Hobby Games

Hobby games are targeted to people who consider gaming a dedicated hobby. They are primarily sold at specialty game stores, with most titles being difficult or impossible to find at mainstream retail outlets (there are some notable exceptions, of course). These games tend to be more complex and offer greater depth of play then Mainstream games, which can often be intimidating or unappealing to the general public.

[EDIT NEEDED: The above statement about complexity and depth of play is ridiculous and needs to be fixed. Chess, Go, and Scrabble are all mainstream games that offer far more depth than "hobby" games. This whole entry needs to be scoped - perhaps to just discussing "themed" games, see Oxford History of Board Games, by David Parlett. There is no "us" (prefer sophisticated games) vs. "them" (prefer dumbed-down games)]

[Perhaps this argument-in-waiting can be bypassed by concentrating on complexity and/or obscurity (both somewhat objective) instead of game depth (which is in the eye of the player).]

Mainstream Games

Mainstream games are targeted to the general public, and not specifically to those who identify themselves as "gamers". These titles are generally widely available in mainstream outlets such as Wal-Mart, Target or Toys-R-Us. These games tend to be less complex, and focus more on accessibility to the casual player then Hobby games.

Within these two families of games there are several primary genres:

Genres of Mainstream Games:

• Family Games - Monopoly, Risk, Candy Land
• Dexterity Games - Jenga, Operation, Twister
• Party Games - Taboo, Apples to Apples, Pictionary
• Abstracts (*) - Checkers, Chess, Tic-Tac-Toe

Genres of Hobby Games:

• Thematic Games - Dune, Axis & Allies, Twilight Imperium (third edition) (aka Ameritrash)
• Eurogames - The Settlers of Catan, Power Grid, Caylus
• Wargames - Advanced Squad Leader, Paths of Glory, Empires in Arms
• Abstracts(*) - YINSH, Ingenious, Blokus

(*) Abstracts generally exist equally within the Hobby and Mainstream game families.