Full disclosure: I'm not that great at board games. When I used to have regular board game club meetings at a previous company, I kept track of each game and how each player placed. Overall, I averaged a place of 3.5, which put me between third and fourth place. Sure, sometimes, I managed to win a game, but, more often than not, I was an also-ran. To be fair, I often had to teach the games I brought, which meant I was distracted and found myself demonstrating moves more than choosing the best move. That notwithstanding, when it came to games with which my group was familiar, I did not win so many.
Of course, over the years, my enthusiasm for the hobby has compelled me to read articles about strategies and tactics for specific games and for games in general. I have also played a wide array of titles running the full gamut of diverse game mechanics, and I've faced numerous opponents from which I learned much. Yet, I'm not that great at board games.
I'm just fine.
What do you do if you are not good at board games? I must admit that this is something I'm figuring out even now, but I would like to share with you my thoughts and what has helped me improve. First, here are the obvious solutions:
Read Game Articles
The first tip is one I already mentioned: search for your favorite games and you will find articles from both professional and amateur writers. Many articles are penned by enthusiasts on sites such as Board Game Geek, but some are posted by writers on video or board game sites. Though many of these articles are reviews that discuss basic rules and win conditions, you can glean key points, such as general strategies, rules that can be exploited to create favorable game conditions, and even a few of the common paths too victory. More importantly, you can more easily find those games that suit you either from a mechanical or a thematic standpoint.
Play Games that Cover Well-Known Mechanics
If you browse Board Game Geek long enough, you may discover such mechanics as "worker placement," "area control," "deck management," "deck builder," and so on. These terms may be new or familiar to you, but if you seek the exemplars of each mechanic type, you can improve your overall gameplay. An acceptable place to start is with gateway games: Ticket to Ride covers route-building and set collection, Carcassonne (or Kingdomino) involves area control, Stone Age incorporates worker placement, and Settlers of Catan is an amalgam of set collection, negotiation, and area control. Beyond that, there are Next Step games like Dominion (deck-building) and 7 Wonders (hand-passing) that can provide the learner a grounding. By playing these games, you learn the winning tactics for mechanics that prevail in hundreds, even thousands, of games out there. Consider this: strip away the theme of a game and you may find that a lot of games are very similar (did I say that?).
Learn a Few Games Really Well
You can also assume the approach of learning a few games deeply, even taking a scholarly approach toward absorbing the vagaries of those games. One striking example of this is chess, which has an innumerable amount of books and articles dedicated to analyzing the game and the matches played by its very best players. Even modern games like the aforementioned gateway games and long-lived staples like Agricola, Puerto Rico, Twilight Struggle, and Castles of Burgundy have much material that you can research and play. In any case, as you dive more into your game of choice, you pick up on the rhythms of play and what combinations work.
Ask Questions In the Local Store or Online
Sometimes, the shopkeeper or locals at your friendly neighborhood game store can be an exceptional source of information about certain games, especially ones that are demonstrated or played there. If you are inclined to be social, visit the store and ask questions. I recommend starting with the shopkeeper, who may know about the game you want to learn. In addition, you can post questions on websites like Board Game Geek. With the panoply of posts on Board Game Geek, you have enough fodder to occupy you for months just to dissect one game.
Watch Games or Play-through Videos Online
This one's obvious, so I won't dwell on this suggestion, but I do recommend examining several channels on YouTube or any other video site before giving up. Note that there are a lot of sub-par game channels and commentators who do nothing to help, so try out several channels or shows before finding a channel that helps you learn a game.
Join a Group of Enthusiasts...
Just as chess scholars focus their time and energy on that game, you can specialize in any game, particularly ones that boast a robust player community with (or without) tournament structures. Keep in mind that most players in these groups are experienced and competitive, so your insertion into, and involvement in, these groups largely depends on a combination of the kindness and inclusivity of the members and your tolerance for their social shortcomings (i.e., you may have to put up with trash talkers or jerks).
... Or Start Your Own Enthusiast Group...
If you are averse to spending your precious time with strangers and/or possible ne'er-do-wells, then gather a few of your interested friends to commit to playing one game week-in and week-out. One example about which I've heard is Agricola (or Caverna for the more modern gamers); there are groups that meet consistently just to play Agricola because the game start is highly variable with a plethora of different occupation and minor improvements decks to use or even mix. The most significant advantage of starting a group with your own hand-picked friends and acquaintances is that you can rest assured people will (generally) relate well.
... Or Even Play Solo
There are probably hundreds of games that you can play on your own (even though board setup for a game you are playing alone may dissuade you from doing it), and there are even tablet versions of games that you can play to acquaint yourself with the games better. However, you may not have realized that ANY game can be a solo game if you're willing to play as more than one player. Much like boxers using shadow boxing as a training method, you can pick up on game intricacies playing against yourself.
Now, let's discuss the nitty-gritty:
Know a Game's End Conditions
Whenever I teach a game, I make sure to cover game-ending conditions because players need to know how a game can end (or be forced to end). Players are often surprised at how quickly a game has ended because they were not cognizant of the end conditions. This surprises me, in turn, because I commit an appreciable amount of time to explaining the end conditions, but even I forget from time to time. By knowing the end conditions, you can control the tempo of a game; just think inductively about the events that lead to the end and either make them happen sooner or later.
Know a Game's Win Conditions
Whenever I teach a game, I also cover win conditions because players need to know what is required to win. To become better at a game, you must know how to win; this informs all of your in-game decisions. This is not overstating the obvious; I am usually shocked when people do not spend the time to acquaint themselves with how many possible ways they can win. You also have to consider how win conditions do not always mean end conditions; just because you end a game early does not mean you win, so know the differences between the two types of conditions.
Understand Your Pieces
Take stock of the in-game items and tokens you have at the start of the game. What can they do? More importantly, how can each item expedite reaching the win or end condition of a game?
Consider How Your Starting Position Differs from Others
In some games, each player has abilities that are unique compared to other players; usually, these asymmetrical powers bend a game rule or provide some kind of advantage. Know how your abilities differ from your opponents and exploit the difference. Also, know how your opponents can accomplish feats you cannot. Instead of trying to beat your adversaries using their strengths, attack their weaknesses with your strength.
Look for Powerful In-Game Interactions
Whether it's card combinations, sequences of chosen actions, or even how different player abilities intermingle, study how you can use game elements in combination to create advantageous turns of play. Remember that though one card or ability may be highly effective in isolation, look for ways to boost the effect with another card or ability. Then, write down the combo and research it after the game is over.
Interfere with Players Only at Key Moments
There are aggressive game players out there who seize every opportunity to interfere with other people's plans. Conversely, there are players who, though not necessarily passive, are more patient and wait a bit too long to act. This is more easily said than done, but try to balance executing your plan with obstructing your opponent. For example, in Ticket to Ride, there are "choke" routes where, if taken by someone else, a short connection between two cities can be blocked, compelling one or more players to find a way around the choke point. Identifying these one- or two-car routes and taking one or two turns to play trains on these routes can stymy an opponent's efforts to connect. Look for such moments in the game. It may take a session or two to discover them; when you do, catalog them in your mind for future plays.
Find the "Broken" Card/Token/Item and Exploit It
Occasionally, a game might feature one or more items that afford you a profound advantage over the other players. When that item appears, emphasize acquiring it. Do not worry about how fair or unfair the item is - if it's supported by the rules, use it.
