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[Beyond Awesome]

I used to be a game demo person for Wizards of the Coast. You know, that company that makes Magic: The Gathering. I would go to stores and conventions and teach people how to play all the games they made. I was pretty good actually. I could teach people how to play games quick and get them interested. A lot of my demos turned into sales at conventions while I would see other game demo people struggling to explain the same games to them. Often, I was tasked with teaching the more obscure games because of how good I was at teaching games.

Anyway, what I learned is to keep it simple. Hold back and don't teach everything. This goes for Magic or any other game whether it be a board or card game.

So, for Dominion, the trick is to hold back mechanics. My recommendation is to hold back showing Moat and Witch at first. I would also recommend holding back Gardens since there are the regular VP cards already present. Yes, the first game has Moat in it. I recommend swapping it out.

For game 2, keep 5 cards from the previous game and introduce 5 new cards. Why? The 5 cards are familiar. This makes it quicker to learn the 5 new cards. Whereas is you go with 10 all new cards, it is almost like learning the game all over again. Also, this makes it easier for new players to memorize the 5 cards from the previous game. Essentially, this speeds up the learning curve and makes it both quicker and easier to learn the game.

For game 3, mix things up. If you have been doing engine games, go for a slog. If your first two games lend more big money, try to make it more of an engine thing. Also, game 3 would be a good time to introduce Witch and Moat or Gardens. Or even all 3.

Seaside is a fairly straightforward for the most part. I tend to introduce cards from Seaside and Intrigue at the same time. My recommendation though is not to introduce both the mat cards and durations at the same time. Introduce one new concept at a time.

A couple of months later and many games, introduce Prosperity. Just skip Alchemy for now. Why wait on Prosperity? Because by waiting to show off Colonies and expensive cards, there is more of a WOW factor and that's a good thing. I know you are dying to show off these cards, but be patient. Again, introduce just 5 new cards at a time.

After Prosperity, it is up to you where to go. I would save DA and Alchemy for much later. While Adventures seems very complex, I think the WOW factor of Events may make it worth it to teach it to them before DA. You might want to show off Guilds or Hinterlands first though. When teaching Adventures just remember to hold back. Introduce Events with the new Durations but hold off tokens and Reserve cards for another game. Next game show off the Reserve cards.

Anyway, good luck to you in teaching Dominion. I hope this brief guide proves valuable to those wanting to get people into Dominion or who aren't sure how to go about introducing new expansion to their play group.

[pedroluchini]

That's some very nice advice! I have a little tutorial that I use to teach the base mechanics to new players, but I never thought about introducing expansions one at a time.

I also like your idea of swapping out Moat in the first game. It may help with making new players feel less dependent on Reactions in the presence of Attacks. Do you have a suggestion for a card to take Moat's place?

[Beyond Awesome]

That's some very nice advice! I have a little tutorial that I use to teach the base mechanics to new players, but I never thought about introducing expansions one at a time.

I also like your idea of swapping out Moat in the first game. It may help with making new players feel less dependent on Reactions in the presence of Attacks. Do you have a suggestion for a card to take Moat's place?

It's up to you, but maybe Library. You can see if anyone sees that it counters Militia.

[jsh357]

Do people really have that much trouble understanding new cards?  I just jumped right in to full random and thought the game was awesome.  In fact, the sheer variety of cards was a huge selling point for me.

[drsteelhammer]

You jumped into full random with all cards at the beginning?

[pubby]

Should you sandbag when playing with new players? I never know if I should play engine or not with newbies because it could be frustrating/boring to them. But if I don't play engine then they won't see why the game is so cool.

You jumped into full random with all cards at the beginning?

This is a reasonable thing to do for people who are into gaming. I learned playing full random on isotropic versus strangers and many others did too.

[drsteelhammer]

You jumped into full random with all cards at the beginning?

This is a reasonable thing to do for people who are into gaming. I learned playing full random on isotropic versus strangers and many others did too.
[/quote]

I was wondering how many people have access to all cards before starting to play a game. I mean there are a lot of expansions and it'd suck if you don't like it after all

[Beyond Awesome]

Do people really have that much trouble understanding new cards?  I just jumped right in to full random and thought the game was awesome.  In fact, the sheer variety of cards was a huge selling point for me.

It depends on whether or not they have a background playing similar games. I did introduce someone who played Hearthstone before, and he caught on pretty quick. But most my experience teaching people this game is that you don't want to overwhelm them too fast.

[markusin]

Should you sandbag when playing with new players? I never know if I should play engine or not with newbies because it could be frustrating/boring to them. But if I don't play engine then they won't see why the game is so cool.

