FIELD GUIDE · rev.01
How games work,
taken apart.
Cogwork is a field guide to game mechanics — the building blocks like worker placement, deck-building, and area control that make games tick. We document each one like a schematic: what it does, how it works, and where you'll meet it.
Specimen index
The mechanics, one at a time.
Worker Placement
Claim the best action before someone else takes it.
Deck-Building
Start with a weak deck and forge a stronger one as you play.
Engine Building
Set up parts that make each turn pay off more than the last.
Set Collection
Gather matching groups, then cash them in for points.
Area Control
Hold more of the map than anyone else when it's counted.
Tile Placement
Build the board itself, one piece at a time.
Grouped by feel
Five families of mechanics.
Engine & Economy
Mechanics about building up resources and turning them into an ever-growing advantage. Slow to start, powerful once they roll.
Space & Position
Mechanics played out on a board or map, where where you are matters as much as what you do.
Cards & Hands
Mechanics built around a deck or a hand of cards — acquiring, timing, and drafting for the best play.
Risk & Timing
Mechanics where the big decisions are about when — when to push, when to stop, when to spend.
Info & People
Mechanics driven by hidden information and by reading the other players at the table.
Anatomy
Start by naming the core loop.
Every game repeats a short cycle — the handful of things you do again and again. Spot it, and the rest of the design falls into place.
- Ask: what do I do on almost every turn?
- Trace what that action gives you
- Follow how that reward feeds the next turn
- That cycle — act, gain, grow — is the core loop
Where it gets interesting
Mechanics in combination.
Placement that feeds the machine
Workers claim the actions that add parts to your engine, so blocking a rival's spot and growing your own advantage become the same move. Every placement counts twice.
One more flip for the perfect set
You need a specific card to complete a scoring set — but drawing for it risks busting the whole turn. The set you're chasing makes the risk worth it, or ruinous.
Open it up
Pick a game. Find the parts inside.
Browse the specimen index, read how each mechanic works, and you'll never look at a game box the same way again.