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Let me tell you a story about when I first learned to play Pandemic. A couple of friends and I used to get together every now and then to play games, eat burgers and occasionally, if it was a truly raucous night, visit the Alchemist (a cocktail bar) and see a film. Heady days.
On one particular occasion, we asked for a recommendation and were given Forbidden Desert. I can’t remember if we were asked whether we wanted a cooperative style of game to try, or if we asked for that style but either way it was my first time. As with all first times, it was memorable. Fortunately in a good way.
One thing led to another and we played Pandemic. I don’t recall if we won or lost but not long afterwards I bought a copy and so began my new boardgames accumulation. Settlers had been on my shelves for years, I owned a few others, and when younger I had spent an entire nation’s GDP on card games (I’m looking at you Magic, LoT5R, RawDeal, Aliens vs Predator, Dune, Babylon 5…) but Pandemic really did something for me.
For whatever reason, I decided that I didn’t really need to read the rules again when next I played and so began a short-lived but intense series of games that resulted in consistently losing. You see, when you play Pandemic you should do all of that infection business with the three cubes, two cubes, one cube stuff and then put the cards back into the infection desk.
But if your memory is fuzzy from a couple of cocktails, or it’s just been a while, then you might make the mistake of placing the cards back on top of the infection deck. Meaning that the first few turns are guaranteed to cause you huge problems.
On one memorable occasion in a local pub, we lost on the very first turn. I can’t even remember how that’s possible now but we did. If I had to guess I’d say it was because we also misplayed the outbreak rule and created a chain reaction that ignored the relevant coloured blocks instructions. All of which is to say this: for the first few weeks/months of owning Pandemic I was unequivocally slaughtered by the game. And I wanted to come back for more with reckless abandon.
Introducing Friends To Board Games
Recently I’ve introduced two different sets of friends to board games. Quite by chance both of them have absolutely loved Settlers – with one set I took a copy over to play on Christmas Day and the other, possibly after my recommendation, got their own copy. It is a classic after all.
Christmas Day friends and I played Santorini as a warm up and then Settlers. I had played Santorini once before and enjoyed its simplicity. Given that I was on my own whilst my family were away this particular Christmas, my sister had bought me a copy of it as a “don’t be too sad you’re on your own” gift. As we all fiddled with plastic bags or tower pieces and Greek gods, I was pumped to play and thought that they would be too.
It’s not a long game by any stretch of the imagination but this one went down as “put away for another time or with another set of people”. Not to be dismayed or dissuaded we opened my ageing copy of Settlers (still in its battered Settler of Catan box rather than this new-fangled, renamed version where the resources look a lot more like whatever they’re supposed to be) and played on, and they loved it.
There was high drama, road building empires, people backed into a geographical corner of the island, the same rule repeated roughly every 30 seconds as (nearly) everyone forgot it, haggling, robbing… A couple of weeks later I found out that they had ordered their own copy and had it proudly on their shelf.
Cut to the other friend. Midway through his own first game, he decided to text me: what do I do to win settlers? I had the feeling that he wasn’t in a strong position so I sent whatever advice I could and waited for the result. Despite not being there for the actual gameplay, I later discovered that it’s become a new favourite in their house. And the thing that both of these stories have in common is this: the people who played the game were desperate, or at very least keen, to play again.
The Joy Of Not Understanding
You could call Settlers a gateway game I guess, although often I mean something perhaps a little lighter and maybe shorter in terms of gameplay. Perhaps something more like Santorini – mind you that in itself is probably a little more niche because of how it plays out. As it happens, I love Santorini because it’s different from some other games I play. It’s quicker, simpler, and it’s nice to look at: the building of mini-towers and the card artwork is a great flavour. Not to mention that cool island box thing.
But Settlers is great because you can get your teeth into it, interact with others in a more long-term sense, strategise and, maybe most importantly, when you first play you really only start to figure out what you’re doing by about halfway through. Can you make that last point about most games? But maybe as someone who’s really into board games, I have forgotten that simple fact and the joy of not understanding.
A friend and I have recently played through four new games (new to me, not all new to him) and lots of them have mechanics that feel familiar: a limited number of actions per turn, a limited number of turns, victory points gathered as you go and at end game… Mechanics – engine building – euro style…
All of these things become part of what we begin to intrinsically understand as people who ‘game’. But the moment, or moments of suddenly having the light bulb switching on as you go “oh….I see…now I get it”, and those crushing moments of “oh…I shouldn’t have done that” or “dammit! If only I’d done that last turn/in the other order!” is part of the thrill and joy of playing games and shouldn’t be shied away from.
Games that require your brain to have to grapple with whatever the heck is going on and finally come to an understanding produces a sort of euphoria that is difficult to replicate in the minutiae of day-to-day life. There are undoubtedly pieces of research on problem-solving, gestalt moments and the chemicals (dopamine? seems like it’s always dopamine…) that are released in those moments, but whatever it is it seems like it makes us feel happy. Perhaps because we’ve achieved something.
The Joy Of Meeples
Let me also throw another thought into the mix of getting other people into games. Put aside for the moment the fact that some people might not ever be that keen on board games, or that you can simply choose games that suit their favourite themes etc, and try to look through fresh eyes. Assuming that adults are really just larger children (albeit with a few more responsibilities) then new games bring the same kind of joy that new toys do to kids.
Sure, not all kids like the same toys but there is something almost magical about being handed the sea-serpent figurine from Bloodrage, clipping together the AT-ST from Imperial Assault, setting up Black Angel’s colourful galaxy and clipping those little robots into their flying saucers, rolling dice through Wingspan’s bird-house/feeding table… It’s like being given a set of cool toys that you have permission to play with as a grown human.
So maybe here’s a useful lesson: board games that look cool, that have awesome pieces might be a great way to get someone into board games. They might be used to the dog and the boot but seeing something other than a simple rectangular/square board with some plain cards is refreshing and sometimes impressive. The sheer production value of some modern games is incredible – often with similar levels of gameplay beneath it.
The Joy Of Theme
Last case in point. I’d been after a copy of Betrayal at House on the Hill for quite some time and had finally gotten my hands on one. It arrived at work and I opened up the box to show off my new toy to anyone who wanted to listen. There was an immediate response from at least one person, who isn’t a board game devotee with stacks on their shelves at home, that they really, really wanted to play it because it looked so cool. Is he a gothic, investigative, horror film fan? Not really, no.
That initial enthusiasm didn’t fade either: it was weeks and weeks before we got to play it but no less satisfying for the wait. Sometimes a game just sparks our excitement because of the story it tells. In fact, I more or less bought Bloodrage because of the theme and artwork – although I should point out that Bloodrage does not play the way I thought it might based on the way the box looks. There is, it seems, a reason that games have so much effort put into the style, artwork and components: it all adds to the joy.
Fresh Eyes
So what should you choose to get someone into board games? Well, perhaps try to look through the eyes of someone who’s new to this sort of thing. Find a theme they love, some pieces that are cool, a game that is challenging and that they can get their teeth into. Of course, you need to balance that with either some hand-holding through the myriad of rules or perhaps starting them on some simpler games if they really haven’t ever played any games at all.
But if my experience is anything to go by, then you may even want to throw them into the (relatively) deep end. After all, a very good friend of mine is regularly beaten at Scythe by his young daughter, my grandparents used to beat me at any game we played even as an adult, and Christmas Day friends wiped the floor with me the first time they (the board game novices) ever played Wingspan. So all bets are off.