I've been teaching new players the wrong way for years

At my local game night in Portland, I watched a guy teach 'Wingspan' by just handing out the player boards and letting people figure it out as they went. It clicked for me that my usual 20 minute rule explanation was making people zone out before we even started. Now I try to get to the first turn in under five minutes and explain as we play. How do you handle teaching heavier games without losing the group's attention?

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4 Comments

morganmartinez5mo ago

Hot take: Just start playing. Longer: That "zone out before we even started" line is so real. I used to do the same thing, trying to explain every rule up front. Now I give the absolute bare bones goal and one core action, then we jump in. For a heavy game, I'll pause after each person's first turn to explain the new options they just unlocked. People learn by doing, not by listening to a lecture.

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seanmason5mo ago

What about the people who actually like reading rulebooks? I've seen a few folks get annoyed when you skip the full explanation because they feel set up to fail. Morganmartinez is right that most people learn by doing, but forcing that on everyone can backfire. Maybe the real trick is asking the table how they want to learn before you start. Some groups want the full picture, others just want to dive in.

3

jordan_hill4mo ago

You mentioned asking the table, but how do you handle it when they don't know what they want?

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kelly_patel5mo ago

But you can't ask a table of new players that.

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