flavor text

English

Alternative forms

• flavour text

Noun

flavor text (countable and uncountable, plural flavor texts)

1. (chiefly card games) Text printed on a card or within the rulebook of a tabletop game which does not affect the game's mechanics, but gives background information on characters, places, etc. to enhance the game's atmosphere.
   • 2008, Game Developer, Volume 15, Issues 7-11, unknown page:

     In the old days of Magic the Gathering, the flavor text was almost all serious, sometimes even with quotes from Shakespeare or Edgar Allen Poe thrown in.

   • 2012, Lewis Pulsipher, Game Design: How to Create Video and Tabletop Games, Start to Finish, McFarland & Company, published 2012, →ISBN, page 129:

     One reason why cards are now much more popular, and dice less, in tabletop games is that cards can include colorful, varied, interesting illustrations and brief “flavor text.”

   • 2014, Jeff Howard, Game Magic: A Designer's Guide to Magic Systems in Theory and Practice, CRC Press, published 2014, →ISBN, page 104:

     The metaphysical taxonomy of reality in magic systems occurs to varying degrees of depth, ranging from flavor text in small or large amounts (the backs of Magic: The Gathering cards exemplify short flavor text, while the codexes/codices in Dragon Age contain more elaborate philosophical ruminations) to deep integration with gameplay.