Please Be Kind To Us At GenCon

And by "us," I mean, "the people who are demonstrating games."  By "GenCon," I mean "at conventions, game stores, in libraries, and elsewhere."

I'm going to use the Asmodee booth as an example throughout.

Expect Rules Mistakes and Omissions
New games since last year (games marked with an asterisk are games I don't have, yet):

*7 Wonders: Leaders,Double Agent,7 Wonders,Expedition Altiplano,Dice Town Extension,Felinia,Gosu,*Claustrophobia: De Profundis (expected to release at GenCon), *EVO (a re-release with some rules tweaks), *Dixit Odyssey, *Fabula, Intrigo,*Quebec, Sobek, Tikal II: The Lost Temple, Water Lily ...


And  that's not including the last-minute surprise games that they inevitably spring on us and the games from previous years that we'll be expected to know. Or the games I have inevitably forgotten.

For obvious reasons, not all demo teamers are expert on all games.

Some booths will have specialized team members - "You get Table 1, and will teach games X, Y and Z."  Some booths will have team members who know every game. Some booths will have a bit of both.

What it boils down to is this:

When you visit a booth at GenCon that has multiple games, you may have to wait to learn a second game (or a first game if there is a game that is more popular than expected). Or you may receive a partial demo. Or a demo with an incorrect rule or two. If a game has multiple levels of play, don't expect to learn the deeper game. Felinia, for example, has a basic game and an advanced game. The basic game is not bad, but the advanced game is much more interesting. The advanced game is also slower to teach.

We're Volunteers, Most of Us
When I go to conventions other than GenCon, I usually do so on my own nickel. And then I spend that time teaching people to play games because it's what I like doing, not because anyone is paying me.  At GenCon, it varies booth to booth who are company employees, who are paid volunteers (like me), and who are unpaid volunteers.

This means that a not insignificant number of people working in the Exhibit Hall don't do this for a living. We don't know why Game X was delayed or what the release date for Game Expansion Z is. We're not the people to look at your portfolios (but we may be able to point you at someone who can). Don't ask us about the metaplot of the game - we may be passionate enthusiasts, but that doesn't mean we know everything. Are you an unpaid freelancer? We're not the people to scream at (this hasn't happened to us, but I've heard of it happening at other booths).

In general, please remember that we're there to help you have a good time. While we may be having a good time ourselves, that's secondary to our goals.

That's right: I'm not there to have fun. I am there specifically for you. This doesn't mean I'll necessarily let you win, but I will show you why I do what I do (for some games), and make suggestions for you in other games.

If They're In Uniform, They're Usually There To Work
Not all booths have uniforms, it's true. In the Asmodee booth, we've gone through a variety of T-shirts. One year, they were construction-worker orange and spray-painted. One year, they were maroon with the Asmodee logo in front.  We got Repos T-shirts one year, too.

My wife works the booth, too. She demos games just as well as anyone else in the booth (better than some, actually). All too often, she'll offer to demo a game and be ignored. Or someone will ask her when one of the demo guys will be available.

This happens less and less, but it still happens. And it's frustrating for the whole team, not just Stephanie - it's work for us that she could do. Better than most of the guys in the booth.

We May Not Remember Your Name or Face
Believe it or not, we see a lot of people. I know. Shocking.

There are people for whom I have run at least one demo per year for the last seven years. There are people who seek me out. There are people who seek Stephanie out.

We still don't always recognize them.

That Doesn't Mean We Don't Remember You
Because we sometimes do. But don't count on it.

There is one group who comes by every year - we don't know their names. We recognize their faces by now. During most of the year, they are "The Canadians" to Stephanie and myself. We look forward to seeing them every year, because they remind us of the groups we game with - they spend the game loudly deriding one another's abilities and generally just laughing their way through the demo.

But I wouldn't be able to pick them out of a crowd.  I didn't see them last year - and Stephanie only saw one of them. "I saw the tall guy," she said, "but the rest of the group was missing."

