The Crux of the Problem

So, I say problem, we can determine if it’s actually a problem or not. But let’s talk about the big reason why I’m talking about this in the first place. For a lot of people, myself included, board games are a social activity. When you add in a solo mode it takes a game that is that social activity and makes into an activity of solitude.

Some board games, as I hinted at in the introduction, rely on that interaction and shared nature of board games. When I attack another army, it isn’t the games army, it is your army. We make alliances and then break them depending on the state of the game. Yes, all of these examples are from Risk, but it’s true for a number of games.

Yet, even games where there can be large amounts of interaction are getting solo additions to them. Sometimes it comes later, but sometimes it’s out of the box when you buy it. Let’s look at Root for example, that game is a war game. Yet there is a way to play it solo. Is that a good thing to have in the box?

Board Games Doing Solo Well

On the flip side of the problem I laid out is that a lot of board games do allow for playing solo well. When I sit down and play a game like The 7th Citadel or Stonespine Architects, they make solo game play simple. I intentionally did pick one that is a cooperative game but also one that’s competitive. They make solo work smoothly and easily.

Some board games, though, do end up with clunky systems or systems that don’t make that much sense. I think of Roll to the Top which isn’t that complex a system but is basically playing the game a second time to get it to work. That isn’t that fun, the gratification of playing the game is reduced because the solo mode doesn’t work well. The same can be said for Trek 12. And now Trek 12 is a game that I like a lot, but the solo mode out of the box with an opponent to beat is clunky and slows down the fun.

So Why Offer Solo Modes?

The first reason is that for some people board games are more of a solo activity. It is hard for them to get out and play with other people. And while it’s fun to have a big campaign game, or a small solo game to fit in your pocket, sometimes they want to experience other styles of games. So offering a solo mode opens up games to a lot more people.

It also offers gamers a chance to game more. For me this is a big one. I try and sit down at least once a week on Wednesday and stream a solo game. I will get back to doing Mondays more often once school has started for my kid as well. But I get to experience games, a lot of the time campaign games, and decide if they are for me. Though, I’ll caveat this for myself, I stream games because it gives me some of that social aspect of gaming to share the game with others.

Another, possibly overlooked, reason is that it allows for a gamer to learn and play a game prior to needing to teach it. I think this one is very important, though does have a caveat as well. If I sit down and learn the game it is way easier to teach. I deal with questions prior to ever teaching someone. I learn some of the pitfalls of the game. The caveat is that the solo mode needs to be similar enough to the actual game play.

So Keep Solo Modes for Board Games

I think, and I think you all knew, that board games should keep solo modes. I also think that more board games should have solo modes. But as always, the caveat, they need to be done well. And from what I see, not all designers know how to create a good solo mode. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s more a statement around game design how designing for solo is different than for multiplayer.

That said, that’s not an excuse. This reminds me of film when a writer comes in and does that final polish on a film. They aren’t rewriting the whole thing, instead they have a particular skill where they can polish up a script to make it work the best it can for film or television. It’s something that the original creator might not have or might have a hard time doing. A solo mode creator is very similar to that. The great ones channel an ability to create that, not to rework the whole game, but to take what is there and make the best possible solo mode.

So enjoy solo modes. If you don’t want to play solo, don’t play solo. But there is a great reason for them to be in the box if you don’t love solo modes. And for board game companies, keep on putting them there. Even if they rarely get played, but make them good. Don’t add them just to sell to a few more people, add them because they make it easier to learn and teach the game later. And because they stay true to your game.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

The Rulebooker

This is the person who is going to read the rulebook no matter what. Whether this is because they need to know every detail, can’t pay attention to someone talking, whatever it might be, this person is going to only learn by reading the rulebook.

Why This is Good

This is good because someone else knows the rules. They have gone through the book so if you have missed anything in it, hopefully they’ll have caught it. That means you get a more comprehensive overview of the rules.

Why This is Bad

Two reasons why this can be bad, firstly, you get a more comprehensive overview of the rules. So if you aren’t teaching it in the order they are thinking about the the rules, they might interject and break up y our teach for other people. This can hurt the learning process for other people a lot.

The other thing is that reading a rulebook often takes longer than someone teaching the game. You don’t want everyone else to have learned the game and then wait on the rule book learner.

How To Help

Two things that can help with the Rulebooker. Firstly, let them know what games are going to be played ahead of time. Board Game Geek has a ton of links to rulebooks for them to use. So figure out what games you are going to play and the new ones for the player and send them the rulebooks ahead of time.

Next, open up your teach of game setting the expectation that you’ll pause for questions or comments at certain points in time. This sets the expectation that no one will be interrupting during this process. Then ask for comments or questions on what you just taught. And don’t feel bad about interrupting if this rulebook reader goes down the rabbit hole of something that’s yet to be taught.

