Meeple
tabletop Glossary
Welcome adventurers, to the tabletop – where deck building has nothing to do with the patio, and worker placement isn’t part of a recruitment agency. If the terminology used to describe the games we know and love can feel like trying to learn a new language, let our glossary demystify, and have you speaking tabletop in no time at all Written by Emma Garrett
Definition: A small, usually wooden, playing piece shaped a bit like a person.
All the meeples, so many meeples. And don’t we love them. Imagine a world without the meeple! Where instead of person shaped pieces (which is all a meeple really is), we moved only cubes, coins or counters. It has become, after dice, probably the single most recognisable symbol of the board gaming community. And, although we’re referring to symmetrical meeples, which come in all colours and sizes, depending on how strictly you maintain the initial definition, you’ll find games including all kinds of animal meeples and monster meeples.