The jargon that is used in board games tends to be extremely specific to the board game that one is referring to. However, there are some terms that can be considered to be fairly common across a large number of board games. The game board is what the flat cardboard surface is called in all games. This surface typically has different patterns, squares and locations based on the game being played.

The game pieces are also called counters, pegs, tokens, bits, meeple or pawn. The exact terminology depends on different locations and the specific board game that you are playing. The game pieces are meant to indicate a player's position on the board. Here again, depending on the specific game being played a player can represent or own a single or multiple counters of the same shape or color. Game pieces in some games can be different from the regular counters and can stand for almost anything that is required in the game like weapons, money, powers and more.

Jump or jumping is another term that is used often in board games. It refers to bypassing a square, a player or an action. Jumping can also be referred to as capturing an opponent's game piece. The physical units or locations on the board game (most often squares) are referred to as a space or a square. It is almost always clearly created by a distinct border. Sometimes these locations are not squares but dots that are linked together with lines and other kinds of connectors.