Summary: 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[...]