Maximize the Actions You Take Each Turn
Many games rely on an action mechanic that involves taking one action per turn, but also allows for more actions depending on specific conditions. One example of this is the X-Wing Miniatures Game, which affords each ship one action after the maneuver; yet, in that game, using linked actions or upgrades to increase your action economy creates advantageous situations for your pilots, especially if you can get a Focus token AND secure a lock in the same phase. Find in-game items or elements that allow for multiple actions when players normally take one. By doing so, you optimize your action economy while your opponent flounders in keeping up.
And, For the Nice Players Out There... Strive to Win!
One of my quirks (failings?) as a game player (besides the fact that I usually have to teach people while playing AND keep the rules straight for everyone, which makes me prone to making poor decisions for the sake of educating others) is that I don't like watching people lose. Maybe it's because I hate the feeling of losing and empathize with people when they feel it, or maybe it's because I like spending time with happy people. What I try to consider always is that when someone is playing a game against me, I create the best experience for him by playing to the utmost of my ability and aiming to win. This makes the game challenging for your opponent, who most likely wants to be challenged. If you happen to be a kind and gentle person, the most wonderful gift you can give your opponent is trying to beat him or her. People DON'T have fun when their opponents are pushovers. In this way, to be truly loving, you have to destroy your opponent!
I'm sure there are other tips out there for the quasi-mediocre player who wants to improve their gameplay. I just continue playing games and enjoy them as beautiful distractions that have stunningly-crafted pieces, gorgeous art, and multifariously complex rules and systems that one must labor to master. Each game is a journey that should be relished for what it is, win or lose. Then again, it does feel better to be victorious than to learn from defeat, even though the learning part has a more significant impact over time. Personally, being "just fine" at games is fine enough for me.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Monday, July 29, 2019
What to Do If... You Don't Want to Play Gateway Games (But You're Playing with Casuals)
As a board game enthusiast, it can be challenging to play with people who aren't enthusiasts. Such folks are often called "casual players" or just "casuals." It's a term that is somewhat pervasive in American vernacular when discussing people who only engage in an activity occasionally. This is especially the case with board games because most people do not pursue this hobby with the kind of passion to drive them to play regularly. However, for the board game enthusiast, herein lies the rub: more often than not, you get a hankering to play a board game (particularly a somewhat complicated one), but the only people that are readily available are casuals, whether they're co-workers, friends, or family members, so you assume the challenge of teaching casuals how to play a reasonably difficult game. Of course, many of us know how this ends: lots of blank expressions, yawns, head scratches, and a general desire for the casuals to extricate themselves from this train-wreck game session as expeditiously as possible.
This scenario is not uncommon, and it is one I've encountered several times, but what undergirds these situations is that apparent gap of interest and understanding between the enthusiast and the casual. Thankfully, unlike with sports in which differences in ability can result in lopsided victories and un-fun to be had by all parties, board games exist at varying levels of complexity. Among board gamers, games that are somewhat strategically rich and a cut above Monopoly are called "gateway games" with simple rules, short setup, and a sense of agency that differs greatly from the likes of Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, to be sure. Games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Pandemic, and Settlers of Catan inhabit this ideological space of gaming. Now, don't get me wrong; these games are fun and a credit to the hobby, but there are times when the board game enthusiast wants more out of the gaming session than these games, which leads me to the crux of this article.
Here are some approaches you might try if you have a group of casual players, but do not want to play gateway games:
Research and Buy a New Game
If you navigate to Board Game Geek, you can view lists of how enthusiasts rate games. One list that is relevant to the kinds of games that casuals may enjoy is the Family Games list. On that list, you will find the classic gateway games, as well as some of the newer titles. My advice with this list is to find 3-5 games that catch your fancy and read reviews about them. They may be games that are less complex than what you truly desire, but you may find some gems that both are new to you and satisfy your urge for something more than gateway games.
Besides Board Game Geek, I recommend visiting Target, Barnes & Noble (if you're in the United States), or even the local board game specialty store. At Target, browse the "Strategy Games" section; at Barnes & Noble, browse the titles and find one that is thematically and mechanically appealing; and, at your local game store, ask the counter person (or owner) about their recommendations.
If you do NOT want to buy a new game...
Make Your Shortlist
In your existing collection, rule out the gateway offerings that you may have, but also think about your experiences with each game and consider your personal assessment of their levels of difficulty. Then, cull down all of the initial candidate games to a list of five to seven games that you would really like to play.
Look at Time and Player Count
Then, without much thought, examine your list while looking at only two criteria: time to play (which is sometimes calculated as a minutes-to-player ratio) and player count. Player count is important because you have to accommodate your entire group of casual-player friends, but expected time of play for each player is not necessarily crucial as a determinant for the length of your game session as much as an indirect indication of complexity; basically, the longer the game, the more complex it might be. This isn't a foolproof method of checking complexity, but this metric does give you some idea.
Determine the Game's Complexity
The beauty of gateway games is that though they are strategically rich, they are not painfully complicated. Many of these games have simple rulesets. For example, Carcassonne's turn order is easy to grasp: draw a tile, place one of your tile's edges against a compatible edge, and then choose whether or not to place an available worker on a feature of that tile. Once you understand the scoring of each feature, especially end-game farmer scoring, the mechanics of the game aren't daunting. Of course, the richness of Carcassonne lies in the discoveries players make as they gain experience. I suggest aiming for games that harness this beauty; at the very least, choose games that have a repeatable turn order and provide a reference card or sheet to help players along the way.
Consider The Number of Interwoven Mechanics
Working from the assumption that you are a board game aficionado, you are most likely aware of the mechanics of each game that you own. Is a game a deck-builder? Is it a worker-placement game? Does it involve set collection? Are there push-your-luck elements? Inherently, each identifiable game mechanic is no more intricate than any other mechanic, but some are more pervasive among casuals; for instance, set collection is a common mechanic found in many basic card games. However, I often keep in mind how many mechanics function inter-connectedly. Take Lewis & Clark; this game involves hand management and hand-building, worker placement, resource management, and even a racing element. With all of these mechanics in motion, even experienced board gamers have some initial problems with understanding the flow. Try to choose games that minimize the number of mechanics that prevail. For help with this, look up any particular game on Board Game Geek to discover how many mechanic categories are ascribed to that game.
Check Out the Components
A simple rule of thumb I use is the fewer the number of types of components involved in a game, the less complicated it probably is. For example, a game that has tokens, ships, three decks of cards, cardboard chits, dice, a game board, AND additional game props is most likely an overwhelming experience for the casual. Yet, a game with a set of dice, player pieces, two decks of cards, and a game board may seem less threatening. There is no magic number for types of components, but I generally take mental stock of what items are included in a game to decide if a game would suit my group of casual players. Despite this, watch out for games that appear simple with few components, but have cards that serve multiple purposes (e.g., Twilight Struggle), more than four types of tokens, chits, cubes, and/or bits, asymmetrical player powers, random starting board states, or a combination of these concepts.
Ponder the Attractiveness of the Theme
Let's admit it: some things may seem boring to the casual player. Trading in the Mediterranean? It had better be a visually-stunning game. Stock market trading? It had better have a lot of yelling. Space or science fiction? Make sure your group likes sci-fi. When choosing a game, think about your casual friends and what they might like. When in doubt, stick to popular tropes (Marvel, Star Wars, Disney, Star Trek, Harry Potter, or the like) or themes that are reminiscent of themes that are currently popular.
