Gateway Games, Then and Now

Most people have played some board games, though their experience is likely limited to certain very popular family board games or party games. Games such as Chess, Pictionary, Monopoly, or Trivial Pursuit. And there are the hobby board games that most non-hobbyists have not played, like the games we tend to discuss here. Hobbyists often try to introduce non-hobbyists to our games with relatively accessible gateway games.

What was your gateway game? What was it about that particular game that caused you to keep playing games and eventually try more challenging games? And which games in your collection are the ones that you use as gateway games with new players?

Its hard to identify THE gateway game. Like most kids my age I played RISK, along with some of the Milton Bradley games like CARRIER STRIKE, DOGFIGHT, SUB SEARCH. I guess the first big jump was when a neighbor when I was 10 taught me SQUAD LEADER in the late 70s. The next 20 years or so were pretty much pure wargames, with FORTRESS AMERICA and SHOGUN thrown in on the casual side. I think the first pure EURO I was exposed to was either SETTLERS or PRINCES OF FLORENCE; the latter I walked out after the rules explanation because it didn't make sense and didn't sound like fun.

Today as far as gateway games, I don't own many but I'd probably bring out WINGSPAN or JAWS; both were pulled out to some newbies a few weekends ago and they liked them both.

Hrm. I was into Avalon Hill stuff when I was very young (late 70s), which was right around the time I was getting into D&D, so it's really hard for me to tell. Maybe Panzerblitz? It sounds weird, because that's among the grognard's grognards; pure hex-and-counter with all kinds of fiddly rules. But that's the thing I remember catching my eye and that I coaxed my dad into playing with me a couple times before he foisted me off on a local chess club to find people who would actually enjoy it. I never got into chess, but I stuck with games from that point forward.

As to what I'd introduce "non-gamers" to? Root. Definitely Root.

But, seriously, it kind of depends on the people and the circumstances. If it was another couple with me and my GF, I might pull out mahjongg, as that's a great four-player that resembles games they probably played (gin rummy) but with a more complex scoring system that's easy to pick up. If it's a larger social situation, I might try The Crew or Lovecraft Letter or Tiny Epic Galaxies; all of which have easy rules and involve mechanics that are similar to classic games (hand of cards, dice) but are also interesting enough to be enjoyed by the gamer(s) in the group.

As a young kid, all of the games that I played were either easy card games (like Old Maid or Crazy Eights) or roll-and-move family board games (like Candyland or Aggravation). One day, my dad brought home Acquire, and everything changed. He quickly became obsessed with Acquire and taught my mom and I how to play, even though I was only 5. We played on almost a weekly basis that first year, and probably at least once a month until I went off to college. I didn't really have a choice to play, it was just a thing that I was raised to do. I have no idea how my dad even noticed Acquire or decided to buy it, but it led to subsequent purchases that eventually led me to board games, rpgs, ccgs, etc. Usually, my dad bought board games "for me" but also so he could play them with me. But Acquire was always his game and not part of my collection. He didn't explicitly leave Acquire to me in his will, but my mom knew that he wanted me to have it.

When I introduce new gamers to a game, I look for games that offer brevity, theme/setting, easy rules, and maybe a co-op element. Camp Grizzly works great. Kill Doctor Lucky works well. Cosmic Encounter has proved surprisingly accessible. Room 25 is also good.

Games lighter on rules definitely are preferable. Ones I've had success with:

VOLT
Fantasy Realms
New York Slice
King of Tokyo

Hmm. My dad taught me Chess when I was 6, Pinochle at 8, and I learned AD&D and MtG around 9-10. It was over from there. I had been playing Sid Meier’s Civ since the age of 7 on our Mac, and by 10 I was obsessed with JRPGs and stuff like Ogre Battle.

So… maybe MtG was the first ‘hobby’ game? I forget when I begged for Battle masters and got it.

I find that people who start on CCGs generally transition into complicated board games easier than the reverse.