This Doesn't Necessarily Mean We Don't Know Who You Are
I read a lot of blogs. Too many blogs. I listen to a few podcasts. I'm active on BoardGameGeek.

What does this mean to you? If you're a blogger, a podcaster, or a BGG regular then there is a good chance I will recognize your name. And I'm not the only one in the booth who does.

Don't expect special treatment just because your badge says "Press" - if you push it, we'll hand you off to the full-time Asmodee employees and go back to running demos for the general public. If one of the full-timers hands you back to one of us, it means that they trust us to run the demo right. And your demo will be the same demo any attendee will get.

There's more, too, but it feels like I've already written a novel, and I have things I need to get done before we leave.

Learning New Games

Learning new games is not always the easiest thing to do. As my group's primary Explainer, however, it's important for me to be able to learn them quickly - and well.

Here's how I've learned to learn games:

Step 1: Read The Rules
I know. It seems too basic. But there have been times when I learned a game from a friend and found out years later that I'd been playing it wrong. A good example of this is Monopoly. When's the last time you read the rules?

BUYING PROPERTY… Whenever you land on an unowned property you may buy that property from the Bank at its printed price. You receive the Title Deed card showing ownership; place it face up in front of you.

If you do not wish to buy the property, the Banker sells it at auction to the highest bidder. The buyer pays the Bank the amount of the bid in cash and receives the Title Deed card for that property. Any player, including the one who declined the option to buy it at the printed price, may bid. Bidding may start at any price.

Anyone remember that rule? It dramatically changes play, and makes the game interesting. Certainly more than just another roll-and-move.

When reading the rules, make sure you have the components out and in front of you so you can reference them - usually the rulebook will have one or two images of some of the components, but they may not be the best possible representatives.

Step 2: Play Some Practice Turns
Since you have the components out already, play a few turns with yourself. This will help you figure out how a round feels. It won't help you figure out the rhythm of the game, as that requires actual opponents - but you'll be able to get an idea. It'll also highlight areas where members of your group are likely to have questions.

Step 3: Find A Guinea Pig
If you're going to be playing the game, you'll eventually need to teach others. Start small, with someone you know.

When I'm learning a new game, I'll often ask my wife if she wants to give it a shot. If she's not available, there are several others I'll talk to. Sometimes, I'll bring a new game to Game Night and look for a straggler. "I notice you're not in a game. Want to help me figure this one out?"

Step 3a: Screw At Least One Rule Up
It's not a deliberate thing, but, when teaching a new game, I always overlook one critical rule. The first three times we played Power Grid, we limited people to buying into only one city per turn. It made for an exceptionally boring game. I almost didn't give it another shot.

When you do find a missed rule, by the way, you have a few options:

1: Start Over
If it's a rule that would significantly alter the game and completely change the strategy, this is sometimes a good idea. Most of the time, however, I tend to suggest the other two options.

2: Correct The Rule At The End Of The Round
This is risky - If a player's strategy is built on the rules working a certain (wrong) way, correcting at end of round can screw over a small number of players while giving others a significant advantage. In games where each round involves a board reset, however, this is a viable option. Poker, for example - each hand has almost no connection to the preceding hand.

3: Finish the Current Game With The Wrong Rule
This is what I prefer for fairly short games. Fess up - "Oops! Looks like I was wrong. You only need ONE Flood, no matter how many Nile Tiles you have. Shall we finish like this and fix it next time?"

Step 4: Play Again
The more you play a game, the better the grasp you'll have on the rules. I try to play two full games in an evening (time permitting) when learning a new game. Two games in an evening is enough to cement the rules faily well in my mind.

By following these four steps, I've managed to learn a number of games well enough to be able to teach them without referencing a rulebook. Knowing a lot of games can also help teach people other games - you can reference one game when teaching another. "Remember how, in Ticket To Ride, you can't use other people's trains? Transamerica is the opposite of that." A broad knowledge base is helpful when you're part of a demo team for this exact reason.

Finally: A boardgaming post! :)