I am entirely on board for the implication that teaching someone boardgames and bringing them into the hobby is done with the inevitible long term aim of convincing them to play Twilight Imperium.
This is exactly what i did. I taught my friends board games for 4 years and then dropped TI4 on them :) They picked it up quicker than they thought they would. Next game is scheduled for July XD
Hearing one of my friends sincerely say "you're really good at teaching this stuff" while explaining game rules to them is genuinely one of those nice rewarding little memories that keeps coming back years later.
I have received this comment before, and I agree it was a nice confidence boost. I think I'm better at explaining games now just from the confidence of multiple friends saying "You're really good at explaining games!" Confidence goes a long way. It also puts people at ease that you know what you're talking about, you're going to be able to answer their questions later and keep things organized.
Definitely. It's one of those things where putting in almost any amount of effort into preparing makes you way better than 90% of the people teaching their friends how to play games. People notice the effort and it means a lot
One of my friends is awful at explaining games. He can explain a game ive played 20 times to me and i still wouldnt know how it works. It happened multiple times that he got a game. And people asked me to read the rules so they can actually understand the explanation
I think Quinns really needs to get some props for taking the time to set up several board games for single scenes in this video. Oh lord must that have taken ages.
@@stayphrosty Oh god, tell me about it! The times I've done videos on board games have involved so much set up O: It's why I'm even more astounded with this due to the number of games on show.
I'm sensing a new game already ;-D One: You are freezing survivors of the apocalypse. Two: you win by most effectively scrabble through piles of junk. Three: It's fun to weigh who to invite in your bunker and who to send to the wastelands all while ruining your friend's plans in each other's fight with a surprise explosive charge.
One: We are funny cube tossers. Two: You win by scoring points for the groups of the funny cubes you toss. Three: It's fun to do mental math and gamble your points away as you toss funny cubes around over and over again.
My last game of monopoly we ended up having a slumlord millionaire and a boardwalk tycoon turned crackhead drag queen. If you’re not storytelling, the game is almost not worth playing at all!
😂 if you want to learn/ teach a board game. Uncertain how it would help me learn how to steer a narrow boat , create a gastronomic feast, build a doll house or maintain my car. No you right it’s probably the most important video on RUclips 😂
My number one tip in addition to all of this: narrate your turns in the opening rounds. Clearly walk them through your thought process behind your moves. Encourage them to do the same.
As someone who has had to teach Spirit Island to at least a dozen different people 6+ times, the skill of teaching how a board game works has become an art.
Woah it's Hello Future Me! it's always awesome to see your favorite creators just existing on youtube, not as a creator. Love your videos, especially your avatar stuff.
IMO the best tip Quinn's gave was, teaching the objective / How-To-Win early in the process. By doing this, every player can structure the rest of the rules around the objective and it helps to facilitate strategies early on in the teaching process.
Yes. Even in usually excellent tutorials on boardgamegeektv they sometimes miss that out Knowing your audience you are teaching is also vital as regular gamers will grasp ideas fairly quickly compared to casual players and the latter may need to be given different terminology and relate to classic ubiquitous games ...for example with a regular gamer you will get away with gamer jargon like 4x or asymmetric play or mechanism....you will just confuse the hell out of casual or newbies if you tried that!
My in laws are big card game players and that’s their number one teaching rule - start with how you win and work backwards. Board games typically have more systems in play so it’s not quite that straight forward but it’s a great rule of thumb.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I've heard this tip repeated by seemingly every board gamer on the internet but I don't agree that it's the most important thing to start with how to win. I'm a huge advocate for teaching what you do on your turn and what the structure of the game is going to be first. It almost always leads nicely into a point where you can say, "And this action is important because the first person to do whatever wins the game." or something similar. For example, the goal of blue moon legends is to lure 3 dragons onto your side of the board. You could say that right up front but if you explain what you do on your turn, how to play cards, how battles work and THEN explain that battles are important because they move dragons and that's how you win the game, it's completely in context at that point and it doesn't let the person being taught the game wonder what's going on with these dragons I mentioned for 10 minutes until I finally get there. If you explain how turns and rounds work in logical way, I don't find people to be confused or thrown off by not knowing what the goal is until they have a way to frame it. But like I said, different things work for different people.
@@Phildiculous I'd disagree with that. I find if you talk about all the things you do, particularly if the game is complex, it doesn't MEAN anything until they know WHY they'd want to do them. If you start with the goal, and they can see how those actions get to the goal, they have context, and are more likely to remember.
You should absolutely watch this brilliant video first but if you need a quick reference to the tips made then read on: 1. 1:17 Actually know all the rules before you teach, and don’t be afraid to google unclear or ambiguous rules. 2. 2:33 Before starting to teach you should setup the game in full so players can see it. Allow players to fiddle with game pieces. 3. 3:13 “Introduce the game” by asking these three questions: Who, How and Why? Who are we, How do we win and Why is this game fun? 4. 4:46 Rules teaching is a performance, rehearse it. Know what the big talking points/mechanics are relevant to the game and think about in what order you want to explain them. 5. 6:30 Use your friends names in rules examples to get them engaged. 6. 8:00 Foster an environment where questions are encouraged. Compliment them for questioning. 7. 8:48 Only have one player teaching the game. If another player knows the game, make them an assistant to you: Let them help you set up the game. Let them point to relevant game pieces while you teach. Let them ask questions about rules you’re missing. Let them fetch food and drinks while the new players learn the game. 8. 10:00 You’ve successfully taught players the game well if they win you. Try not to stomp them and scare them away from the game. 9. 11:16 Ask players if they need a dummy/fake first rounds of the game to get familiar and then restart. You can have open hands to explain why you made your game choices 10. 12:20 Maybe begin teaching smaller games so new players get familiar with different mechanics so they can more easily understand harder games. 11. 13:57 Learn how to teach rules well by watching Board Game Convention Demoers, your Local Board Game Store employees or your other well experienced Board Game Friends.
Absolutely top notch scripting and delivery. It's so satisfying to see someone who's really brilliant at their work. It's so easy to share your videos with friends and family, even if they're not that into board gaming, because of the obvious quality of the work you produce! Thanks for trying to teach us too. A pleasure as always. Don't work too hard you lot.
Something I always avoid is teaching strategy as part of the main rules. I often see people go off on tangents when teaching rules with, "...and if you have this card, you'll want to use it right away because if someone else has this card then this can happen, etc." All that confuses people, it makes people mistake what is advice and what is actually rules, and it robs the players of the joy of coming up with their own strategies and playstyles themselves. To be clear, I'm not talking about basic principles of the game, but more advanced strategies that come from time playing the game.
Conflating strategic concepts and basic concepts is so easy to do and it's absolutely a mistake. Examples of play or open hands are definitely the place for explaining strategy stuff.
@@Enkufka Exactly! That moment of realization is so nice when a certain strategy occurs to you, and I try not to rob new players of that moment by telling them how to play "optimally as part of the rules.
Yes! It's especially quite annoying to be explaining rules and have someone else interrupt and start explaining strategy before you've even explained the mechanism(s) that underpins it...
Great advice. I absolutely hate it when someone throws strategic advice into the mix, especially since it's often dubious or wrong. Like "There are 3 types of materials: stone, clay, and fabric. But the only one you really need to worry about is fabric because it's BROKEN so the game basically becomes a race to get all the fabric." Not only have you biased everyone at the table to play a certain way and not discover strategy for themselves, but you've also heavily implied that the game you've decided to teach is bad/unbalanced which begs the question, why did you suggest it in the first place??
"If you're not reading the manual to the game on the toilet the week before your board game night, you're probably doing it wrong." This hit way too close to home.
that's my favorite part. I'm a trainer at my job and have been a TA in the past. These are just great guidelines in general to get someone to learn something
Agreed! I'm a high school teacher, and all of these tips are great pedagogical practices. The emphasis on planning ahead really resonates with me for this reason: planning ahead might take more time, but it will make the teaching and learning experience so much more efficient. And ultimately, people just want to play this awesome game as soon as they can!
I mean, he is right, even some of the lightest board games, even tiny ones like Startups or any of the Oink games, take a measure of explaining. Hell, even /CHESS/ isn't that easy if you have to outright explain it for someone that never saw a chess set or knows the 'theme'.
A trick for helping encourage questions is instead of "does anyone have any questions" say "0k before I move on what questions do you have?" it gives permission to ask rather than sounds like an obligation. Then reward with great question! Simple but effective.
I'm puzzled about the questions thing. I usually find it best to encourage people NOT to ask questions until the game has been explained (even when it's someone else explaining the game!), because they are usually about things that were going to be explained later, and make it less structured and more confusing for everyone. Instead you might better ask after explaining something "did you understand this"?
@@Salaskan Yeah, make the questions about what you just explained. It doesn't help anyone if in the middle of explaining how card drawing works someone asks why there's an elephant on the board.
@@Salaskan if you ask did you understand this there's a risk people will automatically say yes to avoid looking stupid. Better to say something like great question I'll explain this first so when we get to that it will make sense.
@@Norn100 I've just finished my masters in teaching and one of the things they taught us was how to encourage questions and engagement. It's quite funny, I can bluff my way through a class topic I'm only tangentially familiar with, but am hopeless at teaching games I love 😅 I think it's cos I'm hopeless at remembering rules and always forget that one viral one 🤦♀️
Additional tip specific to teaching hidden role games: ALWAYS show a visual example of what the cards look like that say "Traitor" on them. Otherwise, even if you explain the existence of traitors in a game, you're guaranteed to have one person looking at their cards with a confused look who will say "so where would it say that I'm a traitor?", completely giving away their innocence.
The player who honestly misunderstood is one issue that can be troublesome but also there is the player who will deliberately misinterpret any rule or written material and the same tip of show it off to every one ahead of time helps with both issues.
i feel like its kind of obvious in most situations to not ask a question like that. its sort of like hiding from a murderer and shouting "im not in here!"
