I usually read the rulebook, then find a video (ideally "Watch It Played", Rodney is a treasure) to confirm my understanding of what I read and/or clarify anything I didn't. This is usually sufficient. Another cheeky way to learn a game is to play it on BoardGameArena where the system won't allow you to play the game wrong.
this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2023
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I do the same and if anything does not make sense to me in the flow and the game is not new, i‘ll ask chatgpt for clarifications
Upvote for Rodney <3 (and the rest of the tips as well)
I usually watch a video after reading the rules and trying to play for a little bit. It usually helps cover the gaps in understanding or areas that I’ve misinterpreted the rules, while also allowing myself to become familiar enough with the game that I don’t get lost.
This is closer to my process. I give the rulebook a first pass, push some pieces around, and then I look for something like a 10min video that goes over turn actions in detail or exceptions to check my understanding of what I did when I was playing multi-handed. A trick I find that works well is to "build the world":
- Look at components, what does each piece represent, what are spaces on a map, what is the nuance between similar spaces/pieces. Are there things listed on the board that are tracks or warnings or things like that.
- What's a turn look like; how are actions selected, what actions are options, etc.
- What special things do I need to be aware of
- How does scoring function.
3 gets short shift before watching the video, but I do it this way because what they talk about in scoring makes little sense if I don't know what the components are, etc.
I tend to follow the game's set-up process and then watch a How-to-Play video, if one exists!
I'll then try and parse the rulebook with the knowledge from the video, and if I have the time, I'll even try a couple of dummy rounds by myself to get a feel of how it should work.
Read the setup and basic rules, start playing and read up specifics as they become relevant.
Depends on the type of game of course, but its usually fun even if we end up playing it kinda wrong in the beginning
This is how we do it as well. Prevents you from reading for hours on end. This way it's fun and rules tend to be remembered better as well.
If we do read up on the rules before starting we have to go back to the rulebook during play anyway because it's often difficult to remember everything you just read.
My process used to be:
- Read the rules before everyone arrives
- Play the game and have fun
- Read the rules again
- Email everyone with everything we played wrong
Now that I have kids I don't always have the luxury of reading the rules the same day we play the game, so what I usually do is I read the rules a few days in advance, which means I won't remember as much when the time comes to play, so then I end up complementing that with a rules explanation video.
Someone reads the rules and or watches the video. That person is the game guide for the night. Set everything up and try to learn by playing.
For me its Watching some gameplay Videos and then I Cheat, to avoid frustration, and try it out myself
Start with the win condition and work backwards from there, then as you learn each action you can take, put it into context for how it helps you. Then play a few turns against yourself to get an idea of the flow.
Play it on yucata.de with a friend.
Then take a first look at the rules halfway through the game to try and figure out win conditions and play mechanics.
Also viewing Watch it Played, SUSD or random HOWTO videos.