Same game, different language: the art of board game translation

When working on board game localisation, details matter. It’s where cultural adaptation comes in: making sure the content feels natural, relevant and enjoyable for players in another market.

A game can be translated perfectly and still miss the mark.

A question might make total sense in one country but leave players elsewhere completely stumped. A joke can lose its punchline somewhere between languages. And a word that seems perfectly innocent to one audience might mean something completely different to another.

When working on board game translation, these details matter. It’s where cultural adaptation comes in: making sure the content feels natural, relevant and enjoyable for players in another market. After all, players are there to have fun, not to decode what the content was supposed to mean.

When words are part of the game

Take Codenames, the word association game that challenges players to connect seemingly unrelated words through a single clue. The fun is in making those connections, spotting what everyone else has missed and occasionally wondering how someone arrived at that answer. The Guardian explored the international success of Codenames in this article about how it became a board game phenomenon.

But here's the interesting bit: those connections aren't universal. A word that immediately brings to mind a particular food, celebrity or cultural reference in one country might mean very little to players somewhere else. Even seemingly straightforward associations can change depending on the language and culture.

For a game built around making connections between words, that presents an interesting challenge. Translate the words too literally and you risk changing the difficulty, or even removing some of the connections that make the game work.

When a game moves into another market, will players make the same associations? Will a clue still land as intended? And if it doesn't, can you adapt it without losing what makes the game so good in the first place?

It's a great example of how language can be part of the game itself, not just the thing that explains the rules. And this is where localisation gets interesting.

Trivia doesn't always travel

Imagine adapting a trivia game for a new country. Translating the questions is the obvious starting point, but there's more to it than swapping out the words. Is the answer still correct? Will players recognise the reference? Is there still one clear answer? And does the question offer the same level of challenge?

Sometimes, a small tweak is all that's needed in trivia game localisation. A cultural reference might need replacing, or a question may need to be completely reworked to keep the original difficulty. The goal is to preserve the experience, not necessarily every word.

Imagine a British trivia game asking players to name the actor who played Del Boy in Only Fools and Horses. For a UK audience, it's a relatively accessible question. But take that same question to another country and even knowledgeable players might be completely stumped.

The best approach would be to replace it with a question about a similarly recognisable television character in the target market. The wording and answer would be completely different, but the level of difficulty and the experience for players would remain much closer to the original.

That's cultural adaptation in action. Sometimes, preserving the spirit of a game means changing the content rather than translating it word for word.

Word board games: lost in translation?

Word games are a completely different challenge. An anagram that works beautifully in English may be impossible to reproduce in another language. A pun might rely on a particular spelling or sound, so translating it literally keeps the meaning but loses the joke. Not exactly a win.

Sometimes, the best word game localisation solution is to create something entirely new. The point isn't to change everything just because a game is entering a new market. It's to understand what makes it work and make sure players get that same experience, even when the language or cultural context changes.

Of course, the bigger challenges aren't always obvious until someone actually sits down to play.

A rule might be open to two interpretations. A trivia question might have an unexpected second answer. The cards might use one term while the rulebook uses another, leaving players to figure out whether they mean the same thing. Suddenly, nobody is debating strategy. They're debating what the instructions actually say.

Why playtesting and linguistic QA matter

That's why content review, board game fact-checking and linguistic quality assurance (LQA) matter. They help ensure that questions are accurate, terminology is consistent and instructions are clear.

But some problems only emerge when people actually play. Testing a localised game with players who understand the target language and culture can reveal confusing rules, unintended interpretations or questions that simply don't work as intended.

It's a useful reminder that a translation can be linguistically correct without delivering the right playing experience. And getting the content right is only part of the challenge. As we explore in our article on design localisation, the translated content also needs to work within the game's visual design.

At Websters Games, this is what makes working with games content so interesting. It's where language, creativity and cultural understanding meet the practical challenge of making a game work across markets.

Same experience, different language

Localisation isn't about making every version identical. It's about making the right decisions so that each version feels natural to the people playing it. Sometimes the original content works perfectly. Sometimes it needs adapting. And sometimes a completely fresh idea is the answer.

For publishers, getting those decisions right can make the difference between a game that has simply been translated and one that genuinely connects with its new audience. Thoughtful localisation helps preserve the original game's appeal, avoid costly mistakes and give players a consistent experience across markets.

At Websters Games, we combine translation, cultural understanding, content creation and playtesting expertise to help publishers make those decisions with confidence.

Players don't need to know how much thought went into crafting a question correctly. They just need to enjoy answering it. And ideally, the biggest disagreement around the table will still be about who won.