Another very important thing : explain when the game will end. Usually I do this at the beginning, along with the lore, how to win and what's fun about the game
Ahh, this takes me back to that time when we were going to have a game night at my place and one enthusiastic member of our group suggested that we played his latest addition to his collection: "Twilight Imperium, a space game with war and politics." "That sounds awesome" I replied. Fast forward to game night, 7:00 PM when we had been setting the game for 1:30 h. "How many times have you played this game?" I asked "Never" he replied. "Have you at least read the rulebook?" I asked "I've skimmed it" he replied. After facepalms all around we played Smallworld instead.
haha i resonate with this so much. The first "real" board game I got was a game of thrones the second edition. I tried to set it up, learn it, and play it at the same time; needless to say it was a nightmare
1) Know the rules! Like, really 1a) Googling rules queries works like a charm 2) Let people fiddle! It's a toy, not a lecture 3) Before teaching: "Who, how, and why?" Make these points clear about your and your friends' role in the game's world: Who are we? How do we win? Why is this fun? :) 4) I's a performace. Consider rehearsing! 5) Always use your friends in examples! 6) Make sure you encourage questions 7) Employ a flight attendant (= don't have 2 teachers at once) 8) Careful how you play the game, too! "If you win a game you're teaching, you've already lost" 9) Take the lead on asking if a dummy round is necessary 10) The secret superpower of little games (= start boardgame night with little games) 11) A hat tip to tip top workmanship (= shoutouts to game teaching at trade fairs)
I've been praised for how well I teach board games in the past and people always wondered what my secret was. It was multiple hours of learning the rules myself before actually playing the game with other people.
While true, its not the whole enchilada. My friend is excellent at explaining rules in a way that is entertaining, easy to follow and relaxed. He's also notorious for getting important rules wrong, probably cos he's blasé about reading them properly. I'm about the opposite: I have great retention of the rules, but I'm often nervous, and consequently not so concise, focused and orderly in my explanations. When we both know the game, we are a good combination, because I can be the 'helper' which Quinn suggested. On my own, not so easy ... which is why I watched this video.
I don't usually consider myself great at these things (teaching in general), but apparently its more about it being things I like. A job I hate? Hated training new people. A job I loved? They sent all the newbies in the area to me. My friends will have me teach THEIR board games, which has occasionally been awkward...like I have no idea how to play this game, but sure, I'll read and regurgitate.
I also think there's a fine art to figuring out when to only teach the basic rules before you start playing and let players learn the rest while playing. Some games are great for "let's just jump in" while others can't be enjoyed without a deeper dive up front (example: Any game with a hidden traitor *MUST* involve a comprehensive rules dive before starting).
@@robertahearne423 Yep, I've seen that happen with BSG, Dead of Winter, Shadows Over Camelot, and it's always a bummer for the whole group. I eventually decided to only play Shadows as full-co-op when we have a new player, but that's not an option in BSG :(
@@TzarinaMystra My first game of BSG I was Boomer and after after The Sleeper Agent phase ended up with the both The traitor cards. There was not much I could have done better there.
If you start playing without having explained all the rules, you HAVE to make sure the players know that they will commit errors and agree that you will correct them when they break a rule. Otherwise you get the classic issue of "but you didn't say that and now my strategy is ruined"!
"And in learning Action Points when playing Pandemic, that's a building block for when you teach them... Twilight Imperium!" Things just went from zero to one hundred real freaking quick.
I played TI:4e at my parents house last week with my cousins. My Dad tried for a a good 10 minutes to understand anything we were doing. It didn't end well.
Yeah TI4 is the toughest "Teach" I have ever had to do. I knew the game very well, planned an hour for the rule explanation, had a checklist, and practise round. I was so chuffed when everyone started to play and had a good understanding. That was my victory for the night. A brave choice to involve your Dad. Love Quinn's videos about the social aspects of the gaming hobby.
I find that I lose 95+% of the time when teaching a new game, the new player usually wins because I spend so much time watching and helping them. You hit the nail on the head when you said the more you play games, the less winning and losing matters, it becomes an experience rather than competition. Personally I think the most important part of teaching a game is explaining the goal or objective and how to win, this helps frame the game so the new player knows what they are getting into and how long it will last, then work backwards on what you need to do to accomplish those goals and objectives using examples. Good video, well done.
My tip is to avoid saying exceptions. For example: "The rule is you have three actions per turn...except for if a card says you get more." There are always exceptions and people familiar with games will know this. Otherwise, you can save it for your example turns or when you talk about a specific component.
Yes! This is a tough one when there are people there who already know the game, because I've found out they think I'm forgetting something important and budge in to explain the whole exception anyway. Good intentions, definitely, but a little hard to get around sometimes.
I've never managed to teach A Game of Thrones in less than 45 minutes but this has given me some ideas how to do it better. Maybe get that time down to 42 minutes next time.
Do the Dummy Rounds sooner rather than later! I've been teaching Game of Thrones since its first edition (along with the Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords expansions), and I've gotten it down to about a half hour. I've found that AGoT in particular really benefits from having a Teaching Board already set up, with a multi-house battle ready to go -- usually centered around Riverrun with Lannister versus Greyjoy, with Stark in position to Support. This lets you show how boats work as transport and support, it gets in the no-raiding-land-to-sea exception, and demonstrates Stark's ability to Support whichever side they want (or neither!). In my experience, no one really groks the orders until they see them in action anyway, so dive into that right away with examples, and do any questions as cleanup.
My dad, a schoolteacher, always taught me "If you can't explain something adequately to other people, your own grasp on the matter is lacking". Actually knowing the rules to the game you are teaching is so important! Good tips all around, definitely will use them!
Yes and not just the rules but also the FAQ. It's basically mandatory to print the FAQ from BGG because in 99,9% of cases, a question which is answered there will come up during the first game.
@@mydemon The more I hang around smart people, the more convinced I am of this. The people who REALLY understand quantum mechanics can present it to you as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
@@inotterwords6115 I've never really agreed with it at all. There's so much terminology that goes into advanced topics that no matter how well you understand them, you'd never be able to explain it "simply". Every other word out of your mouth would require a separate "simple" explanation which likely would contain yet more unknown terms and so on and so forth. Understanding is built in layers.
I love reading manuals and learning how to play new games. My friends now exploit this mercilessly. One of them brought Eldritch Horror round to my house after he’d bought it. Him and another friend wanted to play it. They just put it on the table and said “Steve, let’s play this”. I then had to teach myself while teaching them, as I’d never played it before. I’m pretty sure I got at least two rules wrong, we lost miserably but apparently everyone enjoyed it and want to play it again. I think my teaching tip would be “Act confident even when you are massively out of your depth and have no idea what’s going on”
I've been in the hobby and teaching games for almost 9 years now, and I still refer back to this video every now and then. Such a great reference for how game teaching can still be fun.
The worst, worst, most awful thing people have started doing is to demand that their friends watch the How To rules videos first. This has become such a terrible norm that people on reddit actually claim that when you’re invited to a game night, not watching those videos (as a guest!) is considered bad form. Do not be that guy. How To videos are for the host/owner of the game. Suggest them for people who want to learn beforehand, but never ever expect or demand it.
While true, I think it's an absolutely necessary step just to cut down on set up time for really long games like Twilight Imperium and Dune. At least just so that the concepts are not completely new when you sit down to play. There will be explanation at the table anyway, but this definitely shortens the time to set up those games in particular.
Oh dear god. That's just being poorly socialized. Anyone doing that is on an express train to not having people to play board games with anymore, and that's probably what they deserve.
I think suggesting it is fine if people want to prep beforehand, but I don't think it should be made a requirement. There's a difference between "watch these videos or you don't get to play" and "here's some material if you want to prep". Some games are really wide and customizable (like Arkham LCG) so pointing out those resources can be helpful, but I wouldn't expect anyone to learn the game from them.
@@skyblazeeterno Especially if they're not boardgamers per se, so people that like the systems that make boardgaming fun. So you have to draw them in with the theme, and you want games which have a theme which is also very present in the actual game itself, so you can say stuff like "i'm using my elephants to stomp on your archers" and have that be the actual action. Not just "i'm trading two workers and an ore to create a factory that gives me one steel per turn! WHEE!".
I genuinely think teaching board games and my skill at it is one of the best things I've gotten out of the hobby, it's given me a lot of confidence in a sort of public speaking kind of? What I haven't yet been able to learn though is how to teach people... to teach games. I think they just tune out the moment they realize they have to put any actual time into it. Which I guess makes sense. Here's to all of you out there who put the time needed to learn and teach the games you have.
First step to teaching "Dune" - ask your friends if they read the novel or at least watched the horrible movie. If they haven't, the game night turns into a story night. Or a horror night.
... Paul's hand feels like the skin is burning right off of it exposing blackening bones... And then Patrick stewart charges into battles, pug in hand... Feyd stands triumphantly, clad only in a cod piece... Paul and gurney reunite and share a hug, all members of the audience brush a tear off their cheek... And then it starts raining as frank Herbert spins in his grave.
so my kids and I got Dune because it looked like a fun game and then my son read the book and my daughter and I watched the bad sci fi show. knowing the story is not needed at all for the game. :D "We're jerks trying to control a planet. It's fun because we're jerks"
I had the same problem, that my friends dont really play as much as I want to anymore and they live further away than they used to. So I just asked in a local facebook group for people to play boardgames. Worked pretty well, we have boardgames every Thursday.
I have no idea where you live but try looking up board game cafe or boardgame bar. I live in a fairly large city where these types of places are everywhere and in close in proximity to where I live. Great places to meet new people who love playing board games as much as we do 😋
just to put this tip out there for future people who might be reading this: buy used games locally through some kind of marketplace. facebook marketplace, craigslist or whatever you have. If you find someone who sells similar games to what you like to play, you can easily strike up a conversation and ask if they want to meet up sometime. I have met several of my gaming groups that way without even looking for new ones!
As another tip: I like to explain the "exceptions" last, like variable player powers or unique scenarios like shooting the moon in hearts. It's less confusing when the players have a solid grasp on the rules before they learn how the rules get broken, even when the powers or weird scenarios are central to the game. Great video!
i always start by telling everybody the the theme of the game and the main objective, I've had many games explained to me where people always start by telling everyone where to put the pieces and how the mechanics work but they don't tell you why you do all that until the very end.
How i see it, people need to know things which will help them play the game when their turn comes up, they don't need to know why some pieces get put somewhere at the start, or why something behaves as it does (assuming the teacher also takes up all the support roles of managing the non-player-specific details of the mechanics). Sure, they can grow into that later, but for a game to be played, everyone needs to know and be able to at least semi-confidently play their turn.
I've always considered teaching how to play part of the experience of board games and that this step makes or breaks for new players, especially those who are new to the hobby. This is a much needed video and I'm relieved to know I'm already applying some of these tips. Thank you so much!
