Setup Pains

There are many examples of games that take a long...

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Another good topic. Games with significant setup time are nearly a dealbreaker in certain gaming situations, the kind where there are other tables with other players. Some of my favorite games have complex setups, so I tend to save those for when I am hosting, and set one of them up before people show up.

There are a few things that can speed the setup and take down. It helps a lot if one or two other players are also familiar with the game and can help setup. Organized storage of components also helps, especially if you label bags or storage slots so other players can help. If there are players who aren't familiar with the game, I hand them decks of cards to shuffle, or give them similar easy tasks.

My least favorite setup routine is card deck preparation. By this I mean ensuring the deck has a certain number of this or that, and often removing cards if you don't have the right number of players, etc.

I find it tedious, and it always means a lot of extra shuffling once the decks are prepared.

Good essay! I have started paying particularly close attention to setup time in my designs, and changing mechanisms to avoid fiddly setups. The Expanse and my upcoming 1919 and Pinball game all setup very quickly, and I think that adds to the critically-important first impression.

For me, all proportional to time investment in the game. A 1 hour game with setup annoyances is a huge deal compared to an evening game I can prepare ahead of time. I'm pretty tolerant of setup time in general.

Teardown time > setup time by far. At least you can talk about the game and play out hypothetical scenarios while you’re putting everything away.

I love the parks gametrayz insert because they do split the resources for placement on both sides of the table.

Thank you for all your comments. I'm glad the article chimed with you. It seems that I'm right and a lot of people don't like the setup "phase" of a game.

I'm probably going to fall on the side of not particularly liking Empires of the Void II anyway, even if you plopped me down after setup and let me wander away after the game is over, but for a roughly two-hour game, a half-hour of setup and maybe 20 min for teardown is nutty. I even more or less know what I'm doing. That's in exchange for the variability the game offers, but right now it's the poster child for me of "not worth it" vis-a-vis setup/teardown.