However, I have found that certain themes can backfire. For instance, though Game of Thrones and other sword-and-sorcery shows are popular, the medieval fantasy milieu is NOT for everyone and may be a turn-off. During one session when I presented Shadows over Camelot to my group, one of my not-so-casual friends quipped that the game was TOO nerdy for him, as if his traumatic memories of Dungeons & Dragons (or any other fantasy-themed game) had infected his outlook on knights and wizards. Identifying these "backfire" themes can be difficult, so I recommend adhering to the basic approach of avoiding themes that have stigmas attached to them, such as fantasy or sci-fi. I'll admit it: though nerdiness is en vogue now, some of your non-gamer friends may have no interest in stereotypically "nerdy" genres. Consider themes that are more universally relatable, such as transportation, economics, or crime.
Head-Simulate the Session
After all of your analysis, try to put yourself in the minds of your casual-player friends. Imagine conducting the gaming session with them, taking into account the non-gamerness of each person; this is the essence of head-simulation. Would they enjoy this game? Would they spend too much time asking questions? Does the game become bogged down? By doing this, you can avoid some stolid game sessions that, consequently, convince your friends that board games are boring.
Go with Your Gut
Even if one of your shortlisted games passes the various tests I have posited, I strongly advise you to rely on your "gut reaction." Sometimes, there are intangible elements to weigh, including your own ability (or inability) to teach a particular game effectively, your own qualms against a certain game, or even your past bad experiences with that game. Your intuition (i.e. your gut) should suffice in considering these things. Ultimately, if you feel that a game just won't work for your casual friends, put it back on the shelf and move on to the next game.
The hardest thing for any board game enthusiast to do is to admit that board games are just NOT the way to go when it comes to entertainment for a particular evening. I have walked into many adult gatherings with my duffle bag of games in hand, ready to expose my friends to some truly wonderful creations, but deciding not to open my duffle after all. I try to read the room, sensing if the host would be open to me hijacking the party by declaring that I'm starting a board game. Or, if I'm the host, I might detect that "odd" desire of people to "just relax" and not want to use their brains for anything besides socializing. Sure, there are awesome social games that fit this crowd (such as Two Rooms & A Boom or One Night Werewolf), but this is an article about non-gateway games for casuals... Occasionally, the best thing to do is not to play; save the games for another day when the conditions are right.
This scenario is not uncommon, and it is one I've encountered several times, but what undergirds these situations is that apparent gap of interest and understanding between the enthusiast and the casual. Thankfully, unlike with sports in which differences in ability can result in lopsided victories and un-fun to be had by all parties, board games exist at varying levels of complexity. Among board gamers, games that are somewhat strategically rich and a cut above Monopoly are called "gateway games" with simple rules, short setup, and a sense of agency that differs greatly from the likes of Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders, to be sure. Games like Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Pandemic, and Settlers of Catan inhabit this ideological space of gaming. Now, don't get me wrong; these games are fun and a credit to the hobby, but there are times when the board game enthusiast wants more out of the gaming session than these games, which leads me to the crux of this article.
Here are some approaches you might try if you have a group of casual players, but do not want to play gateway games:
Research and Buy a New Game
If you navigate to Board Game Geek, you can view lists of how enthusiasts rate games. One list that is relevant to the kinds of games that casuals may enjoy is the Family Games list. On that list, you will find the classic gateway games, as well as some of the newer titles. My advice with this list is to find 3-5 games that catch your fancy and read reviews about them. They may be games that are less complex than what you truly desire, but you may find some gems that both are new to you and satisfy your urge for something more than gateway games.
Besides Board Game Geek, I recommend visiting Target, Barnes & Noble (if you're in the United States), or even the local board game specialty store. At Target, browse the "Strategy Games" section; at Barnes & Noble, browse the titles and find one that is thematically and mechanically appealing; and, at your local game store, ask the counter person (or owner) about their recommendations.
If you do NOT want to buy a new game...
Make Your Shortlist
In your existing collection, rule out the gateway offerings that you may have, but also think about your experiences with each game and consider your personal assessment of their levels of difficulty. Then, cull down all of the initial candidate games to a list of five to seven games that you would really like to play.
Look at Time and Player Count
Then, without much thought, examine your list while looking at only two criteria: time to play (which is sometimes calculated as a minutes-to-player ratio) and player count. Player count is important because you have to accommodate your entire group of casual-player friends, but expected time of play for each player is not necessarily crucial as a determinant for the length of your game session as much as an indirect indication of complexity; basically, the longer the game, the more complex it might be. This isn't a foolproof method of checking complexity, but this metric does give you some idea.
Determine the Game's Complexity
The beauty of gateway games is that though they are strategically rich, they are not painfully complicated. Many of these games have simple rulesets. For example, Carcassonne's turn order is easy to grasp: draw a tile, place one of your tile's edges against a compatible edge, and then choose whether or not to place an available worker on a feature of that tile. Once you understand the scoring of each feature, especially end-game farmer scoring, the mechanics of the game aren't daunting. Of course, the richness of Carcassonne lies in the discoveries players make as they gain experience. I suggest aiming for games that harness this beauty; at the very least, choose games that have a repeatable turn order and provide a reference card or sheet to help players along the way.
Consider The Number of Interwoven Mechanics
Working from the assumption that you are a board game aficionado, you are most likely aware of the mechanics of each game that you own. Is a game a deck-builder? Is it a worker-placement game? Does it involve set collection? Are there push-your-luck elements? Inherently, each identifiable game mechanic is no more intricate than any other mechanic, but some are more pervasive among casuals; for instance, set collection is a common mechanic found in many basic card games. However, I often keep in mind how many mechanics function inter-connectedly. Take Lewis & Clark; this game involves hand management and hand-building, worker placement, resource management, and even a racing element. With all of these mechanics in motion, even experienced board gamers have some initial problems with understanding the flow. Try to choose games that minimize the number of mechanics that prevail. For help with this, look up any particular game on Board Game Geek to discover how many mechanic categories are ascribed to that game.
Check Out the Components
A simple rule of thumb I use is the fewer the number of types of components involved in a game, the less complicated it probably is. For example, a game that has tokens, ships, three decks of cards, cardboard chits, dice, a game board, AND additional game props is most likely an overwhelming experience for the casual. Yet, a game with a set of dice, player pieces, two decks of cards, and a game board may seem less threatening. There is no magic number for types of components, but I generally take mental stock of what items are included in a game to decide if a game would suit my group of casual players. Despite this, watch out for games that appear simple with few components, but have cards that serve multiple purposes (e.g., Twilight Struggle), more than four types of tokens, chits, cubes, and/or bits, asymmetrical player powers, random starting board states, or a combination of these concepts.
Ponder the Attractiveness of the Theme
Let's admit it: some things may seem boring to the casual player. Trading in the Mediterranean? It had better be a visually-stunning game. Stock market trading? It had better have a lot of yelling. Space or science fiction? Make sure your group likes sci-fi. When choosing a game, think about your casual friends and what they might like. When in doubt, stick to popular tropes (Marvel, Star Wars, Disney, Star Trek, Harry Potter, or the like) or themes that are reminiscent of themes that are currently popular.
