How to Play: Step by Step

The Good Game Theory

Here is a simple step by step breakdown of a good gaming session.

#1. Know your crowd. Who are you playing with? How many? Age range & preferences are important for game selection. Consent to play should be established 1st. This can be done as simply as asking “Who wants to play?”

#2. Selection. Once you have your crowd assembled, you can decide together what game you will be playing. Time commitment is a factor in selection. Try to pick a game that will surely end before anyone has to leave. Games have a spectrum of complexity. Choose 1 that fits the level of the group’s understanding. Games also have a range of intensity. So, the selection will influence how light or tight the mood will be. Once the game is selected, come to agreement before you begin & negotiate any variable or house rules if necessary.

#3. Overview/ Set-Up. Giving an overview as the game is being set-up is a strategic technique known in the gaming community as stacking. It’s pretty much the 2 birds/ 1 stone method. Now would be a good time to go over some of the more subtle rules in a complex game or just generally remind people how it’s played again in case they forgot since the last time. This is when a tutorial can be given for new players. Use the Share the Set-Up method as much as you can.

#4. Play! All the prep work is done. Everybody is ready. Ready. Set. Bet! Or whatever you are playing. Here is where all hell breaks loose, depending on your crowd. My crowd consists of a degenerate, rowdy bunch. So, even the most peaceful games tend to get wild. Core concept here is having fun. Let everybody have fun in their own way, as long as it does not infringe on anybody else’s.

#5. Scoring, Resolution, Replay? Some games have a clearly determined winner immediately at the end. In that case, raise the hand of the champion, or whatever your ceremonial honor is. Many new games have hidden scoring objectives, so the winner is not known until after all bonuses are tallied. This period is like the tension before the Oscar for Best Actor is revealed. The whole crowd praying, ‘C’mon Denzel.’ Add up the points individually. Sometimes the host assumes this task. Congratulate the winner or humbly accept the praise if the glory falls on you. If there’s a challenge for a rematch & time remains, run that back again.

#6. Clean the kitchen & wash the dishes. The game isn’t over until it is put away. The orderly act of boxing everything back up after a melee of activity restores peace & unity. Until you play again.