If it's a 2-player complex game, and you know you're typically going to be playing that game with the same person continuously, it can be good to learn together from scratch. You end up learning it very quickly, since you're both reminding eachother of things the other missed - I learnt War of the Ring in no time via this method, and that's an incredibly rule-heavy game. Much quicker than learning by yourself I found, plus you don't have to teach!
As an elementary, I just want to say that you hit the NAIL ON THE HEAD with everything in this video. Preparation, physical engagement with manipulatives, objectives, purpose, even hamming it up a bit to make players more excited. Checking for understanding, letting them ask questions. Love it! It's exactly what we do in the classroom, and I'm here for it!
# 1 1:17 Know the rules! Like, really # 1a 2:13 Googling rules queries works a charm # 2 2:33 Let people fiddle! It’s a toy, not a lecture # 3 3:20 Before teaching: “Who, how, and why?” # 4 4:45 It’s a performance. Consider rehearsing # 5 6:27 Always use your friends in examples! # 6 7:57 Make sure you encourage questions # 7 8:47 Employ a flight attendant # 8 10:00 Careful how you play the game, too! # 9 11:14 Take the lead on asking if a dummy round is necessary # 10 12:20 The secret superpower of little games # 11 13:56 A Hat Tip to Tip Top Workmanship
Great job this video gave me some extra ideas to implement. I sound add three more tips: 1) be enthousiastic 2) at the end of an rules explanation, give a very short summary 3) at the end of this summary, I always tell the players to don't panic, it's just a (learning) game, just have a fun time!
I've been the designated rules learner / game teacher in my group for about a decade. I didn't realize other people thought about ways to improve game learning experience! I feel like much less of a dork now. I'm encouraged that so much of my own thinking aligns with Quinn's, and I even learned a thing or two watching this video.
SUSD needs more stuff like this. It's very helpful! :) Two tips I've learned from teaching Mage Knight (which is quite complex): 1: Show, don't tell, e.g. don't explain combat rules beforehand, but just jump into a dumb-ass combat as the first thing you do on your first round 2: Limit the amount of rules, if possible. Level-up rewards is explained when someone levels up. The small, neat tricks for picking up extra points is told when people have started getting a grip of the basics.
Great tips! One more sub-tip: use your turn to use mechanics that they may have forgotten about, or even to do something tactical and creative that your friends might not have thought of yet, even if it doesn’t actually help you much. It gets their own brains working on how they might use the mechanics more creatively without feeling like they’ve been spoon fed information, with a bonus result that you look like a badass for 3 seconds.
Thanks again for this, Quinns! I’m teaching Eclipse today and fired this up for a quick reminder of how to do things back around the table again. Very excited to see my pals and play. 🤞🤞
Great video. I'm the 'teacher' in our house and regulary get 'the look' from my family when trying to teach games, this is normally followed by 'shall we just play and pick it up as we go'!
I'm so glad that SU&SD take time to make videos that actually benefit the board game community as a whole. It's super cool watching a video that makes me want to be a better person in one way or another.
I teach a lot of new board games to friends and family, including my mum who loves to play but doesn’t do well with super complex games. Here’s the order of explanation I’ve developed that I think works very well. 1. Contextualisation (The Who, what and why, helps people think in more manageable concepts than abstract game actions. “Building your city using wood” is easier to grasp than “play this card from your hand by paying the resources”. 2. How does the game end, and how do we win? (Helps contextualise game actions in terms of a goal. Do I care about this resource because it’s worth points and I should hoard it, or should I be spending it at every opportunity?) 3. Parts of a turn (how does the game actually play out?) 4. What actions can players take? (Now that they’ve got all the context, explain what they can do to further their goals) 5. Extraneous mechanics. (Stuff like the robber in Catan, important to know about but not until you understand how the basic game works. If possible, I start playing the game after step 4 then explain the mechanics as players encounter them, or give a quick overview that’s elaborated on later. “Do this if you need more cards” “This is how you setup your food supply”. 6. As you start playing be very forthcoming with information. Explain your motivations behind your moves for at least the first couple of turns. Offer advice on what some opening moves should be. Warn players about trouble or risks they might be getting themselves into by making certain moves. This might give other players an advantage over you, but as pointed out, the first time you play a board game is about roping your friends into the fun, not having a super cut-throat competitive experience. I’ve found this method works really well and can be adapted to pretty much any game. Hope you find it useful! :)
I once had a relatively simple game 'taught' by the entire rulebook being read cover to cover and it was one of the worst gaming experiences of my life.
Reading aloud from the rule book can assure your friends that you don't make up stuff. And...maybe even more important: that you don't keep important knowledge from them.
Theres nothing wrong with referring to the rule book, especially if its a heavier game ,obviousky don't cover to cover it, but getting the exact rules right is more important IMO.
This hobby has many faces, its more than just playing the game. I actually love teaching because its so rewarding seeing a board game night go smooth for everyone and just knowing you were part of that.
Thanks for the tips! Our group has switched to Tabletop Sim until we can be around other humans again. And teaching a game in a virtual space is a new challenge.
Rule 8: If win while teaching you have lost. I have teached Sythe countless times, to single individuals that are coming into a 4-5 player game where 3-4 players are experienced. Offering strategic advice for why the new player might want attack myself when I am in vulnerable situations is key to bring in new players. I have been on the reverse where the teacher only gives hindsight strategic advice, it makes you not want to play a 2nd time.
Same here. I taught Scythe a lot, didn't even win my first game untill I played about twelve games or so, even though I was always the one with the most experience and theoretical experience in the game. But I DID create a close group of players, so I always have someone to play with. Plus, Scythe is still my number one favorite 😁
I think it's important for the inexperienced player to know the level of experience of other players then as an adult they can choose to continue or not
This video is extremely helpful. As someone who is going to have to teach a group how to play Dune on Saturday (Thanks to your Dune video for convincing me to buy it), I was mentally checking off everything to make sure that I don't guff it up. Last night I practiced an immersive introduction to both explain the setting, as well as the basic concept of the game. Tonight I plan on setting up a small round so that I can get more familiar with it, and then I'll memorize the turn order and some of the advanced rules. I'm pretty excited to teach it. Thank you!
I teach games in a very similar way to your suggestions. (a) Theme. The narrative, aesthetic, and degree of cooperation or competition expected. Puts the players in the right headspace. (b) Win Condition. Explaining a boardgame is like planning a roadtrip. And you don't plan a roadtrip without having the destination fixed firmly in your mind, to which all other information and directions build towards. I'm giving you piece of information X. Without knowing why this matters towards the goal, X just gets sorted on a shelf of the mind to be swiftly forgotten as you begin explaining Y and Z. (c) Typical Turn. Play a turn while explaining the rules and systems. Encourage questions, and reinforce that it's completely expected to not have the full picture on a first explanation; understanding and strategy comes with the first round played. To that end... (d) Test Round. Play one or two rounds with the players fumbling through a turn, taking actions, getting things wrong and out of order, and building a lattice of understanding while you answer questions and correct errors.
Such a pedagogically sound and extremely entertaining video. So much of your methodology is straight from what teachers call “best practices” in the classroom. And I giggled twice and had three outright guffaws.
Another great video thank you Quinns A couple of handy sub tips that I think are helpful: 1) don’t be afraid to teach the language of the particular game that you are playing early on, especially for big concepts. Eg “in blood rage, each player takes control of a Viking clan and battle with the other players in the 9 realms, across three different ages. At the end of the third age, the player who has the most glory has won. GLORY IS ALWAYS SHOWN ON CARDS ETC AS A NUMBER IN A BLUE DIAMOND LIKE ON THIS CARD HERE. In order to do most actions, you will need to spend rage. RAGE IS SHOWN AS A NUMBER IN A RED CIRCLE LIKE ON YOUR PLAYER MAT THERE.” 2) introduce the manual and player reminders early on, and refer to them when going through that rules section: Eg: “On your turn in blood rage, you will be able to do 1 of 5 actions. THESE 5 ACTIONS ARE LISTED IN BLACk ALONG THE BOTTOM OF EACH OF YOUR PLAYER MATS, THERE” and then talk through each of those actions. That way a) it’s easier for players to learn, because visual learners will have am aid, and b) when players get stuck they know where to look in order to find the answer.
Good tips! I do most of my advertising "Who, How, Why" before we even sit down, when I am trying to convince them to play, as most of my game play is in our home or familiar social gatherings in other peoples homes. When I get to the rules, I try to follow this pattern for most games: 1) How you win the game, 2) What you actually do on your turn, 2b) Possibly some basic beginner strategy as a kindness, 3) How this all fits in with the fun theme (a recap of Why it is fun). By going in this order, people are aware of the goal right at the beginning, then see how they pursue this goal. Usually, starting out with the theme, while good marketing for buying the game, muddles how you actually play. But if you say, you win by getting the most Green Victory cards (ala Dominion), then when you start talking about how you have a certain amount of money to upgrade your kingdom and get more money, then still are looking for the association of how that gets them their end goal. I also like at the 2nd stage to try to sneak in things like (turns are supposed to go pretty fast in this game, because you can look ahead and plan your turn). :-)
Regarding the comfortable environment to ask questions thing. Whenever I'm teaching somebody a board game, I always make it apparent and clear that the only dumb question is a question that they are afraid to ask and they guess wrong. And that if they don't understand something that it is not a result of their intellect. It is a result of my teaching not being as good as it needs to be so they need to feel comfortable asking me for clarification on anything that I don't do a perfect job explaining and that there's not going to be any judgment for doing so.
When I’m half way through explaining a game and someone says ‘should we just start and work it out as we go’. I always grin as my blood boils and I attempt to fire laser beams out of my eyes. This sentence is often followed up 45 minutes later with ‘oh you kept that rule to yourself’, ‘if I’d of known that I’d of never of done this’ & my favourite ‘to be honest I don’t have a clue what I’m doing’. So now when I do hear the line ‘should we just start and work....’ I ALWAYS agree and insist that we immediately start and I refuse to explain anymore rules period. Currently I’m a solo gamer looking for my fifth board gaming group.
That's me and my family, I'm known as "the cheat" because I try to explain game rules to people, but they start getting bored and asking to quit, so I just give them the quick bare-bones rules to get started and keep additional rules in my pocket to bring up when they apply. Then later on, when said rules apply and I bring it up, my family gets on my case for hiding that information. Like look. You guys were ready to quit the game. I did what I had to do to get you people to play.
