Top 5 Mistakes

1. Reading From the Rule Book

Don’t just read the rules. This I think is tied with my #2 as the worst offenders when teaching a game. But it’s not interesting or exciting to hear someone read from the rules. Also, all the rules might not always matter or be taught in the rule book in the best way possible. There are some horrible rule books out there and even the good ones tend to be dry.

The rules are important to get right, but use the rule book as a reference when you need it. Don’t use it for how you teach the game. This will make sense more when you see some of the other things.

2. Not Starting With How To Win

Such as if you use the rule book, how to win or scoring is at the end of the book. Start with that part. That gives the players a framework of what the goal is. It let’s them know what everything else you teach is going to be pointing towards.

Now, you don’t need to go into the details, for example, of where you get your points, but let people know it’s a point based game, or if everyone is still alive when this deck of cards runs out, or if everyone is on this tile. Put the end goal in focus first so that when you teach the actions and specific rules your players know where the game is going and can start to see how they’d bring it together.

3. Teaching Every Detail

This one might seem odd, but you don’t need to teach everything. For example, Biblios comes in two halves. The first half is handing out cards. Teach that when you start. Let people know the second half, auction is coming up and that you want money to bid on stuff. But you don’t need to explain all the auction details. Then, when you hit that second part, teach it.

This works well for some games and less well for others. But even in games where maybe a new action becomes unlocked or when a weird interaction occurs between a card and rules. It’s useful to know that it might happen, but the full details, probably don’t need them until it does happen.

4. Telling Not Showing

Another important thing, and why reading from the rule book is less than ideal is that you are just telling. Telling is fine, it is a part of teaching, but to get something to stick, showing helps a lot. Show people how an action works. Show people cards from decks. Fill in spots on a roll and write sheet. Do these things and it reenforces how all of the things work.

An example of this is that in most roll and write games I keep used sheets. Why, because they are great for teaching. I can pull out a sheet and point to examples on the board as I’m teaching the game. It makes it so much clearer when people can see how it works when you are explaining it.

5. Holding Questions Until The End

And this one, I think that it’s important to not hold questions. Let people ask away because people might forget questions. Often times the players will notice just naturally something that you missed. Or wording that you thought was clear might be more ambiguous than you think.

If people hold questions, they might forget them. Now, if someone asks about another part of the game, just say that you are going to get to it. But if it’s about something you’re talking about already. Take a moment, talk about it. Repeat stuff as need be, clarify what you are saying. And I think it is important as well, but stay it is in a different way.

Final Thoughts on Mistakes in Teaching A Board Game

The most important thing, no matter how you do it is that you teach the board game. And that you are willing to do it. There are a lot of games that don’t get played because people aren’t willing to teach them. Mainly, because it is a lot of work, sometimes, for the teacher. Unless you know a game well, you will need to review the rules.

And if that means you need to read from the rule book, you might need to read from the rule book. But that should be the exception. With a little preparation you can teach without bouncing to the rule book that often. And it’ll make it a better experience.

Also, expect that you’ll be answering questions throughout the whole game. I like to teach as much as I can, but eventually, even with showing, talking about the end goals, and everything too many rules is just boring and people pay less attention. So spend the time teaching but get playing as well.

Do you find yourself making any of these mistakes?

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

Play The Games They Want

This one I think is pretty obvious. Play what the kid wants to play. You might not love playing Candyland, but when they are really young, that might be what they want to play. And you can bring in new games to hope to get them playing something preferable, but play the games that the kid asks to play.

BoardGameCo is very good about talking about this. When he gets rid of games, and kids games, he always asks his kids if they still want to play it. If they say yes, even if they aren’t, it stays. But the games that he plays with his kids are the ones that they want to play and they have their own game shelf.

But it can be a trip up for some gamers. If you want your kid to love bigger and heavier games, but they still want to play a simpler. So a parent might push a harder game than they should onto the kid. And that’s an issue because now the kid feels like they don’t get to do what they wanted. They wanted to be part of what you are doing, but what you picked makes it unfun.

