12 Reasons why you FAIL at explaining Board Game Rules

🕑 6 min read

Yes yes. I intentionally used the word FAIL to illicit a visceral reaction of fear and disgust in you. Otherwise known as click bait. So let's not talk about whooo called whooo a failure and let's remind ourselves about the creative and hugely necessary art of Board Game Rules Explanations! Yay!

Holiday season is almost upon us, and we may be thinking about becoming jolly and teaching our families a new board game or two, after our festive roast lunch of choice; AND on Mondays and Tuesdays at NoBoG!

Below is a list of 12 'Don'ts' I have concocted from memory. If you have any more to share, or you wish to argue the exact opposite point... please feel free to comment! Sharing, after all, is caring.

So without further ado, why DO you fail at explaining board game rules, eh?

1. You've not read the rules yet, or recently. 
   Sounds obvious, however, it needs repeating for some of us. I've done it myself "sorry I didn't expect to be playing this game tonight... so I didn't read the rules! Can everyone help me pop out the tiles from the inserts please?". Don't be me. Do better. 
   
   
2. You've not watched an online play through of the game, or played before.
   Watching the game, or playing the game gives us greater memory recall when trying to describe the instructions efficiently. The more you play/watch, the faster and more accurate you can explain the rules. My favourite game explanations to sit through, always start with "I played this game 3 times now, and the last time I played was yesterday". My heart beat immediately calms down... ahhhh.
   
   

3. 

   It's just like Catan, duuude.

   The game is too complicated for the intended audience.
   Some players may not have realised how complex the game is going to become. Try starting off with a brief synopsis on how complicated it can get... give them a chance to pick something simpler or perhaps find a different group. Normally, the average time to complete a game is a key indicator of how tough it will be to learn the rules. Not always... but sometimes.
   
   
4. You share game strategies BEFORE the mechanics have been fully explained.
   Sometimes we can be too energetic and enthused about a particular game or part of a game. We may decide to describe what happened in prior games, hoping to teach players about our misfortune or success... save that for the end IF you have time. So please try and refrain from describing to players how you won a 'last round' victory by employing the 'church/beggar/owl/stone' strategy.. at least until the game is going.
   
   
5. You keep jumping to the edge rule cases, during the main rules explanation.
   Funny little extra rules for the first turn, last turn, or no turn etc... Try not to explain them all at once. Drop a hint about them, and remind everyone at the end of an explanation about the slight differences or special circumstances... like what happens when you tie as winners.  
   
   

6. 

   It's not the winning that counts.
   It's the fact that it ends is important.

   You forgot to tell everyone how to win the game.
   Not as easy to remember as one might think. Keep it simple at first, then come back later if it needs more fleshing out. I like to tell players this quite early on.
   
   
7. You also forgot to tell everyone how the game ends.
   Normally forgotten, until last. Good to bring it up naturally during the game explanation. "...and that is how we end the game actually. When all those cards are finally drawn". Then of course remind everyone at the end again. Simples. Do it. 
   
   
8. You go into too much detail when describing the turn structure.
   Keep your initial descriptions as simple as possible. "On your turn, pick up 2 cards, play one. Return other one to the discard pile." NOT "on your turn, pick up 2 cards, if you get a blue one then try to keep that one, but discard the green ones for at least the first 3 rounds of this 5 round game. Trust me bro.". Yeh. No. 
   
   
9. You take on way too many questions from the other players before the full explanation is completed.
   It happens. A lot. Perhaps answer a few questions as they come up, but if one or several players are preempting your explanation with continuous 'drill-down' questions, then its best to ask them to save their questions for the end. As some of the upcoming rules may just explain the confusion in greater detail. Not a hard and fast rule this one... but could save a lot of frustration.
   
   
10. You didn't wait until all the players were seated and waiting.
    Another super obvious one. Unless a player has experience with the game being explained, wait for everyone to be seated, watered and ready. Even if there is another experienced player, having them around might help with the explanations. So long as they don't mind keeping quiet as you maul the rules in front of them.
    
    

11. 

    Brave warrior.

    You may have forgotten, that playing board games is fun!
    During the stress of teaching board games to others, we can easily forget that this is supposed to be a fun evening. Slow down, smile, crack a joke if you feel like it. Once you have everyone's attention, trust me it will go a LOT smoother. My favourite one liner seems to get a great response most times, feel free to try it out for yourself - "The object of this game is to, win.".
    
    
12. You know all the above, yet you apply them in a random sequence for maximum confusion.
    Now, I'd love to tell you which order to explain Catan to your auntie with a short attention span, or 3 hyperactive cousins... but I can't. The suggested order in which we explain the rules is normally shown in each rule book. However, as you get to be more experienced, YOU can decide at which point to drop in the line, "OH! I forgot. Even though we are all racing towards 10 victory points, you have to beat all the other players by a gap of at least 2 VPs, or that 10 becomes 11. Plus remember your hidden VPs! They come into play when revealed. SO! Do you understand? It's 10 VPs to victory, unless it's 11... or 12. Sometimes 13. You'll see". Yeh. Good luck with that one if you forget to explain it to your mum or dad.

Finally, there really is no 'best' way to teach rules of a board game to 3 or 4 players who have never heard of the game before. You best recipe for success is simplicity through experience. So, bring your favourite game in lots, get it to the table and have fun explaining it; again, and again and again. It will get easier with time.

You got this! We believe in you.