Yes exactly. Quinns, how do you deal with this? Just say "no, it's really important that we go through the rules first because otherwise things will go wrong"? My approach is more like "don't propose to explain games to new players who are not fully interested in the game or I know to be too impatient". If I have to convince someone to play a certain game, it's often already a bad idea
As a lifelong educator, I can honestly say this is excellent advice for many people. One little saying I keep in the back of my head when teaching anything is this: When helping others arrive at the destination of understanding, don’t point and declare it’s over there… instead, escort the learner to the understanding. This comes from how Disney trains employees to help guests find bathrooms and other locations in the park when asked.
I am avid board game player who really only played with one group of people for years. I recently moved cities, and my new friends aren't really board gamers. I've always found it hard to teach my maybe 3 dozen games to them, and I'd basically given up at this point. so thank you for this lesson! Hopefully once the quarantine ends I'll be more successful
I once bought Smash-Up, 2 expansions, and a special storage box, and then I proceeded to absolutely stomp them. We never touched that box again. If you're trying to start a regular group of board game enthusiasts, I highly recommend starting with an attainable COOPERATIVE game. Cheers, love the videos.
I regularly come back to this video for a refresher. Recently, a newer member to my board gaming group has expressed a preference for getting people to watch a “how to play” video beforehand (not when we arrive like in your example) and I’m just not a fan. I never used to do this with the longer term members (and they didn’t either) and it was absolutely fine. I’ve found that it’s become a crutch where others are doing the same to avoid having to teach the game on the night but if not everyone coming has the time or opportunity to watch a how to play video then it puts those people at a disadvantage from the start. I also find that giving people too much of a heads up for what game we’ll be playing has led to certain people winning a lot more often. I can’t prove it definitively, of course, but based on comments made and observing play styles I’ve come to the conclusion that some people are not just watching a how to play video but reading the Strategy section of the forums on BGG. Games aren’t exams to study for so there shouldn’t be a need to swot up on how to win. In short, I’ll gladly send this video to my group as a hint hint that teaching games is best done without a video (most of the time).
Great video! Tip 12: Try to look at the new player's reactions. You can usually see if they have mentally "caught up" with tricksy rules by the way they look at things, their mouths, their hands, etc... A glazed over, slack-jawed, unsure expression means you should ask if they'd like you to repeat a rule.
Great video. An additional tip I'd like to add is that you finish of the "How to" with a recap. People are required to absorb a lot of information and the first thing you teached is probably hazy at best at that point. Doing a recap gives everyone another chance to structure the game in their head and also brings up another opportunity for questions. It also gives you an addional chance to check if you've missed something.
I think one of the best ways, and how I know I did a good job with the rules, is after giving an example turn people want to jump straight into playing. You can even use the example turn as your first turn of the game.
"Don't teach a game, then steamroll". YES, THANK YOU. Even among seasoned players who care less about losing, it gets old. I effectively sign up to lose when I learn new games for the sake of being around for my husband, or to make a game the "ideal" player count and lemme tell you, it is not fun at all.
There's always that situation where you are done explaining, and start playing, and you're sittig down with your hand of cards and that little silence feels like you're a spider and just dragged everyone into your web, and everyone is feeling it.
Fantastic Video! I am the teacher in my board game group and I like to think I'm pretty good at it but these tips are all great reminders - well done! I definitely took away a lot from this video to incorporate into my teaching. I do find I almost never win (even when I'm trying) just because I'm so focused on the other players to make sure they aren't missing any rules and answering their questions instead of thinking about my own strategy when it's not my turn. But that's ok - I would rather everyone have fun than win the game myself! The one idea here that I struggle with is playing the dummy round - while it seems like a great idea, it always backfires because even though clearly stating we would scrap everything and start over.... players tend to get invested and don't want to start over and always insist on "let's just keep going". Happens every time.
This was the best video I've seen on this channel. The first tip hit the nail on the head, I think it's arguably the best tip for teaching board games. Nothing worse than going to a friend's house, or having them over, and learning they (or you) don't know the game. Make sure one person knows it so they can teach it! No one will like spending the first two hours learning the game because the teacher has to learn it too.
The worst thing is when you forget a (sometimes minor, sometimes not) rule and you have to break the news to someone mid game, disrupting their strategy. I have botched a couple teachings doing that and it can really sour people. Totally agree that knowing the rules and rehearsing are super important.
Recently ive been teaching a lot of boardgames and i was thinking if there are any tricks to do it correctly. Turns out that you just have to talk but there are ways to make it more interesting. It was one of the most usefull boardgame videos i have ever seen
I'd like to add another tip (or two). It's part of knowing the rules, but actually gets overlooked in our boardgame groups. 12. Use game theme *Terminology* Instead of saying "put your thingy on the open spot" (or something much, much ruder), or even "remove your worker", use the actual theme terms, like _put your scientist on a free research area_ or _remove your gnome_ - it makes for a richer if subtle and clearer playing experience. 13. Make sure to be clear on play terms and turn hierarchy. The terms _round, phase, action, bonus action, extra bonus action_ etc. can be daunting. Generally, rounds are comprised of phases which may each include multiple actions, but there may also be rounds within phases, depending on the game. Great tips! :-)
This is useful... I'll be referring back to this refine my teaching of new games. I'm trying to train myself to 'teach the game in reverse'. Basically, start with going over how to win and then how play works, then actually go over components of the game. My usual group has two people that are sick of rules dumps at the start so they just want to jump in and learn as they go... which often leads to 'surprise rules' that they didn't know about. What is worse is when the 'surprise rule' is something I mentioned multiple times but they ignored it. My absolute best game teaching experience had a well laid our rule book (forget what game) so it was easy to explain. And then I was constantly monitoring everyone and answering questions... and then accidentally won. Everyone enjoyed it because it felt like a battle and then our end game scores were pretty close... where players were all 'if I had done this...' and then 'let's play again.' That was one of my few wins... lol.
Once played Battlestar Galactica with a new player who was also stoned off his face. Literally halfway through the game, the following words were uttered: "Oh, was I supposed to be paying attention to the colors of those cards I was putting in?"
I have a tip for people wanting to learn board games too. If someone who's experienced with the game tries to warn you against it with phrases like "are you really sure you want to play this" and "it's a really complicated game" and "it will literally take hours" you must listen to what they're saying and you must believe them. It's not exaggeration when board gamers talk like that. I have a friend who browsed our board game shelf and found Arkham Horror. After multiple people warning her, she still said she wanted to have a go. She gave up half-way through explanation and setting the board up. She went to bed, but the rest of us decided to power through because you don't just go through the trouble of setting up Arkham Horror and then pack it all away again without playing. I don't think we even finished it, though.
I am entirely on board for the implication that teaching someone boardgames and bringing them into the hobby is done with the inevitible long term aim of convincing them to play Twilight Imperium.
all games and gaming sessions are aimed towards that goal. Thanks for making me realise that.
Well this is how I introduced my partner with weightlifiting, video games and board games. Start small, let them out-nerd you by themselves.
This is exactly what i did. I taught my friends board games for 4 years and then dropped TI4 on them :) They picked it up quicker than they thought they would. Next game is scheduled for July XD
X'D
Wait... do some people think they're not? Weird...
Hearing one of my friends sincerely say "you're really good at teaching this stuff" while explaining game rules to them is genuinely one of those nice rewarding little memories that keeps coming back years later.
Agreed. Though I feel guilty when they get a game on my reccomendation and have a hard time if I'm not there to teach it.
I have received this comment before, and I agree it was a nice confidence boost. I think I'm better at explaining games now just from the confidence of multiple friends saying "You're really good at explaining games!" Confidence goes a long way. It also puts people at ease that you know what you're talking about, you're going to be able to answer their questions later and keep things organized.
Definitely. It's one of those things where putting in almost any amount of effort into preparing makes you way better than 90% of the people teaching their friends how to play games. People notice the effort and it means a lot
"You're a lot better at teaching games than you used to be" is also a nice one :)
One of my friends is awful at explaining games. He can explain a game ive played 20 times to me and i still wouldnt know how it works.
It happened multiple times that he got a game. And people asked me to read the rules so they can actually understand the explanation
I think Quinns really needs to get some props for taking the time to set up several board games for single scenes in this video. Oh lord must that have taken ages.
This is why he said "Take home for Christmas" but the video gets published in February
props on the props then?
honestly most filmmaking is like this. there's so much work that often goes into a shot that only lasts a few seconds.
@@stayphrosty Oh god, tell me about it! The times I've done videos on board games have involved so much set up O: It's why I'm even more astounded with this due to the number of games on show.
One: We are an iron, boot and a hat. Two: You win by bancrupting your whole family. Three: It's fun to make your younger sister cry.
I'm sensing a new game already ;-D
One: You are freezing survivors of the apocalypse. Two: you win by most effectively scrabble through piles of junk. Three: It's fun to weigh who to invite in your bunker and who to send to the wastelands all while ruining your friend's plans in each other's fight with a surprise explosive charge.
One: You are numbers. Two: You win by not collecting numbers. Three: It's fun to make other people collect numbers.
One: We are funny cube tossers. Two: You win by scoring points for the groups of the funny cubes you toss. Three: It's fun to do mental math and gamble your points away as you toss funny cubes around over and over again.
My last game of monopoly we ended up having a slumlord millionaire and a boardwalk tycoon turned crackhead drag queen. If you’re not storytelling, the game is almost not worth playing at all!
@@daugarten Yahtzee?
This might be the most important video on RUclips.
@Jake Parker you are most certainly on to something. I have watched this 5 times and have gathered something new each time
I checked and I can confirm this assertion. It is.
I agree! Quinn is a great role model for how to do this necessary chore effectively and even make it fun.
Yeah this is excellent
😂 if you want to learn/ teach a board game. Uncertain how it would help me learn how to steer a narrow boat , create a gastronomic feast, build a doll house or maintain my car.
No you right it’s probably the most important video on RUclips 😂
My number one tip in addition to all of this: narrate your turns in the opening rounds. Clearly walk them through your thought process behind your moves. Encourage them to do the same.
This is a big one. So useful, especially for people who don't have "gamer brain"
absolutely!! I often do this so I can kee0 myself on ttack too
As someone who has had to teach Spirit Island to at least a dozen different people 6+ times, the skill of teaching how a board game works has become an art.
Woah it's Hello Future Me! it's always awesome to see your favorite creators just existing on youtube, not as a creator. Love your videos, especially your avatar stuff.
Hello
Spirits Island Is amazing and is yet another crossover of our interests I never expected to realize.
