Game Jargon Definition: “Fudge”
Fudge (verb) - /fəj/
A slight (or sometimes less than slight) bending or breaking of the rules of a game. It is most commonly done deliberately with the intention of serving the greater good, often in cooperative, narrative board games or in role-playing games. Fudging occurs most commonly in games that depend on the rolling of dice or the consulting of tables. When that results in a total party kill or some other disastrous outcome that detracts, rather than adds, to overall gameplay, the players often agree to fudge.
When it is determined by the powers that be (e.g., the game master, or the consensus of the gaming group) that a die roll needs to be fudged, the game master or a group representative may pretend that they did not see the result and will proceed to re-roll a die immediately. Another common fudging technique is to place one’s finger on the top or side of a die and flick or pop it to get a new result. Sometimes there is a need to do this repeatedly until a desired die roll occurs.
If the dice result is not going to be followed in the first place, there is of course, no actual need to continue to pop or flick-roll the die. However, doing so is part of the gamer culture—a form of pageantry—as a way of giving mock or faux-deference to the die or dice.
Other forms of fudging include making certain numbers on a players’ stats or character sheet illegible to the point where other players and the game master have to take the word of the player to keep track of their own numbers. This type of fudging, however, is just a half hop (no skip or jump required) to power gaming and misrepresentation. That is, it is essentially outright cheating.
The amount of fudging that is allowed in a given game (if it is sanctioned by the gaming group at all) is highly dependent on the game and group itself, as fudging requires some amount of group consensus.
The true purpose of fudging is to prioritize player fun and player engagement over any other aspect of the game. Fudging is seen as a necessary but temporary departure from the rules with the intention of returning to the rules as written (or as otherwise decided) as quickly as possible. In this way, fudging is quite different from making or using a “house rule.” Where fudging is a temporary departure from the rules, a house rule is a permanent departure from the rules, while having the same intention as fudging: enhancing player fun and player engagement.
