Spanish Video Game Vocabulary for Gamers

At Jaleo Madrid we love games, and we are sure many of you do too. For years, video games in Spain were one of the best ways to learn English, as most of the words in this world come from English. But some words are different in Spanish, and you won’t understand them unless someone tells you. If you are a Super Mario fan, read on.

Consola and mando

The “consola” (or “videoconsola”) is the machine you play on, at least for games not played on your phone. The controllers connected to it are “mandos”, and any other devices are “periféricos” (peripherals).

Truco

If you are struggling to finish a game, you need a “truco”: a cheat or trick that helps you finish it or get some kind of advantage. Sometimes you need special moves, sometimes a code or password.

Vida

Today lives are often unlimited, but in older games they were very important: they decided how many times you could “die”. In Super Mario Bros, nobody forgets the green mushrooms that gave you an extra “vida”.

Game genres

Some genres keep their English names, like RPGs, but many have Spanish names. There are “yo contra el barrio” games (literally “me against the neighbourhood”, beat ’em ups like Double Dragon), “plataformas” (platform games like Super Mario) and “lucha” (fighting games like Street Fighter).

Spanglish verbs

Some words have been taken straight from English and given a Spanish ending:

• Farmear: to farm, collecting money or resources in a game.
• Campear: to camp, staying hidden in an online game.
• Dropear: to drop items you don’t need.

Spanish has borrowed plenty of words from English over the years: discover some surprising ones in our article on English words in Spanish, and see the terms you need to talk about technology in our Spanish internet vocabulary.

Talk about games in Spanish

If you want to talk about video games (or anything else) in Spanish, come and try our conversation classes in Madrid.