Don’t Introduce Too Much Too Fast

Now, that doesn’t mean don’t introduce new games. Both the letting the kid pick what they want to play and not introducing stuff too fast. A kid might really enjoy a deck building game like Dominion or Ascension, but that doesn’t mean that you take them to a really complex deck building game or introduce another 10 deck building games. That is overwhelming and learning something new all the time might be fun for some of us, but not for everyone.

Just needing to learn too much all the time can turn a young gamer off. And this one is true for most gamers. I know some people I play with who are always ready to learn something new. And there are other people I game with, they want to play the same few games most of the time. They will learn a new game, but mainly want familiar.

Don’t Go All Out All The Time

This one is going to be the most controversial, but I don’t think should be. The reason it might be controversial is that kids do need to learn how to lose graciously. But that doesn’t mean every time. And that doesn’t mean that you go out of your way to just destroy the kid. Close games tend to be more enjoyable.

There is a difference, I feel, between playing poorly all the time or obviously throwing games. Chaz Marler now with Watch It Played and previously doing his own thing on Pair of Dice Paradise, talked about it with his daughter. He and she would play Ascension and she really enjoyed it. He didn’t go all out. Instead he experimented with other strategies in the game. That made the game more fun for her and kept the games closer, while still keeping the game interesting for him.

Final Thoughts on Kids in Board Gaming

I do think that board gaming is a great hobby for a lot of kids. Mainly that as a hobby that encourages people to think. It encourages thinking outside of the box and figuring out strategies and basically stretching your brain in a way that is good for learning.

But it isn’t going to be for every kid. If they show interest, bring them into the hobby. My toddler wants to play my games. He has a few of his own games and he likes to mess around with them sometimes. We make a different game out of it because he isn’t able to grasp all the rules. But it is something he is interested in. We’ll see if he stays interested, but if he does, we’ll keep on playing the games that he finds fun, even if it is just that little fishing game where the fish move in circles.

What have you found useful with a kid that is interested in gaming? Anything that has worked or hasn’t worked?

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

Now, I only write a back or brick about something if I am interested in it. So I was interested in my Mythwind, but I wasn’t sure that it was for me. I like games that have a pretty solid objective to them. Mythwind just growing your town wasn’t as interesting. But as it was ending, it was still on my mind. And it, along with two other games, were fighting for my back. Those games were the Skyrim Board Game and Lords of Ragnarok. And I even had backed Lords of Ragnarok but then dropped it.

Why I Dropped Lords of Ragnarok

The last article I wrote before taking a week off, needed a break and some health things came up, was about new editions of board games. You can read that article here. And I was leaning towards yes at that point in time. But I had to ask myself, what does it do different, anf for that matter, what does the Skyrim board game do different?

Lords of Ragnarok is an area control style game, I have games like Lords of Hellas, Blood Rage, and Small World all that do area control in different ways. Skyrim is an adventure game, but I have stuff like Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and The Witcher eventually coming that are like that. Plus, I can likely get Lords of Ragnarok on the second hand market. There are a lot of backers for it, and Skyrim is coming to retail.

But Mythwind

Why did i picked Mythwind, it wasn’t a game that I was sure about but now I’ve backed it? Well, because it is so different. Mythwind is a game that you don’t win, you just play more of. You explore the world, build up your town and you have characters that play in different ways.

How the characters play reminds me of Merchants Cove a game that I really love. But Merchants Cove is a one off game, you play it, win lose, done. Mythwind gives you all those characters that play differently and that you can just keep on playing with them. There is no win condition. I don’t think there is a lose condition, as I doubt your character can die. Instead you just expand your town, see the world around it and just enjoy what the game has to offer.

Do I Think I’ll Love Mythwind?

That’s the question that I’m still not sure about. I think that I’d have liked the other games for sure, but would they come off my shelf over other games? Mytwhwind is a gaming experience that I don’t know when there will be something else like it that shows on on Kickstarter or Gamefound. It’s a unique concept that looks well thought out. Not only well thought out, but basically done.