@@blaizecramer6052
Mp^m
We still haven’t played our copy for this reason. I wish I could have you come teach us… 😂
IMO the best tip Quinn's gave was, teaching the objective / How-To-Win early in the process. By doing this, every player can structure the rest of the rules around the objective and it helps to facilitate strategies early on in the teaching process.
Yes. Even in usually excellent tutorials on boardgamegeektv they sometimes miss that out
Knowing your audience you are teaching is also vital as regular gamers will grasp ideas fairly quickly compared to casual players and the latter may need to be given different terminology and relate to classic ubiquitous games ...for example with a regular gamer you will get away with gamer jargon like 4x or asymmetric play or mechanism....you will just confuse the hell out of casual or newbies if you tried that!
Absolutely agree. I teach for a living, all tips are great, but this IMO is the most important.
My in laws are big card game players and that’s their number one teaching rule - start with how you win and work backwards. Board games typically have more systems in play so it’s not quite that straight forward but it’s a great rule of thumb.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess. I've heard this tip repeated by seemingly every board gamer on the internet but I don't agree that it's the most important thing to start with how to win. I'm a huge advocate for teaching what you do on your turn and what the structure of the game is going to be first. It almost always leads nicely into a point where you can say, "And this action is important because the first person to do whatever wins the game." or something similar.
For example, the goal of blue moon legends is to lure 3 dragons onto your side of the board. You could say that right up front but if you explain what you do on your turn, how to play cards, how battles work and THEN explain that battles are important because they move dragons and that's how you win the game, it's completely in context at that point and it doesn't let the person being taught the game wonder what's going on with these dragons I mentioned for 10 minutes until I finally get there. If you explain how turns and rounds work in logical way, I don't find people to be confused or thrown off by not knowing what the goal is until they have a way to frame it. But like I said, different things work for different people.
@@Phildiculous I'd disagree with that. I find if you talk about all the things you do, particularly if the game is complex, it doesn't MEAN anything until they know WHY they'd want to do them. If you start with the goal, and they can see how those actions get to the goal, they have context, and are more likely to remember.
You should absolutely watch this brilliant video first but if you need a quick reference to the tips made then read on:
1. 1:17 Actually know all the rules before you teach, and don’t be afraid to google unclear or ambiguous rules.
2. 2:33 Before starting to teach you should setup the game in full so players can see it. Allow players to fiddle with game pieces.
3. 3:13 “Introduce the game” by asking these three questions: Who, How and Why? Who are we, How do we win and Why is this game fun?
4. 4:46 Rules teaching is a performance, rehearse it. Know what the big talking points/mechanics are relevant to the game and think about in what order you want to explain them.
5. 6:30 Use your friends names in rules examples to get them engaged.
6. 8:00 Foster an environment where questions are encouraged. Compliment them for questioning.
7. 8:48 Only have one player teaching the game. If another player knows the game, make them an assistant to you: Let them help you set up the game. Let them point to relevant game pieces while you teach. Let them ask questions about rules you’re missing. Let them fetch food and drinks while the new players learn the game.
8. 10:00 You’ve successfully taught players the game well if they win you. Try not to stomp them and scare them away from the game.
9. 11:16 Ask players if they need a dummy/fake first rounds of the game to get familiar and then restart. You can have open hands to explain why you made your game choices
10. 12:20 Maybe begin teaching smaller games so new players get familiar with different mechanics so they can more easily understand harder games.
11. 13:57 Learn how to teach rules well by watching Board Game Convention Demoers, your Local Board Game Store employees or your other well experienced Board Game Friends.
I would never presume that a game I find fun is going to be the same fun for someone else.... definitely leave the fun part out
So.. you made a manual, for the video.
Very helpful to have the steps written out like this if you ever want to actually implement the guidance, thanks!
@@skyblazeeterno Sharing why you like the game and are enthusiastic about playing it then...I know some people are allergic to the f word.
Regarding 8, I was unaware we were meant to offer ourselves as prizes.
Absolutely top notch scripting and delivery. It's so satisfying to see someone who's really brilliant at their work. It's so easy to share your videos with friends and family, even if they're not that into board gaming, because of the obvious quality of the work you produce! Thanks for trying to teach us too. A pleasure as always. Don't work too hard you lot.
Yeah, this was a really satisfying video to watch.
I started watching review videos of games I never heard of and probably will never play just because it's so entertaining😅😂
Something I always avoid is teaching strategy as part of the main rules. I often see people go off on tangents when teaching rules with, "...and if you have this card, you'll want to use it right away because if someone else has this card then this can happen, etc." All that confuses people, it makes people mistake what is advice and what is actually rules, and it robs the players of the joy of coming up with their own strategies and playstyles themselves. To be clear, I'm not talking about basic principles of the game, but more advanced strategies that come from time playing the game.
Conflating strategic concepts and basic concepts is so easy to do and it's absolutely a mistake. Examples of play or open hands are definitely the place for explaining strategy stuff.
@@Enkufka Exactly! That moment of realization is so nice when a certain strategy occurs to you, and I try not to rob new players of that moment by telling them how to play "optimally as part of the rules.
Excellent point and well made
Yes! It's especially quite annoying to be explaining rules and have someone else interrupt and start explaining strategy before you've even explained the mechanism(s) that underpins it...
Great advice. I absolutely hate it when someone throws strategic advice into the mix, especially since it's often dubious or wrong. Like "There are 3 types of materials: stone, clay, and fabric. But the only one you really need to worry about is fabric because it's BROKEN so the game basically becomes a race to get all the fabric." Not only have you biased everyone at the table to play a certain way and not discover strategy for themselves, but you've also heavily implied that the game you've decided to teach is bad/unbalanced which begs the question, why did you suggest it in the first place??
"If you're not reading the manual to the game on the toilet the week before your board game night, you're probably doing it wrong."
This hit way too close to home.
David Bass every fuckin time
Pfft I watch the lets play videos on it 😂
David Bass 😂
Quinn rocking the Ned Flanders uniform like a natural!
Prepping for the upcoming Okilly Dokilly concert!
Stupid Sexy Flanders.
I only came to the comments section to find this comment and like it.
These are solid teaching techniques, not just for board games, but for anything daunting you might have to teach someone. Excellent work.
As an actual RL teacher, I endorse 100% of them.
that's my favorite part. I'm a trainer at my job and have been a TA in the past. These are just great guidelines in general to get someone to learn something
Agreed! I'm a high school teacher, and all of these tips are great pedagogical practices. The emphasis on planning ahead really resonates with me for this reason: planning ahead might take more time, but it will make the teaching and learning experience so much more efficient. And ultimately, people just want to play this awesome game as soon as they can!
12:28 "Have you ever thought about what this stuff looks like to a non gamer? Sometimes I think we should all be arrested."
I nearly spat out my tea when he said that 😂
I mean, he is right, even some of the lightest board games, even tiny ones like Startups or any of the Oink games, take a measure of explaining. Hell, even /CHESS/ isn't that easy if you have to outright explain it for someone that never saw a chess set or knows the 'theme'.
In my experience, in the eyes of my friends, everything with hexes is Settlers of CATAN and everything that depicts a world map is Risk.
A trick for helping encourage questions is instead of "does anyone have any questions" say "0k before I move on what questions do you have?" it gives permission to ask rather than sounds like an obligation. Then reward with great question! Simple but effective.
I'm puzzled about the questions thing. I usually find it best to encourage people NOT to ask questions until the game has been explained (even when it's someone else explaining the game!), because they are usually about things that were going to be explained later, and make it less structured and more confusing for everyone.
Instead you might better ask after explaining something "did you understand this"?
This is great advice
@@Salaskan Yeah, make the questions about what you just explained. It doesn't help anyone if in the middle of explaining how card drawing works someone asks why there's an elephant on the board.
@@Salaskan if you ask did you understand this there's a risk people will automatically say yes to avoid looking stupid. Better to say something like great question I'll explain this first so when we get to that it will make sense.
@@Norn100 I've just finished my masters in teaching and one of the things they taught us was how to encourage questions and engagement. It's quite funny, I can bluff my way through a class topic I'm only tangentially familiar with, but am hopeless at teaching games I love 😅 I think it's cos I'm hopeless at remembering rules and always forget that one viral one 🤦♀️
Additional tip specific to teaching hidden role games: ALWAYS show a visual example of what the cards look like that say "Traitor" on them. Otherwise, even if you explain the existence of traitors in a game, you're guaranteed to have one person looking at their cards with a confused look who will say "so where would it say that I'm a traitor?", completely giving away their innocence.
The player who honestly misunderstood is one issue that can be troublesome but also there is the player who will deliberately misinterpret any rule or written material and the same tip of show it off to every one ahead of time helps with both issues.
i feel like its kind of obvious in most situations to not ask a question like that. its sort of like hiding from a murderer and shouting "im not in here!"
Another very important thing : explain when the game will end. Usually I do this at the beginning, along with the lore, how to win and what's fun about the game
Ahh, this takes me back to that time when we were going to have a game night at my place and one enthusiastic member of our group suggested that we played his latest addition to his collection: "Twilight Imperium, a space game with war and politics."
"That sounds awesome" I replied.
Fast forward to game night, 7:00 PM when we had been setting the game for 1:30 h.
"How many times have you played this game?" I asked
"Never" he replied.
"Have you at least read the rulebook?" I asked
"I've skimmed it" he replied.
After facepalms all around we played Smallworld instead.
haha i resonate with this so much. The first "real" board game I got was a game of thrones the second edition. I tried to set it up, learn it, and play it at the same time; needless to say it was a nightmare
i would never speak to them again. im convinced TI is a cult lmao
1) Know the rules! Like, really
1a) Googling rules queries works like a charm
2) Let people fiddle! It's a toy, not a lecture
3) Before teaching: "Who, how, and why?"
Make these points clear about your and your friends' role in the game's world:
Who are we?
How do we win?
Why is this fun? :)
4) I's a performace. Consider rehearsing!
5) Always use your friends in examples!
6) Make sure you encourage questions
7) Employ a flight attendant
(= don't have 2 teachers at once)
8) Careful how you play the game, too!
"If you win a game you're teaching, you've already lost"
9) Take the lead on asking if a dummy round is necessary
10) The secret superpower of little games
(= start boardgame night with little games)
11) A hat tip to tip top workmanship
(= shoutouts to game teaching at trade fairs)
I've been praised for how well I teach board games in the past and people always wondered what my secret was. It was multiple hours of learning the rules myself before actually playing the game with other people.