The Jump In

This player claims that they don’t learn except by doing. They get the general idea of the game and then they want to jump right into the game and start playing. Even if the rules aren’t fully explained they are gung-ho to get going and get playing.

Why This is Good

This can often be enthusiasm and that is great for gaming. Someone who is excited about a game gets more people excited about a game and that helps get more games to the table.

Why This is Bad

You need to know the rules to play the game. That is one thing that any TTRPG or board game has, it’s a set of rules that create the framework of what you do in the game. You can end up with someone who just wants to play and then will get annoyed when they don’t understand everything.

The Jump In player also can lose focus when rules are being explained. As much as the positive can be excitement and getting other players into the game. This can be a negative and push other players away from the game. It isn’t always that this learner isn’t interested in the game, but more that they aren’t focused. But it comes across as lack of interest.

How To Help

Show and tell is what I’m going to say is the biggest thing to help this player learn and stay engaged. Or it might be more Tell and Show. As the person teaching the game tell what is happening, but have the hands on learner of the group engaged doing stuff. When you explain how cards work, give them to deck to shuffle and put in place. When you explain how a move it done, have them move it on the board. For some people it is that they do learn so much better by doing. And for those people who have really short attention spans, giving them a new task every few minutes helps keep them engaged.

The Every Detail

This one is similar to the rulebooker, but I do think that they are different The Every Detail player is capable of keeping their hands off of the rulebook. But they need everything explained 100% clearly, including all the exceptions, before they are able to feel comfortable starting a game. This can come from a few different areas, often competitiveness.

Why This is Good

This is often the player who catches if you missed something. They’ll ask questions and often lead you through the teaching without knowing it. They won’t correct your rules, but they will help you know if you’ve missed anything with the questions they ask.

Why This is Bad

It is often impossible to cover every exception. And it makes the teach of a game way longer if you try and do it. So having to answer every question for them in the moment means that the others learning the game are checking out from the rules and forgetting what was already taught.

This adds a ton of time to the teach of the game. Like I said, other players are forgetting what was taught. And you are getting in less gaming. I don’t like to start a game with negative impressions or having to go back over rules.

How To Help

Only cover the important exceptions or exploitable ones. If something happens at phase 3 of the game that is completely separate from everything else, you don’t need to answer exception questions on that until then. And just be up front with that, say that you’ll answer questions and explain more then.

So what do I mean by exploitable exceptions Basically anything that you as a person who knows the game, can use to do better or make other people do worse at the game. If you can take over an area from someone with a certain exception, that’s no fun if you teach that when you do that.

Players Know How You Learn Board Game Rules

Like I said at the beginning there are other ways people learn, and most people learn in some combination of these stereotypes. But these three are ones that stand out as often being a larger hindrance to getting games to tables. So know where your weakness lies and where you strengths lie as learners.

For example, I know that I tend to be a bit of the first two. I have learned from so many rulebooks that I can read a rulebook and get going fast. So if I know I’m going to be learning a new game from someone teaching me, I should still read the rulebook. And because I’ve learned so many board games, I tend to just want to jump in as well. Once I hear the basic premise of the rules I can sometimes fill in the details without needing to hear them. Or at least I assume that I can and I want to get playing. The issue is that I might be wrong or the game might do something unique, so I need to listen for that.

This is the same when I teach, I need to pay attention when I read in the rulebook for those different things and really highlight them. It’d be very easy for me to assume that it makes sense to everyone. Or assume that it is going to work like every other game out there. Or even assume that people will be able to get that rule just with a simple description because it is common across other games.

How do you learn rules?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

So I today we’re breaking down the whole process of teaching a board game.

1 – The Prep

Step one is before people even show up at at your game night or to play the game, you need to know the game. The most important part in this is to know and have read the rules. I don’t mean having skimmed over them but really dived into them recently so that you’re ready to go. If you want to take it one step further, play a few practice turns for the number of people you’ll have as that’ll help you get a real idea of how the game works. Now, I rarely do that last step unless it’s a game that I can play solo, then I will play through it solo. But reading the rules before you play is important. This also doesn’t happen all the time, so have read the rules at some point in time prior. Pretty often I’ll get a game, bust it open and read the rules right away just so that I have a base for it, but ideally I refresh myself on the rules later.

2 – Start with the Theme

Even if the game doesn’t have a ton of theme, start with that the theme is and use that to sell the game. When I talk about Welcome To, I say that it’s a roll and write game about building your perfect Stepford neighborhood. Now, obviously the Stepford part is added, but it gives the game more flair. Overall, people will get into a game if they can get into the theme, even games without theme try to act like they have theme, so sell the theme. Even Euro games that have you trading in the Mediterranean technically have some theme that the designer is trying to claim is there. Sell that theme. This won’t be a large part of your teach, but it’s the hook, that sales pitch that you start with to get people into the game and get their attention. To go back to to my Welcome To example, I put Stepford in my pitch because that catches people’s attention. Talk about theme and hook the players.