If Mythwind looked like it was a general concept I’d have stayed a long ways away from the game. It is a concept for a game that without it being mainly done already, I’d suspect would fail. It’s different enough and someone would think it’s a great idea without realizing how much they need to do in the game. But Mythwind is a polished looking product so I’m confident that I’ll get something good.

I also think that if Mythwind isn’t a game for me, there’ll be a secondary market. Normally I just sell my games to my FLGS for store credit. But for Mythwind, I probably would sell it online myself, see what I could get for it. I didn’t get everything for the game, but it’s going to be one that my guess is will be harder to track down, at least for a little while. That said, I am hoping that I like Mythwind. The concept of the game really intrigues me, so what’s why I switched my tune and backed it.

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

How Important Is Winning?

Now, this is probably a pretty open question that depends on the person. For some people, winning at a game is extremely important. They play board games to win and if they don’t win, they aren’t happy about it. Or they want to go again because to them playing a board game is about winning.

For other people, winning might not be important at all. They play board games so that they can hang out with people. They want the fun social interaction you get at the table around the activity of board gaming. For them, getting together at the table to play a board game, the board game is the reason but not always the point.

Is One Way Better?

No, neither way is better, and a blend of both of them is healthy. Where both of them become bad is when people take them to the extreme. Let’s look at two examples.

I pull out a board game. I have new players and experienced players at the table. The experienced player really needs to win, so they absolutely destroy the new player.

On the other side, I pull out an easy game and I have someone who is just there to socialize. It gets to their turn and they don’t notice, haven’t planned anything and continue a conversation for five more minutes before actually looking at the board. And when they do they just slap a move together to get back to talking.

You can see how both of these when taken to an extreme aren’t ideal. I’ve talked about this with board games nights before. The point of a game night is in the title, it’s to play games. That doesn’t mean that socializing doesn’t happen, but it also doesn’t meant that gaming is lost at the expense.

So How Do You Balance It?

The way I’ve heard this described is that you try to win but winning isn’t everything. It’s more about having fun while at the table. For some people fun is only winning, but going back to something I talk about with RPG’s, it’s about the whole table having fun. Thanks again to The RPG Academy for that.

So what does this look like in practice. In practice it means, if I’m an analysis paralysis player who must win, I find a move that will help me and I take that move. It might not be the perfect or ideal move, but I keep the game moving. If I am a social player, it means I pay more attention to the game. I notice when my turn comes up without being told. I pause my conversation and take a good move for me and then can return to the conversation.

These aren’t hard things. They keep the game moving in both cases and they both players take moves to help themselves win.

Anything Else To Do?

I think there are, I think that players need to think about what group they might fall into. Do they need to win, do they need to talk? And split up into different groups sometimes. The trick can be that some players need to win and need to talk and that is trickier.

Also, going back to a board game night, think about who is coming. If you mainly have people who want to socialize, go with lighter games. Go with shorter games. That way when a game drags out a bit, you aren’t that long and people aren’t losing what is going on. It’s fine to just play party games. On the flip side, if you have winning gamers, go with bigger and tougher games. That way when their turn takes longer, the game is already longer so it doesn’t stand out as much. And if you have both, don’t hesitate to split into two groups during the night.

So, really, winning is important in a game. That is what games are for, you play them for the experience and to try to win. But winning isn’t everything and at least at my table will never be the only focus. Talking and conversations will happen. We’ll get up and get food or a drink, but when it’s your turn, you take it with the intention of trying to win.

Do you fall more on the must win side of social side of board gaming?

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

The Problem

So, there is a reason that I want to talk about this. This is something that I’ve been harping on for a little bit with people who are entrenched in the hobby game scene. We often forget what it was like to start playing board games. I know that I don’t love a game like Splendor anymore. Why, because I’ve played it enough times and it doesn’t offer enough variety for me. But Splendor is a great game to introduce people to.

It’s common to kind of turn up a nose at Catan now. And I get it, there are a million different versions and expansions of games like Catan, Ticket to Ride, and Munchkin, all games that a lot of people got started. I don’t get excited when they announce a new version of Catan, but again, Catan is a game that got so many people into the hobby.