However, I have found that certain themes can backfire. For instance, though Game of Thrones and other sword-and-sorcery shows are popular, the medieval fantasy milieu is NOT for everyone and may be a turn-off. During one session when I presented Shadows over Camelot to my group, one of my not-so-casual friends quipped that the game was TOO nerdy for him, as if his traumatic memories of Dungeons & Dragons (or any other fantasy-themed game) had infected his outlook on knights and wizards. Identifying these "backfire" themes can be difficult, so I recommend adhering to the basic approach of avoiding themes that have stigmas attached to them, such as fantasy or sci-fi. I'll admit it: though nerdiness is en vogue now, some of your non-gamer friends may have no interest in stereotypically "nerdy" genres. Consider themes that are more universally relatable, such as transportation, economics, or crime.
Head-Simulate the Session
After all of your analysis, try to put yourself in the minds of your casual-player friends. Imagine conducting the gaming session with them, taking into account the non-gamerness of each person; this is the essence of head-simulation. Would they enjoy this game? Would they spend too much time asking questions? Does the game become bogged down? By doing this, you can avoid some stolid game sessions that, consequently, convince your friends that board games are boring.
Go with Your Gut
Even if one of your shortlisted games passes the various tests I have posited, I strongly advise you to rely on your "gut reaction." Sometimes, there are intangible elements to weigh, including your own ability (or inability) to teach a particular game effectively, your own qualms against a certain game, or even your past bad experiences with that game. Your intuition (i.e. your gut) should suffice in considering these things. Ultimately, if you feel that a game just won't work for your casual friends, put it back on the shelf and move on to the next game.
The hardest thing for any board game enthusiast to do is to admit that board games are just NOT the way to go when it comes to entertainment for a particular evening. I have walked into many adult gatherings with my duffle bag of games in hand, ready to expose my friends to some truly wonderful creations, but deciding not to open my duffle after all. I try to read the room, sensing if the host would be open to me hijacking the party by declaring that I'm starting a board game. Or, if I'm the host, I might detect that "odd" desire of people to "just relax" and not want to use their brains for anything besides socializing. Sure, there are awesome social games that fit this crowd (such as Two Rooms & A Boom or One Night Werewolf), but this is an article about non-gateway games for casuals... Occasionally, the best thing to do is not to play; save the games for another day when the conditions are right.
Thursday, June 27, 2019
Is Chess Really the Best Board Game Ever?
(Note: in this article, I capitalized Chess, Go, and Shogi, even though they are not often capitalized in writing, to not only pay homage to these games, but also to have their names stylistically resemble the names of modern games.)
In the United States, as many of you know, most people who do not play board games as a passionate hobby have heard of such games as Monopoly, Sorry, Clue, Risk, Connect Four, Stratego, Candy Land, Chutes (or Snakes) and Ladders, Checkers, Backgammon, and, of course, Chess. Some of them are fine games even now, but some are outmoded and/or involve no sense of agency or decision-making whatsoever (I'm looking at you, Chutes and Ladders), yet Chess seems to retain that mystique as being a "classic" game. To be sure, Chess is so widely played and has such longevity that it has been venerated to "best game of all time" status by many folks, at least as far as I can tell. You could probably ask any person on the street about the best board game of all time, and I would not be surprised that Chess is mentioned more than once.
The funny thing about Chess, though, is that for all of its history and (clearly) international recognition as a game for really smart people who make a profession out of studying and playing it, finding people who really ENJOY Chess can be a very challenging task. Indeed, there are grandmasters, wannabe grandmasters, local tournament winners, and even faux-protegies who fancy Chess. These same folks plunge headfirst into study, memorizing openings and closings, dissecting past matches, and learning so much about the vagaries of the game that they come to see in-game patterns of play that are only visible to a true Chess enthusiast. I believe that it is because of this level of erudition and perceived difficulty that people somewhat begrudgingly acknowledge Chess as the best game of all time; some people even use Chess as a determiner of how intelligent or strategic a person is, which is incredible for a game to be vaunted to that status.
It is these same folks that underscore the greatest challenge presented to the would-be player of Chess: to be good at it, you have to study and study and practice and study. This may be true of many pastimes and even other board games, but Chess elevates this requirement to a very high level such that only staunch enthusiasts really enjoy Chess. I suppose that a degree of mastery of anything both dictates if one enjoys that thing and how much he or she enjoys that thing with other people. If you know how to play some tennis, you will enjoy tennis with people of similar skill level, practice habits, determination to improve, and play experience. However, if you are a casual weekend warrior who plays against a former Division I college tennis star, both you and the almost-pro would not have a fun time (unless the would-be pro is sadistic and relishes trouncing sad-sack casuals). In any case, practice and study (and even, dare I say, natural ability) are key to enjoying tennis, Chess, or whatever, but some pastimes require it more than others (such as Chess).
This leads me back to the question posed in the title of this post: is Chess the best board game of all time? Well, let's splay out its credentials: simple rules for movement and attack, elegant board and piece design, wide-ranging global availability and recognition, centuries of tried-and-true competitive play, and the accessibility of volumes of scholarly study of which any student of the game can avail himself or herself. Add to that the myriad of rebadged sets (Lord of the Rings Chess, Civil War Chess, Mario Chess, and so on!), levels of competition, and variations (Shogi!) and you have a venerable game that is appreciated and adored the world over... Yet I contend something that a few others have suggested...
Chess is outdated, abstract, inaccessible to the casual UNLESS he or she plays against another casual player, limited in gameplay, and so exclusive that you must commit serious study (or possess immense, natural, genius-level skill) to be remotely competitive.
So... let me unpack that recognizably controversial statement. First of all, Chess is a centuries-old game, which is fine except that, especially in the last, say, 30 years, there has been a wealth of deep, rich board games and card games that have been developed and published that are replete with theme and fluff (i.e. little theme nuggets that work within the rules to reinforce game play) that enliven such games. To find out more, simply navigate to www.boardgamegeek.com and browse the top 200 strategy games.
Secondly, as I pointed out earlier, you have to dedicate time and focus to compete in Chess, which makes it less out-of-the-box playable against semi-skilled players than a game like Ticket to Ride or Carcassonne. Sure, both of these games have randomness, and Chess does not, but I contend that it's only enough randomness to give the inexperienced player a little boost. Some have decried randomness as a "crutch" that can punish expert play, but there is a skill to mitigating randomness. For example, in the X-Wing Miniatures Game, your attack and defense dice rolls may stymy your good flying and firing-arc aiming, but you can improve your chances with well-chosen upgrades that allow for re-rolls or by selecting the right action to perform, such as getting that Focus token that increases your hit percentage per die from 50% to 75%. Dealing with randomness is a skill set that is necessary in life, and it is something absent in Chess (which is NOT an ironclad argument against Chess, per se, but it does reinforce my point that Chess does not really support the inexperienced player).
Thirdly, even though computers have calculated the millions of possible moves in Chess, in practice, as the game state progresses, your options are very limited. For instance, after six moves, the board is in a state in which there are more horrible moves that can lead to capture than excellent moves (or even harmless moves) that allow you to advance your pieces. Though some may contend that this is a GOOD thing which compels people to find the true value of any piece and weigh its sacrifice against better future position or (even better) baiting an opponent to expose a strong piece for capture, that feeling of agency is illusory. To me, Chess has always felt like it's "on rails," which is an inexorable path; eventually, there is going to be a bloodbath that manifests itself in a rapid cascade of sacrifices until one player ends up with more materiel. Funnily enough, this substantiates my point because, ultimately, there is only ONE victory condition in Chess: the capture of the king, which is in and of itself quite limiting.
