Games for Beginners

 Games for Beginners

Off the bat, I'll be the first to say there are factors that may alter the kind of advice I'd give here. After all, a beginner to games who starts at age 6 versus age 16 versus age 26 calls for different approaches. I think we can all agree on that. So I'm going to list some tips below that I think can help you introduce someone new to the glorious gamut of games in our hobby! I will also list some game titles that I believe check the boxes I lay out in the aforementioned list.

Ultimately, YOU know the person you're trying to teach! So while I believe the tips I have to offer are universally useful, don't take my list of games as gospel. After all, everyone has different levels of engagement and interest, and the best way to introduce someone new to the hobby is to meet them where they are. Ask them to move a foot instead of a mile, you know?

• Take a breath and a step back.
• I can't stress this one enough. When I was in high school, if anyone showed even the slightest amount of interest in Magic: The Gathering or the Pokemon TCG, I bombarded them with information and all but attempted to extract a promise that they'd come play the following week. In what proved an M. Night Shyamalan-like twist only to me, those people never returned. Weird, huh? Listen, I get it: you're excited that someone is expressing interest in a game you really enjoy. Maybe it's a friend or partner, or maybe you're trying to grow a gaming community at your FLGS and this person mentions an interest in possibly learning a game or two. It's a big deal, y'all! But settle in and play it cool. It's totally great if you're enthusiastic about the prospect of them playing, but don't jump all over them. They want to see that you're excited about the game and about them playing, not that you're basically going to harass them until they either play or cut off contact. Take a breath, take a step back, and then don't work so hard to convince them to play, because they're either going to play or they aren't, and you can't make them do the former, but you can certainly convince them to do the latter.
• Meet prospective players where they are.
• Along the lines of what I said above, "meet people where they are." If they have a specific hobby or interest you know they enjoy, find a game that meets them there. If someone doesn't like science fiction at all, why start with a game of Battlestar Galactica? Sure, they might enjoy the game, but there are different board games in other genres that feature the traitor mechanic that you can use instead. If they're all about historical fiction, why not try introducing them to Shadows Over Camelot? If they enjoy horror, how about starting them on Unfathomable? After playing one of those other games, you can say, "Just so you know, I think such-and-such is actually the pinnacle of games that use this mechanic, but figured we'd start here because I figured you'd enjoy the King Arthur schtick more than space."
  The same is true of mechanics. If an avid player of D&D is interested in trying out some board games, you can probably introduce them to Gloomhaven and the theme will smooth over any initial consternation about the weight of the game. But if this is someone who has really only played Monopoly and Operation, then what the heck are you doing by making Gloomhaven their first game? No no no!
  
