Jennifer Schlickbernd: Ask Ms. Meeples – Mistakes Were Made

Introducing a new service for Ask Ms. Meeples – anonymous commenting! If you asked the question under discussion in a particular column and have something you want to say – whether about my response or the reader comments – then you can send me an email at askmsmeeples@gmail.com; I’ll remove your contact information and forward the message to Eric Martin, who will then post your comment anonymously. This process will allow the original questioners to respond to comments without revealing who they are.

On to this column’s question…

Dear Ms. Meeples,

I am usually the designated “game teacher” in our group, but sometimes others will take the reins. Sometimes during their explanation I realize they are leaving out a critical part or some detail that will make the new players’ lives simpler. All too often I reflexively jump into the explanation to bring up that point, even though I know that I might be annoying the explainer and interrupting the learning process for others.

What is the best way to handle this situation? Sit there and not say anything? Wait until the explanation is completely done, then bring up the topic? Wait until the explainer moves onto a new topic and then jump in, so it is more obvious that the point in question would most likely have been skipped?

Or just continue to jump in and “help out” when required?

You can do several things to make these kinds of situations better. First, before the explainer gets started, you can mention that you know the game and may “jump in” if it seems appropriate to do so.

When an explainer does make a mistake, evaluate the reason why you want to jump in. Is the error a minor point that is unlikely to come up in the game? If so, then mention the mistake only during the game if it does come up. Is the error a major point which if explained incorrectly will result in people not being able to understand the rest of the rules? Then cough or “ahem” to politely interrupt and explain what your understanding of the rule is before the explainer gets too far away from the point. The two of you can then look up the rule, or she may agree that she got it wrong.

What if the error lies between those extremes? Then you need to just wait and mention it either at the end of the rules explanation or during play. It is annoying to be interrupted unless it’s really necessary, and in doing what I advise, you’ll keep those interruptions to a minimum.

Keep in mind that it’s not the end of the world if some rules are played wrongly; I think all of us have had this happen from time to time. The main thing is to work on playing the critical rules correctly and let the rest sort itself out. Endlessly interrupting a rules explanation with small details of the rules makes it difficult both to explain the rules and to learn them. If the game is good, then people will play it again correctly from the start, or even ask for rule clarifications on BoardGameGeek if necessary.

Tip of the Week

After a bit of a hiatus, here’s a new tip relating to house rules! Some people hate house rules, and some people love them. There are ways to make house rules work better, so I wanted to go over them.

What’s most important is that if you are going to use house rules, explain them to everyone playing. Be sure to mention that they are a variant of the regular rules. Discuss why you’ve chosen to use the house rule and the positive effect you believe the house rule will have. Allow for dissenting opinions. Keep in mind that if you’ve never played the game before and are house ruling it anyway, there may be a lot of resistance to playing with house rules. If you are taking house rules from BGG, be sure to print out the full rule and reason for the rule change.

If someone proposes house rules in a game you are in, be open to their reasoning. While game designers work hard at getting things right, keep in mind that particular rules might not work with a particular group. Or that someone wants more or less interaction than the game seems to provide. If you really can’t stand the thought of a house rule, then propose a different game that seems to fulfill what the house ruler wants. If no game like that is available, then try to go with the flow. Hopefully it’s only one game and won’t last too long. If a person has a habit of insisting on house rules for every game he plays and you don’t like house rules, you may want to avoid playing with that person.

I don’t think that house rules are inherently good or bad. They do need to be tailored to the situation and presented fairly.

Comments are as usual very welcome and please send in those questions!

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