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Those Who Don't Play Board Games

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There Will Be Games

 

A few weeks ago I sat down with some non-board gaming friends and introduced them to Last Night on Earth. Thematically it was a natural fit – this was a group of metal-loving horror fans (three sets of couples in their thirties) and as soon as they saw the box they were excited.

 None of these folks were new to gaming – we all play D&D on occasion, and two of the guys are still slavishly devoted to Games Workshop products. But this was a big deal to me as none of these people are ever willing to cross a line (that remains hidden to me) to play board games. We all sat around a table, alcoholic beverages in reach, and as soon as I opened the box I saw faces fall. “It’s got a lot of pieces,” someone said, as if pieces were a problem.

 

 

I assured the group they shouldn’t even think about it, as it was an easy game and I would take good care of them. I set up the board and cards, handed out miniatures and dice, then hid the remaining counters to ease their minds. And so it began. Long story short, we had a blast and those who had to be talked into committing to a board game, now cannot wait to play again.

But let’s go back even farther into my past to my sophomore year in college. One day I sat slouched in a near-ruined recliner, an open bottle of Jim Beam in my hand. My school-assigned roommate sat in a nearby chair, also caught up in a whiskey bourbon fog. Until that day we had hardly talked to each other, but for some reason we were both feeling pissy, and when I broke out the liquor he happily joined in. “What’s that stuff?” he asked waving a hand at the previous night’s Talisman game that still sat out on the floor (we had one table that was way too small to game on). I explained the general concept to him and he grunted. “Looks complicated.” I assured him it was really easy to play, and with a sigh that suggested he was lowering himself, he offered to play.

 

So I set up the game. Talisman is best enjoyed with a group, but that night we had a grand drunken time making terrible decisions (like purposefully messing with Talisman’s version of Russian roulette - the Witch), fighting each other far more than was wise, and dying a whole lot. My roommate had so much fun he insisted to some of his friends that they had to play this game, and soon I had a bunch of guys who were way too cool to play something like Talisman, playing Talisman. It soon became such a staple of dorm life for us that it was left out permanently. It should be noted that none of the guys or girls who ended up being Talisman regulars were in any way gamers.

 

So, what to make of this? I think everyone can get into board games, and if they were willing to give them a chance, would even love board games. After all, everyone grows up with at least a few games stuffed in a closet somewhere (or at least they used to). So why the reluctance of non-gamers to try something as innocent as a board game? I began thinking about this the other day while I watched my friends gleefully blow up a gas can in a crowd of zombies. I had been touting the game for a while, and it was only with great reluctance that the group had consented – probably just to get me to shut the hell up. Now I know there are games that could probably never be enjoyed by anyone other than a gamer – such as most war games with their many pieces, numerous variables, and complex tactics, but why a reluctance to play board games in general?

 

That night I mulled over various reasons. The first one that came to mind was chrome. My friends had balked at playing a game with so many pieces. It stands to reason that people believe a game’s components equal its complexity, but ultimately I ruled this out. Monopoly has lots of stuff, and it is considered to be “normal.” Perhaps that thinking is flawed though, as Monopoly’s acceptance may be more due to indoctrination at an early age. Perhaps if Monopoly wasn’t such a standard people would look at it and assume it was too complex, and therefore beyond their capabilities. But I can think of other games, such as Survive!, that have numerous components and enjoyed some level of mainstream acceptance by friends and family when I was a child. I thought about theme. Certainly Ameritrash games are rife with fantasy and sci-fi images, genres that are simultaneously devoured and ridiculed by the fickle masses. But with the Euro explosion of years past, themes have become more diverse (even if you don’t care for how they are executed) and I have just as much difficulty getting friends to play Settlers of Catan as anything else.

 

I suppose marketing may be to blame. The average person walks down the game aisle of a department store and they think the games they see there are representative of what games are supposed to be. Games for adults are usually seen as being either trivia games (oh boy, the Grey’s Anatomy trivia game!), party games (such Apples to Apples or Balderdash!), or strategy games, and by strategy games I mean things like Chess or Parcheesi, Risk often being thought of as a children’s game. Ultimately one might wonder why it is worthwhile bothering with a non-gamer. I think everyone has friends they wish they could game with, or more selfishly, has games they wish they had players for. I will confess I long to play more Twilight Imperium on a fairly constant basis.

 

But how does one seduce their non-gaming friends to joining the ranks of the board gaming damned? Hide your crap. Watching board game setup seems to freeze the marrow of a non-gamer. If you want to introduce someone to a game, don’t have them come over when you first open the box, revealing all the zip-locked baggies, multiple rulebooks, and playing pieces. Set the game up before they come over, and hide away all of the excess counters, pieces, and cards that won’t be used in the box. I sometimes even hide counters I will require in the box until they are needed. This keeps the table from looking cluttered, and eventually a comfortable non-gamer will say, “Hey why don’t you leave those wound counters out? We seem to be going through a lot of them.”

Be reasonable. As much as I may desire to play more Twilight Imperium, I have to accept the fact that it would make a non-gamer’s head explode. When selecting a game choose something that will not require too much of its audience. This does not necessarily mean you have to choose stupid games, but more the more options a game has, the more it can intimidate non-gamers. And remember, if you are ever able to convert a friend to gaming, you might be able to introduce the more complex titles in your collection to them later. Don’t play the game for them. You know your friends better than anyone, and some people like suggestions and helpful hints, but do not offer unsolicited advice unless there is a real need ("Don't forget to exchange your cards for experience"). That is the path to fun murder and is a good way to lose friends, much less players.

 

There Will Be Games
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