Board Game Citation Generator

Your citations

Enter the game's title to see your citations.

How to Use the Board Game Citation Generator

1. 1. Say what kind of game it is. Board, card, dice, tabletop or role-playing. The kind appears in the entry as a description.
2. 2. Enter the designer or designers. They are on the box, the rulebook or the publisher's page. Leave the box blank for a game credited only to a company, such as Hasbro.
3. 3. Enter the title, publisher and year. Use the year of the edition you played, from the rulebook or the box. Add an edition if the game has been reissued.
4. 4. Add a link if you want one. The publisher's page or the rules online.
5. 5. Copy the style you need. Each entry copies with its italics intact.

What the Style Guides Say About Games

We could not find a board-game example in the published guidance for APA 7, MLA 9 or Chicago 18, so a tool that claimed an official format would be guessing. This one applies each style's general method to a work with a creator and a publisher, and each result carries a note saying so. If your instructor names a different pattern, follow your instructor.

APA has a general rule for anything without an example: answer four questions — author, date, title, source — and put a description in square brackets after the title when the kind of work is unusual, as APA does for [Video game] or [Poster presentation]. Library guides apply it to games with the designer in the author position. The (Designer) label follows APA's treatment of a film's director. MLA has a video-game model: start with the title, because the people who make a game are not its authors, put the lead creator in the contributor slot, and give the publisher and year. This tool writes Designed by, and closes with the kind of game where the video-game model closes with the platform. Chicago has no game example, so the designer leads like an author and the kind of game is named after the title, the way Chicago names a medium.

Board Game Citation Examples

Pandemic, designed by Matt Leacock and published by Z-Man Games in 2008.

Dead of Winter, a game with two designers, so the APA label becomes (Designers) and the in-text citation joins both names:

Dominion, a card game. Choose Card game and the description changes:

A game credited to a company. Tick Use the publisher as the APA author and the publisher stands in the author position and is not repeated; MLA and Chicago begin with the title.

A reissued game with an edition and a link:

Designer, Publisher, Artist: Whom to Credit

• Designer. The person or people credited with designing the game. This is the name the tool puts first, in APA and Chicago.
• Publisher. The company that made and sold the edition you played. Different editions have different publishers, so name the one on your box.
• Illustrators, developers and editors. Leave them out unless your argument is about them. MLA lets you add them as further contributors.
• Expansions and editions. Cite the expansion as its own game, with its own title, or add the edition to the base game.
• Digital versions. An app or video-game version is a different work. Use the Video Game Citation Generator or App Citation Generator.

Common Mistakes

• Citing the publisher as the author when a designer is named. Use the designer unless the game is credited to a company.
• Leaving out the kind of game. The description tells the reader this is a game and not a book or an app.
• Using the year of the original release. Use the year of the edition you played.
• Italicizing the description. The word Board game is plain; the title is italic.
• Citing a rulebook as the game. A rulebook is a document; if you quote its text, cite it like a report.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I cite a board game in APA 7?

APA Style has no board-game example that we could find, so use its four-element rule: the designer as author with a role label, the year, the italic title with a description in square brackets, and the publisher. Leacock, M. (Designer). (2008). Pandemic [Board game]. Z-Man Games. In text: (Leacock, 2008).

How do I cite a board game in MLA 9?

Start with the title and put the designer in the contributor slot, following the MLA Style Center's video-game model: Pandemic. Designed by Matt Leacock, Z-Man Games, 2008. Board game. In text, the title takes the place of an author: (Pandemic).

How do I cite a board game in Chicago style?

We found no Chicago board-game example. This tool leads with the designer and names the kind of game after the title: Matt Leacock, Pandemic, board game (Z-Man Games, 2008). The bibliography entry is Leacock, Matt. Pandemic. Board game. Z-Man Games, 2008.

Who is the author of a board game?

The designer, when one is credited. A game that a company publishes without crediting a designer, such as a classic like Monopoly, is credited to the company. APA lets the company stand as the author; MLA begins with the title in any case.

How do I cite a digital version of a board game?

As a different work: a video game or app with its own developer, platform and version. Use the Video Game Citation Generator or the App Citation Generator, and say which version you played.

Do I have to cite a game if I only mention it?

No. Naming a game in your sentence is enough when you do not discuss its design or rules. Cite it when you describe how it works, analyse its design, or quote or paraphrase the rulebook.