The /worst/ thing is having a teacher go 'uhh, lemme check it out in the rulebook'. Nothing kills mood and game teaching inertia more.
While true, its not the whole enchilada. My friend is excellent at explaining rules in a way that is entertaining, easy to follow and relaxed. He's also notorious for getting important rules wrong, probably cos he's blasé about reading them properly. I'm about the opposite: I have great retention of the rules, but I'm often nervous, and consequently not so concise, focused and orderly in my explanations. When we both know the game, we are a good combination, because I can be the 'helper' which Quinn suggested. On my own, not so easy ... which is why I watched this video.
I don't usually consider myself great at these things (teaching in general), but apparently its more about it being things I like. A job I hate? Hated training new people. A job I loved? They sent all the newbies in the area to me. My friends will have me teach THEIR board games, which has occasionally been awkward...like I have no idea how to play this game, but sure, I'll read and regurgitate.
I also think there's a fine art to figuring out when to only teach the basic rules before you start playing and let players learn the rest while playing. Some games are great for "let's just jump in" while others can't be enjoyed without a deeper dive up front (example: Any game with a hidden traitor *MUST* involve a comprehensive rules dive before starting).
@@robertahearne423 Yep, I've seen that happen with BSG, Dead of Winter, Shadows Over Camelot, and it's always a bummer for the whole group. I eventually decided to only play Shadows as full-co-op when we have a new player, but that's not an option in BSG :(
@@TzarinaMystra My first game of BSG I was Boomer and after after The Sleeper Agent phase ended up with the both The traitor cards. There was not much I could have done better there.
If you start playing without having explained all the rules, you HAVE to make sure the players know that they will commit errors and agree that you will correct them when they break a rule. Otherwise you get the classic issue of "but you didn't say that and now my strategy is ruined"!
"And in learning Action Points when playing Pandemic, that's a building block for when you teach them... Twilight Imperium!"
Things just went from zero to one hundred real freaking quick.
I played TI:4e at my parents house last week with my cousins. My Dad tried for a a good 10 minutes to understand anything we were doing. It didn't end well.
Yeah TI4 is the toughest "Teach" I have ever had to do. I knew the game very well, planned an hour for the rule explanation, had a checklist, and practise round. I was so chuffed when everyone started to play and had a good understanding. That was my victory for the night. A brave choice to involve your Dad.
Love Quinn's videos about the social aspects of the gaming hobby.
@@simonsmith8742 lol, I didn't involve my dad, he tried on his own. I got him to play Sheriff Of Nottingham, but that took almost an hour.
Pandemic is the gateway marijuana to TI's straight heroin
I had a good chuckle
I find that I lose 95+% of the time when teaching a new game, the new player usually wins because I spend so much time watching and helping them. You hit the nail on the head when you said the more you play games, the less winning and losing matters, it becomes an experience rather than competition. Personally I think the most important part of teaching a game is explaining the goal or objective and how to win, this helps frame the game so the new player knows what they are getting into and how long it will last, then work backwards on what you need to do to accomplish those goals and objectives using examples. Good video, well done.
My tip is to avoid saying exceptions. For example: "The rule is you have three actions per turn...except for if a card says you get more."
There are always exceptions and people familiar with games will know this.
Otherwise, you can save it for your example turns or when you talk about a specific component.
Yes! This is a tough one when there are people there who already know the game, because I've found out they think I'm forgetting something important and budge in to explain the whole exception anyway. Good intentions, definitely, but a little hard to get around sometimes.
I've never managed to teach A Game of Thrones in less than 45 minutes but this has given me some ideas how to do it better. Maybe get that time down to 42 minutes next time.
And yet you will still forget to teach the fiddly Ports rules and have to add 10 more minutes =(
Do the Dummy Rounds sooner rather than later! I've been teaching Game of Thrones since its first edition (along with the Clash of Kings and Storm of Swords expansions), and I've gotten it down to about a half hour. I've found that AGoT in particular really benefits from having a Teaching Board already set up, with a multi-house battle ready to go -- usually centered around Riverrun with Lannister versus Greyjoy, with Stark in position to Support. This lets you show how boats work as transport and support, it gets in the no-raiding-land-to-sea exception, and demonstrates Stark's ability to Support whichever side they want (or neither!).
In my experience, no one really groks the orders until they see them in action anyway, so dive into that right away with examples, and do any questions as cleanup.
Three minutes? Hmm, ambitious.....
My dad, a schoolteacher, always taught me "If you can't explain something adequately to other people, your own grasp on the matter is lacking". Actually knowing the rules to the game you are teaching is so important! Good tips all around, definitely will use them!
Similarly: "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough" ~ Albert Einstein
Yes and not just the rules but also the FAQ. It's basically mandatory to print the FAQ from BGG because in 99,9% of cases, a question which is answered there will come up during the first game.
@@Salaskan smart tip!
@@mydemon The more I hang around smart people, the more convinced I am of this. The people who REALLY understand quantum mechanics can present it to you as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
@@inotterwords6115 I've never really agreed with it at all. There's so much terminology that goes into advanced topics that no matter how well you understand them, you'd never be able to explain it "simply". Every other word out of your mouth would require a separate "simple" explanation which likely would contain yet more unknown terms and so on and so forth. Understanding is built in layers.
"Teaching a board game" sounds like a really cool English/Communications college course assignment.
I love reading manuals and learning how to play new games. My friends now exploit this mercilessly. One of them brought Eldritch Horror round to my house after he’d bought it. Him and another friend wanted to play it. They just put it on the table and said “Steve, let’s play this”.
I then had to teach myself while teaching them, as I’d never played it before. I’m pretty sure I got at least two rules wrong, we lost miserably but apparently everyone enjoyed it and want to play it again.
I think my teaching tip would be “Act confident even when you are massively out of your depth and have no idea what’s going on”
I've been in the hobby and teaching games for almost 9 years now, and I still refer back to this video every now and then. Such a great reference for how game teaching can still be fun.
The Teach: The Teach
The worst, worst, most awful thing people have started doing is to demand that their friends watch the How To rules videos first. This has become such a terrible norm that people on reddit actually claim that when you’re invited to a game night, not watching those videos (as a guest!) is considered bad form. Do not be that guy. How To videos are for the host/owner of the game. Suggest them for people who want to learn beforehand, but never ever expect or demand it.
While true, I think it's an absolutely necessary step just to cut down on set up time for really long games like Twilight Imperium and Dune. At least just so that the concepts are not completely new when you sit down to play. There will be explanation at the table anyway, but this definitely shortens the time to set up those games in particular.
Oh dear god. That's just being poorly socialized. Anyone doing that is on an express train to not having people to play board games with anymore, and that's probably what they deserve.
SilentBeutlin wise words my friend, wise words.
I think suggesting it is fine if people want to prep beforehand, but I don't think it should be made a requirement. There's a difference between "watch these videos or you don't get to play" and "here's some material if you want to prep". Some games are really wide and customizable (like Arkham LCG) so pointing out those resources can be helpful, but I wouldn't expect anyone to learn the game from them.
I agree
The 'Why this is going to fun' is a good idea, but tricky cause I am sure i'll go off on a tangent.
Peoples idea of fun in boardgaming varies a lot
@@skyblazeeterno Especially if they're not boardgamers per se, so people that like the systems that make boardgaming fun. So you have to draw them in with the theme, and you want games which have a theme which is also very present in the actual game itself, so you can say stuff like "i'm using my elephants to stomp on your archers" and have that be the actual action. Not just "i'm trading two workers and an ore to create a factory that gives me one steel per turn! WHEE!".
I genuinely think teaching board games and my skill at it is one of the best things I've gotten out of the hobby, it's given me a lot of confidence in a sort of public speaking kind of? What I haven't yet been able to learn though is how to teach people... to teach games. I think they just tune out the moment they realize they have to put any actual time into it. Which I guess makes sense.
Here's to all of you out there who put the time needed to learn and teach the games you have.
First step to teaching "Dune" - ask your friends if they read the novel or at least watched the horrible movie. If they haven't, the game night turns into a story night. Or a horror night.
And then the Fremen win....
I found the movie quite good, and I'm not much into science fiction. I think the star wars movies are incomparably more boring.
... Paul's hand feels like the skin is burning right off of it exposing blackening bones... And then Patrick stewart charges into battles, pug in hand... Feyd stands triumphantly, clad only in a cod piece... Paul and gurney reunite and share a hug, all members of the audience brush a tear off their cheek... And then it starts raining as frank Herbert spins in his grave.
so my kids and I got Dune because it looked like a fun game and then my son read the book and my daughter and I watched the bad sci fi show.
knowing the story is not needed at all for the game. :D
"We're jerks trying to control a planet. It's fun because we're jerks"
@@kaladze93 I used to love it, especially the design. But then I read the books and I realized how bad it was.
Instructions unclear, showed my friends this video before playing and now they know how bad I am at teaching games - help!
I hope my friends don't watch this video because I'm usually the teacher of the group and I made so many mistakes
I have quite a few games and know all their rules in and out. I only have one issue.
How does one get friends?
I had the same problem, that my friends dont really play as much as I want to anymore and they live further away than they used to. So I just asked in a local facebook group for people to play boardgames. Worked pretty well, we have boardgames every Thursday.
I have no idea where you live but try looking up board game cafe or boardgame bar. I live in a fairly large city where these types of places are everywhere and in close in proximity to where I live. Great places to meet new people who love playing board games as much as we do 😋
Try meetup- lots of board game groups on there! That’s where I found all of my board game friends (not an ad but a Genuine suggestion)
just to put this tip out there for future people who might be reading this: buy used games locally through some kind of marketplace. facebook marketplace, craigslist or whatever you have. If you find someone who sells similar games to what you like to play, you can easily strike up a conversation and ask if they want to meet up sometime. I have met several of my gaming groups that way without even looking for new ones!
This might be one of the greatest board game videos in history.
As another tip: I like to explain the "exceptions" last, like variable player powers or unique scenarios like shooting the moon in hearts. It's less confusing when the players have a solid grasp on the rules before they learn how the rules get broken, even when the powers or weird scenarios are central to the game.
Great video!
Underrated comment. If I were teaching chess, castling would be the last rule I mention, and I wouldn't even bring up en passant.
i always start by telling everybody the the theme of the game and the main objective, I've had many games explained to me where people always start by telling everyone where to put the pieces and how the mechanics work but they don't tell you why you do all that until the very end.