  Seriously, stop that right now. Don't do that. Start with something on the (much) lighter end of games to meet them where they're at. If they try Gloomhaven and don't like it and decide board games aren't for them, that's on you, bruh. Gloomhaven is a great game. But not for everyone. Meet people where they are.
• Know the game you're teaching them.
• This seems obvious, but I've seen people pull this before where they use new people as a guinea pig for a game they have either never played or have been meaning to play, and so the new person sorta just sits there with a hollow and understanding smile on their face as this fool of a Took sits there, flipping through the rule book, taking an hour to explain a game that should only take 35 minutes, and then taking another hour to actually play the game because it's everyone's first time. Don't do this. You're better than that. And don't pick a game you've only played once, because you won't remember the rules as well as you think you do; pick something you know well enough that you can teach it within a reasonable amount of time.
• Pick an attractive game that doesn't look too busy.
• You know what I'm talking about: don't pick the game that has a ton of bits. It may be a decently or relatively simple game, but if the board is really busy and intimidating, you'll lose a lot of people before the game even starts. If you have to sit down and explain the rules for awhile before you actually start playing, you've picked the wrong game to start them in on. Best bet is to pick a game with some nice art and fairly simple player boards or set-up. Bonus points if it's an open information game (or at least, mostly open information)! Any game you choose should allow for you to give them a basic overview of the objectives and rules and then say, "It'll make sense once we start playing, so let's just play a quick practice round. I'll answer any questions you've got, but honestly, once we're going, things will make more sense than me sitting here reciting the rule book for you."
• Be thoughtful about who else you invite to the table.
• This is important. You may have some good folks in your group with whom you love playing games. But not all of them are necessarily good for someone's first game. My friend Damien was easily the best Star Wars Armada player in our STL community while he was playing. But he also regularly mentioned that he was a terrible lead for teaching if he had to play the game himself. He could easily teach two people how to play against one another! But he always said he didn't know how to take his foot off the gas when he was playing, so he'd stomp anybody against whom he played. Contrast that with my friends Josh or Suf who are incredibly good-natured and can shrug off anything a game throws at them, and so are happy to take a sub-optimal tack to a game because it'll teach the game better to employ such a strategy. Both have also been teachers, which makes a damn bit of difference! I've also played games with people who get upset when they feel something is unfair. My first time playing Arcadia Quest was with one of my good friends and one of his good friends whom I'd never met before. I was not new to the hobby, just the game. So I ended up killing this stranger several times because despite the diminishing return on points, I saw that it would keep me in front of my friend. Seemed like all upside for me. He got angry at me and decided I was killing him out of spite and not really playing the game. Literally ranted about this for several minutes and sucked all the air out of the room and the game. I left early that night because I just didn't want to play anymore. I had tried explaining my strategy to him, but he was still in a huff over it. I dodged the next two game nights with that guy because I just didn't want to spend my game nights playing with him.
  You may be used to how some of your friends play a game, but that's not necessarily the case for new folks, even if they know your friends.
  
  
  
• Identify the familiar in a game.
• This tip comes courtesy of friend of the blog, Josh! He brings up an excellent point: so many games use a familiar touch point, but introduce it in a new way for the purposes of the game. Take dominoes, for instance. It can be safely assumed that any adult to whom you're talking is at least familiar with the concept of dominoes. I've not played Kingdomino, but how much easier is it to explain such a game if the person you're teaching already knows what dominoes are? Most people understand trick taking card games and matching suits. The majority of people are at least passingly familiar with Tetris and fitting different shapes into spaces. As Josh says: "If you can find games that have that touchpoint but introduce a new concept that they'll see repeated in lots of games (I'm thinking those basic mechanics of worker placement, resource or hand management, etc.), then you start to build their vocabulary and also figure out what kinds of things appeal to them." Hear the teacher coming out in him? But man, he is spot on!
• Tailor your teaching approach to the student.
• Also from Josh: "If you are teaching a new game that's a little more complex, there are several ways to do it, so knowing your audience is important. Are they the kind that wants to know everything up front and can take a long rules explanation? Will they thrive more if you just do the basics and add additional things as they come up?" Again, it really comes down to the notion that you know this person better than we do. So while our overall tips are probably pretty useful, if it'll stress someone to start the game with incomplete information, why teach that way? I prefer to teach that way, but that doesn't mean everyone learns best that way.
• Consider the power dynamic; should y'all "learn" the game together?
• And finally from Josh: "There's also something to be said, I think, for the power dynamic in teaching a game — maybe, even though you are an expert, being the source of all the information isn't necessarily the best approach. Maybe you sit down together and watch Rodney teach it (YouTube), because it puts all of you together as learners. And you are immediately on the same team." Something I didn't consider at all, but makes a lot of sense when you pause for a moment and think about it!

Some of this can feel like a lot to consider.

I'm not trying to be *that guy.* Truly, I'm not. Just considerations that I think are worthwhile. Take what you like, leave what you don't. And it's not an exact science. It's just that I know a lot of us gamers love getting other people into the hobby, but sometimes, we don't know the best way to go about it. After all, look how damn long it was before geek became chic, yeah? So. Damn. Long.

