples of this category include the various Mancala games.
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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. Only the positional games that do not fit into those two categories are included in this list.
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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
- Asalto
- Bagh bandi
- Bagha-chall
- Buga-shadara
- Catch the hare (aka cercar la liebre or corner the rabbit)
- Demala diviyan keliya
- Fox games, such as fox and geese
- Hat diviyan keliya
- Hnefatafl (Nordic)
- Kaooa
- Khla si ko
- Komikan
- Len choa
- Leopard hunt game
- Len cúa kín ngoa
- Main tapal empat
- Meurimueng-rimueng-do
- Meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh
- Pulijudam
- Rimau
- Rimau-rimau
- Sher-bakar
- Sixteen soldiers (aka cows and leopards or sholo guti)
- Sua ghin gnua (aka tigers and oxen)
- Tiger and buffaloes
- Tiger game
These games include hidden information or setup, random elements (e.g. rolling dice or drawing cards or tiles) or simultaneous movement.
- Agricola
- Ashtapada
- Alhambra
- Baccarat
- Backgammon
- Battleship
- Black Box
- Blackjack
- Boggle
- Bul
- Carcassonne
- Catan
- Clue
- Concentration
- Contract bridge
- Cribbage
- Dark Chess
- Dominoes
- Farkle
- Feudal
- Gin rummy
- Hearts
- Ingenious
- Kriegspiel
- Liar's dice
- Liubo
- Lost Cities
- Luzhanqi
- Mahjong
- Mastermind
- Monopoly
- Onitama
- Pachisi
- Pandemic
- Patolli
- Pit
- Plateau
- Power Grid
- Puerto Rico
- Royal Game of Ur
- Rummikub
- Scrabble
- Senet
- Spades
- Stratego
- Tâb
- The Duke
- Ticket to Ride
- Tigris and Euphrates
- Tikal
- Uno
- Yahtzee
Abstract strategy games that depict conquest of the world or entire continents
Those marked † can also be played as paper and pencil games.
- Aadu puli attam
- Abacus checkers
- Abalone
- Adugo
- Agon
- Alquerque
- Amazons
- Arimaa
- Armenian checkers
- Asalto
- Astar
- Ataxx
- Awithlaknakwe
- Awithlaknannai Mosona
- Bagh bandi
- Bagh-chal
- Bizingo
- Blokus
- Blue and Gray
- Brax (game)
- Breakthrough
- Breakthru
- Buga-shadara
- Butterfly
- Camelot
- Canadian checkers
- Catch the hare (aka cercar la liebre or corner the rabbit)
- Cathedral
- Chinese checkers
- Choko
- Chomp
- Chopsticks
- Cinc camins
- Clobber
- Congo
- Conquest
- Conspirateurs
- Crossings
- Crosstrack
- Dablot Prejjesne
- Dash-guti
- Dawson's Kayles
- Death stacks
- Demala diviyan keliya
- Diaballik
- Diamond
- Dodgem
- Domineering
- Dominoes
- Downfall
- Draughts (also known as checkers)
- Egara-guti
- En Gehé
- Entropy (1977)
- Epaminondas
- Fanorona
- Felli
- Fetaix
- Fibonacci nim
- Fitchneal
- Five-field kono
- Four-field kono
- Fox games, such as fox and geese
- Game of the Generals
- Gess
- The GIPF project games:
- Go
- Gol-skuish
- Grundy's game
- Halatafl
- Halma
- Hare games
- Hare & Tortoise
- Hat diviyan keliya
- Hexagony
- High jump
- Hive
- Hnefatafl
- Indian and jackrabbits
- Ingenious
- Irensei
- Isola
- Italian Damone
- Jarmo
- Jul-gonu
- Joust
- Jungle (dou shou qi, the game of fighting animals)
- Kayles
- Kalah
- Kaooa
- Kensington
- Kharbaga
- Khet
- Kolowis Awithlaknannai
- Komikan
- Konane
- Kotu Ellima
- Kuzushi
- L game
- Lau kata kati
- Leap Frog (board game)
- Len Choa
- Liberian Queah
- Lines of Action
- Lotus
- Ludus latrunculorum
- Main tapal empat
- Mak-yek
- Makonn
- Mancala and related games
- Martian chess (for two to six players)
- Meurimueng-rimueng-do
- Meurimueng-rimueng peuet ploh or Dam-daman or Ratti-chitti-bakri
- Ming mang
- Nations: A Simulation Game in International Politics
- Neutron
- Nim †
- Northcott's Game
- Number Scrabble
- Paddles
- Pasang
- Patterns II
- Peralikatuma
- Permainan-Tabal
- Phutball
- Ponte del Diavolo
- Pretwa
- Pulijudam
- Quod †
- Quoridor
- Reversi, also known as Othello
- Rhumb Line
- Rhythmomachy
- Rimau
- Rimau-rimau
- Ringo
- Salta
- Sher-bakar
- Sixteen soldiers (aka "cows and leopards" or "Sholo guti")
- So Long Sucker
- Stratego
- Sua ghin gnua (aka tigers and oxen)
- Subtract a square
- Surakarta
- Sz'kwa
- Tafl games
- Tantrix
- Terhuchu
- Terrace
- Three musketeers
- Thud
- Tiger and buffaloes
- Tuknanavuhpi
- Tukvnanawopi
- Turkish draughts
- Ugolki
- Wythoff's game
- Xoliba
- Yoté
- Zamma
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