Header Information

The header information for a game is all of the collected material outside of the description. It includes designer, publisher, year of release, minimum number of players, maximum number of players, manufacturer's suggested ages, categories, and mechanics. When a game is submitted, this information should be as complete as possible, especially if the item is a new release coming from a prominent publisher. For submissions of older games, it is understandable that it may be harder to find this information; the request is that the submitter make a best-efforts search to include information about an older game. Submissions of new releases that are lacking header information may be passed over for more-complete entries.

Description

• The primary category of concern in a game submission is the description. A good description for a newly-released game will consist of at least a paragraph and will cover what the game is about theme-wise, how the game plays, what mechanisms are used, and what the victory conditions are. This is summed up as theme, game-play, and goal. Additionally, the description may discuss the contents of the game box, but that is extra, and a components list alone does not a game description make.
• Voids in other categories like mechanisms, designer, publisher, year, players, and game time are taken into consideration as a whole, but usually will not cause the denial of a game with a sufficient description.
• Older games (e.g. more than 5-10 years old) can slide with lesser information, just so they are included in the database; as with new game entries, the more information included, the better. An unacceptable description for an older game might be "The box has a picture of a cowboy on it" where an acceptable description might be "An old roll-and-move game about cattle rustling" The former description says nothing about the game itself and is just a reference to the visual aspect of the packaging, whereas the latter includes information about mechanisms and theme.
• Close scrutiny will be given to "Site-scrapes", i.e., instances in which data about a new game is lifted directly from a publisher's webpage and submitted as a game entry.

The description for a game is the core of the entry -- it is the foundation upon which the game is based. The description is the primary piece of information that is used for comparing game entries and making a determination if one game is the same as another game.

Examples that will be rejected:

• Stub Submissions. A stub is a very short description that is submitted with the hope that someone will expand it in the future.
• A copy-and-paste of a press release that speaks only to theme, with no information about what players do when playing the game.
• A description that is just a link to an external site with game information -- a game must be described in its BGG entry, not linked to an off-site description.
• A non-English description; BGG entries must at least contain an English description, though the description may also contain a complete description in another language.

Description Voice

A game description should be written as a neutral statement about the game. Editorial comments about the quality of the game components or opinions about the game-play should not be present in the game description and should be reserved for reviews or a user's personal commentary about the game. Additionally, any specific language about a particular copy of a game (e.g., "My copy came with a catalog") should be avoided as it does not describe the game generally.

Version

Each game submission is accompanied by at least one version entry. For most new games this will be the new release that is coming from the publisher. Version entries should be as complete as they can be based on the submitter's available information. For further information on versions, please consult the Version Guidelines.

Images, Links, Files, et c.

At present, images, links, and file cannot be submitted to the database at the same time as game submission. The existence of these external items really does not have an impact on the game's approval.

What is a Game?

In the abstract, a game is something where a single person or a group competes or cooperates toward a goal whereby one or more players win or one or more players lose. This also includes solo games where a player must make choices based on hidden information (not mere puzzles) and solo dexterity games with a failure and/or score and/or timed-play component.

What is not a game?

• Puzzles - BGG has a prohibition against solo solvable puzzles, such as Rush Hour or Rubik's Cube. A puzzle is an item such that a problem is presented for which a programmed solution is available. In Rush Hour, each of the puzzles has a solution. For a Rubik's Cube, there is a series of programmed moves for any configuration that brings about the end solution. Puzzles are Outside the Scope of BGG.
• Accessories -- Accessories are items that are used with games, but are not games or expansions themselves. For example, card sleeves are an accessory. A dice tower is an accessory. A collection of upgraded components is an accessory. Some publishers will create a set of upgraded components but package them with a scenario or expansion rule-set; this is acceptable as an entry as an expansion because of the rules, not because of the components. A mere set of replacement pieces is not an expansion, and will not receive a game entry.
• Books -- BGG has had a fluctuating policy on books over time. The current policy is that books of rules for games should not be listed, but the individual games should be listed. For example, Scarne's Encyclopedia of Card games should not be listed, but the individual games whose rules are contained therein should be (and most or all are). Books about game strategy, or catalogs and pictorial collections of historic games are not content for the database. Book items currently in the database will remain until the development of bookgeek, when they will be transferred over to their proper domain.
• Electronic items -- Items that are purely electronic (e.g. DVD games, video games, handheld electronic games) are not within the scope of BGG. Items like this are to be reserved for VideoGameGeek.com.
• Outdoor Games -- The BGG database is about board and indoor games. Any games that necessitate going outside to play or are generally played outside are not within the scope of BGG.
• Oracles -- Ouiji boards, divination Tarot, and the like. If something says it will tell the future, it's pretty much out. Also, divination products don't have rules about competition or cooperation toward a goal.
• Storytelling -- Collections of components that are used to merely tell a story but do not include competitive or cooperative elements that lead toward one or more winners or one or more losers are not regarded as games. They are activities.
• Conversation Games -- A general class of turn-of-the-century items that featured cards with questions and answers. The function was to ask a question from one card and respond with the answer from a different card, with Mad Libs-style hilarity as a result. No game-play, no goal, not a game, but an activity.
• Drinking and Sex games -- Items in this category will be looked at with heightened scrutiny, as the goal of many of these games is to get drunk or to have sex, and they don't really have a goal where one or more players are winners or one or more players are losers. As such, these are mere organized activities.

When is a game ready for entry in the database?

A game is ready for entry when there is sufficient information available about it to describe the game's theme, game-play, and goal. For games produced by major publishers, this usually comes after a press release with information about these elements, or after the game is shown to reviewers who can write about these elements. But, when a publisher merely announces a game with scant information about these elements, the time is not yet ripe for game entry, as a "stub" entry is not sufficient.

For self-published games and user-designer efforts, a game is ready to be added to the BGG database after the game has undergone play-testing and is available in its final form. If details about the game are still being resolved and the rules are still being changed over the course of the play-testing, the game is not sufficiently finalized for a BGG entry.