With newbies now? Abandon All Artichokes, Kingdomino? Both are way simpler than the old days. Generally with an experienced teacher and excited learner almost anything works.

I did traditional card games, lots of Hasbro and Milton Bradley stuff across the spectrum. Risk, Monopoly of course. Also Rook, Milles Bornes, Skip-Bo, etc. ad Infinitum.

But my first real hobby game was Axis & Allies. From there is was no looking back.

A few years ago I was going to do blog posts here about my gaming history and what were seminal games throughout my formative years. Alas, major life changes moved that idea to the backburner.

To answer the OP, it was a combination of checkers, Hang On Harvey and Trouble.

In 4th grade, my friend's older brother let us play Star Frontiers. I was a 4 armed insectoid that could shoot multiple guns. I have no idea what the plot of the mission was, but dudes on a map with rules was way better than army men. I spent the rest of the evening reading Deities and Demigods (Who is the Elric guy? HE looks cool.)

A couple of weeks later I traded some comics for my friends red box books and dice and promptly hid them in my room, as my Mom was getting those fliers. A year later, my mom was over the pamphlets and I openly bought the blue box at Kay Bee toys. Also somewhere in between this was Dungeon! that my friend got and we wore out.

Kay Bees had a great TSR section, so my next purchase was Gangbusters. Yup. A bunch of redneck six graders playing as Mobsters and G-Men. I picked up Dawn Patrol, and suddenly we were all about tacitical dog fighting. Then Marvel Heroes up until that was not edgy enough for an 8th grader - we got some Ad&D books. Oh, Heroquest was in there somewhere too,.

Then 11th grade MtG came out - I played MtG and other card games for a decade, then had kids and stuff and made adult friends.

Second gateway game was bringing home Settlers of Cataan from the game shop that I was repping for Decipher. Wife and kids loved it. Then Carcassone. Ticket to Ride. GIPF project games (still great) It was all OK, then I got Puerto Rico. And made some gaming friends, and we played very hard and mean games of PR. I was hooked.

My descent into full-on boardgaming was the proverbial "slowly at first, then all at once".

As a kid I played the usuals. Pay Day, various licensed games, occasional Monopoly. I played Scrabble with my Dad, and occasionally my family would play Michigan Rummy or Yahtzee but not often. I had Dark Tower as a kid and loved it, and also Dragonmaster and was baffled by it. I *just* remember Voice of the Mummy and a Haunted Mansion game we had.

As a teen I discovered a cool shop called "Imagine" which had all kinds of oddball stuff, including some games. There I bought Dune, Illuminati, and NATO. I didn't really know anyone who was interested in them, and they didn't get played. I still have that copy of Illuminati somewhere, the other two I gave away. Also around this time I was into Doctor Who and bought a bad board game of that which I created "expansion" material for and still have. It's possible I dinked around a bit with Battletech at this point, but I don't remember.

In college I had friends who I played D&D/Talislanta/Champions with, and we started to play board games. Talisman and Illuminati were the big hits. Also around this time I got hold of Edge City (cyberpunk Talisman), DungeonQuest, and Family Business. This was late-80s/early 90s.

When we moved to Illinois I made friends with a guy who turned me on to Magic and that was huge with me. But also he got Settlers of Catan and we loved that as well. We also played RoboRally but I don't recall too many others.

A little later on I was introduced to The Princes of Florence, which wowed me at the time. There was also Scotland Yard. I bought a copy of the latter at a yard sale and I believe that's when I first found BGG, looking to see if it was complete. But I remember this as being before 2003 (when we moved to Massachusetts) and I registered at BGG in 2005, so I may be off here.

In 2003 we moved to MA and I found a group for RPGs. Through those efforts I also found a guy into board games. I started doing both for a bit, but got less interested in RPGs. Sometimes when we couldn't get a quorum for RPG night we'd play board games instead and I found myself looking forward to those occasions more. By 2005 I was done with RPGs and fully into board gaming.