10 ways to get better at board games

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[MBG]

So, as mentioned in the video. If you have any other advice or suggestions. Let me know! And lets keep it civil and collegial folks. No sulky steves allowed!

[keithedwards]

Reiner knizia: "Remember: When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning..."

[TheEmmaHouli]

On that first note:
When we first started dating my husband was a real table flipper. And since I grew up the youngest in a board game family, I was very comfortable losing. So more often than not I just let him win for the sake of peace. But it did make it super uncomfortable to play, seeing a path to victory and not taking it. But I couldn't control everyone who played with him!

One night after Friday Night Magic, he was real sullen that he got smashed, and I had to tell him that he attitude was making me a worse player and making gaming not fun.

Bless his cotton socks he had been trying really hard since then to enjoy games for their process and social aspect rather than gaming. Sometimes you do need to take someone aside and say "the way you play makes it no fun"

[clivewitcomb]

For our "Learning Games", we have a rule - each player should look out for the others, and offer suggestions, or help reveal their own worries about what could be done to them. Then, we have a kinda "The loser is the winner (because they clearly advised the other players the best)" thang..
It works, because:
1. The actual winner feels like they won
2. The loser has officially won
3. Everyone learns LOTS about how to play better next time.
The second game is then gloves-off evil competitive ;)
X

[Mark_Atkins]

This was the vid that made me start a patreon account to help you guys! My wife and I (as well as some of our closest friends) have been getting more into the hobby for just over 18 months/2 years or so. You and Teffy have been so helpful in fuelling our passion for the hobby and making informed decision on next purchases (especially contrasted with the long-winded, quite boring or self-indulgent boardgame channels on YouTube). You get to the point, you’re not in it for the money and you’re seen like lovely folks! I hope the small contribution I and others make makes it easier for you to continue the awesome work you do. Thanks so much!

[TomHickey]

I like the transition from focusing on win conditions to game timers. One of my favorite motivators when playing a game is when you brain clicks from "how am I going to win?" towards "how much time do I have left?" and I realize I've got my work cut out for me.

[howard]

On that last point, you can sometimes set yourself a mental 'side quest' and carry on playing for that. Like "ok, well I can't win but let's try to get as much gold as I can in order to learn how that part of the game works" or "ok, well I'm just gonna battle the boss as many times as I can and learn which combos work best for that".

[patcraig]

There are not many 25 minute videos that I watch from start to finish on Youtube but this was extremely well done and very helpful even for a long time board gamer. Well done!

[NguyenNguyen-ftko]

I once have a friend who is surprisingly good at playing game, despite her keep saying that she dont really care about the win at all ( she's very humble and is telling the truth ), she would always see the winning path, so fast, sometime even in her 1st game ! I used to be very confident but after playing with her, i got a big lesson, never underestimated your friend and u could always learn from them 😝

[bconnoll]

Fun video! I really like how you incorporate examples from different games to help aid your points.

[mikecowan]

Wow point #1 is on point. Probably not one that people think about much, but the atmosphere and attitude of your fellow players sure can make a world of difference.

[franciscocarranza]

Terrific video. Thank you for covering players’ attitude in the opening and closing points. It’s simply not worth playing games with people that have poor attitude and don’t care to improve it.

[MBG]

No new England Patriots were harmed in the making of this video

[maxpowr]

Understanding game timers is a big one. "Rubberbanding" is mostly known as a Mariokart term but have seen it in boardgames where a player will sit back and be towards the back of the pack in scoring and then just score a bunch of points at once and shoot up the track. It's a viable strategy in Power Grid [since you're not punished for having excess power] and in other games you mentioned.

[wmarclocher]

Great tips. Wish there were more videos like this.
6:02 Ah, first time I visited my local Chess Club and got the pants beat off me, over and over again. Finally asked one of them to point out where I was going wrong and they gave me there card and said I would have to pay for tutoring lessons at $100/hour .

[kalacs]

Random thought about the beginning of the video, I recently saw a debate on a Facebook group about whether you should ever let others win. I was baffled by the number of people who were very proud of not giving tips, not devoting extra time to teaching, and just repeatedly smashing beginners with the thought process that they're gonna have fun with it by standing up to the challenge of an experienced player playing seriously.

[seniscram]

My very favorite video of yours so far. Fantastic video man.

[ThePMilitaryCompany]

In regards to the "don't blame the game" point and dice rolling. I may be an insane person, but when teaching a game to someone who has never played it before, I usually pass out a printout with most of the important statistics on them. For example, in Merchants and Marauders, it is a really abstract concept for most people who are more new to gaming to work out if (and I am simplifying here) getting a 5 or 6 on at least one of 2 dice is a good risk to take. However, if that same player sees that they have about a 55% chance of making that roll, they have a much more informed choice. The biggest boon of this is the shifting of focus from a luck based mindset to a percentage based mindset really helps players see the game in a way that mitigates the knee-jerk reaction to blame RNGesus when something with long odds doesn't pan out.

[dragonzord]

My friend's been trying to get me into xwing again, and I played a few games with him. None of them were even close, every one I got tabled by like turn 2 or 3. I had no chance to win. He's been playing for years and does tournaments etc. Now he wonders why I don't want to play it anymore. When I teach people board games, I don't try to win. I do suboptimal plays and go for different ways of playing that probably won't win. Winning isn't important when you're trying to get people into the hobby. I think a video on how to get people into the hobby is a good idea, because I don't know if many people really do it right.

[keithedwards]

Good video with lots of great ideas. One thing I have tried as well is to actively help players that are learning the game. Let them make some mistakes, but from time to time jump in and suggest an alternative course of action that is more beneficial. Also sitting with someone who is in the second fase and wants to learn, it can really help to point out alternative strategies. As an example, with terraforming mars getting those 10 cards, corps and preludes can be daunting and lead to analysis paralysis. Suggesting an alternative combination and strategy can really help build their understanding of the game.