Lastly, let's discuss the exclusive nature of Chess with more depth. Once again, if you do not study and practice, you are nothing more than a casual player who knows the rules, but little else. There's nothing wrong with that... until you encounter a friend or co-worker who is looking for an opponent and is found wanting when she realizes that she can utterly defeat you every time. Even worse than that, though, is the almost-fact that unless you are somewhat equal to your opponent, the game is not really fun for either of you. Now, some may point at competitive Chess and say that Magnus Carlsen must not be having fun when he's defeating other "lesser" grandmasters, but the difference between him and those players is (and this is my somewhat unresearched contention) miniscule. We're talking about minute differences in skill level; on a "bad day," Carlsen could lose to any of those players. That's why games between grandmasters involve multiple matches; on any given day, one grandmaster, at least in theory, can beat another one. Anyway, unless you're competing at a grandmaster level, any appreciable skill level difference can render Chess un-fun for the lesser player (unless the lesser player is learning actively through defeat). That, primarily, is why Chess is exclusive, but I can also point out that it always plays as a two-player game unless you have a wonky four-player version of Chess (which is super-fun, actually).Now that I've stated all of this, I will venture to guess that you, the reader, are mentally shooting down each argument with these thoughts:
- Just because Chess is old doesn't mean that it's outdated or awful.
- I hate many games because of the randomness; card draws, dice rolls, and other randomizers have ruined game sessions for me.
- Randomness is indeed a crutch and you're a sad individual who needs crutches to beat better players.
- Of course you have to study and practice! Every sport and worthwhile game is like that!
- I don't play competitive Chess anyway. I just enjoy it.
- Chess is eminently accessible. It's played all over the world and is much cheaper than most of your fancy board games (particularly X-Wing!).
There are so many beautiful, strategically-deep, slightly random games out there that allow people to exercise creativity and guile without the "on rails" feeling of Chess and WON'T break your budget.
One example of this is Agricola. For $45 USD, you get a worker-placement game that is only as random as the stage cards that are revealed (if you play the Family Edition with no Occupation or Minor Improvement cards) and has a few paths to victory, though you ultimately win with a diverse farm. It also plays up to four players out of the box.
How about Great Western Trail? For about $40 USD (depending on the time of day), you can play a wonderfully-illustrated game that can have a different starting board state each game and a random set of cows in hand, but provides that feeling of agency as you build buildings along a path to help you and disrupt your opponent.
There is even a Chess variant that lets you deploy one of your opponent's captured pieces as your own piece during the next turn: Shogi. The pieces move somewhat similarly to Chess, except nothing beats the thrill of dropping your Gold attacking piece in a position that is very close to the opponent's king. In Japan, the pieces and the board were roughly $15 to $20 USD, and I cannot imagine they would be much more expensive elsewhere.
There may even be folks out there that prefer Go to Chess because of the fluid nature of the game and the even higher numbers of possible moves than Chess. I've never played Go, but I can state this: it took much longer for developers to create a computer program to beat top Go players than it did to create programs to beat top Chess players.
Let's return to the question: is Chess the best board game ever? Unequivocally, I'd say "No," not necessarily because of the panoply of arguments I've put there as the wide recognition that almost-equally-venerable Go is better than Chess as a game of creativity and organic play. Even if you don't agree with THAT statement, I would wager that I've cast a lot of doubt on the assertion that Chess could even be considered the best board game ever, which is what I feel I have achieved with this post. Of course, this is not to state that Chess is awful or a "bad game." Actually, it's IS one of the best for all of the reasons I've mentioned (even in my arguments against it), and it is a fine representative of abstract games in the hobby, but I feel we have come a long way in the board gaming hobby to where you can be a farmer, a cattle rancher, a vegetable trader, a trader in the Mediterranean, a car builder, or even a Space Lion AND have meaningful in-game decisions. Chess is no longer the best, but one of the best of the abstract games.
As I conclude, let me posit a somewhat tangential argument. The Beatles are publicly regarded as arguably the best rock band of all time with their blend of musicianship, songwriting, Top Ten hits, marketability, good looks (generally), and four decent-to-great lead singers who each had successful solo careers (Ringo did have the first solo hit song, by the way). One would be hard-pressed to argue otherwise because of the breadth of evidence. However, I put forth that The Police had three superior musicians, one superlative songwriter and singer (though I must admit that John Lennon's writing was as superlative as Sting's when it comes to depth and introspection) and were also marketable with good looks. In my mind, The Police were the better band, but they also benefited from the groundwork laid by The Beatles, whose diverse genre-bending catalog of songs expanded the rock landscape. Chess is similar: modern board games owe their existence to Chess. In this way, we should always elevate Chess, but also keep in mind that better creations were devised on its shoulders.
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
What to Do If... You Don't Like Your Game Group Anymore
It can be an almost insurmountable challenge to assemble a great game group. Having to juggle and mesh personalities, game tastes, schedules, and even where to play can be exhausting. This is why people often compromise in one or more of those areas for the sake of just getting a game off the ground. You may find yourself going to the local game store and pulling together a collectible-card gamer, a role-playing gamer, a miniatures gamer, a Euro gamer, and a good friend into your group and trying to make them play together. Or, you may have identified some interested casual players and formed a lunchtime gaming group. You may have even gotten some neighbors together in your apartment building or street and decided to be "neighborly" by having them over for games and food. In each of these cases, though, you probably compromised on game taste (the first example), schedule (the second example), or even how readily the people interact (all of the examples). For a while, these groups can function and may even develop into fine friendships, but there is always the chance that group relations can go sour or, in a less easy-to-explain way, one or more of its members (namely you) grow to dislike specific members or the entire group. In my case, I was once in a game group in which one of the members had a crass sense of humor that I found off-putting. I grew to dislike being around this person because he would crack a crude joke and I would have to adopt a stone-faced expression.
With that in mind, let's discuss what to do if you do not like your gaming group, and I am writing this from the assumption that you are the one who no longer enjoys being in the group, but you are not the organizer:
Get Busy
One of the most diplomatic ways to back out of a group is to simply fill your personal and/or work schedule with other appointments. For instance, if your game group plays on Tuesdays, set up a lunch date with your spouse or mandate a workout time for yourself. Then, tell the group that your Tuesdays are filled. However, some persistent members of the group might try to accommodate your change; to anticipate that, schedule out EVERY day with something, even if it's trivial. If you're busy, you're busy, but you don't have to provide much explanation beyond the "my schedule is packed now" excuse.
Become Inconsistent
Another diplomatic way to back out of a group is to become "flaky," meaning that you just decide to not show up sometimes. You could not show up every other week at first, and then make your appearances less and less frequent. Instead, go out for walks, make other friends, prioritize family time... There are a myriad of reasons to be inconsistent. The only risk is that you become the "flake," which means that people become distrustful of you attending organized events.
Pray and Endure
The hardest decision is to remain in a group because you want to be that positive person who invests in people. You may genuinely care about the people in your group, even though you do not really like them, because they are human beings who need encouragement. If this is the case, I recommend a lot of prayer and (for Christians) reading the Bible. Then, treat each game meeting as an opportunity to reach people. The only downside of this approach is that board games can become less fun and more like a job.