3 – Talk About How You Win or Lose

Really another quick part of the teach, talk about how you win the game, generally. I wouldn’t, at this point in time go into details of how you get the victory points or how you defeat the bad guy, this is building up to really teaching the game. In a cooperative game, I would point out how you win the game or how you lose the game and try and keep it as thematic as possible while you’re doing this. For example: In Pandemic we’re members of the CDC who are fighting diseases (that’s the hook). Our goal is to cure all four diseases before time runs out, there are too many outbreaks, or a disease has spread too far (that’s the win/lose).

4 – The Game Play

So after that little bit of an intro, we’re now into game play. Ideally you give the pitch before you open anything up, and if people are still interested, you start setting things up. Unless, you know you are for sure going to play the game, then set it up ahead of time. When teaching the game play, show and tell is your friend. Telling a player they can go to the store and spend gold to get a card, that makes sense and is easy, but showing a card and demonstrating the whole process makes it clearer. Especially when you can also go to the Saloon, the Temple, the Fair, and 12 other spots. Another example of this, from an actual game, would be with Gloomhaven, show how you use the top and bottom halves of the cards and how you can and might change what you’re doing off of your cards. Go through everything you need to know to play the game. Now, for Gloomhaven, keeping it as my example, I might not explain what the poison, wound, stun, etc. tokens do at this point in time. They are important to playing the game, but not to starting to play the game. So only teach what needs to be taught to start the game. Also teach only important exceptions to the rules. A lot of games might have a lot of exceptions, but if they are small, don’t dwell on them. Teach the important ones so there aren’t any gotcha’s in the game.

5 – Reinforce How to Win

Get into how you win the game now. While teaching the core mechanics you should talk about how they impact how you win the game. But this is going to be the third time you talk about how to win and the time where you just focus on the mechanical aspect of the game. In Pandemic: “As a group, we need to get sets of five cards of each color and turn them in at a research station. We have to do that before we have too many outbreaks from the epidemics in the player pile, before the player pile runs out, or we can lose if there are ever all of the disease cubes for a disease out on the board and we need to play one more.” Then go into more detail on those lose conditions again. Again, show and tell is your friend here. Demonstrate what an outbreak looks like again. Point out the cubes and the player deck again. This is really about reinforcing how to win or lose the game. Obviously this is a cooperative example, and it’s even more important to point it out in a competitive game. With a competitive game if you don’t reinforce how to win (or lose) people will sometimes get upset because they feel like they could have or would have won had they remembered how to score points or what the victory conditions were.

6 – Play One Round

Some people might say to play this open so that everyone can see what everyone is doing and then restart the game. I don’t personally love playing open handed for two reasons. The first being that it can allow someone to quarterback everything. Players need to make their own decisions, so let them. The other being that at the end of round one, you can see if people want to reset. If you play with everything out in the open, you need to reset everything, because as the person who knows the game you’ll know what players might be planning. If you play it normally, and you can still give advice, players can choose if they want to continue or restart now that they know the rules better or have a better feel for the game. If the first round of the game takes a little bit, or if the game doesn’t have that many rounds, I think a lot of players will want to continue, but give the option or reinforce the win conditions or rules again if you decide to continue. This step isn’t always needed, sometimes you can just continue with the game, especially in a cooperative game where you might be already sharing information openly.

7 – Play the Game

Simple as that, play the game. Now, teaching doesn’t stop when you start playing the game. Especially if you know how to play the game and have played it before. Talk about what you do on your turn. Point out when an exception happens, why exceptions happen. Teach what conditions are in Gloomhaven when they come up, for example, or things along those lines. People wouldn’t have remembered them from the start, but once they show up and are put into practice immediately people will remember. And try to win but maybe hold back from destroying. Some games allow you to completely crush a new player, Ascension is kind of an example of that with the Construct strategy, so either try a new strategy to see if you can win that way, or point out the really good strategy in the teach, to avoid the gotcha moment.

Wrapping Up

Hopefully that helps you know how to teach a board game. One important rule that I don’t mention is don’t read straight from the rulebook, because I wanted to focus more on the teaching process. There are some exceptions to that, TIME Stories has a great hook at the start of the rule book, so use that hook. Some games will bullet point out all the actions you can do on your turn, you can use that and demonstrate them at the same time. But if you’re explaining beyond the bullet point, you are explaining it, not reading from the book. Rule books tend to be very dry and boring, so try and keep it more interesting with how you describe and demonstrate things. But I talk about a lot of those things in the article linked at the top of the post.

What are some tips or tricks you have for teaching a game?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.