How to Teach a Game

I play a lot of games. I also teach a lot of games to people, in the pursuit of playing more games with more people. As a result I've come to some fairly obvious conclusions that I nevertheless want to write about here. The following is a set of principles and rules for teaching (almost) any game. There are perhaps more rules here than some games have! Principles for Teaching Rules If more than person knows the rules, designate one person to teach the rules. Anyone else can help facilitate the process by setting up the board pieces or whatever. Know the rules. Play the game. Read the manual. Rehearse them! Know your audience. A group of neophytes will have very different experience levels than veteran gamers. Maximize the amount of rules that can be taught during play. People remember by doing! Let people play around with the game objects (books, minis, maps, etc.). This gets them more engaged and interested. Let players ask questions! Don't make them feel bad or stupid, stupid! Tell…