Here is a practical list of game mechanics common to video games. It is by no means a comprehensive list, but it will help you better understand the meaning of the word mechanic in the context of video games:
- Turns
- Different types of movements (running, crawling, flying)
- Card drawing
- Time limit
- Resource collection/gathering
- Shooting
- Switching weapons
- Pushing
- Pulling
- Dragging
- Shooting
- Winning condition
- Losing condition
- Rock-Paper-Scissors
- Randomly Generated Numbers
- Aiming
- Quick Time Events
- Score points
- Experience Points
There are hundreds of them. It is worth noticing that, as we have seen, a mechanic could be either an action that the player can perform or a more abstract rule of the game.