Now, if you happen to be the organizer of the game group sessions, then your options are slightly different and, in some ways, more difficult because your non-participation is much more apparent and can communicate feelings to the others that you would rather NOT make that obvious:
Stop Scheduling Sessions (Corollary to Get Busy)
There may come a time when you decide to NOT schedule the meetings anymore. At work, you may use Outlook to send invitations; just stop sending the invitations. Outside of work, you may communicate through social media or email; start off by sending cancellation notices, and then stop sending notices altogether. Eventually, someone will comment on how you don't organize meetings and ask why you don't. Simply tell them that you have "been busy," but encourage that person to take control and set up meetings. More often than not, if you're the organizer, other people will not step up when you leave a vacuum.
Announce a Break
Through whatever medium, inform your group that you want to take a break from board games to focus on other hobbies and/or family. Mention that you need to "recharge your batteries." You can also encourage the rest of the group to carry on without you. This is probably the second-most direct way (besides holding a special meeting) to communicate your displeasure with the group.
Hold a Special Meeting (Corollary to Pray and Endure)
If you prefer to be really direct, call the group together and (in a neutral location) discuss why you have a grievance with one or more members of the group. Consider the following scenarios...
If you all are friends, then conduct this meeting with the approach of preserving friendship. In other words, discuss your issues calmly and with an ardent desire to be inoffensive, read facial expressions, echo other people's feelings, and work together to find solutions for the issues. Friends are more important than games, so addressing the issues you have might resolve your lack of desire to play.
If you are all enthusiasts who are only unified by board games and a common night for gaming, then I do NOT suggest holding a meeting except to say that you won't be able to play on that day and time, but you encourage them to continue. If they are like the kinds of people I've met at the local game store, there will be no hearts broken by your bowing out for various reasons. Sometimes, it's best that people do NOT know the details or your grievances.
If your group is a work group comprised of acquaintances, then this kind of meeting is much trickier because you have to work with these individuals. I would NOT recommend a meeting AT ALL. Simply get busy and stop organizing or attending game sessions.
As I wrote this post, I considered the possibility that you may have identified another group to join. If so, I would back away from the current group and not join the new group for a while; give yourself one or two months before restarting gaming, or restart in a way that isn't apparent to the old group. Then, if someone from your old group discovers that you have joined a new group, mention that this group was better for your schedule, they are playing a game you wanted to try, or you were finally done with taking a break. You may want to take great care to meet with the new group in an entirely new location or different lunchroom.
Despite the ideas and advice I've put forth, I tend to find that if one does not enjoy a group, that group tends to fall apart quite organically. I believe that it has something to do with the concept of complex adaptive systems. Basically, if you take a room of people who have developed their own interactions and group norms but introduce a new person, the entire dynamics of the room change for better or worse. This happens in classrooms when new students join the class and that awesome class becomes a chaotic one; it also happens in small businesses when a misanthropic individual can throw interactions into disarray.
My point is that as your attitude towards the game group (even if you are subtle) becomes non-positive, that "vibe" is felt by those around you. They may not be able to pinpoint what is happening, but they may find themselves not enjoying the group either. Of course, I don't endorse throwing a fit or being overtly negative; that is not a suggestion I have made in this post. Instead, I proffer the idea that when one person in a group is no longer engaged, the group slowly, inexorably crumbles. With that in mind, either the patience to ride it out or the conviction to leave may be what you need to end what has become an unfavorable game group for you.
With that in mind, let's discuss what to do if you do not like your gaming group, and I am writing this from the assumption that you are the one who no longer enjoys being in the group, but you are not the organizer:
Get Busy
One of the most diplomatic ways to back out of a group is to simply fill your personal and/or work schedule with other appointments. For instance, if your game group plays on Tuesdays, set up a lunch date with your spouse or mandate a workout time for yourself. Then, tell the group that your Tuesdays are filled. However, some persistent members of the group might try to accommodate your change; to anticipate that, schedule out EVERY day with something, even if it's trivial. If you're busy, you're busy, but you don't have to provide much explanation beyond the "my schedule is packed now" excuse.
Become Inconsistent
Another diplomatic way to back out of a group is to become "flaky," meaning that you just decide to not show up sometimes. You could not show up every other week at first, and then make your appearances less and less frequent. Instead, go out for walks, make other friends, prioritize family time... There are a myriad of reasons to be inconsistent. The only risk is that you become the "flake," which means that people become distrustful of you attending organized events.
Pray and Endure
The hardest decision is to remain in a group because you want to be that positive person who invests in people. You may genuinely care about the people in your group, even though you do not really like them, because they are human beings who need encouragement. If this is the case, I recommend a lot of prayer and (for Christians) reading the Bible. Then, treat each game meeting as an opportunity to reach people. The only downside of this approach is that board games can become less fun and more like a job.
Now, if you happen to be the organizer of the game group sessions, then your options are slightly different and, in some ways, more difficult because your non-participation is much more apparent and can communicate feelings to the others that you would rather NOT make that obvious:
Stop Scheduling Sessions (Corollary to Get Busy)
There may come a time when you decide to NOT schedule the meetings anymore. At work, you may use Outlook to send invitations; just stop sending the invitations. Outside of work, you may communicate through social media or email; start off by sending cancellation notices, and then stop sending notices altogether. Eventually, someone will comment on how you don't organize meetings and ask why you don't. Simply tell them that you have "been busy," but encourage that person to take control and set up meetings. More often than not, if you're the organizer, other people will not step up when you leave a vacuum.
Announce a Break
Through whatever medium, inform your group that you want to take a break from board games to focus on other hobbies and/or family. Mention that you need to "recharge your batteries." You can also encourage the rest of the group to carry on without you. This is probably the second-most direct way (besides holding a special meeting) to communicate your displeasure with the group.
Hold a Special Meeting (Corollary to Pray and Endure)
If you prefer to be really direct, call the group together and (in a neutral location) discuss why you have a grievance with one or more members of the group. Consider the following scenarios...
If you all are friends, then conduct this meeting with the approach of preserving friendship. In other words, discuss your issues calmly and with an ardent desire to be inoffensive, read facial expressions, echo other people's feelings, and work together to find solutions for the issues. Friends are more important than games, so addressing the issues you have might resolve your lack of desire to play.
If you are all enthusiasts who are only unified by board games and a common night for gaming, then I do NOT suggest holding a meeting except to say that you won't be able to play on that day and time, but you encourage them to continue. If they are like the kinds of people I've met at the local game store, there will be no hearts broken by your bowing out for various reasons. Sometimes, it's best that people do NOT know the details or your grievances.
If your group is a work group comprised of acquaintances, then this kind of meeting is much trickier because you have to work with these individuals. I would NOT recommend a meeting AT ALL. Simply get busy and stop organizing or attending game sessions.
As I wrote this post, I considered the possibility that you may have identified another group to join. If so, I would back away from the current group and not join the new group for a while; give yourself one or two months before restarting gaming, or restart in a way that isn't apparent to the old group. Then, if someone from your old group discovers that you have joined a new group, mention that this group was better for your schedule, they are playing a game you wanted to try, or you were finally done with taking a break. You may want to take great care to meet with the new group in an entirely new location or different lunchroom.
Despite the ideas and advice I've put forth, I tend to find that if one does not enjoy a group, that group tends to fall apart quite organically. I believe that it has something to do with the concept of complex adaptive systems. Basically, if you take a room of people who have developed their own interactions and group norms but introduce a new person, the entire dynamics of the room change for better or worse. This happens in classrooms when new students join the class and that awesome class becomes a chaotic one; it also happens in small businesses when a misanthropic individual can throw interactions into disarray.
