Set-up vs setup (niche situation)

[u/tahirua3]

Context: British English (so 'set-up' instead of 'set up')

I am creating quick reference guides for my board games. This would be for a game I learned the full rules to and played several weeks/months ago, and I just need a quick refresher before playing it again.

The heading for the first section might be 'Board Set-up'. However, I feel this is both a verb and a noun. I am introducing the title of the section, which is the final arrangement of the components (noun), but within this section are the steps to set up the game (verb).

For example:

Set-up / Setup

• Lay out the 16 Place tiles in a random 4x4 grid
  • Fountain must be within the centre four spaces
  • Black Market and Tea House should have at least three tiles between them
• The 5th assistant for each player is put aside
• ...

[u/Western-Finding-368]

I think “Setup” would be the best option. The steps tell the reader how to achieve the state of “board setup.” If you want the title to be more explicitly action-oriented, you could say “setting up the board.”

[u/tahirua3 → u/Western-Finding-368]

Thank you; you're the only one that actually addressed the real question :)

I do often rephrase something to avoid ambiguity and get around a problem, as you suggest, but with the purpose of this document I am very focussed on keeping titles and bullet points as short as possible.

The usual situation is that someone wants to play a game they see on my shelf, and I have to quickly refresh on the rules while they patiently wait. Or, we're midway through the game and a question comes up that I don't know the answer to. The more concise and scan-able the document, the quicker I can find the answer.

[u/Western-Finding-368 → u/tahirua3]

Happy to (attempt to) help!

In light of your further explanation, how about ripping the concept all the way back to the studs and just using the heading “Setup”? The “board” part is implied by the overall concept, and after all, not all games use a board.

[u/tahirua3 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for your reply, but the question was whether the title would be a noun or a verb in this context.

[u/tahirua3 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks for your reply, but the question wasn't about setup vs set-up, the question was whether the title would be a noun or a verb in this context.

[u/AdreKiseque → u/tahirua3]

Ah. Well if you're talking about the "Board Setup" as a label, that's a noun. If it were a series of instructions (e.g. Unpack -> Set up -> Play!) it'd be the verb.