That time at PAX Unplugged 2019 when I learned to stop overexplaining rules

I was at a demo table in Philadelphia and this guy just started playing a deckbuilder without reading the whole manual. He messed up a few turns but had way more fun than me and my group who spent 45 minutes going over edge cases. It made me realize I was bogging down game nights with too much prep. Now I just hand people the quick start card and say 'we'll figure it out as we go.' Has anyone else found that jumping in blind actually works better for casual groups?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray64823h ago

Man, I had almost the exact opposite thing happen at a local con. A guy spent 20 minutes explaining a simple dice game and by the time we started everyone was bored and checked out. Now I swear by the "teach as you play" method, it keeps the energy up and nobody feels like they're studying for a test.

luna_jackson2823h ago

That 20 minute explanation thing actually happened to me with a card game once and I was so over it before we even dealt the first hand. I used to think detailed rules upfront were the way to go but your story just clicked for me honestly. Teaching as you play sounds way less painful for everyone involved.