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! :)

Mamma Mia!, No Thanks!, and Mmm... Brains! - What I've been Playing

It's been a while since I ran through what I've been playing lately and what I thought of them:

I was recently introduced to Mamma Mia! by a friend of mine at her birthday party. I very much enjoyed it, and so picked it up. Despite the English rulebook leaving out a critical rule (you should pull toppings out if you're playing with less than five players), the game is a great deal of fun.

I was able to play it two-player last week - it was pretty flat (due to the missing rule), so each of us grabbed two colors, which made the game more interesting.

Selena (one of the regulars on Wednesdays) didn't play, but she watched. She noticed the designer's signature - "Is this by the same people who did Bohnanza?" I hadn't even noticed - it's got some definite commonalities, however.

I'm thinking about tracking down a copy of Sole Mio, a standalone expansion - I'm just not sure if the card quality will be the same (I have the Rio Grande version of Mamma Mia, and RGG hasn't released Sole Mio in English).

After hearing a fair amount of discussion on the Geek about No Thanks!, I figured I'd pick it up, as well. I was expecting a light filler - and I got that, but this game has a lethal edge to it. The rules are simple: Either pick the available card (and all tokens on the card) up, or play a token on the card. If you manage to have a run, it's worth the lowest card in the run. Low total wins.

It lends itself to situations where (in four player), you wind up paying an opponent a chip in order to take a card they wanted anyhow. When we played, Sammy picked up the "31" card and three chips, and dropped her score by 32 in the process (she had 30 and 32, and none of the rest of us were willing to take the hit). Brutal. Evil. Wonderful.

I've been a fan of Reiner Knizia's games for a while. They tend to be among my favorites. At the same time, I have not liked most of the games published by Twilight Creations. Mmm... Brains sat on my FLGS shelf for several weeks before I noticed Knizia's name on it. I bought it the same day. It's another light filler, but (again) tends towards the cutthroat.

I also picked up Vexation. I like it a lot. It takes two mediocre games with not a lot of strategy to them and gives them an edge. While I occasionally enjoy playing TransAmerica or TransEuropa, they're not very strategy-intensive. Vexation allows you to slow your opponents down by a turn or two, which usually makes all the difference in the world.