Brad Keen: Tips for Teaching Games

In the late 1990s, I was introduced to Magic: The Gathering, which I played steadily (read “obsessively") for over 10 years. Only recently, in 2006, did I begin to explore – and eventually wholeheartedly immerse myself in – the Eurogaming hobby.

When I played Magic, I knew the rules, as did most of those I played with. Sure, some people knew them better than others, and the release of a new core edition typically brought minor changes, but the only game that I played was Magic, and I played it over and over again.

That isn’t the case with most of the board games I own. Instead of one game that filled my play time, I now own more than 170. I still play a lot of games, but I play a lot of different games. The result? When I pull a game off my shelf, I’ll generally have a good idea of the rules, but not extensive teaching knowledge of the game.

Every Wednesday night I host a game night for my close friends, a night often selfishly dedicated to playing the games that I’ve picked out, which means I’m responsible for teaching. Before each game night I read through the rules multiple times so that I can teach each game as smoothly as possible – yet I still find myself relying on the oft-complained about method of reading from the rulebook. Since I’m 75% familiar with the rules, I try to stop at various points to provide examples and key points, but I know this can be a frustrating way for others to learn how to play a game. Thankfully, my group tolerates this method.

This method didn’t work so well during a recent trip to Columbus, Ohio for a Saturday CABS event. Among the games I brought that I had played before (but not recently) were De Ontembare Stadt – which is a simpler game, but entirely in German, making it difficult to explain – and Perikles. If you’ve ever visited the BGG rules forum for Perikles, you’ll understand why I may have had a difficult time remembering how everything worked.

I ended up reading most of the rules from the rulebook, and unlike my quiet home environment, the CABS main gaming room offered more distractions. We played the games and had a great time in the process, but there were multiple occurrences where other players forgot rules that I had mentioned. When this happened, I felt guilty that I had not properly explained the game in addition to feeling as if I were being accused of taking advantage of the situation. At the same time, I felt that people had ignored me while I explained the game, not listening to the examples I tried to weave through the rules reading session.

The following week, while writing about this with my friend Nate, he offered some insightful remarks and suggestions, which I’ll cover below along with some of my own insights. Hopefully these will provide some value to those of you who are primarily responsible for teaching the games in your group.

Know the rules well.

It is not enough to simply read the rules before you teach a game. If you have the time, play a solitaire game beforehand and get a firm grasp of how the components are integrated with those rules. Not only will this solidify your understanding of how the game works, but you’ll be better able to carry out the next tip.

Jam through the rules.

No matter how much I enjoy reading the rules for different games, when you are with a group of friends, the goal is to play the game. Even if you miss a rule, the quicker that you can get through them, the smoother things tend to run. Most gamers can quickly grasp a rules set, and your ability to boil them down to their simplest form will be appreciated by your audience. If there are a large number of important details, then…

Make a summary.

Good summaries are typically available on BoardGameGeek.com, and they can make your job much easier. A summary may include a quick thematic discussion, but will more typically include a summary of the flow of the game and what happens in a turn: what you can and can’t do, and perhaps why you’d want to do it.

Provide player mats.

Before I introduced Ra to my Wednesday night group, I took the time to print and laminate player mats. These mats not only made the game more fun to play, but they made it easier to explain the different tile types and the confusing ways that they scored at the end of each epoch.

Figure it out ahead of time.

One method of teaching that I employ for some games is to start with the end goal and work backwards. For example: “In this game, you want to score points. How do you do that? Well, let me tell you….” This method has worked well for many games, but it doesn’t work for all of them. For some games it is better to simply describe what you do on your turn, then talk about how this leads to the end game conditions. Figuring out which method is best ahead of time will create a more enjoyable playing experience.

Let your enthusiasm shine through.

Even if you do have to read the rules, be excited about it. I learned Imperial from Tom Vasel at Origins last year, and even though he read the rules to teach it – it was a learning game, a fact clearly stated before we started – he did it with charisma. If my two years as a Sociology Teaching Assistant (statistics at that) taught me anything, it’s that you need to show that you love the subject or else your students won’t care about it. Sometimes, when I do need to read the rules, I start out excitedly, but then bog down when I feel that the audience bogging down. Don’t let this happen.

Aside from the tips for teachers, those on the receiving end of the instructions have responsibilities as well:

Pay attention.

I recognize that this can be difficult, but do your best to stay focused and avoid engaging in alternate conversations while someone is explaining a game. Sure, there may be times when the explainer is looking up a point in the rules, but this shouldn’t be viewed as an opportunity to leave the table. Instead, patiently wait out the silence so that when the point is found, you’ll be ready for it.

Hold your questions.

While not a steadfast rule, this is something to think about before interrupting the teacher. If the person appears to have a firm grasp on their method of teaching, give them the benefit of the doubt and wait until the presentation ends before asking your question.

That said, if this is a learning game for everyone, it may be helpful to ask the question so that all participants benefit at that point. Use your best judgment, but realize that asking too many questions asked too early can disrupt the teacher’s train of thought. The classroom standard of raising your hand when you have a question works well since the teacher can pick the point when they want to break.