How i see it, people need to know things which will help them play the game when their turn comes up, they don't need to know why some pieces get put somewhere at the start, or why something behaves as it does (assuming the teacher also takes up all the support roles of managing the non-player-specific details of the mechanics). Sure, they can grow into that later, but for a game to be played, everyone needs to know and be able to at least semi-confidently play their turn.
I've always considered teaching how to play part of the experience of board games and that this step makes or breaks for new players, especially those who are new to the hobby. This is a much needed video and I'm relieved to know I'm already applying some of these tips. Thank you so much!
If it's a 2-player complex game, and you know you're typically going to be playing that game with the same person continuously, it can be good to learn together from scratch. You end up learning it very quickly, since you're both reminding eachother of things the other missed - I learnt War of the Ring in no time via this method, and that's an incredibly rule-heavy game. Much quicker than learning by yourself I found, plus you don't have to teach!
As an elementary, I just want to say that you hit the NAIL ON THE HEAD with everything in this video. Preparation, physical engagement with manipulatives, objectives, purpose, even hamming it up a bit to make players more excited. Checking for understanding, letting them ask questions. Love it!
It's exactly what we do in the classroom, and I'm here for it!
# 1 1:17 Know the rules! Like, really
# 1a 2:13 Googling rules queries works a charm
# 2 2:33 Let people fiddle! It’s a toy, not a lecture
# 3 3:20 Before teaching: “Who, how, and why?”
# 4 4:45 It’s a performance. Consider rehearsing
# 5 6:27 Always use your friends in examples!
# 6 7:57 Make sure you encourage questions
# 7 8:47 Employ a flight attendant
# 8 10:00 Careful how you play the game, too!
# 9 11:14 Take the lead on asking if a dummy round is necessary
# 10 12:20 The secret superpower of little games
# 11 13:56 A Hat Tip to Tip Top Workmanship
"It might be the thing that gets them thinking: how much do these board games cost?" And then "Oh gosh I don't have that kind of money"
literally sold me on Taj Mahal with the "who, how, and why"
Great job this video gave me some extra ideas to implement. I sound add three more tips: 1) be enthousiastic 2) at the end of an rules explanation, give a very short summary 3) at the end of this summary, I always tell the players to don't panic, it's just a (learning) game, just have a fun time!
I've been the designated rules learner / game teacher in my group for about a decade. I didn't realize other people thought about ways to improve game learning experience! I feel like much less of a dork now. I'm encouraged that so much of my own thinking aligns with Quinn's, and I even learned a thing or two watching this video.
As a person with no friends, could you PLEASE do one for how to teach Dads a game?
SUSD needs more stuff like this. It's very helpful! :) Two tips I've learned from teaching Mage Knight (which is quite complex):
1: Show, don't tell, e.g. don't explain combat rules beforehand, but just jump into a dumb-ass combat as the first thing you do on your first round
2: Limit the amount of rules, if possible. Level-up rewards is explained when someone levels up. The small, neat tricks for picking up extra points is told when people have started getting a grip of the basics.
Great tips! One more sub-tip: use your turn to use mechanics that they may have forgotten about, or even to do something tactical and creative that your friends might not have thought of yet, even if it doesn’t actually help you much. It gets their own brains working on how they might use the mechanics more creatively without feeling like they’ve been spoon fed information, with a bonus result that you look like a badass for 3 seconds.
Thanks again for this, Quinns! I’m teaching Eclipse today and fired this up for a quick reminder of how to do things back around the table again. Very excited to see my pals and play. 🤞🤞
Great video. I'm the 'teacher' in our house and regulary get 'the look' from my family when trying to teach games, this is normally followed by 'shall we just play and pick it up as we go'!
Yeah
And this first quick game does not count . That is often a possible way to do it.
I'm so glad that SU&SD take time to make videos that actually benefit the board game community as a whole. It's super cool watching a video that makes me want to be a better person in one way or another.
I teach a lot of new board games to friends and family, including my mum who loves to play but doesn’t do well with super complex games. Here’s the order of explanation I’ve developed that I think works very well.
1. Contextualisation (The Who, what and why, helps people think in more manageable concepts than abstract game actions. “Building your city using wood” is easier to grasp than “play this card from your hand by paying the resources”.
2. How does the game end, and how do we win? (Helps contextualise game actions in terms of a goal. Do I care about this resource because it’s worth points and I should hoard it, or should I be spending it at every opportunity?)
3. Parts of a turn (how does the game actually play out?)
4. What actions can players take? (Now that they’ve got all the context, explain what they can do to further their goals)
5. Extraneous mechanics. (Stuff like the robber in Catan, important to know about but not until you understand how the basic game works. If possible, I start playing the game after step 4 then explain the mechanics as players encounter them, or give a quick overview that’s elaborated on later. “Do this if you need more cards” “This is how you setup your food supply”.
6. As you start playing be very forthcoming with information. Explain your motivations behind your moves for at least the first couple of turns. Offer advice on what some opening moves should be. Warn players about trouble or risks they might be getting themselves into by making certain moves. This might give other players an advantage over you, but as pointed out, the first time you play a board game is about roping your friends into the fun, not having a super cut-throat competitive experience.
I’ve found this method works really well and can be adapted to pretty much any game. Hope you find it useful! :)
I always love it when the person teaching the game starts reading aloud from the rule book.
I once had a relatively simple game 'taught' by the entire rulebook being read cover to cover and it was one of the worst gaming experiences of my life.
lmfao
@@harrywagstaff6331 Which game was it? xD
Reading aloud from the rule book can assure your friends that you don't make up stuff.
And...maybe even more important: that you don't keep important knowledge from them.
Theres nothing wrong with referring to the rule book, especially if its a heavier game ,obviousky don't cover to cover it, but getting the exact rules right is more important IMO.
This hobby has many faces, its more than just playing the game. I actually love teaching because its so rewarding seeing a board game night go smooth for everyone and just knowing you were part of that.
Thanks for the tips! Our group has switched to Tabletop Sim until we can be around other humans again. And teaching a game in a virtual space is a new challenge.
Rule 8: If win while teaching you have lost. I have teached Sythe countless times, to single individuals that are coming into a 4-5 player game where 3-4 players are experienced. Offering strategic advice for why the new player might want attack myself when I am in vulnerable situations is key to bring in new players. I have been on the reverse where the teacher only gives hindsight strategic advice, it makes you not want to play a 2nd time.
Same here. I taught Scythe a lot, didn't even win my first game untill I played about twelve games or so, even though I was always the one with the most experience and theoretical experience in the game. But I DID create a close group of players, so I always have someone to play with.
Plus, Scythe is still my number one favorite 😁
I think it's important for the inexperienced player to know the level of experience of other players then as an adult they can choose to continue or not
This video is extremely helpful.
As someone who is going to have to teach a group how to play Dune on Saturday (Thanks to your Dune video for convincing me to buy it), I was mentally checking off everything to make sure that I don't guff it up.
Last night I practiced an immersive introduction to both explain the setting, as well as the basic concept of the game. Tonight I plan on setting up a small round so that I can get more familiar with it, and then I'll memorize the turn order and some of the advanced rules.
I'm pretty excited to teach it. Thank you!
Remember:
*"No plan survives the first contact with the enemy (here: other players)"* _Hemuth von Moltke_
I teach games in a very similar way to your suggestions.
(a) Theme. The narrative, aesthetic, and degree of cooperation or competition expected. Puts the players in the right headspace.
(b) Win Condition. Explaining a boardgame is like planning a roadtrip. And you don't plan a roadtrip without having the destination fixed firmly in your mind, to which all other information and directions build towards. I'm giving you piece of information X. Without knowing why this matters towards the goal, X just gets sorted on a shelf of the mind to be swiftly forgotten as you begin explaining Y and Z.
(c) Typical Turn. Play a turn while explaining the rules and systems. Encourage questions, and reinforce that it's completely expected to not have the full picture on a first explanation; understanding and strategy comes with the first round played. To that end...
(d) Test Round. Play one or two rounds with the players fumbling through a turn, taking actions, getting things wrong and out of order, and building a lattice of understanding while you answer questions and correct errors.
Such a pedagogically sound and extremely entertaining video. So much of your methodology is straight from what teachers call “best practices” in the classroom. And I giggled twice and had three outright guffaws.
Another great video thank you Quinns
A couple of handy sub tips that I think are helpful:
1) don’t be afraid to teach the language of the particular game that you are playing early on, especially for big concepts.
Eg “in blood rage, each player takes control of a Viking clan and battle with the other players in the 9 realms, across three different ages. At the end of the third age, the player who has the most glory has won. GLORY IS ALWAYS SHOWN ON CARDS ETC AS A NUMBER IN A BLUE DIAMOND LIKE ON THIS CARD HERE. In order to do most actions, you will need to spend rage. RAGE IS SHOWN AS A NUMBER IN A RED CIRCLE LIKE ON YOUR PLAYER MAT THERE.”
2) introduce the manual and player reminders early on, and refer to them when going through that rules section:
Eg: “On your turn in blood rage, you will be able to do 1 of 5 actions. THESE 5 ACTIONS ARE LISTED IN BLACk ALONG THE BOTTOM OF EACH OF YOUR PLAYER MATS, THERE” and then talk through each of those actions.
That way a) it’s easier for players to learn, because visual learners will have am aid, and b) when players get stuck they know where to look in order to find the answer.
This was one of the best SUSD videos I have watched.
Good tips! I do most of my advertising "Who, How, Why" before we even sit down, when I am trying to convince them to play, as most of my game play is in our home or familiar social gatherings in other peoples homes. When I get to the rules, I try to follow this pattern for most games: 1) How you win the game, 2) What you actually do on your turn, 2b) Possibly some basic beginner strategy as a kindness, 3) How this all fits in with the fun theme (a recap of Why it is fun). By going in this order, people are aware of the goal right at the beginning, then see how they pursue this goal. Usually, starting out with the theme, while good marketing for buying the game, muddles how you actually play. But if you say, you win by getting the most Green Victory cards (ala Dominion), then when you start talking about how you have a certain amount of money to upgrade your kingdom and get more money, then still are looking for the association of how that gets them their end goal. I also like at the 2nd stage to try to sneak in things like (turns are supposed to go pretty fast in this game, because you can look ahead and plan your turn). :-)
One thing I like to add for the intro is also how the game ends
that's in step 1
@@captawesome42 o, I thought they said how to win the game, not when it ends
@@gijoe250 I understand you. You win by having the most victory points at the end. The end is when this stack of cards is exhausted.
