What are the games Go, Shoji, or Renju for someone who is native to Japan?

2 comments

1. There’s no non-loan word term for Board Game in Japanese. Before the term board game became common Go, Shogi and Renju were just simply “Asobi” or “Game/Play”

2. The other answer is not correct according to Japanese Wikipedia:

   > ボードゲーム（board game）とは、専用のボード（盤）上で駒（石とも言う）を置いたり、動かしたり、取り除いたりして遊ぶゲームの総称。盤上ゲーム、盤上遊戯とも呼ばれる。また、「ボドゲ」と略されることもある。

   So in short, to avoid English loanwords entirely, 盤上遊戯is the term. It seems likely that this is a calque, or loan translation, but nevertheless.

   Looking it up, this term does see some real-world use. For instance, Amazon lists a book called 盤上遊戯の世界史, or The World History of Board Games.