Monday, March 2, 2009

Expanding my collection, part two: Focusing On Simplicity



Quick To Play, Easy To Teach


As I've mentioned previously, I've been focused on the light to medium weight portion of my game library. Most of my gaming sessions involve brand new players, so I'm constantly teaching new games. This steers my collection toward lighter games because they:

  1. Are easier to teach. Less complicated rules makes it much easier to get a game to the table, and ensures new players won't be overwhelmed by a game and not want to play it (or any of my games!) again.
  2. Play more quickly. Less time explaining rules combined with shorter actual game times greatly increases the chance I'll hear those magic words at game's end: "Let's play another!" This way I can either teach two new games in a night or play a known favorite from a previous session and teach one new game.
  3. Avoid the misconception that board games are too complicated. Many people don't want to go through the hassle of learning new games, or perhaps just don't want to be forced to think too hard on their free time. Only teaching new players the most accessible games minimizes the chance of reinforcing that misconception. "Actually, that wasn't too bad!"

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I noticed you didn't mention metropolys anywhere on here... I think that is an awesome game for teaching new people, especially as the rules are pretty simple and there are two levels (family game vs. whatever the other one is called). This fits nicely into your "simpler" rules idea.