Regarding the comfortable environment to ask questions thing. Whenever I'm teaching somebody a board game, I always make it apparent and clear that the only dumb question is a question that they are afraid to ask and they guess wrong. And that if they don't understand something that it is not a result of their intellect. It is a result of my teaching not being as good as it needs to be so they need to feel comfortable asking me for clarification on anything that I don't do a perfect job explaining and that there's not going to be any judgment for doing so.
I don't often comment on videos, but wow, your board game companions are very lucky. I will take note of these tips. Cheers.
I have taught a lot of games, and I consider myself quite experienced at it. However, I still got a lot out of these tips. Thanks!
When I’m half way through explaining a game and someone says ‘should we just start and work it out as we go’. I always grin as my blood boils and I attempt to fire laser beams out of my eyes. This sentence is often followed up 45 minutes later with ‘oh you kept that rule to yourself’, ‘if I’d of known that I’d of never of done this’ & my favourite ‘to be honest I don’t have a clue what I’m doing’. So now when I do hear the line ‘should we just start and work....’ I ALWAYS agree and insist that we immediately start and I refuse to explain anymore rules period.
Currently I’m a solo gamer looking for my fifth board gaming group.
That's me and my family, I'm known as "the cheat" because I try to explain game rules to people, but they start getting bored and asking to quit, so I just give them the quick bare-bones rules to get started and keep additional rules in my pocket to bring up when they apply.
Then later on, when said rules apply and I bring it up, my family gets on my case for hiding that information. Like look. You guys were ready to quit the game. I did what I had to do to get you people to play.
Yes exactly. Quinns, how do you deal with this? Just say "no, it's really important that we go through the rules first because otherwise things will go wrong"? My approach is more like "don't propose to explain games to new players who are not fully interested in the game or I know to be too impatient". If I have to convince someone to play a certain game, it's often already a bad idea
being spiteful tends to not make people very many friends
As a lifelong educator, I can honestly say this is excellent advice for many people. One little saying I keep in the back of my head when teaching anything is this: When helping others arrive at the destination of understanding, don’t point and declare it’s over there… instead, escort the learner to the understanding. This comes from how Disney trains employees to help guests find bathrooms and other locations in the park when asked.
I am avid board game player who really only played with one group of people for years. I recently moved cities, and my new friends aren't really board gamers. I've always found it hard to teach my maybe 3 dozen games to them, and I'd basically given up at this point. so thank you for this lesson! Hopefully once the quarantine ends I'll be more successful
I once bought Smash-Up, 2 expansions, and a special storage box, and then I proceeded to absolutely stomp them. We never touched that box again. If you're trying to start a regular group of board game enthusiasts, I highly recommend starting with an attainable COOPERATIVE game. Cheers, love the videos.
This video is so wonderfully great. I cannot praise it enough. I've watched it multiple times already and it's just so flippin' good.
I regularly come back to this video for a refresher. Recently, a newer member to my board gaming group has expressed a preference for getting people to watch a “how to play” video beforehand (not when we arrive like in your example) and I’m just not a fan. I never used to do this with the longer term members (and they didn’t either) and it was absolutely fine. I’ve found that it’s become a crutch where others are doing the same to avoid having to teach the game on the night but if not everyone coming has the time or opportunity to watch a how to play video then it puts those people at a disadvantage from the start.
I also find that giving people too much of a heads up for what game we’ll be playing has led to certain people winning a lot more often. I can’t prove it definitively, of course, but based on comments made and observing play styles I’ve come to the conclusion that some people are not just watching a how to play video but reading the Strategy section of the forums on BGG. Games aren’t exams to study for so there shouldn’t be a need to swot up on how to win.
In short, I’ll gladly send this video to my group as a hint hint that teaching games is best done without a video (most of the time).
Great video!
Tip 12: Try to look at the new player's reactions. You can usually see if they have mentally "caught up" with tricksy rules by the way they look at things, their mouths, their hands, etc... A glazed over, slack-jawed, unsure expression means you should ask if they'd like you to repeat a rule.
Great video. An additional tip I'd like to add is that you finish of the "How to" with a recap. People are required to absorb a lot of information and the first thing you teached is probably hazy at best at that point. Doing a recap gives everyone another chance to structure the game in their head and also brings up another opportunity for questions. It also gives you an addional chance to check if you've missed something.
Actually, this is THE BEST RUclips channel about board games reviews... Long live to SU&SD!!!
I think one of the best ways, and how I know I did a good job with the rules, is after giving an example turn people want to jump straight into playing. You can even use the example turn as your first turn of the game.
"Don't teach a game, then steamroll". YES, THANK YOU. Even among seasoned players who care less about losing, it gets old. I effectively sign up to lose when I learn new games for the sake of being around for my husband, or to make a game the "ideal" player count and lemme tell you, it is not fun at all.
It's probably best if the teacher doesn't even play
There's always that situation where you are done explaining, and start playing, and you're sittig down with your hand of cards and that little silence feels like you're a spider and just dragged everyone into your web, and everyone is feeling it.
@@skyblazeeterno eh, it strongly depends on the type of game. Some games are punishing in this way, but many aren't
Fantastic Video! I am the teacher in my board game group and I like to think I'm pretty good at it but these tips are all great reminders - well done! I definitely took away a lot from this video to incorporate into my teaching.
I do find I almost never win (even when I'm trying) just because I'm so focused on the other players to make sure they aren't missing any rules and answering their questions instead of thinking about my own strategy when it's not my turn. But that's ok - I would rather everyone have fun than win the game myself!
The one idea here that I struggle with is playing the dummy round - while it seems like a great idea, it always backfires because even though clearly stating we would scrap everything and start over.... players tend to get invested and don't want to start over and always insist on "let's just keep going". Happens every time.
This video alone was worth my annual sub to SU&SD. Fantastic stuff!
I teach a game called 'Dungeons and Drummers' to my music students, and these are super helpful, thx!
This is perfect timing I have to teach Root tonight for the first time and will need these tips!
Root is a beast to teach. Do several dummy rounds.
This was the best video I've seen on this channel. The first tip hit the nail on the head, I think it's arguably the best tip for teaching board games. Nothing worse than going to a friend's house, or having them over, and learning they (or you) don't know the game. Make sure one person knows it so they can teach it! No one will like spending the first two hours learning the game because the teacher has to learn it too.
There are exceptions to that rule...Chronicles of Crime is a great example as it starts with a tutorial and largely app driven
Awesome tips, thanks a lot! As the person teaching new board games to my friends, I found them invaluable. Keep videos like this coming :)
The worst thing is when you forget a (sometimes minor, sometimes not) rule and you have to break the news to someone mid game, disrupting their strategy. I have botched a couple teachings doing that and it can really sour people. Totally agree that knowing the rules and rehearsing are super important.
#8 for sure - I lose almost every game because Im too busy teaching it to everyone else to pay attention to what Im doing
12:29 😂😂😂
I take this by heart. Saved it. Thank you Quinn.
I'll second that dads rule. I literally teach boardgames for a living and couldn't get my dad to understand what was going on in Forbidden Island lol
I tried to teach my dad Magic the Gathering when i was little and he couldn't get past the difference between a Creature and a Sorcery lol
Hah! It seems like it's a win for me who managed to teach Netrunner to my dad. (Although it literally took months)
Recently ive been teaching a lot of boardgames and i was thinking if there are any tricks to do it correctly. Turns out that you just have to talk but there are ways to make it more interesting. It was one of the most usefull boardgame videos i have ever seen
This explanation was so good it almost makes me wish I had friends to play games with. :D
you...are a SAINT of Board games by making this vid!!! Saint Shut up? Saint Sit down? Saint Shut up & sit down ?
This is the perfect video I needed after a "just ok" community game night with 38 kids who were all new to tabletop.
I'd like to add another tip (or two). It's part of knowing the rules, but actually gets overlooked in our boardgame groups.
12. Use game theme *Terminology*
Instead of saying "put your thingy on the open spot" (or something much, much ruder), or even "remove your worker", use the actual theme terms, like _put your scientist on a free research area_ or _remove your gnome_ - it makes for a richer if subtle and clearer playing experience.
13. Make sure to be clear on play terms and turn hierarchy. The terms _round, phase, action, bonus action, extra bonus action_ etc. can be daunting. Generally, rounds are comprised of phases which may each include multiple actions, but there may also be rounds within phases, depending on the game.
Great tips! :-)
Exactly what I want on a Wednesday, so I can be ready by Saturday
This is useful... I'll be referring back to this refine my teaching of new games.
I'm trying to train myself to 'teach the game in reverse'. Basically, start with going over how to win and then how play works, then actually go over components of the game.
My usual group has two people that are sick of rules dumps at the start so they just want to jump in and learn as they go... which often leads to 'surprise rules' that they didn't know about. What is worse is when the 'surprise rule' is something I mentioned multiple times but they ignored it.
My absolute best game teaching experience had a well laid our rule book (forget what game) so it was easy to explain. And then I was constantly monitoring everyone and answering questions... and then accidentally won. Everyone enjoyed it because it felt like a battle and then our end game scores were pretty close... where players were all 'if I had done this...' and then 'let's play again.' That was one of my few wins... lol.
My group always blazes up, I’m almost a pro at teaching they just forget....
I learned very quickly that a stoned group makes board games such a chore. Never again.
Once played Battlestar Galactica with a new player who was also stoned off his face. Literally halfway through the game, the following words were uttered: "Oh, was I supposed to be paying attention to the colors of those cards I was putting in?"
@@chetzer Then again...that could be the ultimate bluffing technique for the sly Cylon.
I have a tip for people wanting to learn board games too. If someone who's experienced with the game tries to warn you against it with phrases like "are you really sure you want to play this" and "it's a really complicated game" and "it will literally take hours" you must listen to what they're saying and you must believe them. It's not exaggeration when board gamers talk like that.
I have a friend who browsed our board game shelf and found Arkham Horror. After multiple people warning her, she still said she wanted to have a go. She gave up half-way through explanation and setting the board up. She went to bed, but the rest of us decided to power through because you don't just go through the trouble of setting up Arkham Horror and then pack it all away again without playing.
I don't think we even finished it, though.
Not all hereos wear capes. This was so useful. Many thanks to Quinns.