{{Short description|Small wooden human-like board-game piece}} [[File:Carcassonne_Miples.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Meeples used in ''Carcassonne'']] thumb|upright=1.25|Different figurines used in more advanced variants of ''Carcassonne'', including standard meeples and non-humanoid figurines such as Pig and Dragon A '''meeple''' is a small board-game piece in a star-like shape that depicts an abstracted human form.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Heron |first1=Michael James |last2=Belford |first2=Pauline Helen |last3=Reid |first3=Hayley |last4=Crabb |first4=Michael |date=2018-06-01 |title=Meeple Centred Design: A Heuristic Toolkit for Evaluating the Accessibility of Tabletop Games |journal=The Computer Games Journal |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=97–114 |doi=10.1007/s40869-018-0057-8 |issn=2052-773X|doi-access=free |hdl=10059/2886 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last1=Smit |first1=Dorothé |last2=Maurer |first2=Bernhard |last3=Murer |first3=Martin |last4=Reinhardt |first4=Jens |last5=Wolf |first5=Katrin |title=Proceedings of the Thirteenth International Conference on Tangible, Embedded, and Embodied Interaction |chapter=Be the Meeple: New Perspectives on Traditional Board Games |date=2019-03-17 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1145/3294109.3295657 |series=TEI '19 |location=New York, NY, US |publisher=Association for Computing Machinery |pages=695–698 |doi=10.1145/3294109.3295657 |isbn=978-1-4503-6196-5|s2cid=83458650 }}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Citation |last=Podrez |first=Peter |title=Beyond Pawns and Meeples: Material Meanings of Analog Game Figures |date=2022-08-27 |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783839462003-010/html?lang=en |pages=279–314 |access-date=2023-11-08 |publisher=transcript Verlag |language=en |doi=10.1515/9783839462003-010 |isbn=978-3-8394-6200-3|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref> They are usually made from wood and painted in a single bright color. Meeples are a common component in German-style board games.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=PrintMag |date=2008-06-01 |title=Extraordinary Meeples |url=https://www.printmag.com/design-resources/extraordinary_meeples/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231108083119/https://www.printmag.com/design-resources/extraordinary_meeples/ |archive-date=November 8, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-08 |website=PRINT Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> The word is a contraction of "my people".<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-12-22 |title=Different kind of gaming gets home in Meepleville Board Game Cafe – Las Vegas Weekly |url=https://lasvegasweekly.com/as-we-see-it/2015/dec/22/meepleville-board-games-cafe-sahara/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230209193345/https://lasvegasweekly.com/as-we-see-it/2015/dec/22/meepleville-board-games-cafe-sahara/ |archive-date=February 9, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=lasvegasweekly.com}}</ref>
== Characteristics == Meeples are more anthropomorphized than other board game pieces such as pawns. Whereas pawns have a slim stylized head and body, meeples have a more humanoid shape.<ref name=":4" /> They have replaced pawns in many modern games, making the latter a rarity outside classic games.<ref name=":2" />
=== Variants === Some companies offer hand-painted, deluxe meeples, and meeples in some games are customized in various ways; for example, Tiny Epic Quest has customizable meeples that can hold various items such as weapons.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Evolution of the Meeple |url=https://nerdist.com/article/the-evolution-of-the-meeple/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109032052/https://nerdist.com/article/the-evolution-of-the-meeple/ |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=Nerdist |language=en-US}}</ref> Some games, including expansions to ''Carcassonne'', have wooden figurines shaped in non-humanoid forms that are sometimes called meeples; for example, ''Dixit'' has rabbit-shaped meeples.<ref name=":2" /> Farm animal meeples are sometimes called "sheeples", monsters "creeples", and robots "bleeples".<ref name=":2" /> The term meeple has occasionally been used for wooden board game pieces representing inanimate objects like vehicles.<ref name=":3" /> More elaborate miniatures used in gaming, such as the ones used in miniature wargaming, are not usually called meeples.<ref name=":3" />
==History== The earliest known form of the Meeple was found in the 1984 game ''Top Secret Spies''.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izDgyd2tDmY&t=365s | title=Drama in the board games industry (Meeplegate) | website=YouTube | date=30 June 2024 }}</ref> ''Carcassonne'', published by Hans im Glück in 2000,<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeWyngaert |first=Emilia |date=2019-05-13 |title=Behind the Tiles: Mathematics of Carcassonne |url=https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/atb/vol1/iss1/8 |journal=Across the Bridge: The Merrimack Undergraduate Research Journal |volume=1 |issue=1}}</ref> has been credited with popularizing the modern concept and shape of the meeple.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Wallis |first=James |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueWtEAAAQBAJ&dq=Meeple&pg=PT59 |title=Everybody Wins: Four Decades of the Greatest Board Games Ever Made |date=2023-03-14 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-83908-191-0 |language=en}}</ref> They have since become a popular component of many modern board games.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=DeWyngaert |first=Emilia |date=2019-05-13 |title=Behind the Tiles: Mathematics of Carcassonne |url=https://scholarworks.merrimack.edu/atb/vol1/iss1/8 |journal=Across the Bridge: The Merrimack Undergraduate Research Journal |volume=1 |issue=1}}</ref>