You jumped into full random with all cards at the beginning?

This is a reasonable thing to do for people who are into gaming. I learned playing full random on isotropic versus strangers and many others did too.

What's great about teaching 2 players the game at a time is that you can let them play each other at the beginning and you just explain the game and answer questions as it progresses. I think you'd want to go easy a bit against casual players at the start, but show more experienced or analytical players the power of engines early on.


I learned the game using the base set, so I didn't start full random. But then I looked up all the cards online (Hinterlands was the newest expansion at the time) and jumped into full random on Isotropic pretty quickly.

[werothegreat]

I had a game the other day where I had two players who'd played a couple games, and one completely virgin player (he said he may have played some MTG, but that's it), and I threw in Lighthouse, Crossroads, Border Village, Embassy, Smugglers, Highway, Junk Dealer, Salvager, Cutpurse, and one more that eludes me at the moment.  The virgin was a bit confused for the first half of the game, but seemed to slowly cotton on, and managed to buy a couple Provinces, and he really liked the game.

Smuggle Border Village, gain an Embassy, give everyone a Silver happened a lot.

[Beyond Awesome]

Should you sandbag when playing with new players? I never know if I should play engine or not with newbies because it could be frustrating/boring to them. But if I don't play engine then they won't see why the game is so cool.

You jumped into full random with all cards at the beginning?

This is a reasonable thing to do for people who are into gaming. I learned playing full random on isotropic versus strangers and many others did too.

What's great about teaching 2 players the game at a time is that you can let them play each other at the beginning and you just explain the game and answer questions as it progresses. I think you'd want to go easy a bit against casual players at the start, but show more experienced or analytical players the power of engines early on.


I learned the game using the base set, so I didn't start full random. But then I looked up all the cards online (Hinterlands was the newest expansion at the time) and jumped into full random on Isotropic pretty quickly.

I also learned with the base set and then got Intrigue. After that, I needed to know more about the expansions and discovered iso as well when Hinterlands was out.

[chipperMDW]

My recommendation is to hold back showing ... Witch at first.

This was probably implied, but I guess you might also want to bend the rules and leave out Curses entirely until the first time people see Witch or something else that would make them relevant.

[Awaclus]

My recommendation is to hold back showing ... Witch at first.

This was probably implied, but I guess you might also want to bend the rules and leave out Curses entirely until the first time people see Witch or something else that would make them relevant.

I don't think it's a good idea to leave out Curses. Leaving out Curses leads to new players playing their first Witch game with nobody experienced around, thinking that they already know the rules so they don't have to read them, and putting the entire Curse pile into the supply in a 2-player game.

[werothegreat]

My recommendation is to hold back showing ... Witch at first.

This was probably implied, but I guess you might also want to bend the rules and leave out Curses entirely until the first time people see Witch or something else that would make them relevant.

I don't think it's a good idea to leave out Curses. Leaving out Curses leads to new players playing their first Witch game with nobody experienced around, thinking that they already know the rules so they don't have to read them, and putting the entire Curse pile into the supply in a 2-player game.

Everyone should experience a 2-player Witch game with 30 Curses at least once in their life.

[tripwire]

Should you sandbag when playing with new players? I never know if I should play engine or not with newbies because it could be frustrating/boring to them. But if I don't play engine then they won't see why the game is so cool.

I think the type of player who is going to find watching you play a perfect engine the first few games to be really interesting is the same type of player who would have no trouble jumping into full random right off the bat.

I think the biggest problem with going full engine is that many players don't want to sit through each of your turns while you draw your deck. You should be giving people the chance to play the game, not letting them watch you play.

So, if your playing with people who you think need to start with a simpler kingdom, I'd think you'd also want to play "suboptimally."

[enfynet]

When I show new players the game, I go turn-by-turn through game mechanics at the beginning to strategy/interaction at the end. I don't often go by any set kingdoms, just look for cards that work with the ABC(D) chain.

I've taught dozens of people to play that PK Cards game I mentioned in the Transmogrify topic; some were MtG veterans (I am not) and some were new to CCG games in general (like I was) and I'm confident in saying that I taught the game better than the designer himself. (First reason- he expected everyone would just "get it" because of his legalistic rules.)

Eg- The game features a player Avatar, Troop(character) cards in four ranks, and two other cards (powers-permanent, and influences-instant) that would alter the way Troops interacted. Well, the first time I taught people the game, I would use only the lowest level troops and nothing else. People caught on much quicker than throwing a full deck in front of them.

[iguanaiguana]

When I'm playing against people who are slow to pick up, especially on the first game engine, I like to play experimentally in a way I think will keep up with what they are doing. Something like: buy two cellars, two mines, upgrade all your starting copper and buy only provinces. That is more fun for me than buying random cards, and doesn't make my turns last much longer than theirs.