Cut the teacher some slack.

Teaching game after game can be a tough responsibility. It’s easy to forget how much some of us rely on having others teach the rules. In Columbus, I certainly enjoyed it when Nate took on the primary responsibility of teaching games. Now that I teach many of the games that I play, I understand the difficulties inherent in the process and the time and preparation involved on a weekly basis. Have faith that the teacher will cover the pertinent rules and try not to be too critical if he forgets something.

Please feel free to chime in with some tips of your own, and I welcome any comments or critiques about the ideas presented here. I will also be at Origins again this year, and it would be great to meet up with anyone interested in playing a game or just having some good conversation. I will obviously spend a huge amount of time in the CABS Board Game Room, so feel free to stop by and say “Hi.” Hope to see you there!

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Comments:

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Good ideas. I have recently discovered some occasional glaze over in rule explanations. Its definitely something that needs improvement from 50% of the game teachers out there. Posted by William Baldwin on Jun 14, 2008 at 11:10 AM | #

Great ideas! And while not explicitly stating them, this article has some good tips on how to direct someone who isn’t necessarily explaining a game very well. ie: Waiting to ask questions until an appropriate moment (raising your hand) and asking specific questions like “What’s the goal of the game” “How do we get to that goal?” But also pointing out to be respectful while the teacher is explaining. (and generally saving those questions for the end) Whether they are good at it or not, chances are that they are doing their best. Great article overall! I’ve already forwarded it to about a dozen friends of mine who I play games with. (We tend to have 1 or 2 of us who explain most of our games—myself being one of them) Posted by Jacques Marcotte on Jun 14, 2008 at 02:23 PM | #

First, thanks for putting all of this into words.  It’s good for everyone, teaching or learning, to read and I took away some good advice from this.  One of the things that need emphasis, though, is that teaching Euro games is a challenge. The traditionally shallow American games, usually having some gimmick with a couple of supporting rules, are easy to teach.  The depth of Euro games, however, makes it difficult to see, at first blush, how everything fits together.  If everyone understands this, there’s no problem and teacher and learners work together in fleshing out the game.  Unfortunately, I found with my own game group, that people who don’t understand this destroy the gaming experience.  One of that group didn’t think she had to pay any attention to the rules.  Another was easily distracted.  Yet both complained about not knowing the rules that the other three did and required help throughout the game.  So I stepped up my preparation to address this lack of attention but to no avail.  Instead, I started choosing games that were less complicated, getting down to the “Ages 8 and Up” games by the end.  Even these were a challenge.  (BTW, everyone in the group wanted different games each get-together.) Over the last few years, I tired of the uphill battle in explaining the rules to these two (it didn’t start out like this) and eventually gave up.  This was in spite of the fact that the other three were good learners:  they knew that the first play would not be perfect; they tried to fit together the rules in their heads; and, when something didn’t mesh, they asked pertinent questions.  Regardless, the two difficult ones outweighed the others and soured the gaming experience.  I doubt even a Vulcan mind meld would have made an improvement. I now belong to a local game group where it’s understood that the gaming experience requires effort on both teacher and learner, and I am enjoying it immensely. Posted by Greg Fleischman on Jun 16, 2008 at 01:26 PM | #

That’s interesting, Greg.  I always felt that Eurogames, with their more elegant, stripped down rules, were considerably easier to learn than the American-influenced designs, which are often more involved and have more exceptions (not to mention lots of chrome).  I guess it comes down to what you’re comfortable with. Posted by Larry Levy on Jun 16, 2008 at 01:36 PM | #

Larry, I think you may be thinking of ‘Euro-style games produced in America’ (which is what I consider most of Fantasy Flight’s and Days of Wonder’s games) versus American Style games which I consider things like Fluxx, Apples to Apples, etc.) Or I could be wrong, and that’s just how I tend to view things. Posted by Jacques Marcotte on Jun 16, 2008 at 01:43 PM | #

True.  But there’s plenty of simple family games made in Europe as well. Posted by Larry Levy on Jun 16, 2008 at 04:36 PM | #

Larry, I agree 100% with what you say, but I am drawing a comparison with what Jacques termed the American Style games and more importantly, the expectations of Americans who play them.  Those expectations, at least for the two people in my group who I had difficulty with, were that the rules should take only a few seconds to explain and if it takes any longer then they are not being explained well enough. Elegance is what the Euro games are all about, but their rules still require more attention and active thought than Sorry or Scrabble.  I recently learned how to play In the Year of the Dragon with 3 others and while the player who taught the game to us was excellent in explaining it, it still took us about 5 rounds (out of 12 in the game) to come to understand how everything fit together.  This was no fault of the design or the teacher.  It was simply that the game had that depth and required us to go to that depth to understand it.  Once there, we all realized what a cool game it was and could appreciate the design.  For people requiring rules like “spin the spinner and place you hand on that color on the mat” even Euro-style family games might be too much! Posted by Greg Fleischman on Jun 16, 2008 at 07:43 PM | #

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