And all of those games, we played them a number of times. It wasn’t like we played them only once. I played Catan probably 20 times at least while I was getting board games. The same goes for Ticket to Ride. I can’t even begin to think about how many times I played games like Skip-Bo, Dutch Blitz, Uno, and more while growing up. But now that I’m a game, there is a temptation to push people along fast.

So What Is the Right Pace?

Unfortunately, that depends on the perspective gamer. Some people move through games like Catan really fast. Others never stop playing Catan. Now, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t introduce new games, but it means that there is no perfect formula.

How Do You Know When?

1. Ask the person
   It can be as simple as that and it should be as simple as that. The person you play the game with, ask them. They might say no, and that is okay. Play those introductory games longer.
2. How often do they win
   Not everyone knows when they are ready to try a new game. So another sign can be how often the other player wins. If the person wins most half the time or often enough, maybe introduce a new game. Ideally one with similar mechanics but I’ll get to that more.
3. Amount/how often you play the game
   This might be the biggest one. Now not everyone wants to play a game all the time. But if you go from playing a game a lot to playing a game less, it might mean that they are ready for another game. They know the game and now they want to try something new.

What Do You Play Next?

This is another big question that you need to answer. What game are you going to play with them next. Now, I’ll point you back to that Top 10 list that I linked at the top and streamed yesterday. I think there are a lot of good options in there. But that doesn’t answer the question fully.

To do that there are a few things that you need to think about, the most important being, what do they like about the games they know? Do they like being really competitive, work that direction. Maybe they like solving a puzzle, lean that direction.

Let’s actually take a dive and look at Catan. What all does Catan have in it? Catan has resource management. It has city/route building. It has a luck to it and probability. Which of those elements does the person like? Let’s work off of my list of games from yesterday.

Resource Management

Century Golem Edition would be my top choice. It has you manipulating your resources more than Catan does, but you are pushing for certain groups of gems to get your Golem. And there is more control over what you are getting as compared to what Catan does. This will cut down on the randomness and add in more strategy for a Catan player.

City/Route Building

I think that Draftosaurus would make some sense for this one. You are collecting different groups of things, but it is fairly different. I also think that Marvel United oddly enough could be interesting or The Lost Expedition. You aren’t building your own city or route. But working together you are creating a chain of things, either actions or a path you take. But Draftosaurus would probably be the best.

The Odds

Sagrada would seem like the likely option. It has the dice rolling in it, but I’m not sure I’d put that at the top. In think that Silver might actually be best. With that game it has a bit more push your luck to it. And I think that is what some people like with the odds. So both Silver and Sagrada would be great options for the next step on that side of things for Catan.

So you can see how different games might work better. I think the big thing is give options, but not too many. And talk about what they like or maybe don’t like as well about a game when picking the one for the next step. And expect to play that next game a few times. I have friends who I can pull out a new game with them every time I play, but new gamers, those aren’t the people to do that with.

What do you do to pick a game? Any tried and true tips that you have for helping new gamers try new games?

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

1 – Not Being Ready to Game

Now this one might seem obvious, but I don’t think that some people get it or are ready to game. While there are certainly social elements to game nights, that is meant to be done in the context of while you are playing a game. So come ready to sit down and play again, not ready to talk for 30 minutes to an hour and then play a game at some point in time and then talk more after a filler game. I fairly often theme in filler game nights for those more social times, but sometimes you need to be prepared to play a bigger game and it’s a game night, so that should be the mindset.

2 – Quashing Fun

This really is #1 through #7, but I want to call this out specifically. It’s something that was talked about in the thread a fair amount. Don’t quash other people’s fun because something in the game offends you and the flip side of this as well, don’t pull out a game that you know will offend someone. If you aren’t sure, leave it on the shelf, if you are uncomfortable, sit out the game. You can always bring it up after the fact and do so respectfully. And if you don’t know, ask before pulling out a game if the person is fine with it. This also is true for conversation on a board game night. We’re trying to create an inclusive place. If you can’t shut up about the debate last night, don’t come, if you are wearing hateful or polarizing material on your shirt, or whatever it might be, don’t assume everyone is like you, and don’t assume everyone wants to talk about politics or whatever polarizing thing like you do.

