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← How to Explain a Game

How to Explain a Game

Four short lessons for starting a game with people who have never played it: say how you win, show one turn, start early, and change one rule out loud.

Spark & Whetstone · sparkwhetstone.org/learn/how-to-explain-a-game · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Answers are at the end, so you can try each question first.

Lesson 1. Say how you win first

Most people explain a game in the order the rulebook does: the pieces, the setup, the turn, the special cases, and then, at the end, how you win. By then half the table has stopped listening.

Turn it round. Start with the goal, in one sentence: "You win by being the first to get rid of all your cards." Every rule after that has somewhere to hang. Players can ask themselves whether a rule helps them win or stops them.

One sentence is the test. If you cannot say how to win in one sentence, you do not know the game well enough to teach it yet. Play a round alone first.

Question. You are about to teach a card game to four people who have never seen it. What do you say first?

  1. What every card in the deck does.
  2. How you win, in one sentence.
  3. The rules for a tie.

Say it back. In your own words: why does saying how you win first make the rest of the rules easier to follow?

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Lesson 2. Show one turn

After the goal, do not describe a turn. Play one. Use the real pieces, slowly, and say what you are doing as you do it: "I draw one card. I can play it if it matches the colour or the number. I can't, so I keep it."

People learn a turn faster by watching it than by hearing about it, because they see what moves and what stays still. Choose an ordinary turn, not a clever one. A clever turn shows off; an ordinary turn teaches.

Then let the next person take their turn with you beside them. Their first turn is the second half of the explanation.

Question. Which turn should you play to show how the game works?

  1. The most dramatic move in the game.
  2. An ordinary turn, played slowly with the real pieces.
  3. No turn: describe it so nobody copies you.

Say it back. Say it back: why is an ordinary turn better than a clever one for teaching?

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Lesson 3. Start before everyone understands

The urge is to wait until everyone has every rule. Resist it. Once people know how to win and have seen one turn, start playing. Explain the rest when it comes up, at the moment it matters.

A rule heard in the abstract is forgotten. The same rule heard when it is about to change your move is remembered. "You can only do that if you have a red card. Do you?"

Tell the table at the start that the first game is a practice game. Then nobody minds a mistake, and you can let someone take a move back.

Question. Two players still look unsure after the goal and one shown turn. What is the usual best move?

  1. Go through the full rulebook again from the start.
  2. Start a practice game and explain the rest as it comes up.
  3. Let them watch the others play a whole game first.

Say it back. In your own words: why do rules heard during play stick better than rules heard before it?

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Lesson 4. Change one rule out loud

Tables are rarely matched. A seven-year-old plays a twelve-year-old; a grandparent plays a teenager. Changing a rule can make the game fair without making it easy. Change one rule, and say it out loud.

Good changes are visible: a head start of a few points, an extra card, one take-back per game, cards played face up for the youngest. A bad change is a secret one, like quietly playing badly. A child usually notices, and a win handed over teaches nothing about the game.

Say the change, agree on it, and try it for one game. If one player keeps winning easily, change it again, out loud. A head start everyone can see makes the game more even without anyone pretending.

Question. You are playing a twelve-year-old against a six-year-old. Which change is best?

  1. The twelve-year-old quietly plays worse.
  2. A head start everyone agrees on, said out loud.
  3. Let the six-year-old win every time.

Say it back. Say it back: why is a head start said out loud better than quietly playing worse?

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At the table: Teach a game in sixty seconds

Players: 3 or more, any ages. You'll need: Any game in the house and a timer.

  1. Pick a game one person knows and the others do not.
  2. The teacher has sixty seconds: how you win first, then one ordinary turn with the real pieces.
  3. Start a practice game straight away; explain the rest when it comes up.
  4. After the game, the youngest player teaches it back to the table, in their own sixty seconds.

Answers

  1. How you win, in one sentence. — The goal gives every later rule a reason. Card details and tie-breaks only make sense once people know what they are trying to do.
  2. An ordinary turn, played slowly with the real pieces. — An ordinary turn is the one people will actually take. Playing it slowly with real pieces shows what moves and what does not.
  3. Start a practice game and explain the rest as it comes up. — Rules stick when they arrive at the moment they matter. A practice game makes mistakes cheap, so people can learn by playing.
  4. A head start everyone agrees on, said out loud. — An announced head start keeps the game honest: both players are really playing, and the younger one has a real chance.