How To Play Podcast » Podcast

Here is my original article on teaching games that I wrote on March 9th, 2008 with which the methods I used to eventually develop the How to Play Podcast. Feel free to read the article or listen to the audio version, Episode A, by playing the episode at the top of this page. How To Teach Games: A General Primer Class is in session! Listen up kids, today’s topic is how to teach games. Pay attention there will be homework. When playing a game with players new to a game, how well the game is taught is the most important element to whether the game is an enjoyable experience or a painful one. Most of us here on this site are the ones constantly trying to spread our hobby by introducing these games of ours to friends and family who may not be familiar with such games. If you introduce a game poorly, it is unlikely you will have earned yourself future games. If you do a great job teaching the game, not only will they wish to play that game again, but they may start to ask about other games in your closet, and you may have created some budding new gamers, who may even call you and say, “Hey do you want to come over and bring some of those games of yours?” And that is a wonderful thing. As teaching is my profession, I thought maybe it could be useful to give general pointers for how to teach a game. I hope that the advice here can be useful to people who have never attempted to teach a game and to those who have taught hundreds. I would not be surprised if someone has posted something similar to this before but regardless this is my take on teaching games. In general this post is directed at teaching medium to heavy weight euro games and does not apply toward party games, card games, lighter filler games or wargames. Examples of games that could be taught using this method include; Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Alhambra, Railroad Tycoon, Puerto Rico, Caylus, Power Grid, Agricola, El Grande La Citta, etc. etc. Teaching a game is about more than just going over the rules. Your job as the teacher is to get the players to be excited about playing the game, understand the object of the game, understand how to play a turn, know a few possible strategies, and know the most important rules ALL in fifteen minutes or less before their eyes start to glaze over. “Pre-Game Show”: Prepare by Understanding the Game Yourself In order to introduce a game well, you need to have a thorough understanding of the game. Reading the rules multiple times is a must; also it helps to refresh yourself of the rules the day you plan on teaching the game. Ideally, you will have played the game twice or more, so that not only do you understand the basic rules of the game, you are aware of the technicalities that occur and have a general understanding of the various strategies a player may employ and the pitfalls that a new player may fall into not quite understanding basic strategies of the game. Sometimes it may not be possible to play a game with others, with lighter weight games such as Ticket to Ride or Settlers, this may not be a problem. However if you are playing a more complex game than that, (such as a Puerto Rico, Caylus or Power Grid) you should find some way to deepen your understanding of the game. Three options to try would be playing some of the game solo, reading articles about the game online or playing the game online. Having a general understanding of the game will make your teaching of the game and the overall game experience more enjoyable. Why do you have to know the strategy of the game, isn’t just knowing the rules enough?? More on this later. And now, How to Teach Games in 3 easy steps….. 1. “The Hook” 2. “The Meat” 3. “The Hamster” Hook, Meat, Hamster??? Catchy isn’t it? What the *%$@ is this guy talking about? Are you intrigued… perhaps I have “hooked” you? Which happens to be our first step, keep reading…… Step One: What is this Game About?: “The Hook” (30 sec. – 1 minute) Here we get to our introduction, we have our players, we[...]

Age of Steam Teaching Guide Age of Steam Teaching Guide (B&W) Released: October 12th, 2009       Game Description: My Favorite Game. This game, for me, is the ultimate gaming experience.  Tension, True Interaction between the players and virtually no random elements make for a very exciting game.  In this game you will be building track and delivering goods to cities, this game can be brutal as it forces all the players to try to claw their way out of debt, sometimes at each others expense.  Not for the faint-of-heart. If you enjoy the game be sure to check out the special episodes on this show; Episode 4w – How to Win Age of Steam Episode 4x – Expansions for Age of Steam Component Images from BGG

Agricola Teaching Guide Agricola Teaching Guide (B&W) Released: October 12th, 2009 Complexity Rating: “Family Version” “Standard Version”       Game Description: This very popular worker placement game has a lot of moving parts.  Who knew farming was this hard you will need to raise animals, grow crops, expand your house and your family all by the end of the game to be the King of the Farmers. Component Images from BGG

(No Teaching Guide for this Episode) Released: October 12th, 2009         Game Description: Tichu is an amazing partnership trick taking card game.  The big twist being that instead of just playing one card players are able to play card combinations to win tricks, leading to a lot of interesting decisions. Component Pictures from BGG

Ticket to Ride Teaching Guide Ticket to Ride Teaching Guide (B&W) Released: October 12th, 2009 Game Description: Ticket to Ride is the ultimate gateway game.  Its a faced past modern board game that everyone can enjoy and deserves a spot in every gamers collection.  The game involves collecting sets of cards and route building in order to connect cities on the board to earn points.  All with beautiful production and the fun theme of building railroads. Component Pictures from BGG  

How to Play is an audio podcast all about teaching and learning games. Each episode contains a FULL rules explanation organized in the best way I know how to explain the game to you as if you were sitting across the table from me. It is my hope that people use this show to -learn about new games -learn how to correctly play games easily and in an entertaining way -learn how to teach games effectively The format of the explanation is based on the structure I explain in my article, How to Teach Games: a General Primer. To hear a full introduction to the show listen to Episode #0 posted above in which I introduce myself and the concept of the show. You can access the show from this website or subscribe on itunes.