Tabletop gaming is great. Let’s just get that out of the way. Gathering around a board game or card game with my friends and family is fun, intellectually stimulating, and just a great excuse to hang out with the people you love.
Here’s the problem: tabletop gaming still has a negative stigma in some circles. To some people, these games are for kids or nerds. To others, any game beyond your basic party game is intimidating. Games with rule books like phone books don’t do anything to ease these players fears.
Introducing games to a new crowd can be an uphill battle to start with. What’s worse is that you may be sabotaging your efforts by making some simple mistakes in how you teach new games. Below are the 4 most common mistakes people make teaching new games, and how you can keep from making them.
1 - Not Knowing the Rules
When you are teaching new players a game, you’re their guide. They are putting their trust in you to lead them to an enjoyable experience. So how useful is a guide who doesn’t know the way?
Not useful at all.
Before you open up the box with new players, especially those you are trying to introduce to gaming, make sure that you understand the rules. This doesn’t mean you need to go over every rule with them (more on that later), but you must understand the rules well enough so that:
- You can teach them the primary game mechanics
- The game is played properly
- You can answer questions the players have
One of the biggest obstacles to teaching new players can be keeping the game moving. Know the rules and you’ll have fewer delays.
2 - Teaching Too Much
As their guide, you’ll need to know where your players are wanting to go. While the game you are teaching them may have many interesting nuances and intricacies that you love, this game session isn’t about you. It’s about them!
They don’t want to hear about what you love, they want to get to playing and find out what they love. Help them understand the big picture, the goal of the game, and any major strategic traps they might fall into. Then…
Let them play!
Your goal is to give them just enough knowledge that they can navigate the mechanics of the game and then to set them free. Spend as little time teaching as is necessary.
3 - Not Having a Plan
When you’ve played a game multiple times, its easy to forget what it felt like to know nothing. New players generally have two questions before they start playing:
- What is the game about?
- How do I win?
To accomplish this, you must give them the big picture of the game and then work your way down. Remember, the best instruction will be the quickest instruction that gets the job done.
Here are the steps you should take when teaching a new player:
- Describe the theme and concept of the game in one sentence.
- Tell them how they win.
- Explain how turns work, first with the parts of a turn and then how they do it.
- Tell them what causes the game to end.
- Ask for questions, then take the first turn, walking them through what you are doing.
4 - Reading Straight from the Rulebook
So how does this make sense? First we tell you that you need to know the rules forwards and backwards, then we tell you not to read the rules?
Not quite. YOU need to know the rules so that the new players don’t have to read them. Remember, the biggest obstacle to getting new players into a game is that initial learning curve. Confusion and boredom are your enemies.
For new players, you need to give them the Cliff’s Notes instead of reading the text book to them. Have a plan on how you are going to teach the new players (see Mistake 3 above) and for all but the most simple games, only use the rulebook as a reference guide. If a specific issue comes up, feel free to pull out the rulebook to explain, but use this tactic with extreme care.
If you start reading the entire rulebook to the new players, expect to see their faces disappear into their phones
That’s it! Thanks for reading, and we hope this helps you grow your game night! Remember, everyone deserves to enjoy gaming. Do your part to help newcomers join the gaming community!
If you’d like a game with simple mechanics that lead to complex decisions to bring your friends into gaming, click below to check out our Kickstarter campaign launching October 1st!