My point is that as your attitude towards the game group (even if you are subtle) becomes non-positive, that "vibe" is felt by those around you. They may not be able to pinpoint what is happening, but they may find themselves not enjoying the group either. Of course, I don't endorse throwing a fit or being overtly negative; that is not a suggestion I have made in this post. Instead, I proffer the idea that when one person in a group is no longer engaged, the group slowly, inexorably crumbles. With that in mind, either the patience to ride it out or the conviction to leave may be what you need to end what has become an unfavorable game group for you.
Wednesday, June 12, 2019
My New X-Wing Blog: the Step on Snek Squadron!
Hello, everyone. I wanted to let you know that I have started a new blog committed to the X-Wing Miniatures Game called Step on Snek Squadron! Here is the link to that blog.
To summarize, the Step on Snek Squadron focuses not on the casual player, the enthusiast, or the competitive player who vies for tournament wins -- it is for the false beginner player who has experience with the game, and even in local tournaments, but is not good enough to do well at such tournaments. Sure, you may win the odd casual night or even dominate in your own home, but once you leave the safe confines of those arenas, you find yourself wanting.
When you get a chance, check out the blog. I will refer to it from time to time on this blog at steponsneksquadron.blogspot.com. Yes, I will continue to write RetroBeliever posts (if I get around to it), so don't go away.
Thursday, January 3, 2019
What to Do If... You Don't Remember (or Fully Understand) the Rules
Imagine that it's game night at your home. You've invited four of your best game buddies to join you in learning a somewhat complicated game like Power Grid. All of your buddies have some experience with board games and even own some of their own, so you anticipate a not-so-steep learning curve. With this in mind, you spent a little time reading the rules, skimming sections because you have to commit time to actually cleaning your living room and bathroom (personal note: please clean your bathrooms before game day; your guests will quietly thank you for it).
Anyway, your guests arrive. Wisely, you already had the board and components laid out on the table and the rules ready for easy reference. After a few appetizers and drinks, you invite your friends to sit as you explain the rules. At first, people are comprehending and nodding their understanding. Yet, partway through the explanation, you stumble. What was that rule about cycling in new power plants? Is it last-to-first place turn order during bidding or during the connection of cities? As you feverishly rifle through the rulebook, you lose your place and your guests' collective attentions begin to wander. You spend five minutes reading through each phase of the game until you think you have a firm grasp of the game flow, which prompts you to restart your explanation... until you realize that you didn't quite understand the flow after all. After that, it's all sweaty palms, reading, and your guests turning on the TV to watch reruns of Last Man Standing...
This scenario is not a strange one. I would wager that almost all of you have experienced this when teaching a game you own. Getting stuck on misunderstood or forgotten rules, befuddling yourself on why certain game events happen, and even forgetting basic setup are not uncommon during the teaching of games. However, in this article, I want to focus on an aspect of rules that has needlessly stymied many a game session: not knowing certain rules OR forgetting rules. Here are a few tips and tricks I have for what to do if you don't remember (or understand) rules. These tips are not in any particular order:
Read the Rules Well Before Game Day
The obvious solution for not remembering rules is to read the rules long before you have your game day. I would suggest both reading the rules and playing a mock game on your own to acquaint yourself with the machinery of the game itself. For note-taking, you may want to print a separate copy of the rules that you can highlight and notate. Of course, if you don't mind marking up your rulebook, feel free to do so.
Read Forums and User Comments
Board Game Geek is a great online resource for acquiring more information about rules and frequently-asked questions. Read the comments pertaining to the game in question; I would even recommend bookmarking the URL for that game and having that handy before the event you are hosting, but a better solution would be to compile handy knowledge in a Word document or Excel spreadsheet.
Now, if you didn't do your homework and study the rules, then here are the tips for you:
Wing It (and Tell People You're Winging It)
When teaching a game, the worst thing, besides not knowing a rule, is taking an inordinate amount of time reading the rules while your friends languish in their semi-comfortable dining room chairs. I recommend skimming the rules, and then informing your guests that you are just going to start the game and proceed with your tenuous grasp of the rules. Tell your friends that you may make mistakes during the course of play, but you will adhere to the rules as you understood them at the start. Then, after the game is over, let people know what your mistakes were and how the game should be played. This sounds sloppy, but playing a game incorrectly and having fun is more important than getting mired in rules reading for an hour before you start the game.
Ignore Certain Rules
It is perfectly acceptable to excise rules from the game for the sake of starting the game and enjoying each other's company. For instance, some people play Carcassonne for the first time WITHOUT farmer scoring. Sure, this takes away a key part of the scoring process, but at least you introduce your friends to the concept of tile-laying and feature scoring. If you finish fast enough (note: Carcassonne games can take only 75 minutes if you play with the base set), then you can incorporate that rule you ignored.
Set House Rules
A variation of winging it is telling people that you are going to run a game with a certain interpretation in mind, which is basically setting house rules. For the sake of learning and starting a game, there is nothing wrong with this as long as people are made aware of it. Yet, if you set house rules on the fly while someone decides to read the rules during gameplay, he may feel cheated if he discovers that the rules state something different from your house rule.
In general, if you don't understand a rule in the moment, especially if you're reading and teaching at the same time, tell everything that you are going to proceed with a certain approach and ask for their consent. Be flexible, though: some people may disagree with your house rule, which is actually a great thing because they are now engaged in the learning process and may help you better execute that particular stipulation.
Play a Few Practice Turns and Reset
If you have several hours scheduled, you could play two or three demo rounds of a game for people to get a feel for the game while you work out your comprehension of the game. After you've identified pain points in the rules and negotiated with others to lay out how the game should be played, take a break, reset the board, and play the "real" session.
Learn Together
If you have a patient group of close friends, you may want to entreat them to read the rules with you and learn the game together. To do this, I recommend sending the rules to each of them by email or even message service, and then going through the rules in unison. With the right group, this learning session becomes a hangout in and of itself, especially for really involved and complex games. Some people relish these opportunities: if you identify these folks, hold on to their friendship with both hands!
(For Experts Only) Make Up the Rules!
Now, there comes a time when, despite your improvisational abilities, you cannot make out enough of the game's rules in the moment to develop a working understanding of the game that you can even communicate to your friends. It happens; you are not alone in these moments of confusion. Considering this, based on your experience with games, make up the rules!
An example of this was the first time I played Robinson Crusoe. In retrospect, Robinson Crusoe is not that complicated, but the rules are not the most clearly-written rules and do leave new players to a boatload of reading during gameplay, so I remember having to make up a rule about the in-game items that you can construct in which each item, unless explicitly stated, could be used over and over. For some reason, I was confused about whether items were used one time or able to be used repeatedly, so I just made up a rule. Indeed, you may end up perpetuating incorrect play, but remember: your goal is to guide your friends through a game by playing it and having fun. Do not get mired in reading and waiting.
Before I proceed, I should note that you must let people know that you are making up the rules because you do not want to perpetuate incorrect play. Doing so is like spreading a disease: you not only affect your friends, but they affect their friends. Even worse, once your friends discover your malfeasance, they will NOT trust you to teach another board game, so give your friends fair warning. Funnily enough, some of your friends may object to your making up rules and help you out by reading the rules for themselves.
When All Else Fails... Fall Back!
If you are not an expert on ad hoc rule generation or with tap-dancing through a rules explanation, you may want to declare that you need more time to learn the game and move on to a game that most of your friends know. Sure, you may have a friend or two that would be disappointed in not learning the new game, but sometimes simply playing any game is the best course of action.