Anyway, I want us to be successful in making converts and growing the hobby! So the above are things I think about when I'm teaching games and I thought it might be useful for other folks, too.

Game Suggestions

I've ranked these in order starting with what I believe to be the best game to introduce anyone to the hobby. Obviously, according to the tips I've outlined above, there can be no definitive list. But I've included all of the "safe bets" on this list. Sure, some of them will miss with some people. Absolutely. But overall, I feel pretty confident saying that if I couldn't sell someone on one of the hobby via one of these games (especially the ones at the top of my list), then I probably couldn't sell them on the hobby at all. If it works better for you or you disagree, absolutely make your own list! And as always, what I've written isn't gospel; ultimately, you know your prospective player better than I do.

1. Quacks of Quedlinburg: A terrific push your luck game that is fun, interesting to look at, and is almost entirely an open information game. Plus, it has a definitive end (round count) that everyone can see and anticipate.
2. Skull: Another push your luck game, but really light on components (each player gets a small player mat for their 4 discs) and introduces light bluffing. Beautiful art, easily explained, and short!
3. Horrified: I picked this one because it's a co-op pick up and delivery game. Both of those concepts are easy to grok, it's all open information, and though there's a little bit of asymmetry to the different monsters (all of which are recognizable commodities, by the way, lowering the bar for buy-in to this game) and characters, it's really pretty straightforward and the asymmetry is really pretty small overall. Especially when compared to other asymmetrical games. It's fairly light on components, the cards and actions are pretty self-explanatory, and while the tasks themselves aren't always easy due to circumstances, they're easy to comprehend, and that's important.
4. Cartographers: This one can be a little more on the complex side when it comes to how players score. But! It's an open information game, which is always helpful when introducing someone to the hobby, and Tetris is a concept with which I'd argue the majority of adults are familiar. I know it's not exactly the same, but it's in the ballpark. Plus, very few components, it's fun to draw your pieces, and it's not a terribly long game.
5. Pandemic: I really like this one because even though it's ostensibly the most complicated one in terms of its scale on the list, it's also cooperative, so new people are introduced to the notion of games as not just being a competitive endeavor. That stresses some people out, and they should know there are options for everyone in this hobby. Also, individual turns are not complicated. If someone knows how to run the game, then all a new player need do is take 4 simple actions on their turn, observe the flow of the game, and offer suggestions, observations, and thoughts as they learn. There are also a bunch of variants, so you can sort of season to taste, which is nice.
6. Clank!: I think Clank! is a terrific game for new players. Sure, it's competitive and players don't always draw what they want. But it's a good deck builder because it's fun, the theme works well, and it can move pretty quickly.
7. 7 Wonders: It's a good way to teach new players about card drafting mechanics. It's not a go-to for me because I don't think it's as universally good as the games I listed above, but it's still absolutely worth including in the list.
8. Sushi Go: This one is sort of an honorary mention just because I haven't played it, but everyone I know who has talks about how fun and simple it is, and I don't have a simple card game on here, which is often a good place to start.
9. Photosynthesis: This title was really on the bubble for me. On the one hand, it's really pretty, has open information, and watching the board evolve as the game matures is really cool! On the other hand, while the premise is really simple, the gameplay can actually be a little intimidating. Planning out how to block other trees from the sun or not get blocked, figuring out how to have enough currency to plant new seeds, how to optimize your build by felling trees at the right time, etc. All of that is fun to more experienced gamers (at least, it is for me!), but it can be overwhelming how quickly "a simple game" becomes "oh cool, I'm always one step behind because I can't keep track of everything." We do our best not to overwhelm new players with a game. So I think Photosynthesis gets some consideration because I think it's the right pick for some new players.

You may have games on your list that I didn't include on mine, and that's cool! I respect it! Go with what works for you! But hopefully, this post has given you at least a couple of ideas of how to help grow the hobby. Thanks again to Josh for his invaluable input!