Fiddliness

There are two uses of the term "fiddly" when referring to games: physical and mechanical/logistical. Both are generally considered to be negative.

A game is physically fiddly when players have to "fiddle" with the game components too much. This includes a need to excessively straighten them out, move them around, place them precisely, or check them (e.g. checking the contents of a stack of cards).

A game is mechanically/logistically fiddly when special rules are exceptions to the rest of the rules. Examples of fiddly mechanics are the castling and en passant rules of chess. Generally, one or two fiddly rules are not necessarily considered a problem by most players (though they may be considered inelegant), but the more there are, the more difficult it becomes to play the game.

The more a game attempts to be a simulation rather than abstractly representing something (see Theme Integration), the more likely small "fiddly" rules will be required. For some types of games, particularly wargames, this is not necessarily considered to be a negative, and can even be seen as a positive.

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