Thanks to my direct influence, my two teenage sons own and play board games. My older son, who is 15, is less interested in board games than at least seven other interests, but he does play games to get out of doing homework and as a general diversion. As it does happen, he has moved beyond board games as a personal preference. Not so conversely, my younger son, who is 13, still likes receiving games as gifts and will opt on his own to play them with little prompting. I mention both of my sons because, despite their being at different points of what I call the "board game interest lifecycle," they have one thing in common: they both dislike teaching people board games because there is a lot of pressure to know and understand (almost) every rule. Thankfully, though, with the tips and experience I've shared, you can spend less time stressing out about rules explanations and more time enjoying your friends' company and, oh yes, playing the game you wanted to play. Your friends might even appreciate the game enough to read the rules, yell at you for the mistakes you made, and then demand that the game be played correctly next week. To me, in this case, everyone wins!
Anyway, your guests arrive. Wisely, you already had the board and components laid out on the table and the rules ready for easy reference. After a few appetizers and drinks, you invite your friends to sit as you explain the rules. At first, people are comprehending and nodding their understanding. Yet, partway through the explanation, you stumble. What was that rule about cycling in new power plants? Is it last-to-first place turn order during bidding or during the connection of cities? As you feverishly rifle through the rulebook, you lose your place and your guests' collective attentions begin to wander. You spend five minutes reading through each phase of the game until you think you have a firm grasp of the game flow, which prompts you to restart your explanation... until you realize that you didn't quite understand the flow after all. After that, it's all sweaty palms, reading, and your guests turning on the TV to watch reruns of Last Man Standing...
This scenario is not a strange one. I would wager that almost all of you have experienced this when teaching a game you own. Getting stuck on misunderstood or forgotten rules, befuddling yourself on why certain game events happen, and even forgetting basic setup are not uncommon during the teaching of games. However, in this article, I want to focus on an aspect of rules that has needlessly stymied many a game session: not knowing certain rules OR forgetting rules. Here are a few tips and tricks I have for what to do if you don't remember (or understand) rules. These tips are not in any particular order:
Read the Rules Well Before Game Day
The obvious solution for not remembering rules is to read the rules long before you have your game day. I would suggest both reading the rules and playing a mock game on your own to acquaint yourself with the machinery of the game itself. For note-taking, you may want to print a separate copy of the rules that you can highlight and notate. Of course, if you don't mind marking up your rulebook, feel free to do so.
Read Forums and User Comments
Board Game Geek is a great online resource for acquiring more information about rules and frequently-asked questions. Read the comments pertaining to the game in question; I would even recommend bookmarking the URL for that game and having that handy before the event you are hosting, but a better solution would be to compile handy knowledge in a Word document or Excel spreadsheet.
Now, if you didn't do your homework and study the rules, then here are the tips for you:
Wing It (and Tell People You're Winging It)
When teaching a game, the worst thing, besides not knowing a rule, is taking an inordinate amount of time reading the rules while your friends languish in their semi-comfortable dining room chairs. I recommend skimming the rules, and then informing your guests that you are just going to start the game and proceed with your tenuous grasp of the rules. Tell your friends that you may make mistakes during the course of play, but you will adhere to the rules as you understood them at the start. Then, after the game is over, let people know what your mistakes were and how the game should be played. This sounds sloppy, but playing a game incorrectly and having fun is more important than getting mired in rules reading for an hour before you start the game.
Ignore Certain Rules
It is perfectly acceptable to excise rules from the game for the sake of starting the game and enjoying each other's company. For instance, some people play Carcassonne for the first time WITHOUT farmer scoring. Sure, this takes away a key part of the scoring process, but at least you introduce your friends to the concept of tile-laying and feature scoring. If you finish fast enough (note: Carcassonne games can take only 75 minutes if you play with the base set), then you can incorporate that rule you ignored.
Set House Rules
A variation of winging it is telling people that you are going to run a game with a certain interpretation in mind, which is basically setting house rules. For the sake of learning and starting a game, there is nothing wrong with this as long as people are made aware of it. Yet, if you set house rules on the fly while someone decides to read the rules during gameplay, he may feel cheated if he discovers that the rules state something different from your house rule.
In general, if you don't understand a rule in the moment, especially if you're reading and teaching at the same time, tell everything that you are going to proceed with a certain approach and ask for their consent. Be flexible, though: some people may disagree with your house rule, which is actually a great thing because they are now engaged in the learning process and may help you better execute that particular stipulation.
Play a Few Practice Turns and Reset
If you have several hours scheduled, you could play two or three demo rounds of a game for people to get a feel for the game while you work out your comprehension of the game. After you've identified pain points in the rules and negotiated with others to lay out how the game should be played, take a break, reset the board, and play the "real" session.
Learn Together
If you have a patient group of close friends, you may want to entreat them to read the rules with you and learn the game together. To do this, I recommend sending the rules to each of them by email or even message service, and then going through the rules in unison. With the right group, this learning session becomes a hangout in and of itself, especially for really involved and complex games. Some people relish these opportunities: if you identify these folks, hold on to their friendship with both hands!
(For Experts Only) Make Up the Rules!
Now, there comes a time when, despite your improvisational abilities, you cannot make out enough of the game's rules in the moment to develop a working understanding of the game that you can even communicate to your friends. It happens; you are not alone in these moments of confusion. Considering this, based on your experience with games, make up the rules!
An example of this was the first time I played Robinson Crusoe. In retrospect, Robinson Crusoe is not that complicated, but the rules are not the most clearly-written rules and do leave new players to a boatload of reading during gameplay, so I remember having to make up a rule about the in-game items that you can construct in which each item, unless explicitly stated, could be used over and over. For some reason, I was confused about whether items were used one time or able to be used repeatedly, so I just made up a rule. Indeed, you may end up perpetuating incorrect play, but remember: your goal is to guide your friends through a game by playing it and having fun. Do not get mired in reading and waiting.
Before I proceed, I should note that you must let people know that you are making up the rules because you do not want to perpetuate incorrect play. Doing so is like spreading a disease: you not only affect your friends, but they affect their friends. Even worse, once your friends discover your malfeasance, they will NOT trust you to teach another board game, so give your friends fair warning. Funnily enough, some of your friends may object to your making up rules and help you out by reading the rules for themselves.
When All Else Fails... Fall Back!
If you are not an expert on ad hoc rule generation or with tap-dancing through a rules explanation, you may want to declare that you need more time to learn the game and move on to a game that most of your friends know. Sure, you may have a friend or two that would be disappointed in not learning the new game, but sometimes simply playing any game is the best course of action.
Thanks to my direct influence, my two teenage sons own and play board games. My older son, who is 15, is less interested in board games than at least seven other interests, but he does play games to get out of doing homework and as a general diversion. As it does happen, he has moved beyond board games as a personal preference. Not so conversely, my younger son, who is 13, still likes receiving games as gifts and will opt on his own to play them with little prompting. I mention both of my sons because, despite their being at different points of what I call the "board game interest lifecycle," they have one thing in common: they both dislike teaching people board games because there is a lot of pressure to know and understand (almost) every rule. Thankfully, though, with the tips and experience I've shared, you can spend less time stressing out about rules explanations and more time enjoying your friends' company and, oh yes, playing the game you wanted to play. Your friends might even appreciate the game enough to read the rules, yell at you for the mistakes you made, and then demand that the game be played correctly next week. To me, in this case, everyone wins!
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