Hello Friend,

On my blog I posted about family games and complexity - which got a lot of feedback. I noted that a ‘family game’ is often one that has very very simple rules and hypothesised that this isn’t for the benefit of the children, but for the adults. Many adults can’t deal with rulebooks. They need the game to be simple. If you want to read the article, you can do so here: https://www.thedarkimp.com/blog/2023/05/05/family-games-and-complexity/

So, if I’m right - and many adults actively avoid learning new games - maybe we should do more to encourage our children to learn games instead. It’s a great learning experience and it gives them some responsibility.

If you want to encourage a child to learn and then teach a game, here are some tips you can pass on:

• Make sure you properly understand how to play before you try to teach anyone.

• Learn the game well in advance of when you want to teach it. 

• Play through a few rounds of the game by yourself, if at all possible. 

• Plan how you’re going to teach the game (and have a few bullet points to refer to). 

• Expect others to ask for clarification. Don’t get upset when you’re asked to re-explain.

• Draw on other resources (e.g. videos) to learn and teach the game

• You don’t need to teach strategy. It’s fun for players to work out what the strategy is for themselves.

• Players want to know what they have to do but also why they are doing it. 

• Play a few practice rounds as part of the teaching of the game.

What are your top tips for teaching games? And what do you think about children taking the driving seat with new games?