3 – Alpha Gaming/Analysis Paralysis Gaming

Now, I’m lumping these two together, and really, like I said, this falls into quashing people’s fun. But while that is more specifically about your tastes and views on things, this is more about the game itself. Don’t tell people what to do on their turns, sure they might not be doing an optimal play, but that’s okay. It might mean you’re less likely to win a cooperative game, and that’s okay. By the same token, don’t take too long on your turn, that is how people checkout of games, and I’ll talk about that later. But slowing a game down makes it less fun for everyone. For AP players, they feel the pressure to go fast and not let everyone else get bored, for the other players, they don’t want to get bored. Here’s going to be an odd statement, but alpha gamers and AP gamers tend to have the same issue, they need to win. The issue is how they do it, one thinks they know what everyone should do, and one locks up to make the optimal play. Winning the game isn’t everything.

4 – Sore Losing/Winning

As I just said, winning the game isn’t everything, and losing the game isn’t nothing. But don’t be sore at either of them. Don’t huff and puff and say that the game isn’t fair, that people ganged up on you (even if they did), lose graciously. Again, this steps on people’s fun if you lose poorly. At the same time, if you win, don’t gloat about it. Also don’t deflect and say it was all luck and that you just happened to get lucky to win, because someone might have been playing their hardest and gotten crushed and feel now like they are a terrible player. Instead be gracious in both winning and losing and that’ll make the game more fun for everyone.

5 – Cheating

Simply put, don’t do this. No game matters that much that it’s worth cheating at, at a board game night. I don’t care if you’re playing poker for the last piece of Rhubarb Cream Pie, don’t cheat. Cheating if you get caught ruins the game for everyone. If you don’t get caught, it makes the whole experience more hollow. I’ve found that the people who cheat usually don’t cheat to win, or if they do, they’ll also cheat to win by more, which makes it less fun.

6 – Readily Getting Distracted/Checkout of the Game

This can happen for several reasons, but try not to. Firstly, again, it’s a game night, you’re hear to play a game, not to look at your phone, not to have a conversation with someone who is playing another game, or someone who just showed up at the expense of missing it’s you’re turn. It’s fine to chat, but don’t get so distracted you lose track of the game, hold it up by missing your turn, and then spend a while figuring out your turn because you weren’t paying attention to what everyone else did. Also, don’t checkout of a game because you think you can’t win. First, you might not be able to actually tell that. But also if you start playing worse than you were, you can king make or otherwise mess up the fun other people are having. See your strategy and plan through to the end.

7 – Mistreating the Game

Now, as I’ve said, we have food at the table, so I’m not as strict about this as most people. In fact we’ve had Doritos and red wine (not the worlds tastiest combo) at the table before. But I’m talking about doing stuff intentionally to a game, or subconsciously. Don’t bend cards and throw pieces. Wipe off your fingers if you have Cheetos or Doritos’ dust on them before picking up pieces and cards. Just generally be respectful of other people’s property, it’s a common courtesy but be conscious of that, and resprect the rules the owner of the game has for their game.

So obviously some people in the thread were more clever than I was and created ones related to the actual seven deadly sins, but I thought it was an interesting topic for a gaming group and board gaming in general, so I wanted to write something up about it. Generally, I think that The RPG Academy gets it right with their motto, “If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right”. So make sure that you’re having fun, and make sure that everyone at the table is as well and playing board games will be fun for everyone.

What are your rules for gaming?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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

Most people who are interested in board games are going to be up for learning a new game from time to time. Though, there will be some people who aren’t interested as well, but that was a different article. So, you get the game to the table, now how do you teach people the game? I might have actually written about this before, but I think it’s worth going back over and giving some more suggestions, because this is one of the bigger barriers to entry for a lot of board games.

