As someone with a background in film criticism and a fan of consistent terminology, that fact that “theme” is a commonly used term in the board game space is a little irritating. I’ll admit, this article may come out a little rambley, hence being the first article in my “design rambles” category, but hopefully it’ll still be a little informative.

Theme is Setting

Perhaps the most common thing people mean when they talk about theme is setting. If a game is described as having a space theme, then the setting is space, or the future. If the game is steampunk, that, too is a setting, because setting also includes time-frames. A lot of people think of setting as being purely location, but it can include time, world (i.e. whether there’s magic or monsters), events, basically anything that exists regardless of the story. Steampunk magical alternate history WW1 is a setting, not a theme.

I’ll also stop here to talk about genre. Genre is weird because it does mean different things between mediums. Setting has the same meaning, as does theme, but genre is about how to categorize the medium, so it’s different. I won’t go into it, but genre has its own problems, so if you’re interested in why genre is a hard thing to define, you can look that up on your own time.

Theme is Flavor

An awkward thing about directly swapping out theme and setting one-to-one is that something in a game can be thematic. There’s not really a word for “pertaining well to the setting,” but I think “flavor” is an appropriate swap. Flavor is used because, like the flavor of a food, it doesn’t really affect what the food you’re eating actually is or what it contributes to your body, but it greatly affects is and could be considered necessary. Flavor is the term used in Magic the Gathering, as well as a few other games. Most famously it’s used when talking about flavor text: text that serves no mechanical purpose and is used just to flesh out the setting. Flavor can also be used mechanically, in a sense. For example, if you have a game set in medieval times, and you have two different swords, calling them both sword is perfectly fine with the setting. But calling the weaker one a dagger is flavorful. So if you want to say flavor instead of theme (as I often do by accident even), I feel like it can be replaced almost perfectly. The fact that flavor has a meaning doesn’t really affect its usage since, unless your pieces are edible, you’ll never have to explain which definition of flavor you mean.

Theme is Theme

Now we get to the reason for this article. If theme did not have a definition, then I wouldn’t mind its use. If it had a separate definition, like with flavor, I wouldn’t mind it. But theme does have a place in the theory of design. Theme, when referring to a work, is defined as a unifying concept or idea. It is usually phrased in the form of a question or a statement. “Space” is not a theme. “How will humans react when presented with another sentient species?” is a theme. “Expansion is an inherent desire of all living things” is a theme. You can make a game with a theme. Some people would argue that every game has a theme, intended or not. Famously, Monopoly started with a theme of “Cpitalism leaves us only with one powerful winner and many losers.” You could argue Catan has a theme of “what is the goal of civilization?”

Conclusion

If I want to have a discussion on the theme of my game, I am forced to specify that yes, I mean theme, not setting or flavor. Overcoming this hurdle I think would help the community make games more complex not in mechanics, but in meaning.