The Gone-Over Board

I’ve hit my splainy dude quota for the month, why did I come to a board game con

— Sarah Ovenall (@sarahovenall) January 24, 2019

As a dude in OBH, I know very well how we love to do some gamesplaining. How to play the game, how someone else isn’t explaining the correct way to play the game, the best strategy to play the game, what we should all be doing, and so on. These games are awash in rules, so there is a vital role to be played to be the one to read through these rulebooks (some of them exceedingly dense and requiring player-aids and player-aids for the player-aids), but we need to find a way to do better.

Thus, I humbly submit the following recomendations for my fellow gamesplainers:

1) Ask people if they’ve played the game before. They may have played it many more times than you, or they may even be the designer, as in this from Nikki Valens, designer of such games as Legacy of Dragonholt and Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition:

Hi, I'm a female game designer. You might know me from hits such as "No, I don't work in sales", "I have an ide—talked over", and "You don't need to teach me, I designed it." https://t.co/Uxq0gsWWBs

— Nikki Valens 💜 (@valens116) January 24, 2019

And if they haven’t played it, this isn’t license to treat them as a moron. This is just useful information to inform how much detail you need to go into, or perhaps you can skip the rules walkthrough altogether.

2) Don’t interrupt if someone else is explaining a game. It makes it take longer, and can be more confusing for those hearing the rules for the first time. Some people have their spiel down and will get to the part you want to bring up. Certainly if they’re a bit fuzzy or accidentally left out bits you can mention them, but do so in a compassionate way more with the goal of getting everyone up to speed, not to make yourself look smarter than the rule explainer.

3) Avoid telling people what strategy to use. Point out areas that can trip up new players and game-changing events or cards that can happen in the course of the game ahead of time if possible, but don’t force them down a particular path. We play games for a variety of reasons that usually do not include “being a warm body in a chair for someone else to order around”.

4) Be gracious. People may need to be reminded of a rule, but try to do so in a friendly way. By the same token the rule explainer may screw up something, and in either case the best technique is to agree on the easiest way to address it, and then move on.

Essentially, try not to lord your knowledge of rules over other people, because it’s seriously offputting and you also have a good chance of making yourself look like an idiot. Be humble, friendly, and patient as much as you can, and if not, have you considered the always-expanding selection of solo games?