The modern meeple was likely designed by {{interlanguage link|Bernd Brunnhofer|de}}, German game designer, entrepreneur, and founder of Hans im Glück.{{cn|date=October 2024}} Although the figures were initially referred to as "followers", Alison Hansel, an American board-gamer, coined the name ''meeples'' in November 2000.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is a meeple? – Happy Meeple |url=https://www.happymeeple.com/en/media/what-is-a-meeple/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111012131/https://www.happymeeple.com/en/media/what-is-a-meeple/ |archive-date=November 11, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=www.happymeeple.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Montgomery |first=Matt |date=2021-02-16 |title=Issue 17: History of the Meeple |url=https://donteatthemeeples.substack.com/p/issue-17-history-of-the-meeple |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111014626/https://donteatthemeeples.substack.com/p/issue-17-history-of-the-meeple |archive-date=November 11, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-11 |website=Don't Eat the Meeples}}</ref> According to Alicia Nield, owner of the company MeepleCity, Hansel accidentally combined the words "my people" during a game of ''Carcassonne''.<ref name=":5" /> On November 27, 2000, Hansel made a post on the Unity Games forums proposing the term ''meeples'' to describe these figures.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hansel |first=Alison |date=2010-11-30 |title=New RioGrande Games |url=http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Unity_Games/message/2301 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130212607/http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Unity_Games/message/2301 |archive-date=November 30, 2010 |access-date=2023-11-11}}</ref> The term was popularized through the website BoardGameGeek.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2022-12-05 |title=Playing around: MeepleCity bringing game night to town {{!}} Texarkana Gazette |url=https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2022/dec/05/playing-around-meeplecity-bringing-game-night-to/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109032048/https://www.texarkanagazette.com/news/2022/dec/05/playing-around-meeplecity-bringing-game-night-to/ |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=www.texarkanagazette.com |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2022-11-18 |title=What are meeples and meeple games? |url=https://www.wargamer.com/meeples |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231109080324/https://www.wargamer.com/meeples |archive-date=November 9, 2023 |access-date=2023-11-09 |website=Wargamer |language=en-US}}</ref>
Over 40 games with the word meeple in the title had been published as of 2024.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Geigner |first=Timothy |date=2024-06-19 |title=Publisher Of 'Carcassonne' Sends C&D Notices Over Use Of The Word 'Meeple' |url=https://www.techdirt.com/2024/06/18/publisher-of-carcassonne-sends-cd-notices-over-use-of-the-word-meeple/ |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=Techdirt |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Zambrano |first=J. R. |date=2024-06-17 |title=Wake Up Meeple, You're Being Trademarked - Carcassonne Publisher Sets off Industry Sparks |url=https://www.belloflostsouls.net/2024/06/wake-up-meeple-youre-being-trademarked-carcassonne-publisher-sets-off-industry-sparks.html |access-date=2024-06-19 |website=Bell of Lost Souls |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |date=2024-06-14 |title=The word 'meeple' is being trademarked in the US in reaction to 'cease and desist' activity from Carcassonne publisher Hans Im Glueck - |url=https://boardgamewire.com/index.php/2024/06/14/the-word-meeple-is-being-trademarked-in-the-us-in-reaction-to-cease-and-desist-activity-from-carcassonne-publisher-hans-im-glueck/ |access-date=2024-06-19 |language=en-GB}}</ref> Several games published by large game companies, like AEG and Asmodee, have even published games with the term in the titles, as well as adopting the token design commonly associated with the term, including such games as ''Mutant Meeples'' (2012), ''Terror in Meeple City'' (2013), the ''Meeple Circus'' series (2017-2021),<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Meeples Circus'' and expansions on BoardGameGeek |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193214/meeple-circus/expansions |access-date=2024-05-30}}</ref> and ''Meeples and Monsters'' (2022).<ref>{{Cite web |title=''Meeples and Monsters'' and expansions on BoardGameGeek |url=https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/336851/meeples-and-monsters/expansions |access-date=2024-05-30}}</ref> This continued until 2019, when "MEEPLE" was registered as an EU trademark owned by Hans im Glück.<ref>{{Cite web |title=European Union Intellectual Property Office, filing number 016791741 |url=https://euipo.europa.eu/eSearch/#details/trademarks/016791741 | access-date=2024-05-28 }}</ref> The 2019 trademarking was objected to by, among others, gaming company CMON. The critics argued that the term has been used in common parlance, and the very shape of the meeple became commonplace in the industry. This resulted in the EU trademark exempting the category "toys and games"; however, Hans im Glück has since registered the term as a trademark in Germany for usage which does include toys and games, and the company also acquired the EU trademark for the shape of the ‘original’ meeple figure as used in Carcassonne. In 2024, the company Cogito Ergo Meeple received a cease and desist for unsanctioned use of the trademark, and decided to change the name of their upcoming game from ''Meeple Inc'' to ''Tabletop Inc'', and the name of the company itself to Cotswold Games. This caused concern among game developers whether the use of the word "meeple" is worth the potential litigation. Hans im Glück has since apologized for their overly aggressive action towards Cotswold Games. As the term and concept of "meeple" have not been trademarked in the United States, individuals affiliated with the US board game industry community (Corey Thompson and Marian McBrine) have decided to trademark the concept in the US, declaring that they "have no plans at all to make any profit from this..." and that they "intend to protect the US trademark from predatory action [and] would really love for [it] to be usable by anyone".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Meeple Inc.- May Update |url=https://gamefound.com/en/projects/cogito-ergo-meeple/meeple-inc/updates/9 | date=2024-05-27 | access-date=2024-05-28 | website=gamefound |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" />
==See also== *Chess piece *Game board *Miniature model (gaming) *Worker placement
==References== {{reflist}} {{commonscat|Meeple}} {{Authority control}} Category:Board game terminology Category:2000 neologisms Category:Board game pieces Category:Wooden toys Category:Tabletop game characters Category:1980s toys