A Game's Conceit

A brief description of your game that's meant to grab the interest of players or a publisher is a hook. A description of the central actions that players take over and over throughout the game is a core loop. If you are describing the fictional or historical subject and setting depicted in the game, that's the theme. You should be able to describe all of these concisely when asked about your game, plus at least one more aspect: the game's conceit. 

A conceit is the basic idea of what is happening in a game. This includes the main decision point(s), the main objective, and possibly a little of the theme and/or mechanics. For example, the conceit of Clank! is for players to try to amass the most treasure without making too much noise then escape the dungeon in time. How players do this is by deck building, but while deck building is the main mechanic, it is not really part of the main conceit of the game. However, the conceit of Dominion is build up a deck, then pivot to buying victory points. Basically, a conceit is the answer to "What are we doing in the game?" without going further into the description of "how." 

When describing the objective of the game, you can describe the mechanical objective or the thematic objective. However, I would use whichever makes the most sense for the crucial decision points in the game. The pivot in Clank! shifts from plundering treasure to rushing to escape. You could try to frame that mechanically, but it makes more sense in thematic terms. In Dominion, the pivot is the shift to buying victory points, so mentioning the theme doesn't add clarity. Pivots are an obvious decision space when thinking about conceits. On the other hand, you may not want to bring up a pivot if you want players to discover that moment for themselves. The important thing is that if there is a single decision point that stands out in the game as vital to progressing toward the objective, it likely belongs in the description of a conceit. Whether that decision point is framed mechanically or thematically depends on how it is framed in the game. 

I consider a conceit different from just explaining the objective of the game. When players ask about the objective, they want to know the threshold for winning and nothing else. Again, a conceit is "what you do in a game." That should include the objective but also a hint of the action and decisions that will occur. Objectives are usually framed as "be the first to do X" or "get the most of Y" without letting you know what that will look like. Being able to state an objective simply is important but only useful when attempting to teach the game (or on a sell sheet). Clearly stating the conceit of the game is useful when introducing the game to players, marketing, etc. 

So, what's the difference between a conceit and a hook? A conceit is always, only the one sentence description of what happens in a game. A hook could be a mechanic or component or thematic element. The conceit could be the hook, but a hook is the most interesting part whatever that part is. The conceit is only ever the main idea of the game. Knowing both will allow you to talk about your game in a way that clearly highlights what the game is and what makes it interesting. 

Referring to the main idea of a game as a conceit is not a hill I'm going to die on. I usually borrow terms from literature or theatre when trying to name what I am describing. I don't insist on the term or any term I've coined. I suppose I bring this up now because I really don't see designers adding "conceit" to their lexicons. That's fine. I care more that designers get better at describing their games. 

ShippBoard Games is a board game design blog that updates most Mondays.