[pedroluchini]

I definitely support playing suboptimally in the presence of new players. In my experience, playing a really fancy engine in order to show off this craaaazy game only generates frustration and impatience.

What do you guys think about giving some strategy advice during the game? I try not to be too overbearing, but if I spot a neat combo on the table I point it out and if I see another player is having AP I ask if I can take a look at his hand and try to give some advice.

[markusin]

I definitely support playing suboptimally in the presence of new players. In my experience, playing a really fancy engine in order to show off this craaaazy game only generates frustration and impatience.

What do you guys think about giving some strategy advice during the game? I try not to be too overbearing, but if I spot a neat combo on the table I point it out and if I see another player is having AP I ask if I can take a look at his hand and try to give some advice.

Yeah I like helping out a bit if I notice someone is struggling with a decision. Also I might comment on a neat interaction if it appears during gameplay or comes close to appearing.

I feel there is the question of whether or not to warn players about getting too many terminals, and dead draw in particular. Does seeing the pitfalls of getting too many terminals firsthand enrich the game experience, or is that a phase that's good to skip if possible?

[Voltaire]

Does seeing the pitfalls of getting too many terminals firsthand enrich the game experience, or is that a phase that's good to skip if possible?

Keep keep keep keep! If they want to just straight-up be told how to play better, they'll ask. I for one loved going through the Terminal > Village Idiot phase, and I would have been very disappointed if I'd been denied that.

[Awaclus]

I just always ask people how much strategy advice they want, if any at all.

[tripwire]

I just always ask people how much strategy advice they want, if any at all.

I think this is a great solution, and I'm kicking myself at how obvious it is and that I've never done it before.


What are people's thoughts about new players using extra buys to buy coppers? That's the number one thing I feel like I can't help but step in and advise them against. When people buy too many terminals, they can easily see the consequences of that decision when they collide. When players never get above 5 dollars, I think it's hard for them to realize that might be because they bought tons of extra copper for no reason. As a result, I end up advising them not to buy those extra coppers, but then I feel guilty because I'm telling them what to do.

Suggestions on how to address this problem?

[Chris is me]

I've had mixed success with a number of methods, as it largely depends on the background of the player, but I like teaching it this way.

I start by explaining the fundamental mechanics of the game, with no action cards. Just the Base cards on the table. I "play" a solitaire game while explaining the basic mechanics of each turn. It shows a new player how the most straightforward way to win is to improve your deck economy and get the average output of a turn to equal $8 or more.

Then I add a few action cards, again still just demoing and explaining the game. Smithy gets thrown in, oh look, a single action works great! Then I buy too many of them and show how Actions collide with each other. Add a Village to explain how those work, while also explaining the opportunity cost problem as best I can (that every Village isn't a Silver).

After that, and once everyone understands the flow of the game, I set up the First Game board and play through that with people. It's a fairly even board, and I usually go for the engine because of how hard it is to make the engine more optimal than pure Big Money, particularly in the presence of Militia. That keeps the game closer. I also play with my hand revealed and explain what I'm doing and what choices I'm making.

If people want to play an additional game, I make a Kingdom with Chapel and a Village to demonstrate the power of heavy trashing. This is pretty important to learn early on. If they really want to, Witch will get thrown in too.

As for new expansions, I'll write more words later about that, but basically, add them one at a time, in rough order of complexity, but it's cool to skip right to Prosperity.

[sudgy]

When teaching new players, the first thing I do is say this: "The goal of this game, like all games, is to win." (I do that for other games too.)

After that, I explain that it's a game of building your deck, and the goal of the game is to have more victory points than your opponents when the game ends.  I then go through the phases of a turn, just going into the basics of what they are ("In your action phase, you play one action card from your hand and do what it says.").  I explain the game end condition now that they know how the supply works, then explain what action cards do (at least everything that isn't obvious, and if they ask I'll go through all of the kingdom cards and say what they do).  I ask them if they want strategy advice (everybody that I've asked has actually said no surprisingly).

As for kingdoms, I don't care what expansions I choose, I just look through my randomizer deck and choose 10 cards that are simple and show off various simple mechanics (terminal draw, villages, +buy, trashing, oops I just made an engine board).  People don't know the difference between different expansions, as long as you keep cards simple I think it's fine.  Usually after this I'll do a random setup, but getting rid of confusing and/or crazy cards (Governor, Rebuild, Black Market, etc.).

[LastFootnote]

"The goal of this game, like all games, is to win."

Ties go to the victor.