Pro tip: A guy at the game store in Omaha taught me the best way to teach new players

I was struggling to explain 'Wingspan' to my family last month, and this older guy at the counter saw me fumbling with the rulebook. He leaned over and said, 'Skip the bird powers for the first round, just teach them how to get food and lay eggs.' It worked perfectly and cut the setup time in half. What's your go-to trick for teaching a complex game to beginners?

2 comments

2 Comments

derek_coleman12d ago

Honestly, it's just a board game. People get so intense about the perfect teaching method when most beginners just want to hang out and roll some dice. If they have fun, they'll figure out the rest later.

blake_lewis12d ago

Funny how we forget that most games were learned wrong the first time. The real trick is letting new players make bad moves without jumping in to fix them. That messy first game where nobody knows the rules creates its own kind of fun. Over-teaching can kill the joy of figuring things out together.