Editing Game mechanics (section)

=== Capture/eliminate ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Board game]] -->
[[File:Sidjah game board 3.svg|thumb|A piece being captured in the game ''[[Seega (game)|Sidjah]]'']]
In some games, the number of tokens a player has on the playing surface represents their current strength in the game. A central goal is ''capturing'' an opponent's tokens, which removes them from the playing surface.

Captures can be achieved in a number of ways:
* Moving one of one's own tokens into a space occupied by an opposing token (e.g. [[chess]], [[parchisi]]), also known as a ''replacement capture'' or ''displacement capture''.<ref name="OHBG_p232">{{cite book |last=Parlett |first=David |title=The Oxford History of Board Games |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] Inc |year=1999 |isbn=0-19-212998-8 |pages=232–33 |authorlink=David Parlett}}</ref>
** If the space immediately opposite must either be off the board or a marked ''trap'' space, it is known as a ''push'' capture.<ref name="BGG capture types">{{Cite web |title=Geeklists of capture move types for Boardgames |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/172402/geeklists-capture-move-types-boardgames |website=BoardGameGeek}}</ref>
* Jumping a token over the space immediately occupied by an opposing token (e.g. [[draughts]]), known as a ''jump'' or ''leap''.<ref name="OHBG_p232" />
** When the opposing token can be any distance along an unobstructed line, it is known as a ''flying'' capture.<ref name="BGG capture types" />
* Occupying the adjacent squares of an opposing token (e.g. [[tafl]]), also known as a ''custodian capture'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bell |first=R.C. |title=Board and Table Games From Many Civilizations |publisher=Dover Publications |year=1979 |isbn=978-0486238555 |page=97 (Hasami Shogi) |chapter=Games of Position}}</ref> ''custodianship'' or ''interception''.<ref name="OHBG_p232" />
* Occupying one immediately adjacent square to an opposing token, also known as ''approach''.<ref name="OHBG_p232" />
* The reverse of approach: capturing an adjacent opposing token by moving away from it in a straight line (e.g. [[fanorona]]), also known as ''withdrawal''.<ref name="OHBG_p232" /> 
* Capturing two opposing tokens by occupying the single square separating them, also known as ''intervention''.<ref name="OHBG_p232" />
* Declaring an "attack" on an opposing token, and then determining the outcome of the attack, either in a deterministic way by the game rules (e.g. ''[[Stratego]]'', ''[[Illuminati (game)|Illuminati]]''), or by using a randomizing method (e.g. ''[[Illuminati: New World Order]]'').
* Surrounding a token or region with one's own tokens in some manner (e.g. [[Go (game)|go]]), also known as ''enclosure''.<ref name="OHBG_p232" />
* Playing cards or other game resources to capture tokens.
* Other specialized mechanisms that do not fall neatly into any of the above categories.

In some games, captured tokens are simply removed and play no further part in the game (e.g. chess). In others, captured tokens are removed but can return to play later in the game under various rules (e.g. [[backgammon]], pachisi). Some games allow the capturing player to take possession of the captured tokens and use them later in the game (e.g. [[Shogi]], Reversi, Illuminati), also known as ''conversion''.<ref name="OHBG_p232" />

Many video games express the capture mechanism in the form of a kill count (sometimes referred to as "frags"), reflecting the number of opposing pawns eliminated during the game.