The rules to games are often challenging, and unless everyone loves board games, reading from the rule book won’t likely teach people. Even if the people do love board games, and someone starts to read from the rule book, I’m going to zone out, because I can just read the rule book myself if that’s how we’re going to learn. There needs to be a more engaging way to keep people involved in the rules.

Teaching Rules Steps:

1. Start out by knowing the rules yourself. That doesn’t mean that you’ve had to have played the game before, though playing a sample hand wouldn’t be bad or sample turn, just to make sure that you get it. Or you can watch videos from places like Watch It Played that go over the rules to certain games. What you’re looking to come out of is the win or loss conditions, end of game, and what people can do on their turn. You are going to want to know those things well.
2. Start with the theme of the game (if there is one). By starting with the theme, you can get people’s interest since you aren’t starting off with something dry. This is actually a time where you can read from the rule book, because some games, like T.I.M.E. Stories actually have a bit of a story at the start of the rule book. You can use whatever the game gives you to tell the story. Now, for some games there won’t be a theme you can do this with, I’m looking at abstract games or Dominion as examples, so you can skip that step.
3. Then talk about how you win or lose the game. This is going to be the most important information for people in the game. Generally it’s going to be about how you win the game, especially in a competitive game. You want to have the most victory points, you want to control so many territories, you want to empty your hand of cards first, whatever that might be. But if there’s a condition, say, if you run out of cards, that can eliminate someone from the game, tell them that too. Or for something like Pandemic, there are a lot of ways to lose the game, so talk about those while you talk about how you win. Pandemic is also a good example as to how you can combine this with step two, because you can talk in the theme about how you’re all members of the CDC who are trying to cure four diseases. In that case, you can get the information out in one fell swoop, though I would be tempted to repeat it again, just to make sure everyone knows.
4. Spend some time go over turn/round structure. This isn’t what people can do on their turn. But if you start by drawing cards, then playing two cards, then moving the villain ahead two spaces, then optionally getting an event card, explain that. This is meant to teach people who this works at a high level and what the structure is going to be through most of the game. It is also going to give you a chance to show off random decks of cards or things that the players might not immediately interact with in the game.
5. Go over what people can do on their turns. Now, this doesn’t have to be everything. Especially if there is a player aid that is good and clear. But talk about the important things that people can do on their turns. In Pandemic, explain how the moving works and how to treat diseases and how to cure diseases. Then, most of the characters have a special action that they can take. You don’t need to teach something like this which is specific to a single player, but have the players read, at this time, their special powers, if they exist, and in fact hand them out at this time, and then you can answer questions.
6. Show people the important parts of the game. But more than just showing off the important decks, let your players be involved in it. In Pandemic, as an example again, you can talk about the player deck and have someone shuffle it and hand out people’s hands of cards while you continue to teach more. It seems like it might distract from your teaching by having someone do something like that. I personally don’t think it will, in fact it might keep people more engaged. Because people are going to be paying attention so that if you ask them to help with something it won’t be obvious that they weren’t paying attention.
7. Finally, teach in the game as need be. This can be a few different things. Sometimes there are several things that only happen once or twice in the game, you can teach them in the moment when they happen. However, this only works if it isn’t something that is extremely important to the game or to the scoring. If there’s something that can give you an automatic win, teach that earlier even if it’s really rare. Or if it’s something that helps you as the person who is teaching the game and hurts someone else, teach it earlier or refrain from doing it, and give it as an example as something that you could do. Another thing that teaching in the game can be is letting players roll back a turn if need be. If someone has an extremely good move and makes a very bad move, point out the option to them, they might have forgotten or just missed it. But don’t do this all the time, because you’ll basically be taking that person’s turn and make this about teaching the game, so once you’ve taught something once during the game, you don’t teach the same thing again.

Now, there are probably more things that you can do. But being patient and teaching a game from theme first, and from a position where you know the rules is going to make it more likely that people will enjoy the game. And when people don’t enjoy the game, don’t assume that it was how you taught it, if you were trying to be considerate and engaging about it, not every game is for everyone.

Have you found any ways that make teaching a game easier? Or are there things that you’ve found help keep people engaged in learning the rules?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

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