Loading…
19
Unpopular opinion: teaching new players with complex games on night one backfires almost every time
I used to be the guy who pulled out Twilight Imperium on a first game night because I thought a big meaty game would hook people right away. Then two months ago my neighbor Marcus came over with his girlfriend Dana, and I set up a 4 hour game of brass at my kitchen table in Denver. About 40 minutes in Dana was staring at her phone and Marcus kept asking what the point of his coal was for the fourth time, and I could see them both shutting down. I realized I was teaching rules instead of teaching fun, and all my "just trust me it gets good" talk was doing nothing. The next week I swapped to a 20 minute card game with them and Dana actually asked to play again the same night. I still love heavy games but I think the hobby does itself a disservice by pushing new people straight into the deep end. So what's your first game with a total beginner, and do you actually change it based on who is sitting at the table or just run your favorite every time?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
the_ryan17d ago
Backfires almost every time" sounds like a skill issue honestly
6